silvertail
Reserve Grader
==Playing career==
Manly 1971-1983: 237 games, 1,917 points (71 tries, 847 goals, 3 field goals)
Australia 1973-1979: 20 Tests, 16 points (2 tries, 5 goals)
Eadie was graded by Manly-Warringah in [[1971 NSWRFL season|1971]] and showed immediate promise in the lower grades that season. The following year with the retirement of long serving Manly fullback [[Bob Batty]], he established himself as the team's first grade fullback and his powerful running style was already a serious danger to all Manly's opponents. Though not excessively tall at just under 180 cm, Eadie's solid build of around 97 kg (15 [[stone (weight)|stone]]) gave him abundant pace and so much strength that once he was on the move, few opposing defenders were ever able to stop him when he ran into the backline. At the same time, Eadie was an accurate line kicker and extremely safe under the high ball in an era when the "[[Bomb (kick)|bomb]]" was coming into prominence.
Although he had been used as a goal kicker in some games in [[1972 NSWRFL season|1972]], it was only in [[1973 NSWRFL season|1973]] that Eadie became Manly's major point scorer. That year, he kicked 14 goals in a match against [[Penrith Panthers|Penrith]], and for the following three years he was the leading point scorer in the competition, reaching a high of 242 points (14 tries and 100 goals) in [[1975 NSWRFL season|1975]], a club record that would not be broken until [[New Zealand Kiwis|New Zealand]] international [[Matthew Ridge]] (also a fullback) scored 257 points (11 tries, 106 goals and 1 field goal) in [[1995 ARL season|1995]].
Eadie was selected to the [[Australian Kangaroos|Australian team]] for the [[1978 Kangaroo tour]] and, after an injury to Kangaroos Captain-coach [[Graeme Langlands]], took over as Test fullback for the final two [[The Ashes (rugby league)|Ashes]] tests against [[Great Britain Lions|Great Britain]], marking his debut at [[Headingley Stadium#Headingley Carnegie Stadium|Headingley]] in [[Leeds]] by kicking 5 goals in windy conditions. Though Langlands regained the test fullback spot in 1974, Eadie went on to be Australia's regular fullback from 1975 until he retired from representative rugby league following the experimental [[1980 State of Origin match]]. Despite being a record point scorer for Manly, Eadie was never a prolific point scorer at Test level as [[Country New South Wales rugby league team|Country Firsts]] and later [[Parramatta Eels|Parramatta]] {{rlp|CE}} [[Mick Cronin (rugby league)|Mick Cronin]] was generally the first choice kicker in representative sides.
In [[1974 NSWRFL season|1974]], Eadie won the prestigious [[Rothmans Medal]] as Sydney rugby league's best-and-fairest player, and at the end of the controversial [[1978 NSWRFL season#Finals|1978 finals series]] he produced one of the finest performances ever by a fullback in the Grand Final replay, scoring a try, going close to scoring a second time before passing for [[Russell Gartner]] to score, and charging consistently through an extremely strong [[Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks|Cronulla-Sutherland]] defence. Two years earlier, his accurate goal kicking under pressure won Manly the [[1976 NSWRFL season#Grand Final|1976 Grand Final]] where they scored only one try to Parramatta's two. Eadie's dominance in the '76 and '78 Grand Finals was recognised thirty years later with the awarding of retrospective [[Clive Churchill Medal]]s for Man of the Match in those games.
Following the 1978 Grand Final, Eadie was selected to his second [[Kangaroo Tour]]. The coach of the 1978 Kangaroos was Eadie's Manly coach [[Frank Stanton (rugby league)|Frank Stanton]], while the captain was his former Sea Eagles team mate [[Bob Fulton]] who was at the time playing for [[Sydney Roosters|Eastern Suburbs]].
Despite Manly declining in surprising fashion to miss the semi-finals for the first time in twelve years in [[1979 NSWRFL season|1979]], Eadie's form remained excellent, and even a major injury that forced him to miss half of the [[1981 NSWRFL season|1981 season]] failed to dim his brilliance: at the end of [[1982 NSWRFL season|1982]], commentators were noticing how he was "more involved in the game than at any stage since 1973." Thus his retirement from Sydney rugby league after Manly's loss to Parramatta in the [[1983 NSWRFL season#Grand Final|1983 Grand Final]] was regretted by most lovers of the game - a fact born out by his remarkable comeback for English club [[Halifax RLFC|Halifax]] three years later, when he scored sixteen tries (a record for a fullback) and helped Halifax to the 1986 Club Championship and 1987 Rugby League [[Challenge Cup]], winning the [[Lance Todd Trophy]] for his man-of-the-match performance in the final at [[Wembley Stadium (1923)|Wembley Stadium]].
