Ron Turner

Ronald Turner was born on 6 February 1945 and came from Gunnedah, a country town in north western New South Wales. He made his name in local rugby league as a tough, no nonsense hooker.

In 1969 he was selected for the Country Seconds, who beat a Sydney side including future Immortals Bob Fulton and Johnny Raper 24 to 18. A planned move to Newtown collapsed when the Jets signed New Zealand international Oscar Danielson instead, and Turner considered retiring because he could not afford to keep playing without pay.

Cronulla-Sutherland signed Turner on a three year deal for 1970, and he debuted as Sharks player number 53 in round one against Newtown at Endeavour Field on 28 March 1970.

His first season was so strong that he was chosen for Australia's 1970 World Cup squad touring the United Kingdom, becoming the first Cronulla player selected for the Kangaroos (Kangaroo number 447). He played hooker in the final at Headingley in Leeds, which Australia won 12 to 7.

Turner was a mainstay of the Cronulla forwards in the early 1970s, alongside halfback Tommy Bishop. He represented New South Wales once, in 1972, and played in the 1973 grand final against Manly-Warringah, one of the most violent deciders in the game's history, which the Sharks lost narrowly.

In 1974 he was recalled to the Test side for the third and deciding Ashes Test against Great Britain, which Australia won to retain the Ashes. He played four Tests for Australia in all between 1970 and 1974.

He played 95 first grade and 12 reserve grade games for Cronulla before being released at the end of 1975. He joined Newtown for 1976, playing 10 games and passing 100 first grade appearances, and retired after that season.

Turner's teammates at Cronulla remembered him as tall for a hooker, fast and uncompromising. A club photograph shows Tommy Bishop presenting him with a hot water bottle, a reminder of the humour of that early Sharks dressing room. Details of his family life were not widely reported.

Ron Turner died on 9 November 2026, aged 81. The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks announced his death on 10 November in a tribute written by club historian Ashley Taylor, mourning the passing of player number 53. The cause of death was not made public, and funeral arrangements had not been reported.

Since Turner's selection in 1970, around 30 Sharks players have represented Australia, and the club regards him as the man who paved the way as its first Kangaroo. He was a member of the squad that won the 1970 World Cup and of the side that retained the Ashes in 1974, and he played in Cronulla's first grand final in 1973.