The Magpies looked to Mark Meskell to charge it forward and he fulfilled his role winning a premiership in 1985 against the Wynnum Manly behemoth.
Meskell would end up at the Broncos in their first year but always remember fondly his time as a Magpie.
Mark Meskell Q&A
How did you get from Wattles to Souths Magpies via Valleys under 21?
My family had Commercial Hotel at Yangan and I played for Wattles. True story - the great Rohan Hancock and his dad would drive me to training when I was 16. Rohan’s brother Hector was a great player. My family then got the licence for the Alliance Hotel at Spring Hill, so we moved to Brisbane, so I had to find a new team. Valleys players used to sell raffle tickets at the pub on a Friday night, so I went down to Valleys and played under 21s. The great Oscar Veivers had his office across the road from our pub and one day he suggested that Souths Magpies was for me and I went to Davies Park and became a Magpie.
Can you remember your debut?
Sure can, you wouldn’t believe it, but it was against Valleys. I was playing under 21 for them the year before. I was right in the middle of a Struddy v Bennett feud, they were going at it all week and suddenly I am in A grade. Wore number 20 for the mighty Magpies at Lang Park.
You took a while to warm to Brisbane football, 1983 you played reserve grade and won the premiership, with the match winning try 18-10 over Easts.
Mate I would love to think I ran 20 metres but I am unsure, but I have said 20 metres for a long time. May sound strange, but I loved playing reserve grade for the Magpies, they were such a good group of guys and I loved it. In those days you could be playing reserve grade against internationals if they were dropped back coming back from injury and everyone was always 'oh gee, Greg Olipant is playing today' - well I wasn’t a mad football fan as a kid and dad didn’t like football ,so I never knew who these people were. I’d just be 'who the hell is that?' They used to laugh at me.
1984 on the bench for the grand final disaster?
When I got on it was 16-0 and Wynnum were just doing whatever they wanted. They were clearly a very good team. Wynnum would be close to the best team I ever saw. They could score four tries before you’ve reacted. I missed out on a reserve grade premiership sitting on the bench to get beaten and reserve grade won.
1985, finally a win and a great effort from the Magpies 10-8 over Wynnum.
It was such a good day; West End was at its best. It was a great day and night. I loved playing with that team. We were such good mates and blokes like Jim Elder and Jim McClelland were great men. Ken Rach was another good Souths man. I just loved it. West End was a different area then, South Bank was very industrial and really if it wasn’t for football there was no real need to go there, but they always got behind their Magpies.
You were there day one of the Broncos?
I nearly went to the Raiders. Wayne was keen to get me and offered me $50,000. It was $25,000 for football and $500 a week working at the club. I thought gee that is very good I am keen to do that. But he came back to Brisbane and then I did that. I had a stay at the Wests Magpies in Sydney in 1987 then came back to Brisbane for 1988.
Your family owned the Alliance Hotel in Spring Hill, for a big front rower your parents owning a pub isn’t ideal, is it? I read a story in Rugby League Week about your diet and how you were working on it.
Breakfast: Omelette, dozen eggs, cream cheese, two tomatoes, a dozen slices of ham.
Lunch: Three or four fillet steaks with salad, plate of chips and 10 slices of bread.
Dinner: Seafood basket, chips and half a loaf of bread.
For a bigger boy, your family owning a pub with a cook and kitchen is not a good idea. The cook used to get a worried look in his eyes when I came in. I would go through mid-shift and just grab a chook. Looking at that, it’s hard to believe I weighed 17 stone when we had the pub.
You played for Brisbane against Manly in 1986 - was that a highlight?
Funny story, we were in these red jumpers and someone comes in and says if you wear the red jumpers you’re not allowed on the field because you look like packets of smokes. They were just starting to say no cigarette sponsorship so we had to change into the white Brisbane jumpers. But I kept the red one and took it home.
It was great playing for Brisbane, it was nearly a Queensland team out there when you played Manly. We had Lewis, Murray, Lindner, Fullerton-Smith, Jackson, Scott, Stains, Kilroy, Conescu and Niebling who all played Origin and they had Vautin, Shearer, Close and Boustead.
Do you still have your Brisbane jumper and Souths grand final jumper?
I have a massive box of things I have kept; I have my first Broncos jumper from reserve grade day one 1988, I have my first 'dunce of the week' award at the Broncos, my Brisbane banned jumper from 1986 and the best on ground shirt Wayne Bennett gave me after the grand final in 1985. I thought 'how good!'. Then I found out he had them made for everyone. I don’t have my 1985 grand final jumper; my mate is a mad Souths fan and I gave it to him. He rings me every year and offers to give it back, but I know he loves it and would break his heart if I ever wanted it back.
Bob McCarthy was great for the Magpies?
Bob was mad, we would train the day before games and just a two-handed touch game to go through some things. Bob would be there saying, you’re in reserve grade tomorrow but if something happens to the A grade prop, you play A grade - think about that. He was encouraging us to bash each other. Mad.
