#72 The King: Wally Lewis | The Bye Round with James Graham

This week Jimmy is joined by a man who is widely regarded as the greatest rugby league player of all time, The King Wally Lewis!
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0:00 Being ‘Hated’ In NSW
6:08 CTE Diagnosis
28:00 The Tax Man Video
31:14 Club Footy In Brisbane
45:25 Contract Negotiations With Kerry Packer
1:03:00 Brisbane Broncos
1:12:21 Playing For QLD & Australia
1:37:18 Tooheys Dream Spine
1:42:39 Jimmy’s Three Questions

[@The__BLOCKSTAR]

i was at a titans vs broncos game a few years ago and i was wearing my manly jersey and i was standing in the tunnel as my mate got selected to do the coin toss, and wally looked at me and walked down the stairs and gave me a hug and we had a chat for about 10 minutes, it was soo random, he is one of the nicest blokes i have ever met! such a awesome moment.

[@robcousins231]

I love Wally Lewis and I say that as an Irishman and a Union fan. I think he's the greatest Rugby player full stop, of all time. League and Union, Wally is the best, he could force things to happen in. a way no others could. And he would tell his teammates before the play what was going to happen. And such a decent, humble bloke. The best of Australia

[@breal8939]

Need Alf on

[@eggzaki]

Him and Allan Langer made my dad, a soccer and cricket fanatic, a rugby league fan, and I’m forever grateful for that because it led to me being in love with the greatest game of all.

[@Gary-oh5vw]

Hi James. Hope you are in good order mate? Thanks for having Walter James Lewis on the show. Long live The King. Absolutely loved seeing Wally on the show especially being a pomm and listening to the tour stories. Any chance of having Fatty, Gene & ET on the show? Best wishes Gary

[@grantmcphail9042]

James Graham you are one of best sports interviewers and this one is probably the best. To Wally Lewis, thank you so much for being able to watch you play from junior football to play football Australia. You don't like being called the king so how does the best of the best sound. Thanks, Wally, and all the best with your health

[@footballaussie]

Wally please keep talking about your experiences, positive and negative to educate us. Absolute legend and good bloke

[@Tuilaione]

He is the Awesome King Wally Lewis

[@zigman69ify]

For good part of the 80s Wally tortured us NSW fans! But now i have nothing but respect and love for the great man. I haven't seen anyone dominate origin for so long and single handedly win games. TBE !! there wont be another like wally lewis. All the best to you and your family WL.

[@glenemma1]

I'm a New South Welshman. but still love Wally.

[@samthompson8923]

Great Pod Jammer! The story about Wally with Packer is gold

[@davidbeeston8833]

The best podcast for Aussie RL going. Not many others can get the likes of Wayne Bennett, The King, Sam Burgess on etc. Would love the bye round to have Joey Johns on and maybe a few other legend England teammates - JP, Lockers, Ellis etc

[@martinhollings]

For sure. It's not only who the guests are but the way Graham interviews them is on a level of its own. Compare that to Kemp as the biggest "rival", whose standard list of questions are far less mature and don't lead to anything of much substance ("do u remember your debut?", "fav movie" etc.). So glad Graham started doing this poddy.

[@daffyduck7822]

I moved to Queensland as 16 year old and sat in a beer garden, my older cousins made it quite clear to me, don’t make any smart arse comments about Bjelke Petersen or King Wally, he was loved and hated with the same fervour, great interview.

[@miket9554]

Great interview Jammer. Wally was the king, I was lucky enough to see him play. A lot of players tried to take his head off. Fortunately the game is trying to protect players now and they have proper concussion protocols.

[@WahsUpTV]

Imagine the king at norths with mark graham etc. that would’ve been insane.

[@soundzrinmygarden3833]

Bring back the BEARS!!!!!!

[@alfgarnett3821]

Seen some great stand off's/five-eighths in my time. Brett Kenny, Garry Schofield, Brad Fittler, Darren Lockyer and Benji Marshall. But Wally is crowned The King for a reason. He was the greatest of them all.

[@tommylob1409]

Doesn't get better!

[@stevenwebb3634]

I love how you're such a deep thinker Jammer

[@adtastic1533]

I was at that 84 BRL Grand Final. Dad took me as a kid. Unfortunately I was a Souths fan. We got em back in 85 tho. Mal Meningas last season with us before he went to Canberra. Still think King Wally is the greatest Rugby player of any code I've ever seen.

[@damiananderson2969]

I did an English assignment on the Wally Lewis spiral pass in 1993. Great episode Jimmy

[@roberttaylor5841]

All the best to Wally Lewis, I watched in his first game for Wakefield at Hilton Park Leigh. We turned out to watch Wigan at Warrington the game was called off because of appalling weather which wasn’t much better in Leigh. Wally came on mid game, the weather was atrocious and the game should’ve been abandoned. Class player he was and I wish him all the best for the future ❤

[@alfgarnett3821]

Can we get some British players on once in a while Jammer? The likes of Mal Rielly Ellery,Hanley and Paul Sculthorpe. I do think a British prop like you interviewing Stuart Fielden would be a good watch.

[@CrimpyDip]

Wally not picking Locky is surprising what happened between them two? Cam munster over him too.

[@rdcochrane1746]

Deservedly a dual titled superstar: King Wally, the Emperor of Lang Park … what a champion.

[@stevenwebb3634]

Wally you were cheered in a Australia jersey in Sydney

[@pwhitaker569]

Top 3 of all time without doubt.

[@jacksemenoff2148]

80,s League was the best

[@igz6388]

The King!

[@jms5736]

James thank you for this yes the King wasn't perfect but he was the man for qld and aus he loved it because he was completive thanks mate love it cheers

[@davidharris1249]

Des Morris one of the best front on taklers

[@stevenwebb3634]

It's not a waste of a good product. It's XXXX 😂

[@kundanpanday1988]

The greatest 🎉

[@nathanking9886]

The 👑

[@Conrad-uj1df]

Funny thing I've heard 😂

[@plc2866]

His talk about not wanting to sue the game is interesting. People who complain that the game is getting soft without the big shots etc, need to understand there are a lot of people who want to sue the pants off them. It’s going to happen!

[@Conrad-uj1df]

King Wally

[@snowman01]

It's sad that the inventors of State of Origin (the AFL) disbanded it. SA vs Victoria was great, but all the other states watered down that rivalry.

[@daviddenyer756]

Nobody gave a damn about it

[@markunsworth5755]

Great player, but AJ Murphy would have something to say about that!

[@adamlawrence9055]

When I was a kid his son played in my team, so we see Wally all the time but when we asked for his autograph he would refuse all the time. He would treat his son like💩 coz he wasn't as good as him. He would sit in the corner of the clubhouse and just be angry whenever a kid would notice him. Just saying he is not a nice man... imagine what his wife had to go through 💩💩💩

[@scottelfverson2589]

Another absolute ba77sup by the Australian Rugby Union - deeming that Wally was a professional player when he was in his late teens by playing a trial game for Valleys ( and not getting paid) the season after he represented The Australian Schoolboys Rugby union team (probably the best Schoolboys team ever). What might have been !

[@Samantha-xy4ed]

I disagree with the pommy,wally never cared

[@Gamminn]

😅 ohhh wow the king

[@rashneelwalla380]

Cte Wally