McTernan, who died after a battle with cancer aged 67, was renowned for his lightning speed and scored three tries in a man-of-the-match performance in the ’71 decider including one under the uprights after an 80-metre dash down the sideline.

“He wasn’t the greatest tackler, but he is the fastest player on a footy field I’ve seen,” Pickers legend Brian Burke recalled of his teammate.

“He was lightning fast and scored a lot of tries for us.”

McTernan’s league career was cut short in 1973 on doctor’s advice after receiving one too many concussions from head-high tackles.

He continued with the Pickers as leagues club secretary and was responsible for recruiting several leading players to the club.

On the sporting front he switched to professional sprinting and many suggest he could have won a Stawell Gift if he had gone on the circuit earlier.

McTernan’s son Damian said his father won the 70 metre sprint at Stawell one year and finished second in the semi-final to the eventual winner.

“He won a lot of gifts around the circuit but just missed out on making the final at Stawell,” Damian, who followed his father into running, said.

Damian said a few years ago he had gone through the Maitland Mercury’s files to prepare a scrapbook as a gift for his father’s birthday.

“It was fantastic to be able to sit down with him and have him relive some of his memories from those days,” he said.

“The Pumpkin Pickers were such a huge part of Maitland life at that time. Every time they made the grand final, the Newcastle Sportsground was packed.

“They had something like 26,000 people there for the 1971 grand final and regularly had crowds of more than 10,000 at their home games at the Maitland Sportsground.

“It was before the Knights and a lot of the players were being picked to play for NSW Country, NSW and even Australia.”

Damian said his father managed to score 80 tries in his five seasons with the Pickers.

“Dad came to the club as an 18-year-old in 1968 and after four games was picked to play for the Newcastle rep team,” he said.

“Newcastle used to play touring international teams in those years and was a real scrapyard for the visiting teams.

“Dad also went on to play with NSW Country and was on the wing beside Mick Cronin in one game.”

Damian said playing for the Pickers in that era had always been a great source of pride for his father.

“They have been there for each other and were by Dad’s side as he battled cancer, which meant so much to me and my sister Belinda,” he said.

“Brian Burke, Terry Pannowitz and Alan McNab and a number of his other teammates regularly visited him.”

McTernan’s funeral will be held at St Joseph’s Catholic Church, East Maitland, on Monday from 10am.