Eric Grothe Snr

With shoulder-length hair and a bushy beard, Eric Grothe was the best winger of his era, an intimidating presence on the end of a Parramatta backline that also featured Peter Sterling, Brett Kenny, Mick Cronin and Steve Ella.

Grothe accumulated 78 tries from 150 games in an injury-plagued career for the Eels that concluded in 1989.

His high knee-pumping action and sudden change of pace frequently left defenders in his wake during the Eels progression to four premierships.

One of Grothe's most famous tries came in the 1983 preliminary final when he found the line after beating six Canterbury players in a phenomenal solo effort.

In that year's grand final, he steamrolled over Manly fullback Graham Eadie to score another memorable four-pointer.

Grothe scored two tries in the only State of Origin match of 1981, the first of nine appearances for NSW between 1981 and 1986.

His Australian debut came on the 1982 Invincibles tour, when he scored 21 tries in 14 matches. He crossed for tries in all eight Tests that he played.

In 1989, Sterling wrote that ''at his top (Grothe) might just have been the most dynamic runner of the ball the game has ever seen''.

In 1995, Grothe was unanimously selected in a best Australian team of the limited-tackle era, a distinction he shared with Arthur Beetson.

In 2005, he was named one of the 25 greatest-ever NSW Origin players by Rugby League Week.