Col Maxwell

Col Maxwell was involved in the most bitter selection controversy in the history of the code. A fine attacking player, he started his career at Bowraville on the North Coast. He first represented Country in 1937 and spent several seasons with Wests Newcastle before moving to St George in 1940 while serving with the RAAF during World War II. After a season with Wests (1945) he returned to the Newcastle competition. Maxwell represented Newcastle against England in 1946 before venturing back to Wests in 1948. After representing NSW that year he was selected as a non-playing reserve in the First Test against NZ. His club form quickly fell away and he did not figure in another representative match that year. Wests’ considered dropping Maxwell to reserve grade before he was used as a political pawn by Australian selectors to oust incumbent Australian captain-coach Len Smith. The Wests’ centre was selected to captain-coach the 1948-49 Kangaroos while Smith was left out of the squad altogether (When the team was announced Maxwell was back in Newcastle visiting family and weighing up his playing future). Maxwell had an unhappy tour with injuries restricting him to only one Test – Australia’s Second Test loss against Great Britain that saw the Ashes lost. On his return to Australia Maxwell captain-coached Wests before returning to Newcastle as captain-coach of Maitland in 1950-51.