1972 NSWRFL season

1972 NSWRFL season
Teams	12
Premiers	Manly-Warringah (1st title)
Minor premiers	Manly-Warringah (2nd title)
Matches played	136
Points scored	4670 (total) 34.338 (per match)
Attendance	1,469,899 (total) 10,808 (per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Allan McKean (220)
Top try scorer(s)	Bob Fulton (19)

The 1972 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the sixty-fifth season of Sydney's professional rugby league football competition, Australia's first. Twelve teams, including six of 1908's foundation clubs and another six from across Sydney, competed for the J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season, which culminated in a grand final match for the WD & HO Wills Cup between the Manly-Warringah and Eastern Suburbs clubs.

Season summary

The 1972 season's Rothmans Medal winner was Western Suburbs' halfback Tommy Raudonikis. Rugby League Week awarded their player of the year award to Eastern Suburbs' five-eighth John Ballesty.

This season, for the first time since 1966, Souths would fail to reach the grand final.

Following the grand final, several players travelled to France to represent Australia in the 1972 Rugby League World Cup.

Teams

Balmain	Canterbury-Bankstown	Cronulla-Sutherland	Eastern Suburbs
Manly-Warringah	Newtown	North Sydney	Parramatta
Penrith	South Sydney	St. George	Western Suburbs

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Manly-Warringah	22	18	1	3	460	255	+205	37
2	Eastern Suburbs	22	17	1	4	514	297	+217	35
3	St. George	22	16	2	4	398	221	+177	34
4	South Sydney	22	14	0	8	456	331	+125	28
5	Newtown	22	11	2	9	402	371	+31	24
6	Canterbury-Bankstown	22	12	0	10	382	373	+9	24
7	Western Suburbs	22	8	1	13	367	398	-31	17
8	Cronulla-Sutherland	22	8	0	14	332	378	-46	16
9	North Sydney	22	7	1	14	320	405	-85	15
10	Balmain	22	6	1	15	333	455	-122	13
11	Penrith	22	5	1	16	278	490	-212	11
12	Parramatta	22	4	2	16	317	585	-268	10

Finals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Semi Finals
St. George	14-10	South Sydney	26 August 1972	Sydney Cricket Ground	Keith Page	47,945
Manly-Warringah	32-8	Eastern Suburbs	2 September 1972	Sydney Cricket Ground	Keith Page	43,695
Preliminary Final
Eastern Suburbs	8-6	St. George	9 September 1972	Sydney Cricket Ground	Keith Page	41,313
Grand Final
Manly-Warringah	19-14	Eastern Suburbs	16 September 1972	Sydney Cricket Ground	Keith Page	54,537

Grand final

Manly-Warringah	Position	Eastern Suburbs
Graham Eadie	FB	Allan McKean
Ken Irvine	WG	Jim Porter
Ray Branighan	CE	Harry Cameron
Bob Fulton	CE	Mark Harris
Max Brown	WG	Bill Mullins
Ian Martin	FE	John Ballesty
Dennis Ward	HB	Kevin Junee
Bill Hamilton	PR	John Armstrong
Fred Jones (c)	HK	Peter Moscatt
John O'Neill	PR	Arthur Beetson
Allan Thomson	SR	Greg Bandiera
Terry Randall	SR	John Quayle
Malcolm "Mal" Reilly	LK	Ron Coote (c)
	Bench	Laurie Freier
Ron Willey	Coach	Don Furner

After twenty-five years in the competition and five Grand Final losses, Manly finally broke through to win the club's first NSWRFL premiership.^[1]

In a controversial match, the Sea-Eagles downed the Eastern Suburbs Roosters 19 to 14, thus shedding their 'bridesmaids' tag. The Roosters were highly critical of referee Keith Page after the match, claiming both of Manly's tries shouldn't have been awarded. To add to their rage, Easts crossed for 2 tries that were disallowed.

A dour first half saw the teams go to the break at 4-all, before a try by hooker Fred Jones put Manly ahead. Jones appeared to drop the ball as he attempted to ground it, but was awarded the try nonetheless. Midway through the second half, controversy flared again when Manly centre Ray Branighan appeared to stop over the Eastern Suburbs try line after accepting what looked like a forward pass from prop Bill Hamilton. However, referee Page allowed it and the Manly fans began celebrating, knowing that at 19-4 their first premiership victory was assured. Although Easts fought back and brought the score to 19-14, time was out for the Roosters.

Manly-Warringah 19 (Tries: Jones, Branighan. Goals: Eadie 6. Fld Goal: Fulton)

Eastern Suburbs 14 (Tries: Ballesty, Mullins. Goals: McKean 4 )

Man of the Match: Denis Ward (Manly).

References

1. ^ Clarkson, Alan (17 September 1972). "Manly - deserved winners". The Sun-Herald (Australia): pp. 72. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DaApAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eOUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5441,7161490. Retrieved 19 September 2010. 

External links

• Rugby League Tables - Season 1972 The World of Rugby League
• Results:1971-80 at rabbitohs.com.au
• 1972 J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup at rleague.com
• NSWRFL season 1972 at rugbyleagueproject.com