No GPS rugby school has produced more Wallaby captains than Brisbane Grammar School. Seven sit on the honour board, and an eighth Old Boy, L. G. Brown, captained England in three Tests. When GPS rugby doyen Ron Cochrane was asked whether the school could produce another, he pointed to Fraser McReight '17: "Fraser McReight has that indefinable presence. He captained the 13As, the 14s, the 15s and the Firsts. And captained the Australian 20s to the under 20 World Cup." Cochrane had form on such predictions: he once tipped a young Stephen Moore to play for the Wallabies by twenty and finish as captain. He was right both times, and he was right about McReight too.
Here is the roll of Grammar's rugby greats, from the first Wallaby captain in 1899 to the present day.
The seven Wallaby captains
Bob McCowen was BGS's first Wallaby captain, leading Australia against Britain in 1899, the year the Association itself was one year old. An elite player of his era at fullback, centre or wing, with the speed and subtle hands to turn defence into attack.
Frank Nicholson captained the Wallabies in 1904. A dairy farmer from Herston, just over the ridge from the School, he was a rugged forward who played 13 matches for Queensland and was capped twice for Australia. He might have played more had he not enlisted for the Boer War.
Tom Lawton Sr was School Captain in 1917 and one of the great all-rounders: Firsts rugby, cricket, rowing and tennis, and a track and field champion besides. He went on to 44 Tests as a classical ball-playing fly half, and stands alongside Otto Nothling in any argument about the School's greatest sportsman. His grandsons Tom Jr and Rob both became Wallabies. Read his full story in this collection.
Chilla Wilson, capped four times in a career spanning the mid-1950s to mid-1960s, was in the tradition of brave Queensland flankers who put their bodies where others would not. His playing days were only half the story: he became a coach at Wests, then a club, state and Wallaby manager, including the 1982 New Zealand tour, Europe in 1983 and the Grand Slam tour of 1984.
Keith Winning holds a rare distinction: he captained Australia on his Test debut, against New Zealand in 1951, and never played another Test. A flanker and a teenage sensation, he first pulled on the Queensland jersey at nineteen.
Stephen Moore '00 is the record-holder: 129 Test caps, the most by any Australian at his retirement. An elite schoolboy who served his apprenticeship in two Australian under-21 campaigns, he debuted in 2005, made the hooker's jersey his own by 2008, captained Australia from 2014, and finished his career having been part of 97 Wallaby victories.
Fraser McReight '17 completed the prophecy: captain of the 13As through to the Firsts, captain of the Australian under-20s, and now the latest in the line of BGS Wallaby captains.
The greats around them
Otto Nothling goes straight to the head of the class. The only man ever to replace Don Bradman in a Test cricket side (1928–29), he was an even better rugby fullback: 19 Tests between 1921 and 1924, a magnificent defender and astute tactical kicker who could also play centre and kick goals. Read his full story in this collection.
Dick Marks was a fixture in the Wallaby squad through the 1960s, a 17-Test centre, and one of the finest coaching innovators of his time. He was also, by common consent, one of the country's great after-dinner speakers: decades of meandering stories that had every corner of the room chuckling before the punchline brought the house down.
Andy McIntyre was, without argument, the finest tighthead prop of the 1980s. Blooded on a gruelling New Zealand tour in 1980, he was central to the 1984 Grand Slam clean sweep, in the thick of the scrum that pushed Wales backwards at Cardiff Arms Park and silenced the singing.
Alex (Alec) Evans was the original captain courageous: a tough, unrelenting leader across 11 seasons in the Queensland jumper who was intimidated by no one. As a coach he was the mastermind, with Alan Jones, of the 1984 Grand Slam, and a magnificent coach of the BGS First XV and Souths. He remains one of the great rugby minds Queensland has produced.
Cameron Lillicrap was arguably the most gifted loosehead of his generation, a wonderful scrummager and mauler whose career of seven Tests was curtailed only by injury. Queensland kept him anyway: he became the squad's physio, coach and mentor to old and new players alike, and serves on the current BGS First XV coaching staff.
Julian Gardner was a fierce backrower who took his game to another level under Alex Evans at school and club: four Tests for the Wallabies and 20 for Italy, with the skill and pace to play sevens as well.
David Nucifora proved that good things come to those who wait. Pinned behind Tom Lawton Jr and Mark McBain for years, the gritty University hooker made his Queensland debut at 27 and was rewarded with selection in the Wallabies' 1991 World Cup squad.
Greg Martin built a senior career on courage at fullback, standing his ground under the high ball and kicking his team out of trouble with a towering left boot. Schoolboy rugby watchers remember him as a wonderful ball-playing centre first.
Bill Ross was an outstanding Queensland hooker who famously won a scrum against the feed for the Wallabies in 1979, and in 1980 had the wood on the All Blacks twice: a historic Queensland victory over New Zealand, then the Bledisloe Cup series win.
Guy Sanders is arguably BGS's greatest No. 9, edging out the highly rated Ross Finnamore: a Queensland representative who could carry the ball in heavy traffic or fling it wide with style.
Graham Noon is revered in the School's hallways: a schoolboy prodigy with silken hands, attacking vision and a booming kick who captained the 1973 Australian Schoolboys and played fly half and fullback for Queensland with distinction, squeezed out only by Paul McLean and Roger Gould. Alan Jones thought enough of him to try to lure him out of retirement for the 1984 Grand Slam tour.
Rob Lawton, grandson of Tom Sr and brother of Tom Jr, was an outstanding loosehead whose golden 1988 season included a Test debut at Ballymore helping bring down England, two matches against the All Blacks, and a rousing win over Scotland at Murrayfield.
Gordon McGhie drew the short straw of 1920s scheduling: all three of his Test caps came against the British Lions or the All Blacks. The School thought enough of him to name an honour board in his honour.
Also remembered: L. G. Brown, who captained England three times; Bruce Davies, an outstanding club and provincial prop; Phil Mooney, a match-winning club fly half under Alex Evans and later BGS First XV coach; locks Mitchell Chapman (a Wallaby bench without a cap) and Tom Murday; and David Ogilvie, the Test cricketer Ron Cochrane rated the greatest BGS athlete he ever saw.
Sources: OBA records and the cap rolls in this collection; profiles drawn from contemporary GPS rugby reporting (including Ron Cochrane's assessments, quoted with attribution) and the OBA story library.
See also: Tom Lawton — the captain in the frame · Otto Nothling — the man who replaced Bradman · the 1st XV cap roll, where these names appear by number.