Ryan tastes Maroons success after thriving in Wayne’s world
Peter Ryan’s two victorious appearances in the 1998 State of Origin series for Queensland were a culmination of a wonderful career spent playing for coach Wayne Bennett.
Incredibly, all of the defensive hitman’s 147 first grade games for Brisbane, three Origin Tri-Series appearances and two official matches for the Maroons were played under Bennett.
The connection between Bennett and the Ryan family goes back more than 60 years, to when Bennett was a boy visiting the butcher shop of Peter’s father.
There is a saying in rugby league that goes like this: “It is Wayne’s world and we are just living in it”. Ryan thrived in it.
“Wayne is like the father figure,” Ryan said.
“You earnt his trust and faith in you to play week-in and week-out. Once you’d done that he would put his arm around your shoulder and say, ‘what do you think of this?’ He was reliant on me and I was reliant on him.
The story behind Ryan’s rise from Laidley Lion to two-time premiership winner under Bennett and Maroons hero goes way back to even before he was born.
“Funnily enough my dad (Jerry) used to pick Wayne up and put him on the butcher shop counter in Allora when Wayne was a kid,” Ryan chuckled.
“Our family owned a butcher shop and slaughter yard. Wayne’s father and mother used to bring Wayne in as a child to the butcher shop. Dad said to me one day, ‘I used to feed him a little bit of sausage or salami’.”
Ryan has three older sisters – Gerry, Kathleen and Judy – who all promoted his footballing abilities.
Firstly, it was Gerry who planted the seed in Bennett’s head.
“Wayne was coaching Queensland in 1987 and 1988 and Gerry was working at the Travelodge where the Queensland team stayed,” Ryan recalled.
“Every time she saw Wayne she pulled him up and said, ‘look I’ve got this younger brother who can play and you need to go and see him and watch him’.”
“Wayne made phone calls and John Edyvan, who was the president of the Ipswich comp, was one he rang.
John was from Laidley and his son Peter and myself played in the same teams together. He gave me a wonderful report as did my school and all of a sudden I was signed sight unseen for the Broncos for 1989.”
Bennett likes to meet the family to get a sense of the man behind the player that he is signing. There were two other get togethers that stand out, including a classic with Ryan and his three sisters in the unit they shared at Indooroopilly.
“They didn’t berate him but they asked him a heap of questions,” Ryan grinned.
“Wayne said, ‘I’ve got to get out of here, Peter’. I said, ‘no worries, why is that?’
He said, ‘your sisters are giving me grief’. That’s when he came out to Laidley.
“He turned up at our family home and sat down to have a good yarn to mum and dad. He knew a bit about cattle so we took him out to our property outside of town and showed him a few things. He went back to Brisbane and I got a contract.”
Ryan’s Origin career was another interrupted by Super League with 1995 and 1997 write-offs for all Broncos players.
He did play three games for Queensland in the Tri-Series of 1997, which is not recognised on official lists.
“They called it the Origin Tri-Series because New Zealand was in it as well, which was the weird part about it but they were high quality and it brought the standard up. If it didn’t have New Zealand in it then it probably would have been accepted a bit more.
“The final against NSW went for 104 minutes and Noel Goldthorpe won it for NSW with a field goal.”
In 1998 Ryan was chomping at the bit to rip into NSW and show the rugby league world what he could do in a reunited Origin competition.
“In 1998 we had a chip on our shoulder because we wanted to prove we were worthy of the Queensland jersey and also to be competitive for the Broncos in the newly formed NRL,” Ryan said.
“I was injured in the middle game so I played two games away at the SFS and we won them both.
“I’d been out of club footy with injury before the first Origin but from Wayne’s point of view I had been training my arse off and knew exactly what my role was. He picked me for that reason.
Ryan started at lock in the series opener and there was discomfort from the get-go.
“I popped a rib early and you can’t eat, breathe, sleep, fart or shit without pain when you do that. I did have to come off at the end,” Ryan recalled.
There was nothing more Queensland than the final minute try to Tonie Carroll who had came on to replace Ryan.
“Kevvie Walters gave him a little short ball and he went over for the winner. It was phenomenal,” Ryan said of the 24-23 win.
“The first thing I did was look over at Choppy Close on the sideline with me, who was almost in tears but with a big smile as well. He wears his heart on his sleeve and there was nothing better than the emotion coming out of him for Queensland.”
Ryan was injured for game two but was back on deck for the 19-4 win in the decider.
“Shane Webcke was phenomenal in any game but in that one he had a bit of extra class. He put his name in folklore forever,” Ryan said.
People ask how many State of Origin games did you play and I say two. They say, ‘only two’ but in my mind I am thinking, ‘you try and play one’. It’s two more than most other people.”
Injury prevented Ryan playing Origin in 1999 and by 2000 he had embarked on a Super Rugby career with ACT Brumbies, where in 2001 he became the first man in history to win a Super Rugby and top grade league title.
“In 1999 I’d run into some rugby guys who trained with Steve Nance, who was our old trainer at the Broncos. He was with the Wallabies and they planted the seed for me going back to rugby,” Ryan recalled.
“I still had another year to run on my Broncos contract which would have got me another grand final in 2000 potentially, but I wanted to challenge myself.
“I told Wayne about it and he said if I was doing it for the right reasons I had his blessing. That was a respect thing but I had also turned 29 and was getting towards the end of my career anyway.”
Post-playing Ryan had a successful coaching career in the NRL and Super Rugby. The highlight was the 2006 premiership at the Broncos when he was Bennett’s assistant coach in charge of the defence.
The 54-year-old is currently working for Anglo American in the mines. He was explosive on the field and explosions are now his forte off it.
“I am usually in the blast crew,” Ryan said.
“We deliver all the explosives down the hole and make people aware there is going to be an explosion. Then we set the explosion off and I have done that several times myself.”
