Brett Kenny (born March 16, 1961, Sydney, Australia and known as Bert to fans) was one of the greatest five/eighths in rugby league during the 1980s. His partnership at the scrumbase with halfback, Peter Sterling and lock, Ray Price, was the decisive factor behind Parramatta's dominance of the New South Wales Rugby League premiership between 1981 and 1986. During this time they won four premierships, were runners-up once, and third once. Kenny remained a superb player long after Parramatta declined in the late 1980s and holds the club record for most first grade games (264) and most tries (110). March 16 is the 75th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (76th in leap years). ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... The Sydney Opera House on Sydney Harbour Sydney (pronounced ) is the most populous city in Australia, with a metropolitan area population of over 4,200,000 people, and 151,920, in the city limits. ... A typical rugby league team consists of thirteen players on the field plus four substitutes on the bench. ... Rugby league (short for Rugby league football) is a full-contact team sport played by two teams of thirteen on a rectangular grass field. ... A typical rugby league team consists of thirteen players on the field plus four substitutes on the bench. ... Peter Maxwell John Sterling (born June 16, 1960 in Toowoomba, Queensland), nicknamed Sterlo, was one of the greatest Australian rugby league players and a major contributor to Parramattas dominance of the New South Wales Rugby League premiership between 1981 and 1986. ... A typical rugby league team consists of thirteen players on the field plus four substitutes on the bench. ... Ray Price playing in the 1980s for Parramatta Eels Ray Price OAM, born 4 March 1953, is a former dual-International (rugby union and rugby league) footballer, who was nicknamed Mr Perpetual Motion for his hard, intimidating style of play at Lock forward. ... The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. ... The old NSWRL Logo The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was a major rugby league competition run mostly in New South Wales, but later in other parts of the country between 1908 and 1994. ...

Kenny was a prodigiously skilled five-eighth with amazing footwork and anticipation. Although unable to kick, with Sterling, Mick Cronin, Steve Ella and John Muggleton able to do this, Parramatta did not suffer from this and indeed benefited from Kenny's ability to chase kicks so well - accounting for many of his 110 first grade tries for Parramatta. Kenny was also a brilliant tackler, as shown by his ability to consistently put down much bigger players like Wally Lewis, Mal Meninga and Gene Miles in State of Origin games during the 1980s. Around 181cm (five feet 11 inches and weighing in at around 84 kg (13 stone), Kenny was in his early days capable of amazing acceleration, often aided by feigning to deceive a would-be tackler or a quite simple dummy. Cronin had an amazing career. ... Steve Ella was a rugby league player. ... Captain of the Australia national rugby league football team Wally Lewis (born December 1, 1959 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) is a former rugby league footballer who was one of the most pre-eminent players of the 1980s. ... Mal Meninga (July 8, 1960) was a legendary Australian rugby league centre. ... Gene Miles was a former Australian rugby league player. ... The Rugby League State of Origin is an annual series of three interstate rugby league matches between the Maroons, representing the state of Queensland and the Blues, representing the state of the New South Wales. ... A centimetre (American spelling centimeter, symbol cm) is a unit of length that is equal to one hundredth of a metre, the current SI base unit of length. ... This article is about a foot as a unit of length. ... An inch (plural: inches; symbol or abbreviation: in or, sometimes, ″ - a double prime) is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... The U.S. National Prototype Kilogram, which currently serves as the primary standard for measuring mass in the U.S. It was assigned to the United States in 1889 and is periodically recertified and traceable to the primary international standard, The Kilogram, held at the Bureau International des Poids et... The stone is a unit of mass in the Imperial system of weights and measures used in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and most Commonwealth countries. ...

The son of a former Australian baseball representative, Brett Kenny did not turn to rugby league until well into his teenage years after playing baseball and athletics. Despite his lack of experience in the game, his talent was quickly noticed by Parramatta when playing in the juniors at Guildford and he was graded by the Eels in 1980. So successful was Kenny in the lower grades that he was partnering established champion Cronin in the centres by the end of the year. A view of the playing field at Busch Memorial Stadium, St. ... A womens 400m hurdles race on a typical outdoor red rubber track. ...

