1982 NSWRFL season

1982 NSWRFL season
Teams	14
Premiers	Parramatta (2nd title)
Minor premiers	Parramatta (2nd title)
Matches played	188
Points scored	5927 (total) 31.527 (per match)
Attendance	2,282,194 (total) 12,139 (per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Mick Cronin (279)
Top try scorer(s)	Steve Ella (23)

The 1982 NSWRFL season was the seventy-fifth season of professional rugby league football in Australia. This season saw the New South Wales Rugby Football League's first expansion since 1967 with the introduction of the first two clubs in over half a century from outside the Sydney area: the Canberra Raiders and the Illawarra Steelers. Therefore a total of fourteen clubs (including six Sydney-based foundation teams, another six from Sydney, one from greater New South Wales, and one from the Australian Capital Territory) competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and newly-created Winfield Cup during the season, which culminated in a grand final between the Parramatta and Manly-Warringah clubs. This season, NSWRFL teams also competed for the 1982 KB Cup.

Season summary

This year a bronze replica of "the Gladiators" - the 1963 photo taken by John O'Gready of Norm Provan and Arthur Summons' post-game, mud-caked embrace - was first adopted to adorn the Winfield Cup, the new trophy to be awarded to the grand final winners. Because of the introduction of two new teams, twenty-six (rather than twenty-two) regular season rounds were played from February till August, resulting in a top five of Easts, Newtown, Parramatta, Cronulla and Manly. The new teams, the Illawarra Steelers and the Canberra Raiders, would finish their debut seasons in second last and last place respectively.

The 1982 season saw the only nil-all scoreline in competition history. The Newtown Jets and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs drew their match on 28 May, with neither team scoring a point. The long-standing record for the longest suspension for a player in the League's history was broken during the season. Western Suburbs' Bob Cooper was suspended for 15 months for punching Illawarra's Lee Pomfret.

The 1982 season's Rothmans Medallist was Canterbury-Bankstown's Greg Brentnall and the Dally M Award went to Parramatta's lock forward, Ray Price. Rugby League Week gave their player of the year award to Eastern Suburbs' halfback Kevin Hastings for the third consecutive season.

Teams

This year saw the first inclusion of teams based outside of the Sydney area since the foundation Newcastle club departed the League in 1909. This was the first of several expansions that would take place over the next decade and a half which would see the Sydney-wide competition grow into a New South Wales-wide competition and eventually into a national league. Also, for the first time in three quarters of a century, the League's 1908 foundation teams were outnumbered by teams introduced after 1908.

Balmain Tigers 75th season Ground: Liechhardt Oval Coach: Frank Stanton Captain: Neil Whittaker→Trevor Ryan	Canberra Raiders 1st season Ground: Seiffert Oval Coach: Don Furner Captain: David Grant	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 48th season Ground: Belmore Sports Ground Coach: Ted Glossop Captain: George Peponis	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 16th season Ground: Endeavour Field Coach: Greg Pierce Captain: Steve Rogers
Eastern Suburbs Roosters 75th season Ground: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Bob Fulton Captain: Royce Ayliffe	Illawarra Steelers 1st season Ground: Wollongong Showground Coach: Allan Fitzgibbon Captain: John Dorahy	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 36th season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Ray Ritchie Captain: Max Krilich	Newtown Jets 75th season Ground: Henson Park Coach: Warren Ryan Captain: Tom Raudonikis
North Sydney Bears 75th season Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Ron Willey Captain: Mark Graham	Parramatta Eels 36th season Ground: Belmore Sports Ground Coach: Jack Gibson Captain: Steve Edge	Penrith Panthers 16th season Ground: Penrith Stadium Coach: John Peard Captain: Darryl Brohman	South Sydney Rabbitohs 75th season Ground: Redfern Oval Coach: Bill Anderson Captain: Mitch Brennan
	St. George Dragons 62nd season Ground: Jubilee Oval Coach: Roy Masters Captain: Craig Young	Western Suburbs Magpies 75th season Ground: Lidcombe Oval Coach: Terry Fearnley Captain: Warren Boland

