John Connolly is to be inducted into the Queensland Rugby Union Hall of Fame for his decorated career as a Queensland Reds and Wallabies coach.
It is fitting recognition for Connolly, who guided Queensland teams to some of the state’s greatest rugby achievements as head coach for 12 years (1989-2000).
During that lengthy time at the helm, he guided the Reds to the 1992 Super 6 title, the 1994 and 1995 Super 10 titles and to the top of the Super 12 table after the regular season in 1996 and 1999 when the side bowed out in the semi-finals.
More than that, England, Wales, France, Ireland and Scotland were quality international scalps.
The very best of his Queensland teams earned the tag of “best provincial team in the world.”
They were the credentials that helped earn the coach, nicknamed “Knuckles”, his shot as Wallabies coach for a 20-month run culminating in the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
Connolly will be one of three Queenslanders named to join the QRU Hall of Fame at the Season Launch Long Lunch on Friday, February 14 at the Brisbane City Hall.
The 2024 event launched the season in style. Be there to usher in the new season and honour the Hall of Fame class of 2025.
Connolly said his lifelong engagement with rugby and friends from the game have been crucial in fighting back from the major spinal cord injury which has left him in a wheelchair since a fall in August, 2021.
“This is an honour from Queensland rugby,” Connolly said.
“Queensland rugby has played such a big part in my life and there is so much to reflect on and smile over.
“If you add in the years coaching Queensland B and under-age Queensland sides, it’s an involvement of more than 15 years with teams wearing maroon. My car definitely knew its way to Ballymore for training.”
Guiding Brothers to the 1987 Hospital Cup premiership catapulted Connolly into the Queensland coaching role in 1989.
No win was more prized than those over old foes NSW, a rivalry he launched with emphatic 31-3 and 31-0 wins in 1989.
“Those games stuck a marker in the ground. In the amateur days, the games against NSW were massive and always a measure of the health of Queensland rugby,” Connolly said.
Connolly loves horse racing yet, folklore has it, that he never punted on the NSW gallops on the day of interstate games.
He would steer Queensland in more than 200 games. He had a 58 per cent winning rate (33 wins from 57 games) in the first five seasons of Super 12 when the game turned professional.
Connolly paid a special mention to some of those assistant coaches who made it all possible.
“To have assistants like Andrew Slack, John Brass, Geoff Shaw and Grant Batty put great experience around the team,” he said.
“You have to put in the right coaches to create the right environment for the players to improve in.
“I got a lot of satisfaction watching the Reds in 2024. Australian rugby needs a strong Queensland and that has never changed.”
