1946 NSWRFL season

1946 NSWRFL season
Teams	8
Premiers	Balmain (9th title)
Minor premiers	St. George (2nd title)
Matches played	60
Points scored	1956 (total) 32.6 (per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Tom Kirk (122)
Top try scorer(s)	Jack Lindwall (16)

The 1946 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the thirty-ninth season of Sydney's top-level rugby league football competition, Australia's first. Eight teams from across the city contested during the season which culminated in the Balmain club's victory over St. George in the premiership final.^[1]

Season summary

The South Sydney club did not win a single match in 1946, continuing a losing streak that started in round 8, 1945 and which would run till round 1, 1947.

Eastern Suburbs' Lionel Cooper took out the New South Wales 'Player of the Year' award.

Teams

• Balmain, formed on January 23, 1908 at Balmain Town Hall
• Canterbury-Bankstown
• Eastern Suburbs, formed on January 24, 1908 at Paddington Town Hall
• Newtown, formed on January 14, 1908
• North Sydney, formed on February 7, 1908
• South Sydney, formed on January 17, 1908 at Redfern Town Hall
• St. George, formed on November 8, 1920 at Kogarah School of Arts
• Western Suburbs, formed on February 4, 1908

Balmain	Canterbury-Bankstown	Eastern Suburbs	Newtown
North Sydney	South Sydney	St. George	Western Suburbs

Ladder

The geographical locations of the teams that contested the 1946 premiership across Sydney.

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	St. George	14	11	0	3	264	203	+61	22
2	Newtown	14	10	0	4	294	189	+105	20
3	Balmain	14	9	0	5	279	193	+86	18
4	Canterbury-Bankstown	14	8	1	5	212	196	+16	17
5	Eastern Suburbs	14	8	0	6	213	174	+39	16
6	North Sydney	14	5	0	9	248	283	-35	10
7	Western Suburbs	14	4	1	9	224	267	-43	9
8	South Sydney	14	0	0	14	124	353	-229	0

Finals

With just two rounds remaining, Newtown looked on track for the minor premiership until they lost to Eastern Suburbs and then Balmain in the two final rounds of the year. This left St. George to take the minor premiership, and with it, a guaranteed place in a Final. This proved costly for Newtown who were narrowly beaten by Canterbury-Bankstown in the semi final eliminator, meaning they were out of the competition. St. George also lost their first round match, meaning they immediately got sent into the Grand Final against the winner of a Balmain and Canterbury-Bankstown match, which Balmain won by a point.

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Semi Finals
St. George	14 - 22	Balmain	24 August 1946	Sydney Cricket Ground	George Bishop	34,408
Newtown	10 - 12	Canterbury-Bankstown	31 August 1946	Sydney Cricket Ground	Jack O'Brien	28,012
Preliminary Final
Balmain	8 - 7	Canterbury-Bankstown	7 September 1946	Sydney Cricket Ground	Tom McMahon	36,445
Grand Final
St. George	12 - 13	Balmain	14 September 1946	Sydney Sports Ground	George Bishop	32,296

Grand Final

St George	Position	Balmain
Ray Lindwall	FB	Jack McCullough
Noel Jones	WG	Arthur Patton
Doug McRitchie	CE	Pat Devery
Fred Brown	CE	Tom Bourke (c)
Jack Lindwall	WG	Joe Jorgenson
Don Graham	FE	George Williams
Max Hayward	HB	Stan Ponchard
Jack Munn	PR	Hilton Kidd
Ken Banks	HK	Herb Gilbert Jnr
Jack McPherson	PR	Jack Spencer
Jim Hale	SR	Fred de Belin
Herb Narvo (c)	SR	Harry Bath
Chick Donnelly	LK	Jack Hampstead
	Coach	Norm Robinson

In spite of St George's status as minor premiers, Balmain were Grand Final favourites due to their comprehensive routing of the Dragons in the first semi-final. Ultimately though the decider, played on Saturday, the 14th of September, was a closely fought contest.^[2]

A series of dubious decisions by referee George Bishop gave Balmain an advantage. There was a disallowed try to St George and two Balmain tries which came off what appeared to be forward passes, one when Balmain's Joe Jorgenson scored after receiving a ball that seemed to have been propelled at least a yard forward.

The Dragons came close to victory when late in the game Jack Lindwall scored in the corner but his brother, prospectve Test bowler, Ray Lindwall was unable to convert it. Lindwall in fact missed all four conversion attempts on the day.

The Tigers had won seven straight victories to take the premiership.

Tensions of the encounter overflowed after fulltime and the match concluded on an ugly note when Saints forward, Jim Hale went toe to toe with Balmain hooker, Herb Gilbert Jnr, himself a former Dragon. Hale was then attacked by a spectator and an all-in brawl followed.^[3]

Balmain 13 (Tries: Jorgenson 2, Patton. Goals: Bourke 2 )

defeated

St George 12 (Tries: J Lindwall 2, Jones, Munn)

Balmain's try-scoring winger, Joe Jorgenson.

St George captiain, Herb Narvo.

Balmain's Harry Bath

References

1. ^ Premiership Roll of Honour at rl1908.com
2. ^ 1946 Grand Final at nrlstats.com
3. ^ "Tigerish Grand Final in League". The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia): pp. 10. 1946-09-16. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yQcRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3JMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7181,1982880. Retrieved 2009-11-19. 

• Rugby League Tables - Notes The World of Rugby League
• Rugby League Tables - Season 1946 The World of Rugby League
• Premiership History and Statistics RL1908
• Finals lineups and results Hunterlink site
• Results: 1941-1950 at rabbitohs.com.au
• 1946 Labor Daily Cup at rleague.com
• NSWRFL season 1946 at rugbyleagueproject.com