Playing Career
Vital Statistics
- Full Name
- Don William Parish
- Born
- Sunday, 31st October, 1937
- Current Age
- 86 years and 244 days
Biography
Dubbo fullback first came to the Wests Club in 1957 where he began his career with district club Wentworthville before playing several lower grade games with the Magpies. Returning to Dubbo Parish represented Country and NSW in 1959 before being a non-playing reserve in the Test series against NZ. An excellent goal-kicker Parish toured with the 1959-60 Kangaroos and played in 12 matches (no Tests) and scored 55pts (7t, 17g). Returning to Wests he played in the 1961 and 1963 grand final losses to St George but failed to land a goal in either match. Parish made his Test debut on the 1961 NZ tour and was the leading point-scorer with 58pts (4t, 23g). In the 12-10 First Test loss in Auckland he had the distinction of becoming the first Australian fullback to score a try in a Test match. In 1962 he played in Australia's First Test loss to Great Britain, which was his last international match. After a long career Parish left the Magpies and captain-coached Wollongong Wests during 1968-70 (premiers in 1969) before returning to the Magpies as coach from 1972-76. His time with Wests can be viewed as a success (finalists in 1974 with Parish named 'Coach of the Year') but his two years with Penrith (1977-78) were unfulfilling.
- ALAN WHITICKER
Playing Career Statistics
All statistics shown in this section are based only on data available in the RLP database, and are not necessarily a complete and/or 100% accurate representation of a player's career. This information should be used as a guide only. If you see a question mark (?), it denotes that the figure is not available.
To view a list of corresponding matches, click on the List button.
Competitions | ||||||||||||||
Competition | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
City vs Country Firsts | 4 | - | 6 | - | 12 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0.00% | List | ||||
Tour Matches | Western Division | 2 | - | 7 | - | 14 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 50.00% | List | |||
Tour Matches | NSW Colts | 1 | - | 4 | - | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
Interstate Matches | 5 | 3 | 8 | - | 25 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 20.00% | List | ||||
Tour Matches | New South Wales Firsts | 2 | 3 | 9 | - | 27 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
NRL | 65 | 17 | 179 | 5 | 419 | 41 | 22 | 2 | 63.08% | List | ||||
Tour Matches | Australia | 8 | 4 | 26 | - | 64 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 75.00% | List | |||
Test Series | 3 | 1 | 7 | - | 11 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 33.33% | List | ||||
NRL Finals | 7 | 2 | 8 | - | 22 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 57.14% | List | ||||
Craven Mild Cup | 21 | 6 | 43 | 1 | 106 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 57.14% | List | ||||
Tour Matches | Sydney Firsts | 1 | - | 2 | - | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
The Ashes | 1 | - | 3 | - | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | ||||
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Test Matches - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
Australia | 1961-62 | 3 | 1 | 7 | - | 17 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 33.33% | List | |||
International Matches - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
Australia | 1961 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
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Australia - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
Western Division | 1958, 1960 | 2 | - | 11 | - | 22 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 50.00% | List | |||
NSW Colts | 1958 | 1 | - | 4 | - | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
Riverina/Western | 1958 | 1 | - | 5 | - | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
NSW Country Firsts | 1958-60 | 5 | 1 | 12 | - | 27 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
NSW Firsts | 1959, 1961-62 | 7 | 6 | 17 | - | 52 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 14.29% | List | |||
NSW City Seconds | 1961 | 1 | - | 1 | - | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00% | List | |||
Sydney Firsts | 1962 | 1 | - | 2 | - | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
NSW City Firsts | 1962 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
Overall | 1958-1962 | 19 | 7 | 52 | 0 | 125 | 2 | 15 | 2 | 10.53% | List | |||
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NRL/NSWRL - By Year | ||||||||||||||
Team | Season | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
Western Suburbs | NSWRFL 1961 | 12 | 4 | 35 | - | 82 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 75.00% | List | |||
Western Suburbs | NSWRFL 1962 | 17 | 9 | 48 | - | 123 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 70.59% | List | |||
Western Suburbs | NSWRFL 1963 | 16 | 2 | 41 | - | 88 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 68.75% | List | |||
Western Suburbs | NSWRFL 1964 | 1 | - | 2 | - | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
Western Suburbs | NSWRFL 1965 | 2 | - | 4 | - | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
Western Suburbs | NSWRFL 1966 | 3 | - | 5 | - | 10 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 66.67% | List | |||
Western Suburbs | NSWRFL 1967 | 14 | 2 | 44 | 5 | 104 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 50.00% | List | |||
NRL/NSWRL - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | |||
Western Suburbs | 1961-67 | 65 | 17 | 179 | 5 | 419 | 41 | 22 | 2 | 63.08% | List |
Contributions:
Greg Fiveash, Paul Carter, Andrew Ferguson, Shawn Dollin, Rugby League Tables, AJ Lucantonio, Alan Katzmann, Max Turner, Bill Bates
Your Say
07/08/2011
A very exciting fullback in an era of great fullbacks. Injury plagued but a really classy player
14/10/2021
When he ran with the ball in hand he was magic and exciting to watch.
15/11/2021
Don was a technician-in-training in Sydney when he first played with Wests. He was a fully fledged PMG technician in Dubbo when he first burst into representative football with Country, NSW and Australia.
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