League grand final hero Bath dies
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Legendary rugby league player Harry Bath, who won five premierships and coached the Dragons to another two, has died in Sydney at the age of 83.
Bath won his first premiership in 1945 playing for Brisbane Souths, before winning two with Balmain in 1946 and '47.
He then moved to play in England in the late 1940s and won two Challenge Cups with Warrington.
Despite nursing a chronic knee problem, Bath returned to Australia and surprised St George fans when he proved vital in winning three of the club's historic 11 consecutive titles.
'The Old Fox', as he was known, later found more success at the Dragons as coach with two premierships in 1977 and '79.
Bath also coached Australia to World Cup victories in 1968 and 1970.
Bath was this year named in rugby league's greatest 100 players and NRL chief executive Mr David Gallop said there would be a tribute to Harry Bath during the Centenary grand final day.
"He made an enormous contribution to the game," Mr Gallop said in a statement.
"Champions are masters of timing and for a man who played in as many premierships as Harry Bath, the deciding day of the Centenary premiership seems an appropriate time to say farewell."
St George great Norm Provan says the man known as the "old fox" was a vital part of the premiership winning Dragons teams of the late fifties.
"They called him The Old Fox. He was always that step ahead, and in those days you had to win the scrums," he said.
"Today, it goes in the second row the feed, but in those days you had to have possession, and the only way to get possession was to be an old fox."
