| Wanganui Legend Trevor Olney talks to the Chronicle's David Ogilvie OLD RUGBY props are known for their dry wit. Brent Dallison played 100 or so games for Wanganui, and quite a few of them with Trevor Olney at his side. Ask Dallison what stood out about Olney on the rugby field, and he says: "He was uncompromising." And then he laughed. And wouldn't really enlarge on that. Strange really. Just like Olney's retort when he's asked about whether he had any special rivalries: "I got on with most of them, being pretty placid I didn't have many enemies." But then, Olney has a dry wit as well, apparently polished with some interesting after-match speeches when he captained Wanganui, according to Dallison. "He's a man of few words except on the rugby paddock. He used to give the refs their fair due. He found his voice out there," Dallison said. We ask Olney whether he had a deserved reputation for being aggressive. "Aggressive? I suppose, I might have been a bit, in those days." And then grins. Olney played 146 matches for Wanganui between 1973-1990. Toss in four matches for New Zealand Maori and a few Prince of Wales matches, and his first-class total is just short of 160 matches. A long career, Trevor? "Too long. I was too silly to give up," says the big man. And he still hasn't. Thursday nights down at the Kaierau Country Club this season - and several seasons past to be truthful - there's been a big guy sitting on the bench on the side of the training field, watching closely, occasionally offering a thought to Kaierau coach Phillip (Red) Morris. It's Olney, who with people like Darrel Robinson and others, have helped Morris put this Kaierau forward pack together. "Red?s a mate,? Olney says. "I've always helped him, I suppose I'm just someone to bounce things off. We've known each other for a long time, we've got the same ideas on rugby. I help as, and when, required, in fact have done for years. We've had the Kaierau Colts and the under-19s together. But others do more than me, people like Darrell Robinson." Olney believes in the Morris style. "Teams he coaches buy into what he likes, they get the confidence, and that's why he's so successful." There's been a lot of talk in town about the Pacific Islands domination of the Kaierau team in the past two or three seasons. Olney puts his own spin on it: "They're the ones who turned-up to play, you've always got to put the best team on the field. And Red doesn't have colour – everyone's the same to Red." Olney has never coached a team on his own, but he?s won a couple of titles with Marist-Celtic with Hemi Hepi and Darcy Fraser. But back to the playing: He had patches during his career when he was not wanted: 1974, 1981 and 1983. "The coaches' ideas on how they wanted to play the game, and mine, were a bit different. Maybe they didn't like my style." But he did play four Ranfurly Shield challenges and the 1986 match against Australia, the latter season as a lock - the props being Huia Gordon and former All Black team manager Andrew Martin. Olney remembers that Australian match, a narrow 24-17 loss, and the similarly late loss to a strong Wellington team the next season as favourite matches. "All the matches were pretty good, but that Wellington game was certainly one - even though it got away from us. We did beat them the odd time, but that one in particular was one that we should have. I remember Mike Clamp scoring in the final minute to beat us," Olney said. On the club scene he remembers the Kaierau side of the early 1990s with fondness - Bill Osborne, Bob Griffiths, Bob Selby and Doug Patchett setting the side up for some big wins. And when he switched to Marist, the late 70s and early 80s combinations which included Tasi and Solomon Sua, Tom Fearn, Shaun Crowley and Kerry O'Hara – "they were pretty good too," Olney says. But time's have changed. As a man who's played more games for Wanganui than anyone else, he's become very worried about the future of the union. "Does Wanganui have a future? I don't know about that. There are less players and more and more administrators. Every time a team (club) drops out there seems to be another administrator on the payroll. Maybe we can stop the bye with a team of administrators." But Olney, on a serious note, believes the union could become a sub-union "earlier rather than later." Asked what he would do if he was put in charge of Wanganui rugby, Olney said this: "I would talk to the New Zealand Union and tell them to come and see what was happening - where are all these players you (NZRFU) say we have increasing numbers of? Then they would have to help and start pushing back some of the players they don't need in the bigger provinces. There's no incentive to come back here any more - and there will never be any more, because all the golden apples are elsewhere." That's the state of play for Trevor Olney. He's done his bit on the field, he's doing a bit off as well, but he would enjoy it more if he could see the union thriving. |
| Trevor Olney Speaks |