Johnny Mayes

Who is Johnny Mayes?

Johnny Mayes is an Australian former rugby league halfback who represented Australia in the 1975 World Series and played in three consecutive premiership-winning teams from 1973 to 1975, the first for Manly and the latter two for Eastern Suburbs. His feat of playing in three consecutive premiership sides for different clubs is comparable only with Glenn Lazarus in the early 1990s for Canberra and the Brisbane Broncos, who played in four premiership sides between 1989 and 1993.

Mayes had a slow start to his career with Eastern Suburbs owing to competition from established half Kevin Junee. He first played first grade in 1968, but was still mostly in reserve grade for several years. When Junee was injured in the years after winning the Rothmans Medal in 1970, Mayes spent a considerable amount of time in first grade and for part of 1972 actually relegated Junee to the reserves - though by finals time Junee had displaced him again.

Being a similar type of halfback to Junee, Mayes naturally sought another club to be sure of a first grade berth and Manly, with Dennis Ward dropping out, picked him up for the 1973 season. Mayes' growth as a player that year was remarkable.