The rugby league world is mourning one of its great characters and cult heroes, bulldozing front-rower Sam Backo, who died from melioidosis on August 3. Big League revisits ‘Slammin’ Sam’s’ spectacular rise to representative stardom in 1988.
Ingham-born Samson Neale Backo’s path to becoming a Canberra fan favourite wended from Cairns, to Woden Valley in the ACT, back to Queensland with Yeppoon and finally to the Raiders’ doorstep in 1983.
The burly prop gradually established himself in Don Furner’s pack, while he was a key member of the Raiders line-up – co-coached by Furner and Wayne Bennett – that powered into the 1987 grand final.
A belated Queensland Origin debut followed in 1988, with Backo and Martin Bella succeeding long-serving front-row duo Greg Dowling and Bryan Niebling.
“He was a champion bloke, big Sam, lovely to have around and a big smile all the time,” Queensland and Australian teammate Wally Fullerton-Smith told Big League.
“The first session we had before the first Origin game, (Queensland coach) Wayne Bennett picked out a few of the players. He said to Marty Bella, ‘Do what you do well, cart the ball forward – and keep your mouth shut’.
“Big Sam had a smile on his face and said, ‘I’m going to get spoken to shortly’. Wayne said, ‘Sam, you’ve done a great job so far…but stay away from that brekky cabinet, mate’.
“The pressure was on, but that broke it a bit and off we went – we won three-nil.”
The 27-year-old Origin rookie was instrumental to Queensland’s first series whitewash.
Backo barged over for a mighty try from dummy-half to spearhead a 16-6 victory in game two at Lang Park, before scoring two tries in a 38-22 dead-rubber win in Sydney – scooping consecutive man-of-the-match awards.
NSW had no answer to the beefy, mobile Backo’s tackle-busting charges close to the line. The touring Great Britain team would find the moustachioed enforcer a similarly irresistible force over the ensuing weeks following his inevitable Ashes call-up.
After an ordinary first half from Australia in the series opener at the SFS, Backo carried three Lions over the stripe to open the hosts’ account and set them on course for a 17-6 win.
A trademark dummy-half surge broke Great Britain’s back in the second half of the second Test as Australia wrapped up the series 34-14 in Brisbane.
The Lions rallied for a momentous 26-12 win in the third Test, but Backo carved out his own slice of history with another freight train four-pointer – becoming the first Australian forward to score a try in all three Tests of an Ashes series.
Backo’s vintage campaign continued with Dally M Prop of the Year honours, while he played for Australia against Rest of the World and for Rest of the World against Great Britain. Injury ruled him out of Australia’s post-season World Cup final team.
Returning to his home state with the Broncos, Backo featured in another Maroons cleansweep and Australia’s 3-0 series win in New Zealand in 1989. But persistent knee injuries derailed the game-breaker’s momentum in 1990 and brought his professional career to an end prior to his 30th birthday.
The proud Warrgamay and South Sea Island man was named in the Indigenous Team of the Century in 2008.
Following Backo’s heart attack in 2023, his Origin and Test captain, the Immortal Wally Lewis, summed up the beloved character’s impact during a short but explosive rep footy tenure.
“When he came on, Sam just destroyed everyone that was in front of him,” Lewis said.
“Sam was the size of a cement truck and he made the most of it. That dominating period for Sam, in the late-1980s, probably gave Queensland dominance in size for the first time.”
