Bill McLean
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| Full name | William Malcolm McLean | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 28 February 1918 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Ipswich, Queensland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 9 December 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Brisbane State High School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notable relative(s) | Jeff, Peter & Paul McLean | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Position(s) | Flanker | ||
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| Senior career | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Points) |
| 1938–1951 | GPS Rugby | () | |
| Provincial / State sides | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Points) |
| 1939–1952 | Queensland | () | |
| National team(s) | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Points) |
| 1946–1947 | Australia | 5 | () |
| Teams coached | |||
| Years | Team | ||
| 1951–1952 1951–1952 |
Queensland Australia |
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William Malcolm "Bill" McLean (28 February 1918 – 9 December 1996) was an Australian soldier and a state and national representative rugby union player who captained the Wallabies in five Test matches immediately after World War II.
Like their father, Doug McLean, Sr., Bill's older brother Doug, Jr. had represented for Australia in both rugby codes before Bill left school. Bill too was a promising sportsman – goalkeeper in the 1938 Queensland Water Polo Team and rowing in Surf Boat crews winning the Queensland state championship in 1938. He pursued a rugby career and in 1938 played with the GPS club in Brisbane and made his representative debut with state selection the following year. From there he was selected for the ill-fated 1939 Wallaby tour to England captained by Vay Wilson. The team docked at Southampton on the day when England declared war and after a couple of weeks spent filling sandbags to start the war effort, the squad set sail for Australia having not played a game. Of the unlucky tourists only McLean, Keith Windon and Len Smith would return to footballing success after the war.
McLean enlisted in the AIF in July 1940. He was a Captain in the 2/3rd Australian Commando Squadron and saw action against the Japanese in Borneo after parachuting in behind enemy lines. He was discharged in February 1946.
After the war McLean was selected in and captained an Australia XV versus The Rest trial match. His opposing captain was his tour team mate Keith Windon and when The Rest won the game, McLean was picked as tour captain for the first post-war Wallaby tour of New Zealand. Injured in the trial McLean missed the first six tour matches but played and captained the Wallabies in the two Tests against the All Blacks and the Test against the New Zealand Maori. The following year he again met the All Blacks when they visited Australia. He captained once against them and played in both Tests, the second as captain.
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