Wally Lewis

In rugby league there are legends, Immortals, heroes and more; but there will only ever be one 'King'.

The heart and soul of the Maroons, Wally Lewis led the charge against the Blues and laid the platform for Queensland to upset New South Wales time and time again. Lang Park became Lewis’s stage for showing his unmatched playmaking ability, earning him the tag, 'Emperor of Lang Park'.

Lewis played nine other times for Queensland on top of his 31 Origin matches, and captained the Maroons on their historic tour of England in 1983.

He captained an Oceania team in Paris in 1984, and that year became Australian skipper, a position he held until 1989. In 1984, he captained Combined Brisbane to victory in the National Panasonic Cup competition.

In 1986, he led the Kangaroos on an undefeated tour of Britain and France. In 1988 he defied a broken arm to lead Australia to a World Cup final victory over New Zealand at Auckland's Eden Park.

As clever as Lewis was with ball in hand, it was his toughness which saw him stand apart in a golden age of rugby league talent – his brave individual performance in Game II, 1989, for an injury-hit Maroons, is regarded by many critics as the best in Origin history.

Lewis dominated the Origin arena in the 1980s like no other player has done since.

Joel Gould Rugby league journalist

He was a star attraction across a decade in Brisbane Rugby League, firstly for Valleys, before a switch to Wynnum Manly. Lewis won premierships with Valleys (1979); and Wynnum Manly (1985 and 1986), the second at Wynnum Manly as captain-coach.

He was the inaugural Brisbane Broncos' skipper, and later captained, and then coached Gold Coast, in the New South Wales Rugby League.

Lewis became Queensland’s coach in 1993. In 1999, he was named an 'Immortal'.

On his retirement from football, Lewis became a successful sports presenter for the Nine Network and a proud Patron of Epilepsy Queensland.