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Parramatta	26	21	0	5	619	242	+377	42
2	Manly-Warringah	26	17	0	9	530	411	+119	34
3	North Sydney	26	16	1	9	399	360	+39	33
4	Eastern Suburbs	26	15	2	9	437	304	+133	32
5	Western Suburbs	26	16	0	10	412	349	+63	32
6	South Sydney	26	14	1	11	395	400	-5	29
7	Newtown	26	13	2	11	406	309	+97	28
8	Cronulla-Sutherland	26	13	1	12	400	336	+64	27
9	Canterbury-Bankstown	26	12	3	11	399	361	+38	27
10	St. George	26	11	2	13	408	402	+6	24
11	Balmain	26	10	1	15	383	427	-44	21
12	Penrith	26	7	1	18	375	441	-66	15
13	Illawarra	26	6	0	20	344	572	-228	12
14	Canberra	26	4	0	22	269	862	-593	8

Finals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Qualifying Finals
Eastern Suburbs	11-7	Western Suburbs	4 September 1982	Sydney Cricket Ground	Jack Danzey	21,167
Manly-Warringah	26-3	North Sydney	5 September 1982	Sydney Cricket Ground	John Gocher	24,690
Semi Finals
North Sydney	10-12	Eastern Suburbs	11 September 1982	Sydney Cricket Ground	Jack Danzey	19,566
Parramatta	0-20	Manly-Warringah	12 September 1982	Sydney Cricket Ground	John Gocher	31,604
Preliminary Final
Parramatta	33-0	Eastern Suburbs	19 September 1982	Sydney Cricket Ground	John Gocher	24,637
Grand Final
Manly-Warringah	8-21	Parramatta	26 September 1982	Sydney Cricket Ground	John Gocher	52,186

Grand Final

Manly-Warringah	Position	Parramatta
Graham Eadie	FB	Paul Taylor
John Ribot	WG	Neil Hunt
Chris Close	CE	Mick Cronin
Michael Blake	CE	Steve Ella
Phil Carey	WG	Eric Grothe
Alan Thompson (c)	FE	Brett Kenny
Phil Blake	HB	Peter Sterling
Geoff Gerard	PR	Geoff Bugden
Ray Brown	HK	Steve Edge (c)
Terry Randall	PR	Chris Phelan
Paul Vautin	SR	John Muggleton
Les Boyd	SR	Steve Sharp
Paul McCabe	LK	Ray Price
Max Krilich	Reserve	Peter Wynn
Bruce Walker	Reserve	Mark Laurie
Ian Thomson	Reserve
Ray Ritchie	Coach	Jack Gibson

The Eels won the minor premiership with ease - eight points ahead of Manly - and breezed through the decider with the same confidence. Manly opened the scoring through Phil Blake in the opening minutes, but Parramatta replied quickly when Brett Kenny put Steve Ella over. After a quiet period, Manly collapsed in the ten minutes before half-time with Parramatta scoring three tries. The first to Eric Grothe came when Brett Kenny had shown brilliant evasive skills on the second tackle after Manly dropped the ball, the second came when a Peter Sterling bomb deflected off a Parramatta player into Kenny's arms, and the third after quick hands saw Kenny send Neil Hunt over in the corner. The Eels led 16-3 at half-time and, despite Les Boyd scoring after playing the ball forward in the 48th minute, Brett Kenny's second try in the 62nd minute sealed victory.

Parramatta 21 (Tries: Kenny 2, Grothe, Ella, Hunt. Goals: Cronin 3.)

Manly 8 (Tries: P Blake, Boyd. Goal: Eadie.)

References

• Rugby League Tables - Season 1982 The World of Rugby League
• Results:1981-90 at rabbitohs.com.au
• 1982 J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup at rleague.com.au
• NSRFL season 1982 at rugbyleagueproject.com