If ever the Diehards needed someone to do exactly that they looked to Russell Klein.
The big outside back came in and found work for the Royal Blues and kept going from 1980.
At home at centre or wing, Klein was a Valleys favourite.
Russell Klein Q&A
Why Valleys?
I was playing on the Sunshine Coast and I signed with Valleys and Wynnum at the same time. I was doing the preseason at Valleys at Victoria Park and Struddy came to me and said, 'did you sign with Wynnum too?' I said 'yeah'. He said 'I told them you were the worst trainer here and wouldn’t play A grade, so they said don’t worry about it'. If I pick Wynnum in 1980, I might have played in a few grand finals. I got to captain Valleys and that was a real career highlight.
Debut in 1980, what can you remember?
I debuted against Easts at Lang Park in 1980, scored a try too. Peter McWhirter and Mick Neill were playing rep footy and I got the call up. We beat Easts 25-12. I had been playing reserve grade under Joe Canavan and life was pretty good. Joe was the nicest bloke in the world and then at training I am getting bashed and worked over. Then on Friday, Struddy says 'you’re in for this weekend'. One of my first games was against Redcliffe and my hero was Peter Leis. He came to my school one day and I couldn’t believe Peter Leis was there. Leis ended up being my brother-in-law - my wife and his wife are sisters. I have gone into a tackle and hit him with my knee and knocked him out which isn’t ideal when you are family. I remember Tony Obst has come charging in yelling at Leis that’s what happens when you go in soft. He thought Peter was looking after me.
Didn’t have a lot of luck in finals, did you?
No, thanks. 1980 finish first lose to Souths and Norths and out. That was the year Wally got hit in the throat and we are winning 14-10. 1982 finish first again, lose to Souths after Greg Walker got Alan Power high in the second tackle of the game, 12 men for 78 minutes then lost to Wynnum who went on to win the thing. 1983 sneak into the finals by playing Wynnum in a playoff for fourth then two days later we play Souths and win 30-22 and Bob McCarthy said we were certainties to win the competition. So of course, we lost to Redcliffe in the prelim final. 1984 not sure anyone would beat Wynnum, but we beat Redcliffe and then out to Souths. Then 1985 at Brothers lost to Souths and Wynnum. So played in a lot of prelim finals and early September.
Who is your favourite ever Valleys team mate?
That’s hard but when I came into A grade, Vic Weiland was in the centres with me and he was older than me. He’d played in those great Valleys teams in the late 70s and scored a try in the 1979 grand final against Souths. He was just a wealth of knowledge and so good for me.
If you were in charge of the Valleys salary cap, what would be your dream Valleys spine?
Alan Mills at fullback, Wally Lewis at 6, Ross Strudwick at 7 and Hugh O’Doherty at hooker. Hard to leave out Marty Scanlan.
If Wally doesn’t go to Wynnum, how many premierships do Valleys win in the 1980s?
It certainly would have made it interesting. 1982 is the hard one. Finished first but we had Wally then and couldn’t get it done. Mark Murray and Wally would have been handy for a while longer. I think Bryan Niebling staying would have helped too. He had a great combination with Wally.
Are you a jumper keeper?
I have all my jumpers, I kept one from each year.
What’s something Struddy taught you?
Struddy was great at breaking things down for you and making it really simple. He used to tell me that my role was to get a run in every set if the ball was on my side. It’s pretty simple but effective. Then he would be off on some rant at Eddie Ward or the other team. Struddy taught me accountability. Be responsible for your actions and make better game decisions. He was a master at getting into your head and you wanted to play well for him.
You got on well with Mal Meninga until he knocked you out?
Mal and I were in the Wide Bay team in 1978 and Queensland under 18 too with Brad Tessman and Bryan Niebling. I roomed with Mal and his dad used to take us to training. 1980 Major Semi - I clashed heads with Bruce Astill and then Mal has kindly come in and dumped me on my face, which didn’t help. Mal is such a champion bloke and what a great career.
You played for Brisbane in 1984 against South Sydney - how’d you find that?
It was a wild night at Lang Park. We won 25-18 to move through to the quarter finals (of the Panasonic Cup) and play the Bulldogs. There was a massive fight and Dowling and Rampling went at it. That was the first time we’d seen Barry Gomersall and he just let it go. Foster and Coleman are hammering each other and Barry stepped around it and just kept going.
