1960 NSWRFL season

1960 New South Wales Rugby Football League
Teams	10
Premiers	St. George (7th title)
Minor premiers	St. George (7th title)
Matches played	98
Points scored	3084 (total) 31.469 (per match)
Attendance	1,032,655 (total) 10,537 (per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Brian Graham (193)
Top try scorer(s)	Reg Gasnier (25)

1960's New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the fifty-third season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. Ten teams from across the city competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup during the season, which culminated in a grand final between St. George and Eastern Suburbs.

Season summary

With four teams finishing on equal second place at the end of the regular season, and no weight given to the "for" and "against" points differential, minor premiers St. George watched Western Suburbs, Eastern Suburbs, Balmain and Canterbury-Bankstown go through a four-match series of play offs before the real finals commenced. In a double header at the Sydney Sports Ground, Easts and Wests won the right to play off for second and third spots, while Canterbury and Balmain's losses meant they would play off for the fourth and final place in the finals series.

Also in 1960, NSWRFL president Henry "Jersey" Flegg died and Bill Buckley took up the position.

This season the Western Suburbs Magpies won the NSWRFL Club Championship.

Teams

Balmain 53rd season Ground: Leichhardt Oval Coach: John O'Toole Captain:	Canterbury-Bankstown 26th season Ground: Belmore Sports Ground Coach: Eddie Burns Captain:	Eastern Suburbs 53rd season Ground: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Dick Dunn Captain: Jack Gibson	Manly-Warringah 14th season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Ken Arthurson Captain:		Newtown 53rd season Ground: Henson Park Coach: Charles Cahill Captain:	North Sydney 53rd season Ground: North Sydney Oval Captain-coach: Greg Hawick	Parramatta 14th season Ground: Cumberland Oval Coach: Jack Rayner Captain:	South Sydney 53rd season Ground: Redfern Oval Coach: Captain:
	St. George 40th season Ground: Kogarah Oval Captain-coach: Ken Kearney	Western Suburbs 53rd season Ground: Pratten Park Coach: Captain:

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	St. George	18	14	0	4	456	176	+280	28
2	Western Suburbs	18	11	0	7	350	298	+52	22
3	Eastern Suburbs	18	11	0	7	264	221	+43	22
4	Balmain	18	11	0	7	286	254	+32	22
5	Canterbury	18	11	0	7	249	285	-36	22
6	Manly	18	10	0	8	231	217	+14	20
7	North Sydney	18	8	0	10	317	357	-40	16
8	South Sydney	18	6	0	12	211	256	-45	12
9	Newtown	18	6	0	12	251	313	-62	12
10	Parramatta	18	2	0	16	215	453	-238	4

Finals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Playoffs
Western Suburbs	28-10	Balmain	9 August 1960	Sydney Sports Ground		21,308
Eastern Suburbs	20-11	Canterbury	9 August 1960	Sydney Sports Ground		21,308
Western Suburbs	18-7	Eastern Suburbs	13 August 1960	Sydney Cricket Ground		21,855
Balmain	7-18	Canterbury	14 August 1960	Sydney Sports Ground		16,507
Semi Finals
St. George	31-7	Western Suburbs	20 August 1960	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	38,407
Eastern Suburbs	16-9	Canterbury	21 August 1960	Sydney Sports Ground	Darcy Lawler	18,455
Preliminary Final
Western Suburbs	15-20	Eastern Suburbs	27 August 1960	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	29,393
Grand Final
St. George	31-6	Eastern Suburbs	3 September 1960	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	53,156

Grand Final

St. George had lost to Eastern Suburbs late in the regular season and expected them to be a finals force. But due to the playoffs for the minor premiership placements the Roosters were playing their sixth match in four weeks, including an extra-time tussle in the minor semi against Canterbury.

For the first grand final in four the defending premiers left their strongarm tactics in the locker room and let their skilled backline excel. Five minutes into the game Bob Bugden toed a loose ball through and fell on it to open the scoring. At 23 minutes the second try was set up by Brian Clay who beat his opposite Billy McNamara and passed to Reg Gasnier who dazzled the opposition with a change of pace that left them flatfooted.

Prop Kevin Ryan may have been in his rookie St. George season but he had already represented for Australia at rugby union and for Queensland in boxing. He had fit into the tough St. George pack with ease and featured on Grand Final day in setting up firstly fellow newcomer Johnny King for a first half try, then Gasnier after the break for his second before being sent off at the 60 minute mark, along with Easts forward Brian Wright, for fighting.

Norm Provan and Dave Brown also scored in the second half and two minutes before the bell an interplay between Provan and Brian Graham resulted in King getting his second try. Only a few weeks earlier Johnny King had been the third grade fullback, having been declined a contract offer early in the season from South Sydney.

Although they were on the wrong side of a 17-6 penalty caning, St. George scored seven tries to nil, walloping Eastern Suburbs 31-6.

Ken Kearney became the oldest player to appear in a grand final (36 years 123 days) and also equalled Jack Rayner's record of five grand finals won as captain.

St. George 31 (Tries: Gasnier 2, King 2, Bugden, Brown, Provan. Goals: Graham 5.)

Eastern Suburbs 6 (Goals: Landers 3.)

References

• Rugby League Tables - Season 1960 The World of Rugby League
• Writer, Larry (1995) Never Before, Never Again, Pan MacMillan, Sydney
• Results:1951-1960 at rabbitohs.com.au
• 1960 J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup at rleague.com
• NSWRFL season 1960 at rugbyleagueproject.com
• 1960 Final at Dragons History site