During the 1910 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand, the first ever, Russell made his international league début in the first Test in Sydney on 18 June.

Four of his former Wallaby teammates also debuted that day John Barnett, Bob Craig, Jack Hickey and Chris McKivat - making them collectively Australia's 11th to 15th dual code internationals.

This repeated a similar occurrence two years earlier when five former Wallabies in Micky Dore, Dally Messenger, Denis Lutge, Doug McLean snr and John Rosewell all debuted for the Kangaroos in the first ever Test against New Zealand.

Russell coached Newtown for a number of years, including the premiership winning team of 1933.

[3] In 2008, the centenary year of rugby league in Australia, Russell was named in the Newtown Jets 18-man team of the century.