Ken Day – 1965 to 1968

[The Wheel]

Ken Day was the Manly ‘blue chip’ signing of the 1960s. Originally from Brisbane Wests he was forced to defy a QRL ban on Queensland players migrating south to play in the Sydney competition to jo

in the Sea Eagles in 1965.

An outstanding lock forward he was a regular in the Australian test teams in the early 1960s. He made his state debut in 1961 then toured New Zealand later that year but injury forced him to miss the majority of games.
He finally achieved test status when he played against the touring Kiwis and South Africans in 1963. Later that year he toured the UK with the ashes winning Kangaroos. He starred in the Ashes winning test now known as the ‘Swinton Massacre’ when the Kangaroos defeated the Lions 50 to 12.
After 9 test matches Day’s international career ended in 1964 and when he played his final test against the French.

The Sea Eagles required an experienced player to guide their young team and recruited Day in 1965 to captain the club; this move effectively ended his representative career.
Management saw the tough international as the ideal player to build a premiership winning squad around. With Ken Day leading the team, along with Wally O’Connell, the club’s coach in 1966 & 1967, the Sea Eagles became a dominant force in the premiership.
A number of appearances in the finals came to fruition for Day and the Sea Eagles before the club made the 1968 Grand Final against South Sydney.
However Day missed the Grand Final due to injury and without their star forward and several other key players the Sea Eagles were no match for the Bunnies and lost a hard fought game.
Day returned to Brisbane the following year to coach Redcliffe and later Souths in the Brisbane premiership. However his contribution to the Sea Eagles should not be underestimated as the young team he led were the basis of the successful premiership sides of the early 1970s.
Unfortunately Ken Day passed away in 1998 aged 62.

Ken Day – a real Eagle ‘Blue Chip’

 

[Dan]

Ken Day was the Manly ‘blue chip’ signing of the 1960s. Originally from Brisbane Wests he was forced to defy a QRL ban on Queensland players migrating south to play in the Sydney competition to join the Sea Eagles in 1965.
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[Bradza]

Thanks for that, I have never really heard much about Ken.

 

[HappilyManly]

The history of the Manly Culture is evident.

Ken Day mentoring the fledgling Sea Eagles, then moving onto successful Coaching

 

[Dan]

The history of the Manly Culture is evident.

Ken Day mentoring the fledgling Sea Eagles, then moving onto successful Coaching

You should write some of these, you seem to have a good working knowledge of our old greats and not so greats

 

[Duff]

That was a good story.
It's interesting to hear about the pre-70's stuff. It's not so frequently mentioned.

 

[HappilyManly]

The history of the Manly Culture is evident.

Ken Day mentoring the fledgling Sea Eagles, then moving onto successful Coaching

You should write some of these, you seem to have a good working knowledge of our old greats and not so greats

I didn't find out about RL till 1976.

But these write ups are evocative, and trigger some of the thousands of happy Manly memories that I've collected these last few decades

But I would volunteer to collate all the memorabilia stuck in the North Narra sheds.

Vidmar's fruitless search for the 1953 Side Photo, is an indictment on how we honour our Manly cultural history

 

[Dan]

The history of the Manly Culture is evident.

Ken Day mentoring the fledgling Sea Eagles, then moving onto successful Coaching

You should write some of these, you seem to have a good working knowledge of our old greats and not so greats

I didn't find out about RL till 1976.

But these write ups are evocative, and trigger some of the thousands of happy Manly memories that I've collected these last few decades

But I would volunteer to collate all the memorabilia stuck in the North Narra sheds.

Vidmar's fruitless search for the 1953 Side Photo, is an indictment on how we honour our Manly cultural history

Totally agree, I would love to see a lot of that stuff end up on this website, make it the real hub for all Manly information

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

@HappilyManly now there's a project for you!

 

[EagleFromMay1967]

A pic would have been effective , i am trying to remember him, but just cant. In theory i should.

 

[Dan]

There is a pic on the front page

 

[Dan]

Just added one to the article itself

 

[The Wheel]

These profiles are great the guy who wrote them is a genius!

Dan I have a few old team photos from the 60s and 70s I might dig them out, scan them and send them through.

