Reg Gasnier

Reg Gasnier's celebrated rugby league career ended due to injury in France near the close of the 1967–68 Kangaroo tour.

He was 28, and had played 223 first-class games. During that time he had scored 219 tries, including 26 in Tests, even though he was always regarded as the most unselfish of centres.

He remains Australia's youngest captain against Great Britain (23 years, 28 days, in the first Test of 1962), was a three-time Kangaroo, and was part of eight premiership-winning sides with St George.

Gasnier seemed destined for greatness from the start, identified as a shooting star in Saints juniors, elevated carefully to first grade in 1959, and a Kangaroo champion by the end of the year.

The sight of him in full flight, head slightly back, remains one of the great visions in league history.

Saints secretary Frank Facer called him a ''genius'' and recalled a try scored by Gasnier against New Zealand at the SCG in 1963: ''He took the ball on his fingertips and juggled it brilliantly in a bewildering dash which resulted in a try. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen''.

Perhaps the greatest try he was involved in was one he didn't score, but instead set up for winger Brian Carlson in the third Test against Great Britain in 1959.

Late in a muddy game, Gasnier broke through from near his own line, dummied magically to keep the British fullback at bay, before sending Carlson racing away with the perfect pass. In that try was artistry of the rarest kind.