First game 17/03/1948, Last game 9/02/1957, Played 346 Tries 90 Goals 812 Points 1,894.

Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007.

Australian forward Harry Bath was the first overseas captain to lift the Challenge Cup, for Warrington at Wembley in May 1950. He was also a vital component in the Warrington team who completed the league and cup Double in 1953-54, contributing more than 300 points to the cause and kicking goals in all the important matches.

Bath had come to England from Balmain to play for Barrow but he did not settle in Cumbria and jumped at the chance to join Warrington in March 1948. By the time he returned home to Australia in 1957, he was the most prolific try-scoring forward, most prolific points-scorer and second greatest goalkicker in the club’s history. Even now, more than 60 years later, he still holds one club record, for scoring a staggering 363 points in the 1952-53 campaign.

Bath, who was 5ft 11in and 14st 7lb, played most of his career in the second row, although he could and did perform admirably at prop. He was not an 80-minute player, like his second-row partner Bob Ryan, and tended to pace himself, lulling the opposition into complacency before coming into a move with such devastating effect that he was over the try-line before they knew what had hit them.

In short, he was world-class and he and Brian Bevan were perhaps the two best Australian players never to have worn the green and gold of the national side.

Bath needed a pain-killing injection before the 1950 Challenge Cup final against Widnes but that did not stop him from scoring a typical try in the first half when he crashed through a quartet of would-be tacklers.

He had signed too late to be eligible for the Championship play-offs of 1948, when Warrington won the title for the first time, and then had to suffer Championship final defeats against Huddersfield in 1949 and Workington Town in 1951.

Everything fell into place in the 1953-54 season, however, as Bath’s two goals against Halifax at Wembley set up the Challenge Cup final replay at Odsal Stadium which Warrington won 8-4 in front of a then world record crowd of 102,569.

He also kicked the four goals that gave Warrington an 8-7 victory over Halifax in the Championship final at Maine Road to seal the Double. Twelve months later, his two goals were the difference between Warrington and Oldham as the Wire proved their mettle by retaining the title.

Bath played his final game for Warrington against Bramley at Wilderspool in February 1957 before returning to Australia for three great seasons with Sydney St George. When he finished playing, he took up coaching with just as much success. In 1968 and 1970, he masterminded Australia’s World Cup wins and in 1977 and 1979 he coached St George to Grand Final triumphs over Parramatta and Canterbury respectfully, earning the nickname “The Old Fox”.

The St George full-back in that second triumph was future Warrington coach Brian Johnson. “He signed me for St George when I was 22 and was the coach for my first three seasons,” Johnson recalled. “He had a very good record as a coach in Australia. He was very clever…I guess he was the last of the old-style coaches but he wasn’t a yeller, a shouter and a screamer. He was particularly good with the forwards but I learned a lot from him too, in terms of how to back up and when to back up. He was a great bloke.”

In 1999, Bath was invited to the official opening of Stadium Australia in Sydney, venue for the following year’s Olympic Games. Later in 1999, more than 500 supporters packed into the St George club to pay tribute to their former player and coach.

In 2004, Bath was inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame for his outstanding achievements in playing and coaching. In 2006 Harry donated his 1948 Championship winners’ medal to raise funds for the Mike Gregory Trust/ He died in Cronulla in October 2008 after a long illness, aged 83, a legend in England and Australia.

Hall of Fame: Bath, Cunliffe and Kelly