John Fitzgerald

In the closing minutes of the 1996 Penrith A Grade rugby league grand final the final try was scored by five-eighth Brett Ranse and those four points secured the premiership for the upper Blue Mountains club Katoomba Devils.

That 21-14 win over raging favourites Doonside was the culmination of the year’s input by the Katoomba club and coach Bruce Ranse, uncle of Brett, and was the second title win in Brett Ranse’s remarkable string of victories in his football journey over the breadth of the Great Dividing Range – ending with 10 premierships with six different clubs.

Clubs that Ranse achieved major honours with were Blackheath, Katoomba, Lower Mountains, Emu Plains, Lithgow Workmen’s and Lithgow Bears.

With the 1996 premiership, at 22 years of age he had won his second senior title – with his home-town club of Katoomba – after previously winning his first medal with Blackheath four years earlier. However, Ranse didn’t stay long with his home team.

The next year he moved on, to Metro Cup team St Marys, spurred by a desire to take another prospective premier team to the top but his new team fell short, beaten in the grand final by Kellyville.

Ranse, with a style reminiscent of great English halfback Alex Murphy, was honing his on-field skills and instinctively moving to clubs that suited his rare talents – and winning premierships.

Another move, another club, another title. Lower Mountains was the next team to benefit from his rising star, but in the following year while preparing for a pre season at Sydney Roosters in 1999 a busted ankle put paid to his year and a possible four consecutive titles.

Again, another year, another new club, and in 2000 more success after his enforced year off. His services to Emu Plains were rewarded with premiership number four.

Returning to Blackheath in 2001 as the Blackcats’ coach he won his fifth title and staying put until the end of 2004.

In 2005 in his initial season with Group 10‘s Lithgow Workmen’s Club he was once again a member of a premier team, the Wolves defeating Bathurst Panthers 19-14 in the grand final at the Tony Luchetti ground at Lithgow, Ranse contributing more than his share of match-winning moments.

The Lithgow club is most famous for producing former international Barry Rushworth from an earlier era.

From the Workies club Ranse was selected, along with teammates Kip Maranda and the Van Veen brothers, for Group 10 and Western Division representation.

Ultimate success with six different clubs was by no means the only highlights when he moved across town to the Lithgow Bears and back-to-back premierships as player-coach in 2010 and 2011.

In 2015 he rejoined with Blackheath, the club he took to a 2001 Midwest Cup grand final win, linking up with son Matthew, and during the progress of the season achieved the milestone of 100 games and a premiership win alongside his son.

After a couple of years away from the game, in 2018 he was back with the Blackcats for premiership number 10.

Twenty years after his first premiership success he made a cameo appearance in Blackheath’s unsuccessful 2025 Woodbridge Cup title defence.

His competitive streak and distaste of failure saw him occasionally falling foul of referees but Ranse, the journeyman footballer who loved his football, overcame every hurdle, making a habit of collecting trophies like accumulating coins in a pocket.

Rugby league success and Brett Ranse have always gone hand in hand, and his remarkable career highlights would be hard to beat.