In 1913 and 1914, Maltese born Anthony Mirtus was one of the most dependable full backs in New South Wales and won the Gardiner Cup (state championship) in 1913 with Annandale.
In 1915 ‘Tony’ was engaged as a merchant seaman in troopship work and and sent his regards to Sydney’s Saturday Referee and Arrow from Liverpool, England.
He returned to Sydney and enlisted with the AIF in April 1916. He made a stop in Liverpool on the way to the war in France to marry Jessie Hughes on Valentine’s Day in 1917.
He survived the war and returned with Jessie to Australia. They were married for 54 years. Anthony Mirtus died in Sydney in 1978, aged 86.