Running out to Lang Park in the 1980s – now known as Suncorp Stadium – Wally Lewis was a god amongst men.
The Queensland legend was chief antagonist for any NSW fan or player throughout State of Origin’s infancy and it was during that time he earned his nickname: ‘The King’.
Now Lewis has revealed the origin behind the nickname that elevated him into rugby league folklore.
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“I’m pretty sure, now there’s been some argument about it, but I’m pretty sure it was given to me by Ray Price,” Lewis said on Nine’s upcoming documentary ‘The King’.
“Here we were playing in 1984, we had a pretty hot side the Queenslanders in that era, and we thrashed NSW.
“I remember the journos all hunted Ray, unfortunately, at the end of the press conference and said, ‘Ray, just one question we want to ask you. You’re saying you should be Australian captain, what about Wally? He led the Queenslanders, he got man of the match for this game, what do you think about that?’.”
“He said, ‘Aw yeah, give him everything, fair dinkum he’s everything up here anyway, he thinks he’s the King’.”
Nine will premiere ‘The King’ documentary on Tuesday night at 9.10pm (AEST). Watch ‘The King’ on Nine and 9Now!
In a television interview from the era, Price didn’t hold back in revealing what he thought of Lewis.
“I’m not jealous of the man, I think he is a great sportsman but this pedestal that the media have got him on, he really believes that he’s King,” he said.
“I mean how much s–t is this guy full of?”
And while Price clearly disliked Lewis at the time, his reaction would set off a legacy unlike any rugby league player.
However, he might have had the last laugh, with Lewis openly hating the nickname that’d been bestowed upon him by the Parramatta Eels great.
“All of my mates from that day forward said, ‘King, King, what’s happening King?’, and I absolutely despised the name and every time they said it to me, I used to blow up,” Lewis said.
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