Almost from the day Viv Thicknesse came across from representative rugby union to join Sydney's Eastern Suburbs in the 1931 season, he impressed as a leader. By the time he retired in 1937, he had built a reputation for scrum-half play that has probably never been matched in his club's history. Captain in the Club's 1935 Premiership victory, Viv Thicknesse went from rugby union convert to Rugby League superstar in a matter of months.

Following his schooling at Sydney Boys High School in the 1920s, Thicknesse was a half-back with Sydney's Eastern Suburbs Rugby Union Club. He switched to the professional code in 1931 and joined Eastern Suburbs' rugby league side. He was a member of the Tricolours' champion teams of the 1930s and won consecutive premierships with the club in the NSWRL seasons of 1935, 1936 and 1937. He captained the 1937 side

Viv represented New South Wales on eleven occasions between 1933 and 1936 and made his international debut for Australia on the 1933–34 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain, where he appeared in two Tests and in sixteen minor matches. He played in further Test series against New Zealand in 1935, and against Great Britain in 1936 for a total of seven career Test appearances. He is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No. 181. He formed a formidable representative halves pairing with Wests great Vic Hey and with his Easts clubmate Ernie Norman.

A halfback of notable skill, Thicknesse was renowned for his passing game and was selected in Eastern Suburbs 'Team of the Century'. Dally Messenger once said of Viv Thicknesse, that "he rated him the equal of any half he had seen play the game". In February 2008, Thicknesse was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia. After one game in the reserves in 1931, Rugby League News compared Thicknesse to Chris McKivat, Pony Halloway and Duncan Thompson, writing that ''the smooth, sharp and accurate shooting of the ball from the scrum was exhilarating to say the least''.

Thicknesse's last game for Easts, before he retired for business reasons, came in the final premiership round of 1937, when he produced what many considered to be his greatest game in first grade. Thicknesse won 58 of his 74 matches for the Club between 1932-1937. Viv Thicknesse maintained scrapbooks throughout his playing career, and a diary of the 1933–34 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. In 2012, the State Library of New South Wales acquired Viv Thicknesse's scrapbooks and diaries.

"Success is a very fickle thing," said Mr. Thicknesse.

Sometimes you are up, and other times you are down. But if your heart Is really in the game and you mean to reach the top, no one man will stop you. "Hard work is the only way to become successful.