Glad you mentioned Wally Lewis because he and Meninga more than most really show how much RL has changed in Australia as well. Lewis spent nearly all his career playing for clubs that most people now wouldn’t have even heard of in the Brisbane Premiership, yet he was the main man for Australia.
When I was younger I always wondered where all these Queenslanders played because I assumed there was ‘just’ the Sydney comp that everyone knew about at the time. We all know about the famous Sydney sides and can remember which stars played for them back in the day, but how many people knew that Lewis played most of his career for Fortitude Valley and Wynnum-Manly? And who can remember than Meninga played for Souths in Brisbane when he agreed to play for us in 1984?