Ron Willey

Ron Willey

Personal information
Full name	Ronald William Willey
Born	1929
Died	24 September 2004
Playing information
Position	Fullback, Centre
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1948–53 Canterbury-Bankstown 70 5 136 0 287 1956–62 Manly-Warringah 124 20 447 2 958 1963–64 Parramatta 7 1 20 43 Total 201 26 603 2 1288 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1955 Queensland 1 0 10 0 20 1956 NSW City Firsts 1 0 7 0 14 1956 New South Wales 3 0 12 0 24 1952–53 Australia 0 0 0 0 0
Coaching information
Club Years Team Gms W D L W% 1962 Manly-Warringah 18 7 1 10 39 1970–74 Manly-Warringah 132 95 3 34 72 1977–79 Balmain 70 36 4 30 51 1980–82 North Sydney 74 31 2 41 42 1983–85 South Sydney 83 39 1 43 47 1988–89 Penrith 49 31 0 18 63 1989–90 Bradford Northern Total 426 239 11 176 56 Representative Years Team Gms W D L W% 1986–87 NSW City 2 2 0 0 100 1986–87 New South Wales 7 5 0 2 71
Source:

Ronald William Willey (1929–2004) was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. He was a representative for the Australian national side. Post-playing, Willey had a long and successful first grade and State representative coaching career.

Born in Canterbury, New South Wales in 1929, Willey was graded by the Canterbury-Bankstown Berries in 1948 as a Centre, but was soon shifted to Fullback, and was the Berries regular first-grade fullback and goal-kicker from 1949 to 1953. In 1951 he was appointed captain for four games at the age of 21. He held the record as the youngest Bulldogs captain until Braith Anasta in 2002.

He joined Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in 1956 and played a total of 124 games over seven seasons for the club including their unsuccessful 1957 and 1959 Grand Final attempts. In his last season as a player at Manly in 1962, he was captain-coach. He held a record for the most points scored at Manly until overtaken by Graeme Eadie in the 1970s.

In 1962 he overtook Bernie Purcell's record for the most points scored in an NSWRFL career (1,152); Willey's eventual total of 1,288 stood as the new career record for four seasons until it was bettered by Keith Barnes in 1966.

Willey joined the Parramatta Eels in 1963 but only played seven games before retiring in 1964.

A player of immense talent, Willey played in an era where Clive Churchill was the incumbent representative fullback, denying Willey many selection opportunities. He became the first Canterbury local international when he was selected on the 1952–53 Kangaroo tour.