1949 NSWRFL season

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]

Season summary

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.

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	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

Finals

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

Grand Final

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.

South Sydney's Denis Donoghue clings to the ball as he's hemmed in by the St. George defence.

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)

References

1. ^ Premiership Roll of Honour at rl1908.com
2. ^ "South plans counter to McRitchie". The Sydney Morning Herald: pp. 7. 1949-09-06. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=igARAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GJMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7177,854015. Retrieved 2009-11-20. 
3. ^ Goodman, Tom (1949-08-21). "Munn and McRitchie lead 16-12 victory". The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia): pp. 6. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vl0QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=H5MDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5530,2585443. Retrieved 2009-12-04. 
4. ^ 1949 Grand Final at nrlstats.com
5. ^ Goodman, Tom (1949-09-11). "Hawke steers St. George to second Rugby League Premiership". The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia): pp. 8. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jwARAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GJMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7072,1550340. Retrieved 2009-12-04. 

• Rugby League Tables - Notes The World of Rugby League
• Rugby League Tables - Season 1949 The World of Rugby League
• Premiership History and Statistics RL1908
• Finals lineups and results Hunterlink site
• Results:1941-1950 at rabbitohs.com.au
• 1949 Labor Daily Cup at rleague.com
• NSWRFL season 1949 at rugbyleagueproject.com