The 75 series: Roy Bull

With the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles celebrating its 75th year in 2021, we take a look at some of the greatest players to wear the maroon and white jersey.

Manly was granted entry to the NSWRL competition on November 4, 1946, and played their first premiership match on April 12, 1947.

Today's feature piece in the '75 series' is Manly's first international in prop Roy Bull. 

Roy Bull (#17)

Roy Bull was one of the foundation stones of the Manly Warringah rugby league club. He was 17-years-old when the club joined the premiership in 1947 and was a first-grader for almost all of the club's first 13 seasons.

Bull was a fitness fanatic long before intense training regimes became ingrained in league culture.

He increased his strength by labouring on building sites during the week and when it came time to play football he was in peak condition.

In summer, he rowed a surf boat with Freshwater Lifesaving Club and won an Australian surfboat title at Manly beach in 1947.

Whilst the game has changed immensely since Roy retired, even today he would still be Australia’s star forward.

Ken Arthurson Former ARL Chairman

Bull played his entire career with Manly, appearing in 177 first-grade games (including three grand finals), and became Manly's first international when he toured New Zealand in 1949 and played the first of his 22 Tests. He played more than 100 representative games in total.

In profiling Bull for his NSW Rugby League Official Yearbook in 1955, when the prop was named player of the year, EE Christensen wrote, ''Roy Bull is one of the best answers possible for those enthusiasts who claim the present-day player is never as good as his predecessor''.

Christensen praised Bull for his performances in the 1954 Ashes series, especially in the first Test, suggesting that ''old-timers generally agreed that he was fit for a place in rugby league's Hall of Fame''.

After retiring at the age of 30 following the 1959 Grand Final, Bull was made a life member in 1962. 

He later held the role of Manly Warringah Rugby League Club President from 1978-1987.