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Why Darryl Brohman is right - the strong case against Les Boyd being in the NRL Hall of Fame

Brohman has publicly condemned the decision to induct his arch-enemy into the league's Hall of Fame.

adam lucius
Contributor
·3-min read

Many years ago – after a few too many St Patrick's Day schooners – I spotted Gavin Miller across the room at a Paddington pub. There is no mistaking Gavin's face – you can see the imprint of every one of those 322 top grade games he played for Wests, Easts, Cronulla and Hull KR etched across it.

I went over and introduced myself and asked if it was okay to bring an English colleague, who was enamoured with Miller after watching him at Hull Kingston Rovers, over to his table. For the next hour we bombarded him with questions about his career and the players he'd played with and against.

I was fascinated to know more about Les Boyd. "Great player, Les...but he had a preoccupation with violence," Miller told me. I recall that line whenever Boyd's name is mentioned – as it has many times this week.

Darryl Brohman, Greg Alexander and Les Boyd.
Darryl Brohman (L) doesn't think Les Boyd (R) should be in the NRL Hall of Fame, while people like Greg Alexander (centre) are still waiting. Image: Getty/AAP

When I read Lesley William Boyd was to be inducted into rugby league's Hall of Fame, my immediate reaction was one of bewilderment. Why Les Boyd? Who's been calling for his inclusion?

The accompanying NRL press release explained "pioneers, record-breakers and game-changers" were being recognised in this year's intake. Boyd, who played for Wests and Manly in the late 70s-early 80s, certainly changed rugby league. And not necessarily for the better.

Les Boyd, pictured here in action for Manly in 1982.
Les Boyd (R) in action for Manly in 1982. (Photo by Philip Wayne Lock/Fairfax Media via Getty Images).
Les Boyd, pictured here at the ARL judiciary in 1983.
Les Boyd at the ARL judiciary in 1983. (Photo by Philip Wayne Lock/Fairfax Media via Getty Images)

He was part hitman, part lunatic, part footballer. A baby-faced assassin given a licence to create as much mayhem as he could, with or without the ball, legal or otherwise. He was also bloody good.

No player of that era instilled as much fear in the opposition as Boyd, who played 17 Tests for Australia and eight Origins for NSW as an explosive back-rower capable of breaking a game open. That's why it was so hard to understand why he felt the need to step over the line so often, infamously breaking Darryl Brohman's jaw following a sickening elbow to the face in a 1983 Origin match.

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He returned from a 12-month ban only to eye gouge Canterbury's Billy Johnstone and cop a 15-month suspension. Brohman took to social media this week, asking how in the hell a player with such a violent bent could be awarded one of the game's highest honours.

The Big Marn, who successfully sued Boyd over that tackle, was told to "let it go" amid accusations he was "jealous" of Boyd's playing career. Boyd responded in the same way he played the game.

"I couldn't give a f**k. He should be grateful I did it, otherwise no one would remember him," he told The Daily Telegraph. But why should Brohman let it go? He makes a more than fair point.

While the likes of Miller, Royce Simmons, Greg Alexander, Geoff Toovey, Terry Randall, Max Krilich, Greg Florimo and Paul Harragon have so far missed the Hall of Fame boat, the game has decided to honour a player who attracted so many ugly headlines and stuck a middle finger up to authority. Only in rugby league…