playing against Great Britain at prop forward in the tournament final which was drawn. On the 1973 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France he was selected as Australia's vice captain, playing at prop forward in all three Ashes test matches. Beetson then became the first aboriginal player to captain Australia in the second test against France. His skill as a footballer was matched only by his skill as an eater, earning nicknames such as 'Meat Pie Artie'. He was known and immortalised by his performance of eating 11 hot dogs before a gala dinner for the Australian team in 1973. Beetson captained Eastern Suburbs to the 1974 and 1975 premierships. During this period Beetson also continued playing with distinction for Australia and in 1974 he was named as Rugby League Week'''s player of the year. During the 1976 NSWRFL season, Beetson captained Eastern Suburbs to victory in their unofficial 1976 World Club Challenge match against British champions St Helens in Sydney. This Easts team would go down as one of the greatest club sides in rugby league history. Beetson joined the Parramatta Eels in 1979. 1980s While still playing in Sydney for Parramatta, Beetson achieved further immortality as captain of Queensland in the inaugural 1980 State of Origin game, won 20–10 by Queensland on 8 July. He capped off that year with a man of the match performance in the Eels' 8-5 Tooth Cup Final win over Balmain. Beetson returned to Queensland for one final year of playing with his old Redcliffe team in 1981. He also captained Queensland for the final 'traditional' interstate match in 1981 and at the end of the season the Dolphins were beaten in the final minute of the grand final by Southern Suburbs. Post-playing Beetson's coaching career began while still playing for Easts in 1977. He was captain-coach of Redcliffe in 1981 and that season was appointed coach of the Queensland State of Origin side, taking them to repeated series victories over New South Wales from 1981 to 1984 . He had a brief, but unsuccessful period, coaching Australia in 1983 before returning to coach his former club Eastern Suburbs, from 1985 to 1988, being named Coach of the Year in 1987. Also in 1987 he received the Medal of the Order of Australia "in recognition of service to the sport of Rugby League". After stepping down as Queensland coach following the 1990