Manly 1971-1983: 237 games, 1,917 points (71 tries, 847 goals, 3 field goals)
Australia 1973-1979: 20 Tests, 16 points (2 tries, 5 goals)
Eadie was graded by Manly-Warringah in [[1971 NSWRFL season|1971]] and showed immediate promise in the lower grades that season. The following year with the retirement of long serving Manly fullback [[Bob Batty]], he established himself as the team's first grade fullback and his powerful running style was already a serious danger to all Manly's opponents. Though not excessively tall at just under 180 cm, Eadie's solid build of around 97 kg (15 [[stone (weight)|stone]]) gave him abundant pace and so much strength that once he was on the move, few opposing defenders were ever able to stop him when he ran into the backline. At the same time, Eadie was an accurate line kicker and extremely safe under the high ball in an era when the "[[Bomb (kick)|bomb]]" was coming into prominence.
Although he had been used as a goal kicker in some games in [[1972 NSWRFL season|1972]], it was only in [[1973 NSWRFL season|1973]] that Eadie became Manly's major point scorer. That year, he kicked 14 goals in a match against [[Penrith Panthers|Penrith]], and for the following three years he was the leading point scorer in the competition, reaching a high of 242 points (14 tries and 100 goals) in [[1975 NSWRFL season|1975]], a club record that would not be broken until [[New Zealand Kiwis|New Zealand]] international [[Matthew Ridge]] (also a fullback) scored 257 points (11 tries, 106 goals and 1 field goal) in [[1995 ARL season|1995]].
Eadie was selected to the [[Australian Kangaroos|Australian team]] for the [[1978 Kangaroo tour]] and, after an injury to Kangaroos Captain-coach [[Graeme Langlands]], took over as Test fullback for the final two [[The Ashes (rugby league)|Ashes]] tests against [[Great Britain Lions|Great Britain]], marking his debut at [[Headingley Stadium#Headingley Carnegie Stadium|Headingley]] in [[Leeds]] by kicking 5 goals in windy conditions. Though Langlands regained the test fullback spot in 1974, Eadie went on to be Australia's regular fullback from 1975 until he retired from representative rugby league following the experimental [[1980 State of Origin match]]. Despite being a record point scorer for Manly, Eadie was never a prolific point scorer at Test level as [[Country New South Wales rugby league team|Country Firsts]] and later [[Parramatta Eels|Parramatta]] {{rlp|CE}} [[Mick Cronin (rugby league)|Mick Cronin]] was generally the first choice kicker in representative sides.
In [[1974 NSWRFL season|1974]], Eadie won the prestigious [[Rothmans Medal]] as Sydney rugby league's best-and-fairest player, and at the end of the controversial [[1978 NSWRFL season#Finals|1978 finals series]] he produced one of the finest performances ever by a fullback in the Grand Final replay, scoring a try, going close to scoring a second time before passing for [[Russell Gartner]] to score, and charging consistently through an extremely strong [[Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks|Cronulla-Sutherland]] defence. Two years earlier, his accurate goal kicking under pressure won Manly the [[1976 NSWRFL season#Grand Final|1976 Grand Final]] where they scored only one try to Parramatta's two. Eadie's dominance in the '76 and '78 Grand Finals was recognised thirty years later with the awarding of retrospective [[Clive Churchill Medal]]s for Man of the Match in those games.
Following the 1978 Grand Final, Eadie was selected to his second [[Kangaroo Tour]]. The coach of the 1978 Kangaroos was Eadie's Manly coach [[Frank Stanton (rugby league)|Frank Stanton]], while the captain was his former Sea Eagles team mate [[Bob Fulton]] who was at the time playing for [[Sydney Roosters|Eastern Suburbs]].
Despite Manly declining in surprising fashion to miss the semi-finals for the first time in twelve years in [[1979 NSWRFL season|1979]], Eadie's form remained excellent, and even a major injury that forced him to miss half of the [[1981 NSWRFL season|1981 season]] failed to dim his brilliance: at the end of [[1982 NSWRFL season|1982]], commentators were noticing how he was "more involved in the game than at any stage since 1973." Thus his retirement from Sydney rugby league after Manly's loss to Parramatta in the [[1983 NSWRFL season#Grand Final|1983 Grand Final]] was regretted by most lovers of the game - a fact born out by his remarkable comeback for English club [[Halifax RLFC|Halifax]] three years later, when he scored sixteen tries (a record for a fullback) and helped Halifax to the 1986 Club Championship and 1987 Rugby League [[Challenge Cup]], winning the [[Lance Todd Trophy]] for his man-of-the-match performance in the final at [[Wembley Stadium (1923)|Wembley Stadium]].
