- Star became a household name with the Roosters
- Won back-to-back premierships with icons of the game
The rugby league world has lost one of its most successful players with the news that Roosters star Johnny Mayes has lost his battle with a brain tumour at the age of 76.
Mayes was a big part of the Chooks teams that won the 1974 and 1975 grand finals, playing halfback alongside icons of the game like Arthur Beetson, Ronnie Coote and John Peard under supercoach Jack Gibson.
Remarkably, he also starred in Manly’s premiership-winning campaign the year before as the Sea Eagles triumphed over Cronulla.
That made him the first player in Australian rugby league to win three straight premierships for multiple clubs.
Mayes was an Easts junior who started out with the Bondi United side and was graded by the Roosters in 1968.
He went on to play 110 matches for the Tricolours, scoring 55 tries – and leading the try-scoring tally for the entire league in 1975 and going on to play three Tests for Australia in that year’s World Cup.
Johnny Mayes (pictured) made rugby league history when he won three straight premierships with Manly and the Roosters
The Tricolours legend (pictured) played alongside some of the biggest icons in the game as he stamped himself as one of the best players of the 1970s
The sad news about Mayes’ health broke in April last year.
‘It’s a big shock to the family. Dad had an MRI last week and it showed a very aggressive brain tumour,’ his son Glen said.
‘The doctors tell us his time is limited. Maybe a few weeks … if we are lucky, a couple of months.
‘They tried steroids to slow it, but they didn’t work. The only fortunate thing is that he is in no pain.
‘A lot of his teammates have called and he has four kids and six grandkids so there is a lot of love there.’
Demonstrating the same toughness he showed on the field, Mayes defied the doctors’ predictions to spend more time with his loved ones before passing away on Wednesday.
