It was 1970 when a Sydney club first approached Mick Cronin about leaving Gerringong, a small picturesque coastal town on the NSW south coast, to play first-grade rugby league.
Kevin Humphreys was the boss of Balmain and drove to nearby Kiama to have a beer with Cronin and sell him the Tigers’ dream.
Cronin was not interested.
Five years later, Parramatta came knocking, coach Terry Fearnley made several trips to Cronin’s family pub, and the goal-kicking centre finally agreed to join the Eels for the start of the 1977 season.
“It took Terry two years, but he was too good for me and wore me down,” Cronin said.
Cronin went on to win four premierships with the Eels. He was once tempted to defect to Newtown after John Singleton flew him in a helicopter from Gerringong to the middle of Henson Park, but Cronin stuck solid with the Eels.
Something in the Crooked River: Gerringong legend Mick Cronin and current NRL talent Reuben Garrick, Dylan Egan, Tyran Wishart and Hamish Stewart.Credit: Michael Howard
There were 25 appearances for NSW and 33 Tests for Australia.
But some of Cronin’s favourite memories are what he achieved as a player and then coach of the Gerringong Lions.
One of Cronin’s few rugby league regrets was being forced to miss a local grand final because he was about to tour England with the Kangaroos.
That deep love of community – and admiration for the local Lions – goes a long way to helping explain why Gerringong is about to unveil its fifth NRL player in the 2025 NRL competition.
Gerringong junior Dylan Egan will debut for St George Illawarra on Saturday
Dylan Egan, a 20-year-old back-rower, will come off the bench for St George Illawarra on Saturday afternoon against the Melbourne Storm. One of his best mates, Hamish Stewart, will also play for the Dragons after making his debut a couple of weeks ago.
Tyran Wishart, who wears the Storm No.7 jersey, is also a Gerringong favourite. Manly’s Reuben Garrick is from Gerringong, as is New Zealand Warriors’ forward Jackson Ford.
When you throw in Hayden Buchanan, who is also on the Dragons’ payroll, as well as Wes Pring and Lachie Weir, South Sydney pair Ashton Ward and Nick Quinn, Cronulla’s Taj Ford, Newcastle’s Kyle McCarthy and Kane Graham, Parramatta’s Ollie McCarthy and Queensland Cup player Denver Ford, it is an impressive roll call when you think the town has no more than 4000 people.
One in 800 Gerringong locals will be playing in the NRL this weekend.
Dylan Egan and Hamish Stewart at St George Illawarra training this week.Credit: St George Illawarra Dragons
Scott Stewart, Hamish’s father, who works as a well-being officer at the Dragons, and is now coach of the Lions, said the long production line of league talent was a result of Cronin’s legacy.
“Mick deserves all the credit; the professional standards he set, and the way he approached the game of footy, we’re all still following that now,” Stewart said.
“If the boys didn’t get to play under him, they were always around training, and getting the chance to jump into the opposed sessions.
“Guys like Reuben and Jackson finished up in the SG Ball [under 19 competition], then came back to play a year or two in first grade, and were more than ready by the time they were called up to the NRL.
“Most kids worry about playing in the NRL – the kids down here dream about playing for Gerringong.”
When you tell Cronin about Stewart’s nice words, he says: “Scott is bullshitting you. There wouldn’t be a bloke who has done more for Gerringong than Scott Stewart. When Wayne Bennett was coaching the Dragons, and Scott was working there, Wayne used to tell me he was never sure if he was paying Scott to work for the Dragons or work for Gerringong.”
Gerringong have won seven Group 7 premierships since 2010 and played in ten grand finals over that same period.
Cronin was open to offering free beers at his pub if one of the three locals scored a try in the Dragons-Storm game, “but I’m tipping nobody will be here because they’ll be all up at the game”. For the record, there will be no free schooners for any tries.
Ward is a hard-tackling forward who coach Shane Flanagan has admired for the past 12 months.
Garrick was delighted for Egan’s debut, and said: “It fills you with pride, that’s for sure. We’ve never been the biggest blokes from Gerringong, but we pride ourselves on being the fittest, and trying to be the strongest.
“As for Cronin’s influence, Garrick said: “He instilled that work ethic in me and kept the game simple. He has a lot to do with the systems still in place down there … the systems from first grade all the way down to the juniors are all the same, so all the coaches know what they are doing, and us players could step up to any grade when we needed to.”
Cronin will not be at Kogarah. He reluctantly travelled to Parramatta.
“Have you ever been to Gerringong? You wouldn’t leave either,” he said.
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