A versatile back and accomplished goalkicker, Mike Eden had stints with four clubs during the 1980s and won the coveted Rothmans Medal – all while putting himself through law school. Big League tracked down the ex-Manly, Easts, Parramatta and Gold Coast star.
MIKE, YOU’RE BACK ON THE GOLD COAST NOW, BUT YOU SPENT A LONG TIME IN ALBURY – HOW DID YOU END UP THERE?
We moved to Albury in 2009. My wife’s from Albury – I didn’t know how to spell Albury, let alone know where it was – but I ended up having a great time there. The people are fantastic and I was involved with rugby league, which was also great. I’m down there every second week.
WITH ALBURY BEING A BORDER TOWN, HOW DID FIND LIVING IN AN AFL-RUGBY LEAGUE BATTLEGROUND REGION?
The border should have been on the Murrumbidgee River at Wagga. Anything south of Wagga you get Melbourne news on TV, you get Victorian everything. They call rugby league people ‘bum-sniffers’ and it’s a very difficult area to get your foot in the door. It’s a bit like how Aussie Rules was in Sydney – it’s taken them decades to get a foothold, but they do pretty well. The NRL, the rugby league community, are not in my opinion as switched on and invested in those country areas.
YOU’VE HAD YOUR OWN LAW FIRM FOR A LONG TIME NOW – WERE YOU STUDYING AND PRACTISING LAW THROUGHOUT YOUR FOOTY CAREER?
Yes, I started university in 1978, got married in 1980 and played my first first-grade game in 1981. Failed my third year at Sydney Uni completely and went back to university when I went to Parramatta [in 1985]. I did an arts degree majoring in Middle Eastern politics and racism in sport, which was interesting, then went back to Sydney Uni, finished my law degree in ’87.
WERE YOU IN THE MINORITY DURING THE 1980s, BEING A UNI STUDENT AND ‘WHITE COLLAR’?
Yeah, I didn’t make too many friends playing football because one, I was a non-drinker, and two, I got married at 20. And I was at university studying law for a lot of the time. The friends I did make are lifelong friends and it’s a really good community. As I’m getting older, I’m getting to know the players I played with better and appreciate they all had a life as well.
YOU WERE A MANLY JUNIOR AND BECAME A FIRST-GRADE REGULAR IN 1982 – WHAT WAS BEHIND THE MOVE TO EASTS AT THE END OF THAT SEASON?
I was playing pretty good football and it was suggested that either Phil Blake or I would go on the Kangaroo Tour as the [28th] player. But then I got dropped from first grade and we lost the grand final and neither of us went, they took Ian Schubert.
I was a Manly boy, my parents were there – I wanted to stay. I harassed ‘Arko’ (Ken Arthurson) – and I still harass him now when I see him – but [coach] Bob Fulton didn’t want me. He was moving from the Roosters to Manly … and as new coaches do, he cleared the deck. I was one of the ones that was asking for too much money – I think the Roosters offered me $25,000 and I was on $3,000 at Manly.
THE MOVE WAS IMMEDIATELY SUCCESSFUL THOUGH: IN 1983 YOU TOPPED THE COMPETITION WITH 256 POINTS – BREAKING DAVE BROWN’S EASTS RECORD – AND WON THE ROTHMANS MEDAL. WHAT A YEAR!
I had a really good season but I thought I may not have been a chance [for the Rothmans Medal because] I missed the last three or four games with injury. We played in the playoff for fifth on the Tuesday night and as we were running out, Graeme Hughes, who was working for Rothmans and was the MC for the awards night, stopped me and said, ‘Are you coming tomorrow night?’ I said I’d hired a suit, so I hope the invite’s still there. He said, ‘You didn’t RSVP’. Thinking back, that was a bit of a hint that maybe I was a chance.
