Dallas O'Neill was a towering figure in Queensland rugby in the 1960s when he earned the rare honour of captaining his state at the age of 21.
His passing on Saturday at the age of 83 is being mourned across the rugby community, especially at the Brothers club where he was a Life Member for his deeds as a premiership player and coach.
O'Neill played two Tests for the Wallabies against the All Blacks in 1964 and would have earned more but for ill-timed injuries.
Former Wallabies prop Dave Dunworth was a Brothers teammate beside O'Neill in the 1966 Hospital Cup grand final win and coached by O'Neill in the 1975 premiership side.
"Dallas was a top man and he will be missed," Dunworth said.
"He was a real idol to many. I know I was pretty much in awe of him as a young fella playing in that 1966 grand final in what became his last game for Brothers.
"He had a presence about him and was a very good manager of men. He'd talk to a team as a coach and everyone listened. He knew when to be tough and when to have fun.
"He was definitely equipped to coach Queensland but never did."
O'Neill was a dynamo in the backrow whose reputation was established in his teens when he captained Nudgee College to First XV titles in 1960-61.
He was just 19 when ushered into first grade at Brothers in 1962. At the same age, his dynamic performances at No.8 quickly earned him a Queensland debut against Victoria in Sydney and an audition in the Wallaby trials which turned into selection for the 1962 tour of New Zealand.
He made Wallabies tours to NZ and South Africa, in 1963, before his Test debut finally arrived on his third Wallabies tour in Dunedin against the All Blacks in 1964.
As Queensland player #749, he played 25 times for his state and led the team on 14 occasions.
In 1965, he was at the helm when the Queenslanders fought back from 15-3 down to stun NSW 17-15 at Normanby.
The Courier-Mail's Frank O'Callaghan saluted it as "the proudest 40 minutes in post-war Queensland rugby. O'Neill put it to his forwards and the response was heroic. He was the mastermind of much of the attack."
Unfortunately, a fracture of his left leg against NSW in 1966 ruined his progress. He was handicapped at the tour trials in Sydney and it cost him selection for the 1966-67 Wallabies tour of the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Canada and the US.
"Two screws were put in (the Pott's fracture). One, that started to work loose had bent and was the cause of the problems. I strapped the leg up with elastoplast and got through the grand final. Winning the way we did was a brilliant feeling," O'Neill said in the book, Brothers In Arms: The History of Brothers Rugby Club.
When Brothers lost to University in the semi-finals, he had insisted he would return to the fray. He did in brilliant fashion in a thumping 36-9 victory over University on grand final day.
"His name should be inscribed on the foundation stone of the new clubhouse," enthused then-coach Jim Kenny.
O'Neill was very much the symbol of a rebirth at Brothers in the 1960s after the team finished second last in 1961, missed the semi-finals again in 1963 and playing numbers were depleted.
It was not only as a running No.8 igniting tries. He could kick goals and even slip into flyhalf to cover injuries. Always, he was an inspiration.
Missing the big Wallabies tour of 1966-67 prompted O'Neill to jump to rugby league with another Brothers ace, centre Bob Honan, in 1967.
A major knee injury in his first league season meant Souths never saw the best of him.
When O'Neill returned to Brisbane to play local league with Wests, he knew the knee wouldn't last. So honourable was he, he returned the money the club had advanced him even though he could have earned it just by jogging on.
In the 1970s, O'Neill made a major impact at Brothers as a coach. He guided a hat-trick of premierships in 1973-74-75 when the young Paul McLean and Tony Shaw were beginning grand careers.
