| 1970 NSWRFL season | |
| Teams | 12 |
| Premiers | South Sydney (19th title) |
| Minor premiers | South Sydney (16th title) |
| Matches played | 136 |
| Points scored | 4407 (total) 32.404 (per match) |
| Attendance | 1,630,630 (total) 11,990 (per match) |
| Top point scorer(s) | Eric Simms (241) |
| Top try scorer(s) | Ken Irvine (16) |
The 1970 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the sixty-third season of Sydney's professional rugby league football competition, Australia's first. Twelve teams, including six foundation clubs and another six admitted post 1908, competed for the J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season which culminated in a grand final match for the WD & HO Wills Cup between the Manly-Warringah and South Sydney clubs.
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Following the previous season's "lay-down" or "stop-start" grand final, rugby league's rules were changed for this season so that rather than stopping the game to call a doctor onto the field when a player goes down injured, the ball is given to a team-mate to play so that no advantage can be gained from feigning injury.[1] Head-high tackles were also outlawed at the commencement of the 1970 season. Each side met all others twice in twenty-two regular season rounds before the top four finishers, Souths, Manly, St. George and Canterbury, fought out four finals for a place in the grand final.
The 1970 season's Rothmans Medallist was Eastern Suburbs' halfback Kevin Junee. Rugby League Week awarded their player of the year award to Cronulla-Sutherland's halfback Tommy Bishop.
| Balmain | Canterbury-Bankstown | Cronulla-Sutherland | Eastern Suburbs |
| Manly-Warringah | Newtown | North Sydney | Parramatta Captain-coach: Ron Lynch |
| Penrith | South Sydney | St. George | Western Suburbs |
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Sydney | 22 | 17 | 1 | 4 | 479 | 273 | +206 | 35 |
| 2 | Manly-Warringah | 22 | 16 | 1 | 5 | 422 | 285 | +137 | 33 |
| 3 | St. George | 22 | 15 | 0 | 7 | 408 | 329 | +79 | 30 |
| 4 | Canterbury-Bankstown | 22 | 14 | 0 | 8 | 308 | 269 | +39 | 28 |
| 5 | Eastern Suburbs | 22 | 13 | 0 | 9 | 386 | 320 | +66 | 26 |
| 6 | Balmain | 22 | 12 | 1 | 9 | 380 | 347 | +33 | 25 |
| 7 | Cronulla-Sutherland | 22 | 9 | 0 | 13 | 374 | 335 | +39 | 18 |
| 8 | Newtown | 22 | 9 | 0 | 13 | 345 | 409 | -64 | 18 |
| 9 | North Sydney | 22 | 7 | 1 | 14 | 332 | 435 | -103 | 15 |
| 10 | Penrith | 22 | 7 | 1 | 14 | 292 | 406 | -114 | 15 |
| 11 | Western Suburbs | 22 | 6 | 1 | 15 | 329 | 403 | -74 | 13 |
| 12 | Parramatta | 22 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 240 | 484 | -244 | 8 |
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and Time | Venue | Referee | Crowd | |||||
| Semi Finals | ||||||||
| St. George | 12 - 7 | Canterbury-Bankstown | 29 August 1970 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Keith Page | 40,083 | ||
| South Sydney | 22 - 15 | Manly-Warringah | 5 September 1970 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Don Lancashire | 40,211 | ||
| Preliminary Final | ||||||||
| Manly-Warringah | 15 - 6 | St. George | 12 September 1970 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Don Lancashire | 43,147 | ||
| Grand Final | ||||||||
| South Sydney | 23 - 12[2] | Manly-Warringah | 19 September 1970 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Don Lancashire | 53,241 | ||
| Manly-Warringah | Position | South Sydney |
|---|---|---|
| Bob Batty | FB | Eric Simms |
| Dereck Moritz | WG | Michael Cleary |
| Bob Fulton | CE | Paul Sait |
| Alex Tennant | CE | Arthur Branighan |
| John McDonald (c) | WG | Ray Branighan |
| Ian Martin | FE | Denis Pittard |
| Ed Whiley | HB | Bob Grant |
| Bill Hamilton | PR | John Sattler (c) |
| Fred Jones | HK | Elwyn Walters |
| John Bucknall | PR | John O'Neill |
| Lindsay Drake | SR | Bob McCarthy |
| John Morgan | SR | Gary Stevens |
| Ron Cameron | LK | Ron Coote |
| Allan Thomson | Reserve | Bob Honan |
| Ron Willey | Coach | Clive Churchill |
Having lost the previous Grand Final to the Balmain Tigers, Souths were desperate to win this year. After four minutes the Rabbitohs had scored. Approximately five minutes later Souths captain John Sattler collapsed, having been punched in an off-the-ball incident by Manly forward John Bucknall.[3] He suffered a double fracture to his jaw but pleaded to team mate Mike Cleary, "Hold me up so they don't know I'm hurt". He was helped up and continued to play in the game. At half-time Souths were leading 12-6 when his fellow team mates learnt about his injury.
During the interval Sattler refused treatment and insisted he continue playing. He also told the side, "the next bloke who tries to cut me out of the play is in trouble", to prevent his team mates trying to protect him from further injury. The Souths forward pack returned to the fray and completely dominated the play with their backline hardly called upon. Bucknall had been replaced by Alan Thompson in the 35th minute after sustained punitive attention from the Rabbitohs pack saw him suffer a shoulder injury in a heavy tackle.
Souths' halfback Bob Grant opened the scoring in the fourth minute crossing untouched while his opposite number Eddie Whiley was off the field having an injury treated. Rabbitohs winger Ray Branighan also crossed untouched six minutes from full-time. By game's end South Sydney had scored 3 tries to nil in a 23-12 victory. Sattler later went to hospital to receive treatment but only after receiving the J. J. Giltinan Shield and making an acceptance speech.
Eric Simms' record of four field-goals that day stands as the most ever kicked in a Grand Final.
South Sydney 23 (Tries: Grant 2, R Branighan. Goals: Simms 3. Fld Goals: Simms 4)
defeated
Manly-Warringah 12 (Goals: Batty 4. Fld Goals: Fulton 2)
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