| 1947 NSWRFL season | |
| Teams | 10 |
| Premiers | Balmain[1] (10th title) |
| Minor premiers | Canterbury (3rd title) |
| Matches played | 95 |
| Points scored | 3238 (total) 34.084 (per match) |
| Top point scorer(s) | Pat Devery (142) |
| Top try scorer(s) | Bob Lulham (28) |
The 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the fortieth season of Sydney's top-level rugby league football competition, Australia's first. The addition of two teams, Manly-Warringah and Parramatta, saw ten teams from across the city contest during the 1947 premiership, the first expansion of the League since Canterbury's introduction in 1935. The season culminated in a grand final between the Balmain and Canterbury-Bankstown clubs.[2]
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For the first time since NSWRFL season 1937, more than eight clubs competed in the Sydney premiership due to the admission of Manly-Warringah and Parramatta to the first grade competition.
Mid way through the season the Balmain club looked out of touch winning only 6 of their first 12 games. Five consecutive wins to end the regular season left them in position to make a finals assault. Balmain's Bob Lulham's set a new record for the highest number of tries by a player in a debut season with a tally of 28 tries in 18 matches. This remains that club's standing record for tries in a season.
| Balmain | Canterbury-Bankstown | Eastern Suburbs | Manly-Warringah |
| Newtown | North Sydney | Parramatta | South Sydney |
| St. George | Western Suburbs |
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canterbury | 18 | 13 | 1 | 4 | 366 | 272 | +94 | 27 |
| 2 | Balmain | 18 | 12 | 0 | 6 | 342 | 265 | +77 | 24 |
| 3 | Newtown | 18 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 375 | 302 | +73 | 23 |
| 4 | St. George | 18 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 353 | 272 | +81 | 22 |
| 5 | Western Suburbs | 18 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 295 | 253 | +42 | 22 |
| 6 | North Sydney | 18 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 287 | 278 | +9 | 19 |
| 7 | South Sydney | 18 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 314 | 328 | -14 | 18 |
| 8 | Eastern Suburbs | 18 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 270 | 316 | -46 | 11 |
| 9 | Manly-Warringah | 18 | 4 | 0 | 14 | 242 | 364 | -122 | 8 |
| 10 | Parramatta | 18 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 230 | 424 | -194 | 6 |
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and Time | Venue | Referee | Crowd | |||||
| Playoff | ||||||||
| St. George | 5 - 10 | Western Suburbs | 27 August 1947 | Sydney Sports Ground | 13,552 | |||
| Semi Finals | ||||||||
| Canterbury | 25 - 15 | Newtown | 30 August 1947 | Sydney Cricket Ground | George Bishop | 36,303 | ||
| Balmain | 27 - 16 | Western Suburbs | 6 September 1947 | Sydney Sports Ground | Tom McMahon | 29,375 | ||
| Final | ||||||||
| Canterbury | 19 - 25 | Balmain | 13 September 1947 | Sydney Sports Ground | Jack O'Brien | 34,994 | ||
| Grand Final | ||||||||
| Canterbury | 9 - 13 | Balmain | 20 September 1947[3] | Sydney Sports Ground | Jack O'Brien | 29,292 | ||
| Canterbury-Bankstown | Position | Balmain |
|---|---|---|
| Richard Johnson | FB | Jack McCullough |
| Jeff Simmonds | WG | Robert Lulham |
| Eddie Tracy | CE | Pat Devery |
| Norm Young | CE | Joe Jorgenson |
| Morrie Murphy | WG | Arthur Patton |
| Ray Hasson | FE | George Williams |
| Bruce Hopkins | HB | Des Bryan |
| Eddie Burns | PR | Jack Branighan |
| Roy Kirkaldy | HK | Herb Gilbert Jnr |
| Henry Porter (c) | PR | Jack Spencer |
| Alister Clarke | SR | Sid Ryan |
| Ken Charlton | SR | Harry Bath |
| Len Holmes | LK | Tom Bourke (c) |
| Ross McKinnon | Coach | Norm Robinson |
The Tigers had strung together seven consecutive wins including a preliminary final victory over minor premiers Canterbury in their attempt at a second straight premiership. Canterbury exercised their "right of challenge" after losing the final and called for a Grand Final decider.
The formidable Canterbury front row of Eddie Burns, Roy Kirkaldy and Henry Porter were combining in their tenth season for close to 100 appearances as a scrum front trio. They led a punishing Berries defence and gave their side a better-than-even chance of possession in the scrum contests.
Balmain's international star centre and Kangaroo captain Joe Jorgenson had played and coached on a country contract in Junee in 1947 but returned to the Tigers reserve-grade in time for the semi-finals. The Grand Final marked his sole first-grade appearance of the season. Balmain's Test five-eighth Pat Devery was the nominated match kicker but after several misses he passed over to Jorgenson who kicked three penalties to keep Balmain in the game and trailing 9-6 with ten minutes to go.
Then Jorgenson crashed over for a try under the posts and after receiving medical attention he converted his own goal to give the Tigers an 11-9 lead. A final 45 yard penalty goal then sealed the match for the Tigers at 13-9 with Jorgenson scoring all of Balmain's points and being chaired victorious from the field.
Balmain 13 (Tries: Jorgenson. Goals: Jorgenson 5 )
defeated
Canterbury-Bankstown 9 (Tries: Hasson. Goals: Johnson 2, Hasson)
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