# Col Maxwell > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Col_Maxwell > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Col_Maxwell.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Col_Maxwell > Source revision: 1341542669 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Australia international rugby league footballer and coach This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Col Maxwell" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Col Maxwell Personal information Full name Colin Maxvilla Maxwell Born (1917-06-23)23 June 1917 Lismore, New South Wales, Australia Died 19 June 2001(2001-06-19) (aged 83) Nelson Bay, New South Wales, Australia Playing information Position Centre Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1936 Bowraville 1937 Coffs Harbour 1938–40 Wests (Newcastle) 1940 St. George 9 4 0 0 12 1945 Western Suburbs 5 2 0 0 6 1946–47 Wests (Newcastle) 1948–49 Western Suburbs 35 3 0 0 9 1950–52 Maitland Total 49 9 0 0 27 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1948–52 New South Wales 1 0 0 0 0 1948–51 Australia 1 0 0 0 0 Coaching information Club Years Team Gms W D L W% 1948–49 Australia 6 3 0 3 50 1949 Western Suburbs 20 12 0 8 60 Total 26 15 0 11 58 Source: [1] As of 19 February 2019 **Colin Maxwell** (1917–2001) was an Australian international [rugby league](/source/Rugby_league) footballer whose career ran from the 1930s to the 1950s. He was a centre for the [Australian national team](/source/Australia_national_rugby_league_team) in one Test in 1948 in which he captained the side. ## Club career This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Born in [Lismore](/source/Lismore%2C_New_South_Wales) in northern [New South Wales](/source/New_South_Wales) he played for Bowraville and Coffs Harbour and in Country representative sides. He joined Wests Newcastle in 1938. He came to Sydney in 1940 for one season with the [St George Dragons](/source/St_George_Dragons). After World War II he played for the [Western Suburbs Magpies](/source/Western_Suburbs_Magpies) for a season, then returned to Newcastle to captain-coach Wests Newcastle in 1946-47 before another two Sydney seasons with the Magpies in 1948–49. ## War service This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) He spent three years from 1942 -1945 in the [RAAF](/source/RAAF) as a leading aircraftmen and appeared in a number of armed forces rugby league exhibition matches. ## Representative career 1948 was the sole year of Maxwell's controversial representative career. His only state appearance for [New South Wales](/source/New_South_Wales_Rugby_League_team) was in the first match of that year's interstate series against Queensland. When the [Australian Test](/source/Australia_national_rugby_league_team) side was chosen for the domestic series against New Zealand Maxwell was named as a reserve back and did not figure in the Tests. He had been dropped from the New South Wales squad before the end of the interstate series and on the night the [Kangaroo Tour](/source/Kangaroo_Tour) side was announced Maxwell wasn't in Sydney with the other representative hopefuls having already left on a train bound for Newcastle. Inexplicably Maxwell was not only selected to the tour squad but was named captain and was expected to take on the duty of coaching the squad during the tour of England and France. Whilst Maxwell was a reliable centre whose career had been interrupted by the war and injuries the mystery concerned how the incumbent Test captain [Len Smith](/source/Len_Smith_(rugby)) who one week earlier had led the Kangaroos to victory over New Zealand was suddenly not good enough to fit into the 28 man touring squad. Theories abounded regarding either religious bigotry from the selectors or coaching politics. See **Selection controversy** in [Len Smith](/source/Len_Smith_(rugby)). Due to injury and illness Maxwell did not play in the first Test loss against Great Britain at Leeds. He played in 11 minor tour matches and captained Australia in the second Test at Swinton which Great Britain won 16–7. Although Maxwell was a popular captain on Tour the match results were not good. He is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No.262.[2] He did not represent at state or national level again. Maxwell's final seasons were as captain-coach of Maitland from 1950 -1952. After football, he ran a newsagency. ## Sources & Footnotes - Whiticker, Alan (2004) *Captaining the Kangaroos*, New Holland, Sydney - Andrews, Malcolm (2006) *The ABC of Rugby League* Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Col Maxwell – Career Stats & Summary – Rugby League Project"](http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/players/col-maxwell/summary.html). Rugby League Project. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ARL Annual Report 2005 Sporting positions Preceded by Len Smith Captain Australia 1948 Succeeded by Wally O'Connell v t e Australian national rugby league team coaches 1930 Arthur Hennessy 1946 Albert Johnston 1948–49 Col Maxwell 1949 Len Smith 1949 Keith Froome 1950–51 Vic Hey 1952–53 Clive Churchill 1954–55 Vic Hey 1956–57 Ken Kearney 1957 Herbert Poole 1958 Norm Robinson 1959–60 Clive Churchill 1960 Keith Barnes 1961 Brian Carlson 1962 Harry Bath 1963 Clive Churchill 1963–64 Arthur Summons 1964 Reg Gasnier 1965–66 Ian Walsh 1967–68 Reg Gasnier 1968–70 Harry Bath 1970 Arthur Summons 1971–72 Harry Bath 1973–75 Graeme Langlands 1975–77 Terry Fearnley 1978–82 Frank Stanton 1983 Arthur Beetson 1984 Frank Stanton 1985 Terry Fearnley 1986–88 Don Furner 1989–98 Bob Fulton 1997 John Lang (SL) 1998 Wayne Bennett 1999–03 Chris Anderson 2004–05 Wayne Bennett 2006–08 Ricky Stuart 2009–15 Tim Sheens 2016–24 Mal Meninga 2025– Kevin Walters v t e Western Suburbs Magpies coaches Tedda Courtney (1923) Albert Johnston (1924) Clarrie Prentice (1927) Chris McKivat (1928) Jim Craig (1929–30) Frank McMillan (1931) Jim Craig (1932) William Brogan (1933) Frank McMillan (1934–36) Jerry Brien (1937) Cec Fifield (1938) Jim Craig (1939) Max Gray (1940) Les Mead (1941) Albert McGuinness (1942) Alf Blair (1943) Henry Bolewski (1944) Paddy Bugden (1944) Frank McMillan (1945) Jack Walsh (1946) Frank Burge (1947) Jeff Smith (1948) Col Maxwell (1949) Jeff Smith (1950–51) Tom McMahon (1952) Peter McLean (1953) Keith Holman (1954–55) Jack Walsh (1956–57) Vic Hey (1958–59) Dudley Beger (1960) Jack Fitzgerald (1961–64) Ken Kearney (1965) Noel Kelly (1966–69) Ron Watson (1970–71) Don Parish (1972–76) Tommy Raudonikis (1976) Keith Holman (1977) Roy Masters (1978–81) Terry Fearnley (1982) Len Stacker (1983) Ken Gentle (1984–85) Steve Ghosn (1986–87) Laurie Freier (1988) John Bailey (1988–90) Warren Ryan (1991–94) Wayne Ellis (1994) Tommy Raudonikis (1995–99) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Col Maxwell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Col_Maxwell) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Col_Maxwell?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.