Paul Langmack, the Bulldogs Great Who Also Played for Halifax, Has Died Aged 61
Paul Langmack, who won three premierships with the Canterbury Bulldogs, has died aged 61. He suffered a suspected heart attack and collapsed at a gym in Breakfast Point, Sydney, on Thursday morning, and could not be revived in hospital, Nine reported.
The Bulldogs confirmed his death. Canterbury general manager Phil Gould heard the news from Langmack’s sister Diane, who has been Gould’s personal assistant for 15 years.
A schoolboy in the Dogs of War
Langmack was still at school when he made his first grade debut for Canterbury in 1983. A year later he played in the grand final win over Parramatta, and he added premierships in 1985 and 1988 in the side known as the Dogs of War.
He played 174 games for the Bulldogs, then 137 for Western Suburbs and three for Sydney City. That is 314 first grade games in Australia, the ABC said, and he played four State of Origin games for New South Wales. Rugby League Week named the ball-playing lock its player of the year in 1992.
Halifax and the 1986 Kangaroo tour
British fans saw him too. Langmack toured Great Britain and France with the 1986 Kangaroos, playing 10 tour matches but no Tests, and later played 19 games for Halifax, according to the ABC.
That tour is where Balmain great Ben Elias, a rival since a 1981 schoolboy final, became a friend. “In 1986 we went on the Kangaroo tour together and became mates for life,” Elias told Nine. The pair met again in the 1988 grand final. “He came out on top and I was shattered, but a part of me was happy for him. He was such a good bloke, he had no enemies.”
The current Kangaroos are in Sydney preparing for Sunday’s World Cup semi-final against Samoa, with Latrell Mitchell named on the bench. Our Kangaroos World Cup squad page has the full group.
Coach, then mental health work
After he retired at the end of 1999, Langmack became an assistant coach at the Wests Tigers, then head coach of South Sydney in 2003 and 2004. More recently he worked for the NSW Rugby League as its mental fitness and wellbeing manager, Nine reported.
“He was a larger-than-life character,” Gould said. “Paul also started many mental health support programs to help young kids, plus both current and former players. He was always thinking of other people. This is a significant loss to so many.”
“The real character who held the team together”
Former Bulldogs teammate Peter Tunks remembered the dressing room. “He was a bit crazy but that’s what everyone loved about him at Canterbury,” Tunks told Nine. “Langers was the real character who held the team together and one of the main reasons we were so successful.”
ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys said: “As a player he was tough, but he had the skills as well. And he loved the game so much he just wanted to be involved in it, whether it be playing, coaching or, in recent years, working with the NSWRL in their community and mental health programs. He always wanted to help people.”
