1973 NSWRFL season

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1973 New South Wales Rugby Football League
Teams 12
Premiers Manly-Warringah (2nd title)
Minor premiers Manly-Warringah (3rd title)
Matches played 139
Points scored 4234 (total)
30.46 (per match)
Attendance 1,390,810 (total)
10,006 (per match)
Top point scorer(s) Graeme Langlands (183)
Top try scorer(s) Bob Fulton (18)

The 1973 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the sixty-sixth season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. Twelve district clubs from across the city, including six foundation clubs, competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup during the season, which culminated in a grand final between Manly-Warringah and Cronulla-Sutherland. This season also saw the introduction of an under-23s competition as well as a five-team finals series (rather than the previous four).[1]

Season summary

The 1973 NSWRFL season saw the introduction of the metric system to the playing field. Twenty-two regular season rounds were played from March until August, resulting in a top four of Manly, Cronulla, St. George and Newtown who went on to battle it out in the finals.

The 1973 Rothmans Medal was awarded to Cronulla-Sutherland forward Ken Maddison. Rugby League Week awarded their player of the year award to Manly-Warringah's halfback Johnny Mayes.

The 1973 season also saw the retirement from the League of future Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame inductee, Ken Irvine.

Teams

From 1973 onwards, Newtown were known as the Newtown Jets[2]

Balmain
66th season
Ground: Leichhardt Oval
Coach: Leo Nosworthy
Captain:
Canterbury-Bankstown
season
Ground: Belmore Oval
Coach: Malcolm Clift
Captain:
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
7th season
Ground: Endeavour Field
Captain-coach: Tommy Bishop
Eastern Suburbs
66th season
Ground: Sydney Sports Ground
Coach: Tony Paskins
Captain:
Manly-Warringah
season
Ground: Brookvale Oval
Coach: Ron Willey
Captain:
Newtown Jets
66th season
Ground: Henson Park
Coach: Jack Gibson
Captain:
North Sydney
66th season
Ground: North Sydney Oval
Coach: Noel Kelly
Captain: Ross Warner
Parramatta
season
Ground: Cumberland Oval
Coach: Dave Bolton
Captain:
Penrith
7th season
Ground: Penrith Stadium
Coach: Bob Boland→Leo Trevena
Captain: Ron Lynch
South Sydney
66th season
Ground: Redfern Oval
Coach:
Captain:
St. George
season
Ground: Kogarah Jubilee
Coach: Graeme Langlands
Captain: Graeme Langlands
Western Suburbs
66th season
Ground:
Coach:
Captain:

Ladder

Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1 Manly-Warringah 221714500226+27435
2 Cronulla-Sutherland 221705389219+17034
3 St. George 221507372213+15930
4 Newtown Jets 221408358224+13428
5 Canterbury 221219369269+10025
6 Eastern Suburbs 2212010415314+10124
7 South Sydney 2211110345367-2223
8 North Sydney 227114239350-10115
9 Western Suburbs 227015310414-10414
10 Balmain 227015254495-24114
11 Parramatta 226016275492-21712
12 Penrith 225017272525-25310

Finals

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Crowd
Qualifying Finals
Cronulla-Sutherland 18-0 St. George 25 August 1973 Sydney Cricket Ground Keith Page 37,778
Newtown 13-2 Canterbury 26 August 1973 Sydney Sports Ground Keith Page 17,778
Semi Finals
Manly-Warringah 14-4 Cronulla-Sutherland 1 September 1973 Sydney Cricket Ground Keith Page 41,898
St. George 12-12 Newtown Jets 2 September 1973 Sydney Cricket Ground Keith Page 24,390
St. George 5-8 Newtown Jets 4 September 1973 Sydney Sports Ground Keith Page 27,791
Preliminary Final
Cronulla-Sutherland 20-11 Newtown Jets 8 September 1973 Sydney Cricket Ground Keith Page 30,649
Grand Final
Manly-Warringah 10-7 Cronulla-Sutherland 15 September 1973 Sydney Cricket Ground Keith Page 52,044

Grand Final

Manly-Warringah Position Cronulla-Sutherland
Graham Eadie FB Warren Fisher
Ken Irvine WG Ray Corcoran
Ray Branighan CE Steve Rogers
Bob Fulton CE Eric Archer
Max Brown WG Bob Wear
Ian Martin FE Chris Wellman
John Mayes HB Tommy Bishop (c)
Bill Hamilton PR Cliff Watson
Fred Jones (c) HK Ron Turner
John O'Neill PR Graham Bowen
Peter Peters SR Ken Maddison
Terry Randall SR John Maguire
Malcolm "Mal" Reilly LK Greg Pierce
John Bucknall Bench Rick Bourke
Ron Willey Coach Tommy Bishop