Nothing could prepare rugby watchers, though, for the advance Kenny made in 1981. A swap with five-eighth Steve Ella during the middle of the season worked wonders for a team that had been struggling during the previous season and a half and, as Kenny's talent became clear, the Eels under coach Jack Gibson developed into the most feared team in the competition. Despite being behind for most of the match in the Grand Final against Newtown, the almost continuous pressure exerted by Parramatta after half time took its toll and the Eels powered away to win comfortably with Kenny scoring two fine tries - the first one when he literally flew away into the corner after a Ray Price break. Jack Gibson (rugby league), Australian rugby league player and coach. ... Newtown was Australias first rugby league club (after Glebe). ...

It was only natural that as Kenny developed further during 1982, he played State of Origin for the first time and his superb performance in the grand final against Manly - scoring two tries and producing a wonderful step near the touchline to set up one for Eric Grothe - made him a certainty for the Kangaroo tour. Kenny played so well that he kept Wally Lewis out of the Test team on that tour, but the rest of his international career had to be played in the centres to accommodate Lewis. Eric Grothe was a rugby league winger for the Parramatta Eels. ...

1983 saw Kenny continue his irrepressible form for the most part - his 21 tries is the record for a five-eighth in any Australian rugby league premiership season and included eight tries in five games at one point - but for a time he was so jaded that Jack Gibson remarkably rested him. He nonetheless returned to his best in the finals, and scored two tries for the third successive time in the Eels 18-6 win over Manly. In 1984/1985, Kenny was acclaimed as the best player in rugby league history by former English wing great Billy Boston. Also in 1985 he won the Lance Todd Trophy for being the Man-of-the-Match in the British Challenge Cup Final. Billy Boston MBE is a former Wales rugby league player. ... The Lance Todd Trophy is awarded to the man of the match in the rugby league Challenge Cup final. ... The first ever Challenge Cup Final, 1897: Batley(l) vs St Helens(r) The Challenge Cup is a knockout competition for rugby league clubs in Europe. ...

1986 - when the Eels were hit by injuries to most of their top players - saw the Kenny/Sterling partnership reach its greatest height with the two winning match after match for the Eels. In the grand final, Kenny was disallowed two tries but the Eels still won 4-2. To cap it all off, Kenny won the Adidas Golden Boot as the best player in the world, and continued his wonderful form with the unbeaten 1986 Kangaroos.

However, with the retirement or constant absence through injury of the Eels star players, things went downhill form there. Kenny was hit by injury in 1987 and was never at his best, whilst 1988 was wiped out by a serious knee injury leading to Kenny's decision to retire from representative rugby league. Yet, even having lost a lot of pace, Kenny's footwork, passing skills and anticipation were stronger than ever and between 1989 and 1992 he missed only three games for the Eels, constantly standing out in a struggling side after Sterling succumbed to severe shoulder problems. His tackling ability was so good that he was successfully moved to lock forward in 1991 despite his lack of kilograms - and with great success because he was so great a tackler to cope wonderfully with the move. Back at five-eighth, his testimonial year in 1992 was again superb, and he recovered from contractual disputes and shoulder problems to finish his career on a high note in 1993 even if his form was not as good as in previous seasons.

Since retirement, Brett Kenny has kept a very low profile after his autobiography, "The Natural", was published. Although he has written occasionally about the game, for all his service to rugby league he has been reduced to a quite low income since his retirement.

External links

• State of Origin Offical website Rugby League Player Stats
• Whiticker, Alan and Hudson, Glen; The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players (3rd edition); published 1998 by Gary Allen Pty. Ltd.; 9 Cooper Street, Smithfield, New South Wales, 2164.
• Kenny, Brett with Cardigan, Neil and Sterling, Peter (introduction); The Natural: Brett Kenny's Life in League; published 1993 by Ironbark Press, Randwick, N.S.W.