1948 NSWRFL season

1948 NSWRFL season
Teams	10
Premiers	Western Suburbs (3rd title)
Minor premiers	Western Suburbs (2nd title)
Matches played	94
Points scored	2829 (total) 30.096 (per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Jack Lindwall (101)
Top try scorer(s)	Norm Jacobson (27)

The 1948 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the forty-first season of Sydney's top-level rugby league football competition, Australia's first. The teams remained unchanged from the previous season, with ten clubs from across the city contesting the premiership during the season which culminated in Western Suburbs' victory over Balmain in the grand final.^[1]

Season summary

When Balmain's young stars of 1946-47 Pat Devery and Harry Bath left for big money offers in England it seemed doubtful that the Tigers would be able to continue their run of success. However Balmain gave themselves every chance to achieve their third title in a row and made it through to the Grand Final match up against Wests.

Teams

• Balmain, formed on January 23, 1908 at Balmain Town Hall
• Canterbury-Bankstown
• Eastern Suburbs, formed on January 24, 1908 at Paddington Town Hall
• Manly-Warringah
• Newtown, formed on January 14, 1908
• North Sydney, formed on February 7, 1908
• Parramatta, formed in November 1946
• 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	Manly-Warringah
Newtown	North Sydney	Parramatta	South Sydney
	St. George	Western Suburbs

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Western Suburbs	18	16	0	2	322	189	+133	32
2	Newtown	18	13	0	5	386	248	+138	26
3	Balmain	18	12	2	4	287	222	+65	26
4	St. George	18	10	1	7	332	262	+70	21
5	Canterbury-Bankstown	18	7	2	9	282	276	+6	16
6	Eastern Suburbs	18	7	2	9	225	248	-23	16
7	South Sydney	18	7	1	10	265	302	-37	15
8	Parramatta	18	5	1	12	237	346	-109	11
9	Manly-Warringah	18	4	1	13	221	334	-113	9
10	North Sydney	18	3	2	13	191	321	-130	8

Finals

In Balmain's preliminary final match up with St George, Balmain winger Arthur Patton refused to leave the field whilst injured as the Tigers held on to win 13-12. At game's end it was found that he had a broken leg.

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Semi Finals
Western Suburbs	7 - 8	Balmain	28 August 1948	Sydney Cricket Ground	George Bishop	25,907
Newtown	8 - 20	St. George	4 September 1948	Sydney Cricket Ground	Jack O'Brien	31,310
Preliminary Final
Balmain	13 - 12	St. George	11 September 1948	Sydney Cricket Ground	Jack O'Brien	37,404
Grand Final
Western Suburbs	8 - 5	Balmain	18 September 1948[2]	Sydney Sports Ground	George Bishop	29,122

Grand Final

Western Suburbs	Position	Balmain
William Keato	FB	Dave Parkinson
Col Hudson	WG	Leo Nosworthy
Eric Bennett	CE	George Williams
Lindsay Rodda	CE	Tom Bourke (c)
John Lackey	WG	Mitchell Wallace
Frank Stanmore	FE	William Sneddon
Neville Hogan	HB	Des Bryan
William Horder	PR	Jim Thompson
William Brown	HK	Robert Crane
Jack Walsh (c)	PR	Jack Spencer
Kevin Hanson	SR	Sid Ryan
Don Milton	SR	Pat Madden
Peter McLean	LK	Jack Hampstead
Jeff Smith	Coach	Athol Smith

After rainy conditions the grand final was played on a soft Sydney Sports Ground surface.^[3] The Tigers led the game until the final quarter when a 40 metre run by Wests' second rower Kevin Hansen saw him tackled right on the try line. The referee awarded the try and Wests held an 8-5 break until fulltime to record their third premiership win.

Western Suburbs Magpies 8 (Tries: Hudson, Hansen. Goals: Keato)

defeated

Balmain Tigers 5 (Tries: Bourke. Goals: Bourke)

References

1. ^ Premiership Roll of Honour at rl1908.com
2. ^ 1948 Grand Final at nrlstats.com
3. ^ "League grand final on soft field". The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia): pp. 7. 1948-09-18. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pKwQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xpMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7327,5893821. Retrieved 2009-11-20. 

• Rugby League Tables - Notes The World of Rugby League
• Rugby League Tables - Season 1948 The World of Rugby League
• Premiership History and Statistics RL1908
• Finals lineups and results Hunterlink site
• Results: 1941-1950 at rabbitohs.com.au
• 1948 Labor Daily Cup at rleague.com
• NSWRFL season 1948 at rugbyleagueproject.com