1984 Ashes series against Great Britain, winning a well publicised battle with Parramatta and NSW captain Ray Price. Wally was also named player of the series for his performance as captain of the Brisbane Rugby League team that won the 1984 National Panasonic Cup Final against Sydney's Eastern Suburbs Roosters club. Lewis was named man-of-the match in the first two games of the 1984 State of Origin series, making it three consecutive Origin man-of-the-match awards. That year, he also won the Brisbane Rugby League premiership's grand final against Souths. The following year, Lewis was awarded the inaugural Golden Boot Award as the world's best international player in 1984. Lewis was man-of-the-match for Game II of the 1985 State of Origin series, becoming the second player, after Mal Meninga in Game 1 1982, from the losing team to win the award. He then played in Wynnum-Manly's 1985 BRL grand final loss to a Souths Magpies team which included Gary Belcher, Mal Meninga and Peter Jackson. The Australian side toured New Zealand that year, winning the test series 2–1. The New Zealand tour was an unhappy one though, with coach Terry Fearnley, who had just led New South Wales to their first ever State of Origin series win, not getting along with captain Lewis or the other Queensland players and seemingly favoring NSW players, especially tour vice-captain Wayne Pearce. After winning the first two tests, Fearnley dropped four players from the team, all Queenslanders, in what Queensland Rugby League boss Senator Ron McAuliffe called a "Football Assassination". The changes to the team proved to be a disaster as the Kiwis defeated a disjointed Australia 18–0. The following year, internal problems between the Seagulls club board and its head coach Des Morris saw Lewis installed as Captain-coach of Wynnum-Manly. Lewis would lead the team, which included rep players Colin Scott, Gene Miles and Bob Lindner, to a 14–6 win over Brothers in the 1986 BRL Grand Final at Lang Park. He then became the first Queenslander since Tom Gorman in 1929–30 to be named as captain for a Kangaroo tour. Following the successful 1986 Kangaroo tour which the Australians went through undefeated to earn themselves the nickname The Unbeatables, 1985 Australian coach Terry Fearnley wrote an article for Rugby League Week that was highly critical of Lewis' captaincy based on his experiences during the 1985 New Zealand tour. Don Furner, who took over