YOU WERE ESTABLISHED IN THE HALVES AT EASTS BUT MOVED TO PARRAMATTA IN 1985 – WHERE THEY HAD BRETT KENNY AND PETER STERLING…
I was really comfortable at the Roosters but the coach (Laurie Freier) got sacked and Arthur Beetson go appointed. He cleaned out again, they bought Laurie Spina. Graeme Atkins is a really good mate of mine and convinced me Parramatta was the place to go – I was back at university and had just bought a house, two kids.
I was pretty confident. Brett and Peter were in England [for the off-season] and I thought I’d be able to do enough to hold my position when then got back – I thought they might move Brett to the centres. But I had a lot of injuries, I did a groin and an ankle. But it was a great time, I love Parramatta. The people were the best and the players were really nice.
AFTER LIVING YOUR WHOLE LIFE IN SYDNEY, BECOMING A FOUNDATION GOLD COAST-TWEED GIANTS PLAYER IN 1988 MUST HAVE BEEN QUITE THE SEA CHANGE?
They offered me reasonable money and a job. I was qualifying as a lawyer that year and it was an opportunity to get a proper job. I didn’t realise how complicated it was going to be – Queenslanders being Queenslanders, they’re a bit different and they didn’t recognise my Sydney University law degree or my admission to the Supreme Court of New South Wales. So I had to do a whole lot of other stuff, which meant that I was flying backwards and forwards to the College of Law while I was training – during the pilot strike.
RESULTS WERE PRETTY HARD TO COME BY FOR THE GIANTS…
Billy Johnstone was more of the ‘follow me’ captain, yell and scream in the typical ’50s and ’60s style. And Bob McCarthy, we used to call ‘Cobb & Co.’ because he was an old-fashioned coach. We played our three trials that first year in Townsville, Cairns and Port Moresby, and if a try was scored against us, the water boy – who was (former Queensland Origin rep) Alan Smith – wasn’t allowed to bring water out because it was a sign of weakness. Things like that. I think a lot of the guys just couldn’t get their head around it. Chris Close was heading to the veteran stage, Ron Gibbs was up there as well … ‘Macca’ was a good coach, but I don’t think he was able to get everyone on board as easily as he would’ve thought.
YOU RETIRED AT ONLY 29 – WAS THAT A WORK-RELATED CALL?
We played against Canberra at Tweed Heads. I was about 75 kilos, I ran up to try and tackle Mal Meninga and he had that big armguard on. He didn’t break stride, just ‘bang’, straight into my head. So I went off to the head bin, as they used to do in those days, sat in the dressing room for 10 minutes and they put me back on. I lined up at five-eighth for the Canberra team when they packed a scrum – Johntsone just said, ‘Get that idiot off the field!’. That’s how concussions were dealt with back then. I woke up on the Tuesday in hospital. Apparently my son, who was eight at the time, turned to his mother and said, ‘Is dad dead?’ My boss, a partner at the firm I was working at, just said, ‘Look, do you want to play football or do you want to be a lawyer?’
WHAT GIVES YOU THE MOST ENJOYMENT FROM WATCHING THE GAME TODAY?
The skills. The courage. It’s a great product. I remember playing in front of 1,200 people at the Sydney Sports Ground on a Saturday. If they got 1,200 people to a game, it’d be front page. Now they’re getting 15,000 and saying that’s a bad crowd. The TV ratings are ridiculous. It must be a good product they’re making.
And for any of the old players to say it was a better game ‘back in my day’, of course it was – for us. But not for anyone else. The way the coaches look after their players and really are concerned about their welfare, I think it’s great.
DATE OF BIRTH
27 March, 1960
CURRENT AGE
65
BIRTHPLACE
Sydney, NSW
POSITION
Halfback, five-eighth, fullback, wing
PLAYING HISTORY
1981-82: Manly Sea Eagles
1983-84: Eastern Suburbs Roosters
1985-87: Parramatta Eels
1988-89: Gold Coast-Tweed Giants
JUNIOR CLUB
Beacon Hill
TOTAL MATCHES
121
TRIES | POINTS
26 | 701
