By PETER ROWE

Australia’s first Indigenous rugby league international, Lionel Morgan, has been inducted into the NRL hall of Fame along with 10 other players on Wednesday.

Morgan, a winger for most of his career, was born in 1938 and grew up in Tweed Heads on the NSW-Queensland border before playing for Wynnum-Manly in the Brisbane premiership.

In 1960 he was selected for the second and third Tests of the French tour of Australia and scored two tries on his debut.

He played one match for Australia in the 1960 World Cup, again against France, in England.

In 1962 he was named Queensland’s Best Back.

Morgan continued his association with league after retirement as coach of the Queensland Rugby League’s Indigenous Under-16 team and in 2008 was named on the wing in the Indigenous Team of the Century.

He sadly passed away last year.

Other inductees include Melbourne Storm’s Cameron Smith, Copper Cronk and Billy Slater.

Their former Storm teammate and Indigenous stars Greg Inglis and Queensland superstar Johnathan Thurston, alongside Kiwi halfback Benji Marshall and English forward Sam Burgess.

League hardman Les Boyd, Balmain hooker Ben Elias and Brisbane’s four-time premiership winner Steve Renouf round out the list of new men’s inductees.