1975 NSWRFL season

1975 NSWRFL season
Teams	12
Premiers	Eastern Suburbs (11th title)
Minor premiers	Eastern Suburbs (14th title)
Matches played	140
Points scored	4444 (total) 31.743 (per match)
Attendance	1,528,180 (total) 10,916 (per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Graham Eadie (242)
Top try scorer(s)	Johnny Mayes (16)

The 1975 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the sixty-eighth 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 Eastern Suburbs and St. George clubs.^[1] NSWRFL teams also competed for the 1975 Amco Cup.

Season summary

The season saw the introduction of differential penalties for scrum offences. Each side faced each other twice in twenty-two regular season rounds from March to August,^[2] resulting in a top five of Eastern Suburbs, Manly-Warringah, St. George, Canterbury-Bankstown and Western Suburbs who battled it out for the premiership over six finals matches. With three sides finishing in equal fifth place, two elimination finals playoffs also had to be played.^[3]

Western Suburbs had 1 point deducted for fielding an ineligible player in round 8. After losing two consecutive matches in rounds 2 and 3, defending premiers Eastern Suburbs posted 19 consecutive wins in 1975 to close out the regular season; a streak than ran from round 4 to round 22 and remains the record for the most consecutive wins in premiership history.

The 1975 season's Rothmans Medallist was Cronulla-Sutherland centre Steve Rogers. Rugby League Week gave their player of the year award to Manly-Warringah back Bob Fulton.

Teams

Balmain Tigers	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Eastern Suburbs Roosters
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Newtown Jets	North Sydney Bears	Parramatta Eels
Penrith Panthers	South Sydney Rabbitohs	St. George Dragons	Western Suburbs Magpies

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Eastern Suburbs	22	20	0	2	431	198	+233	40
2	Manly-Warringah	22	15	0	7	439	314	+125	30
3	St. George	22	12	2	8	341	294	+47	26
4	Canterbury-Bankstown	22	11	2	9	330	287	+43	24
5	Western Suburbs	22	10	2	10	365	289	+76	21
6	Parramatta	22	10	1	11	391	373	+18	21
7	Balmain	22	10	1	11	288	357	-69	21
8	Cronulla-Sutherland	22	9	1	12	370	375	-5	19
9	North Sydney	22	9	0	13	322	414	-92	18
10	Newtown Jets	22	7	2	13	349	422	-73	16
11	Penrith	22	7	1	14	312	452	-140	15
12	South Sydney	22	6	0	16	298	461	-163	12

• Western Suburbs were stripped of 1 competition point due to an illegal replacement in one game.

Finals

Balmain, Parramatta and Western Suburbs tied for fifth place, necessitating a play-off drawn from a hat.^[4]

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Playoffs
Western Suburbs	13–18	Parramatta	26 August 1975	Sydney Cricket Ground	Greg Hartley	9,920
Parramatta	19–8	Balmain	28 August 1975	Sydney Cricket Ground	Gary Cook	19,914
Qualifying Finals
Manly-Warringah	3–10	St. George	30 August 1975	Sydney Cricket Ground	Laurie Bruyeres	23,492
Canterbury-Bankstown	5–6	Parramatta	31 August 1975	Sydney Cricket Ground	Gary Cook	19,312
Semi Finals
Eastern Suburbs	5–8	St. George	6 September 1975	Sydney Cricket Ground	Laurie Bruyeres	28,851
Manly-Warringah	22–12	Parramatta	7 September 1975	Sydney Cricket Ground	Gary Cook	26,109
Preliminary Final
Eastern Suburbs	28–13	Manly-Warringah	13 September 1975	Sydney Cricket Ground	Laurie Bruyeres	31,645
Grand Final
St. George	0–38	Eastern Suburbs	20 September 1975	Sydney Cricket Ground	Laurie Bruyeres	63,047[5]

Grand Final

St. George	Position	Eastern Suburbs
Graeme Langlands (Ca./Co.)	FB	Ian Schubert
Paul Mills	WG	Bruce Pickett
Roy Ferguson	CE	John Brass
Ted Goodwin	CE	John Rheinberger
John Chapman	WG	Bill Mullins
John Bailey	FE	John Peard
Billy Smith	HB	Johnny Mayes
Henry Tatana	PR	Ian McKay
Steve Edge	HK	Elwyn Walters
Barry Beath	PR	Grant Hedger
Peter Fitzgerald	SR	Arthur Beetson (c)
Robert Stone	SR	Ron Coote
Lindsay Drake	LK	Kevin Stevens
Bruce Starkey	Reserve	Bunny Reilly
Robert Finch	Reserve	Des O'Reilly
	Coach	Jack Gibson

This was the first grand final to be telecast in colour.^[6] The star-studded Eastern Suburbs line up had lost only 2 matches in the 22-game regular season and were clear starting favourites. However, St. George looked a chance early on when utility back "Lord Ted" Goodwin put on a chip and chase. Goodwin collided with Eastern Suburbs' fullback Ian Schubert, came off second best and was out of touch for the remainder of the match. Things were also wrong with captain-coach Graeme Langlands who was struggling with his coordination following an ill-directed pain killing injection that numbed his right leg and severely affected his form.^[7]

At half-time, Eastern Suburbs were up 5–0. Just after the break the Roosters' prop Ian McKay crashed over from close range and the floodgates opened. Eastern Suburbs unleashed a torrent of tries with Johnny Mayes, Arthur Beetson, John Brass, Bruce Pickett and boom recruit Schubert all scoring.

Despite his numbed leg, Langlands returned in the second half hoping it would come good. It didn't and he was replaced.^[8] By the end of the game, St. George had been completely demoralised by Easts in a 38–0 record Grand Final defeat. Fellow Immortal and peer Australian Captain Arthur Beetson attempted in vain to console the forlorn Langlands at match end.

Easts' eight tries in the Grand Final matched South Sydney's record achievement in the 1951 final (subsequently equalled again by Manly in 2008).

Eastern Suburbs 38
Tries: Brass (2), Mayes (2), McKay, Beetson, Pickett, Schubert
Goals: Peard (7)

St George 0

References

1. ^ 1975 J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup at rleague.com
2. ^ Results: 1971-1980 at rabbitohs.com.au
3. ^ NSWRFL 1975 at rugbyleagueproject.org
4. ^ "Form over five years". The Sun-Herald. 19 March 1978. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=XftjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=feYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=630,6357490. Retrieved 19 June 2011. 
5. ^ Rugby League Tables - Season 1975 at stats.rleague.com
6. ^ "Fans turn Parra blue and gold". The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia: Fairfax Digital). 2009-10-02. http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sport/fans-turn-parra-blue-and-gold-20091003-ggpe.html. Retrieved 2010-04-11. 
7. ^ Coady, Ben (2009-09-28). "Grand final dramas". WA Today (Australia: Fairfax Digital). http://blogs.watoday.com.au/executive-style/sportandstyle/bencoady/2009/09/28/grandfinaldra.html. Retrieved 2010-01-15. 
8. ^ Clarkson, Alan (1986-09-26). "The best Grand Finals I've seen". The Sydney Morning Herald (Fairfax Media): pp. 77. http://newsstore.fairfax.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac?page=1&sy=smh&Page=1&docID=news860926_0120_2297. Retrieved 2010-09-14.