 

[Dan]

Wheel these profiles you have written have all been su h a great part of thr site. I have a good one that was a pre player profile I will post tomorrow

 

[Bearfax]

Remember Ken Day well. Big mobile forward, he came to Manly with Mick Vievers from Qld and they made a formidable combination. Tough, hard running couple, good defenders and I recall Day was a surprisingly good field goal kicker. Only kicked one that I recall but it was from near half way.

Day and Veivers came to Manly in 1965 when Manly were beginning their long climb back up to eventually get their first premiership in '72. A look at some of the names in '65 was a year of many of Manly's past personality players. Bob Batty at full back, the Yakich brothers on the wing, 'Crankie' Frankie Stanton and Alec Tennant in the centres, Fred Pickup 5/8, Ed Whiley half and a forward line up of Day, Veivers, 'Pogo' Morgan, David Knox, George Smith and Freddie Jones at hooker.

It was a great time for Manly juniors in that period for a few year or two later playing for Manly were Billy Bradstreet, Bob Batty, the Yakich brothers, Frank Stanton, Norm Pounder, Tony Antunac, Fred Jones, Pogo Morgan, Ian Martin, all Manly juniors. It was also a year later that a 17 year old blond kid called Fulton from the 'Gong' and a speedster called Hanigan broke into the Manly side.

Halcyon years indeed.

 

[Bearfax]

They played them much younger in first grade in the 60s. As indicated Fulton was 17 when he started first grade at Manly. Martin was 16 when he was graded. Eadie when he came later was only 18-19 when he replaced Batty at full back. Krillich was only a kid when he replaced Jones.

Promoting a youngster to firsts under 20 years these days, especially in the forwards, is infrequent now. Bull was promoted to firsts at 16 then banned was forced to sit out a year from first because they thought he was too young. Billy Bradstreet was 19 as a lock-second rower when he started in Manly firsts and in fact beat Ron Coote to a test against England in 1965-6 but only ever played the one test.

Manly these days are very careful not to promote too early. Will Hopoate and Foran were the recent youngest at 19, and Gutherson and Trbojevic recently made their on field debuts at 19.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Fair points (although from memory Krilich was in his mid-20s and played 2nd fiddle to Jones for several years, so he's not the best example).

 

[Bearfax]

Quite correct SeaEagleRock. I should have been a bit more selective in how I described Krillich. He was graded with Manly when 19 and played his first first grade match when aged 20. At 21 he was selected ahead of his first grade hooker Fred Jones to Sydney Seconds from reserve grade. However it wasnt until the was 24 that he fully took over from the very popular Jones. By 1976 he was Manly Captain.

Jones had been an excellent hooker because they played the scrums as a contest in those days and he won more than he lost. However with the introduction of the modern scrum style, the quicker dummy half type hooker was required and Krillich was obviously more suited to that role. Different skills for different eras

 

[Peter C]

Remember Ken Day well. Big mobile forward, he came to Manly with Mick Vievers from Qld and they made a formidable combination. Tough, hard running couple, good defenders and I recall Day was a surprisingly good field goal kicker. Only kicked one that I recall but it was from near half way.

Day and Veivers came to Manly in 1965 when Manly were beginning their long climb back up to eventually get their first premiership in '72. A look at some of the names in '65 was a year of many of Manly's past personality players. Bob Batty at full back, the Yakich brothers on the wing, 'Crankie' Frankie Stanton and Alec Tennant in the centres, Fred Pickup 5/8, Ed Whiley half and a forward line up of Day, Veivers, 'Pogo' Morgan, David Knox, George Smith and Freddie Jones at hooker.

It was a great time for Manly juniors in that period for a few year or two later playing for Manly were Billy Bradstreet, Bob Batty, the Yakich brothers, Frank Stanton, Norm Pounder, Tony Antunac, Fred Jones, Pogo Morgan, Ian Martin, all Manly juniors. It was also a year later that a 17 year old blond kid called Fulton from the 'Gong' and a speedster called Hanigan broke into the Manly side.

Halcyon years indeed.

All of these names bring back memories of my youth, great memories of great club.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Bill Hamilton!
He was such a huge man his head always looked small by comparison! (except for his jaw)