The life and times of veteran New South Wales and Australian prop Paul Harragon

The life and times of veteran New South Wales and Australian prop Paul Harragon

The proud Novocastrian speaks to 51 thoughts about his league career, the impact that Super League had on the game and how he feels it has changed and improved since he played.

Paul ‘The Chief’ Harragon was born in Newcastle on the 12^th of October 1968. Paul started playing for the Valentine-Eleebana Red Devils at an early age and worked his way up the grades, playing mainly as a fullback and second rower. At 14 he decided to try some different sports and  decided to try Tennis and Golf. He had little success at either and returned to League at age 16 where he broke his collarbone. After he recovered, his coach placed him in the centre and he covered on the wing as well.

Paul continued playing league and went on to play Winfield Cup for Newcastle in 1988. Newcastle has always had a strong competition throughout the years and had been part of the first ever rugby league competition in Australia the New South Wales Rugby Football League competition in 1908 which contained just 8 teams.  Paul played off the bench in his debut  and made his first run on debut a year later in 1989, against a star-studded Balmain sid., The Knights won, 20-12 however it wasn’t smooth sailing for Paul. During his first three years in the first grade, Paul played only 23 games and faced serious injuries to his knees, hamstrings and lower back. During those times Paul felt his Winfield Cup dream may have been over. He commented “at one stage I didn’t have a job. I wasn’t playing and it was really tough. That was the period that strengthened me. I really had to dig deep within myself and believe in myself. I ate and slept the dream of playing rugby league for Australia and New South Wales.” and he was determined to make that happen

Ultimately, Paul came back from those injuries and made his Origin debut in the third game for New South Wales in 1992 and at that stage Queensland were dominant and leading the series at 1-1. During the game he was knocked out and it took him ages to come right and get back into the game. “I always had a saying to keep me going and I was trying to remember it but I just couldn’t. Then, all of a sudden, it came to me. …. Gus Gould turned around and said, ‘You right to go? You’re back on.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’m good.’” NSW went on to win that game 16-4 and with it the series. Paul was wrapped when “Gus gave me the ball for the player of the series.” Paul proudly represented Australia 14 times and remembers playing in the tough series against New Zealand in 1993, against the likes of Tawera Nikau and Gary Freeman. Paul remembers that during the second game of the series at Palmerston North, the Kiwi side had been hammering away at them all game; they had to fight for their 16-8 victory. Also, Paul remembers touring England in 1994 and playing a tour game against Wigan, which they won but during the physical match Barrie McDermont KO’d Paul “Mountain Man” Sironen.

Paul lived through the tumultuous years starting in 1995, as rugby league became more commercial and professional and two Australian media magnates went head to head over ownership of the rights to rugby league. Rupert Murdoch (who owned Foxtel) wanted Kerry Packer (who had the Australian Rugby League rights at Channel Nine) to go halves in those rights and when Packer refused, they effectively went to war and in doing so turned the game on his head.  Murdoch started a new Super League competition in 1997 that 8 ARL teams joined because of the huge financial incentives they were offered.  Paul feels that this tore the game apart and it also made life harder for the people in Newcastle, as not only would another team be starting in the city, but the proud town had also just lost one of its huge businesses, BHP. “I spoke to the Super League management and they simply confirmed  that ‘This is what we are going to do, and this is what we are offering.’ I thought, Well, how am I going to tell everyone about the Super League? Within an hour, I had gone down to the headquarters of the ARL. They said, ‘Listen, this is what we are offering.’ The deal clincher for Paul was the ARL could offer him the ability to continue to play for Australia, because they held the right to that … “it felt right to stay (with the ARL), no matter what.”

While the Super League war was going on, the Knights made the ARL Grand Final in 1997, which was a wonderful moment in Paul’s career. The town erupted; the Grand Final gave Newcastle residents a chance to take their minds off their troubles. The Knights went into the final against a Manly side who had beaten Newcastle 11 times in a row. Everyone expected Manly to win again. Moments before kick-off, the Knights were having the time of their lives, simply enjoying the moment by listening to loud music. Once the Grand Final started, it was a physical game. Newcastle ripped into Manly but trailed 16-8 at halftime. However, Newcastle gained the momentum as the game wore on and they tied the scores with an O’Davis try in the 74^th minute. With 6 seconds left in the game Darren Albert scored the match winning try for the Knights..  Paul describes the town’s reaction to the win as amazing. “For the next week, honestly, this region went bananas. One hundred thousand people were in the town square on Tuesday celebrating. ”

Paul had a notable representative career including State of Origin where he made 20 consecutive appearances for the NSW Blues between 1992 and 1998, a feat which only 1 other Blues player has surpassed to date. He has his views on Origin and the continual discussions about how players must back up sometimes only two days after playing for their clubs..  “I remember one game in which I played for the Newcastle Knights on Sunday, and then I had to fly directly to Queensland the next day to play Origin, which was on a Monday night in those days. You just did it. I played well; there were no worries. I’m not saying these boys don’t deserve to get some games off because I think it is more physical and harder but back then we used to do it; it was just done.” He is also disappointed to see that there will be no more City vs. Country match from this year as he felt it gave players on the fringe of Origin selection a chance to possibly gain selection for the final NSW Origin team.

He feels that the quality of the refereeing has gotten better since he played, as the game now includes more technology like the bunker. One thing Paul isn’t in favour of is the extra time rule in the regular season. He feels that having the draw in the regular season allows teams to have one point each from a game. He believes that Rugby League has benefited from the HIA concussion tests, which protect everyone who plays. Still, he feels that issues could arise with how the system is used and that it could also be exploited.

Paul has played under some well-regarded coaches over the years and feels that a good coach is someone who helps a player improve the good parts of his game rather than improve the areas that the player struggles with. He says that State of Origin coach Phil Gould brought out the best in him in the representative area as he created an enjoyable atmosphere and kept it simple. Paul also feels that one of the best Englishman to play the game was Malcom Reilly who was acknowledged as an excellent second rower and the best club coach Paul played for. “He was so tough as a player but so gentleman-like as a coach. He really cared about you. He didn’t want any injuries and he was genuine.”

During Paul’s career, he won the Dally M Prop of the Year in 1996. He also played during an era that included some of the modern-day greats including, the colossus Mal Meninga in the Kangaroos and Paul commented that Mal had a major calming influence on the team. In Origin, Paul enjoyed playing alongside both Laurie Daley and Brad Fittler as they were both good competitive players. In the Origin series he felt playing against Alfie Lange was tough because Alfie was an incredible player with a unique ability to fool the defence line. Paul feels that the eighth immortal, Andrew Johns, was the best player he played with because of his uncanny skills and how he never let an occasion get to him. “

Life after football saw Paul do work for Channel Nine, where he did commentary and appeared on The Footy Show and the famous Daredevil dudes segment with Paul Vautin, Peter Sterling and Matty Johns. Paul continued his involvement with the Newcastle club for many years after he finished playing, including serving on the board as chairman. He decided to step down from the club to spend time with family, and he now enjoys staying fit by training every morning and does sponsorship endorsements for several companies including NIB.