| 1949 NSWRFL season | |
| Teams | 10 |
| Premiers | St. George[1] (2nd title) |
| Minor premiers | South Sydney (10th title) |
| Matches played | 94 |
| Points scored | 2995 (total) 31.862 (per match) |
| Top point scorer(s) | Bill Keato (163) |
| Top try scorer(s) | Ron Roberts (25) |
The 1949 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the forty-second season of Sydney's top-level professional rugby league football club competition, Australia's first. Ten teams from across the city contested the premiership during the season which culminated in a grand final between St. George and South Sydney.[2]
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St. George's Ron Robert's 25 try tally in 1949 stands in third place behind Les Brennan's 29 of 1954 and Bob Lulham's 28 of 1947 for the highest number of tries by a player in a debut season.
The 1949 season was also the last in the NSWRFL for future Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame inductee, Vic Hey.
| 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 | South Sydney | 18 | 13 | 1 | 4 | 360 | 210 | +150 | 27 |
| 2 | Western Suburbs | 18 | 12 | 0 | 6 | 365 | 280 | +85 | 24 |
| 3 | St. George | 18 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 345 | 231 | +114 | 23 |
| 4 | Balmain | 18 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 265 | 206 | +59 | 22 |
| 5 | Parramatta | 18 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 311 | 269 | +42 | 20 |
| 6 | Newtown | 18 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 358 | 332 | +26 | 19 |
| 7 | Canterbury-Bankstown | 18 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 236 | 337 | -101 | 14 |
| 8 | Manly-Warringah | 18 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 171 | 293 | -122 | 13 |
| 9 | North Sydney | 18 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 253 | 369 | -116 | 11 |
| 10 | Eastern Suburbs | 18 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 214 | 351 | -137 | 7 |
Minor premier South Sydney's loss to St. George in the finals meant that a grand final would be necessary.[3]
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and Time | Venue | Referee | Crowd | |||||
| Semi Finals | ||||||||
| South Sydney | 12 - 16 | St. George | 20 August 1949 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Tom McMahon | 41,696 | ||
| Western Suburbs | 13 - 20 | Balmain | 27 August 1949 | Sydney Cricket Ground | George Bishop | 38,209 | ||
| Preliminary Final | ||||||||
| St. George | 18 - 7 | Balmain | 3 September 1949 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Jack O'Brien | 55,341 | ||
| Grand Final | ||||||||
| South Sydney | 12 - 19 | St. George | 10 September 1949 | Sydney Cricket Ground | George Bishop | 56,534 | ||
| South Sydney | Position | St. George |
|---|---|---|
| Clive Churchill | FB | Doug Fleming |
| John Graves | WG | Ron Roberts |
| Norm Spillane | CE | Doug McRitchie |
| Ken Brogan | CE | Matt McCoy |
| Len Allmond | WG | Noel Pidding |
| Arthur Moynihan | FE | Johnny Hawke (capt) |
| Des Bryan | HB | Noel Hill |
| Denis Donoghue | PR | Jack Holland |
| Ernie Hammerton | HK | Frank Facer (v.capt) |
| Jack Melville | PR | Jack Munn |
| Bernie Purcell | SR | Carl Langton |
| Jack Rayner (Ca./Co.) | SR | Charles Banks |
| Les Cowie | LK | George Jardine |
| Coach | Jim Duckworth |
In a brutal encounter, St George ran in five tries and overcame minor premiers South Sydney 19-12[4] to claim their second premiership in front of 56,532 people, the second biggest crowd of all time to witness Sydney club match.[5]
Souths opened the scoring, with a converted try to Graves after 21 minutes. However the Dragons were led masterfully by their captain, Kangaroos five-eighth, Norman 'Johnny' Hawke. Controlling all aspects of the match, Hawke took the game away from Souths who only got back into the contest when he was forced from the field with injury. Also injured was Saints forward George Jardine who played the match with a broken wrist.
St. George led 11 - 5 at half time. Hawke returned to the field after treatment and was later dubbed 'Man of the Match' and 'the Player's Player'. The Dragons' wingers, season's top try scorer Ron Roberts (25 tries) and newcomer Noel Pidding scored two tries each.
Each of the grand final winning players received a record bonus of £300 each.
St. George 19
Tries: Roberts (2), Pidding (2), McCoy
Goals: McCoy, Pidding
South Sydney 12
Tries: Graves, Purcell
Goals: Graves (3)
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