After Cronulla-Sutherland's 14-4 loss in the major semi-final, Manly-Warringah expected the Sharks would be fired up for the Grand Final. And they were. Ian Heads wrote in the Sunday Telegraph the next day that It was a Grand Final as tough and dirty as any bar-room brawl.[3] Alan Clarkson wrote in the Sun Herald The fare served up in the first half belonged in the Colosseum.[4] The first half was not how the game's administrators would have wished to show-case rugby league, every tackle was loaded with menace and meant to damage. But from the melee Bob Fulton emerged and showed his unrivalled skill. Heads and Clarkson wrote of his "towering genius" and "football brilliance" respectively.

Manly's English import Malcolm Reilly, himself never one to take a backward step, was the first victim of the carnage. In the opening minute, Cronulla hooker Ron "Rocky" Turner set his sights on Reilly as the Englishman got an early kick away to take advantage of a strong breeze blowing towards the Bradman Stand (Paddington End). Turner didn't miss Reilly who was left in agony from a badly bruised hip and had to leave the field for pain-killing injections. Knowing he probably wouldn't last the first half he then returned to the field and created mayhem despite the injections he received failing to work properly. He set about doing as much physical damage to Cronulla players as he could, but bowed out in the 25th minute and was replaced by reserve forward John Bucknall. Bucknell, who had played in Manly's winning Reserve Grade Grand Final side earlier in the day, didn't think he would be needed and actually had a meal and soft drink shortly before the first grade game began.

After a number of brawls in the first half, referee Keith Page eventually called in all 26 players twice for mass cautions, threatening that any more foul play would result in players being sent off. Despite the warnings the back-alley tactics continued from both teams, and Page didn't send anyone from the field.[5]

Then Fulton took over in the 29th and 58th minutes. 'Bozo' demonstrated power and pace in both tries. The first came from a brilliant Fred Jones flick pass [6] which saw Fulton split Eric Archer and Steve Rogers just twenty-five metres from the line. Manly took a 5-0 scoreline to the half time break.

The second Fulton try came after Eadie took a pass from five-eighth. Ian Martin then looked for Fulton and set him up perfectly.

Cronulla had to wait a long time before they dented the Manly line. It was in the 70th minute that the crack appeared. Trailing 8-2, the Sharks struck when lock Greg Pierce positioned replacement fullback Rick Bourke for a try (Bourke was flattened by Manly winger Max Brown as he scored, resulting in a broken thumb for Brown). Eadie stretched the lead to three points from a penalty kick and then the Sharks rallied and bombarded Manly. Ultimately, the Manly defence of John Mayes, Terry Randall, Peter Peters, Eadie and Fulton were up to the task. It will, however, go down in Sharks folklore that a Tommy Bishop flick pass in the dying moments failed to go to hand with the Manly line wide open. It was a set move Cronulla had successfully played all year, but had adjusted for the Grand Final in anticipation of Manly's familiarity with the standard move. As expected, the Manly defence reacted to snuff out the set play, leaving a gap that Bishop's pass managed to pinpoint. But in the heat of the moment, Sharks second-rower Ken Maddison also played for the old move, ran the wrong line and the ball went to ground - and with it went the premiership.

Manly-Warringah 10 (Tries: Fulton 2. Goals: Eadie 2/6)

Cronulla-Sutherland 7 (Tries: Bourke. Goals: Rogers 2/5)

Referee: Keith Page
Attendance: 52,044

References

  1. "Form over five years". The Sun-Herald. 19 March 1978. Retrieved 19 June 2011. 
  2. "A history of the Newtown Jets". thefinalwinter.com. Retrieved 2009-07-06. 
  3. Sydney Sunday Telegraph 16 Sept 1973
  4. Sydney Sun Herald 16 Sept 1973
  5. Coady, Ben (2009-09-28). "Grand final dramas". WA Today (Australia: Fairfax Digital). Retrieved 2010-01-15. 
  6. Harker, Jon (25 September 1993). "I'll walk off, says Referee". The Sun-Herald (Australia: Fairfax Media). p. 72. Retrieved 12 February 2011. 

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