Doug Ricketson

Doug Ricketson (born 1939 in Sydney, Australia), was a rugby league footballer in the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) competition. He played for the Eastern Suburbs and Penrith clubs and is the father of Eastern Suburbs' longest serving player, Luke Ricketson.

A centre, Ricketson was a member of the Eastern Suburbs side that was defeated by St George in the 1960 Grand Final. He also represented Sydney in a match against Great Britain. In 1967, Ricketson played for Penrith in their debut season in the NSWRFL premiership before a knee injury brought about an end to his career.

Formerly an athletics coach at Waverley College, in Sydney, Ricketson spent many years coaching in country areas including Temora where his daughter Kylie was born and South Grafton. Doug Ricketson had two attempts at naming the year his only son, Luke, was born, and still got it wrong.

"It would have been 1971, no it was 1972," he said.

Rugby league records say Luke Ricketson, one of three players making their debut for Australia against New Zealand on Friday night at Aussie Stadium and the oldest in the team, was born on February 5, 1973.

Doug got the place of birth right: Forster-Tuncurry.

"When he went up to Forster with the NSW team before the third State of Origin game, I had a look through the papers but it never got a mention about being his birthplace," Doug said.

"Luke didn't make any fuss about it."

You can excuse Doug for getting Luke's DoB wrong. They are more like mates than father and son, and coaches rarely know the age of their children.