Brett Rodwell was a great centre for the Illawarra Steelers 1989-97 before two seasons at Souths.
He and McGregor made a bloody good centre pairing. Add Wishart and McIndoe on the wing and they had some serious size, skill and pace. With the Steelers peaking 92 era, they had Riolo as FB, John Simon as their 1/2 and Ian Russell at 5/8.
The forwards were guys like Dale Fritz, John Cross, Piccinelli and hooker Schifilliti. Graham Murray was coach.
They were desperately unlucky to lose to St George in 1992 and miss the GF.
Illawarra as a region always produced plenty of solid talent. Tbh, the Steelers should’ve remained a one town team much like the Knights. Bill Harrigan screwed them in 1991, missing the top 5 by 2 pts. 1992 was so close. They finished 6th in 1994.
Expansion, then Super League in 1995 cruelled them and Murray left. They hated new coach McMahon and then fell away a little bit in 96. They missed finals a couple of years by a win and were very unlucky in others. They did begin blooding Shaun Timmins, Trent Barrett, Craig Fitzgibbon, Luke Patten. Once the merger (take over) occurred internationals
Matt Cooper,
Luke Bailey,
Jason Ryles,
Shaun Timmins,
Trent Barrett,
Brett Morris,
Josh Morris and
Ben Creagh all came out of the Illawarra nursery.
Don’t get me wrong, I love St George, St George-Illawarra and the Steelers. Ultimately, I think both clubs should’ve survived independently but it’s been 25 years, so what do I know. There is a really great Steelers fb page and Barrett is on record as saying as he sees himself and has his heart as a Steeler.
The Steelers players are pretty tight too. They do gatherings and what not. Their 1982-1998 was special.
Back to Rodwell, he was a very good player.
