Gary was a likeable rogue, a bit of a larrikin in every sense of the typically Aussie word. He played rugby league as a youngster, where he was a strong running centre with St Mary’s in the Metropolitan Cup but injury turned him to cricket, where he had come through the junior and senior ranks of the Penrith RSL Club.
He first played for Nepean in 1974/75. He figured in the First Grade Premiership wins of 1978/79 and 1982/83. Team-mates called him ‘The Kid’, which was an affectionate acknowledgement of the probability that he had some boxing skills and enough headstrong bravado that, if he’d been invited into the ring at Sharman’s boxing tent at the Royal Easter Show in years long gone, he’d probably have leapt at it.
