New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1966

Infobox rugby league season
year = 1966
competition = New South Wales Rugby Football League


imagesize = 125px
caption =
teams = 10
premiers =
count = 13th
minor premiers =
mpcount = 12th
matches = 95
points = 2715
attendance = 1293261
top points scorer = (185)
top try scorer = (13)
1966's New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the fifty-ninth season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. Ten clubs from across the city competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and the WD & HO Wills Cup during the season, which culminated in a replay of the previous season's grand final between St. George and Balmain.

eason summary

1966 was the last season played under the unlimited tackle rule. Balmain, with their talented raw rookie recruit Arthur Beetson, appeared to be about to topple the Dragons from their long-held perch when the Tigers won eleven consecutive regular season games. However a late season slump saw them pegged back to the rest of the field and an eventual second place on the minor-premiership ladder behind the Dragons, who were being led by new captain-coach Ian Walsh.

The Eastern Suburbs Roosters did not win a single match in 1966, continuing a losing streak that started in round 14, 1965 and which would run till round 12, 1967. This marked the second-most consecutive losses in NSWRFL premiership history at 25 behind University's 42 in the mid 1930s.

Teams

Grand Final

Balmain had beaten St. George twice in the regular season and in their coach Harry Bath, who had helped design the Dragons premiership winning formula, had a tactician well placed to counter it. They had a number of young players in Beetson, Kevin Yow Yeh and Denis Tutty who could trouble the Dragons, plus the experience of Dave Bolton, Peter Provan and the unrivalled goal-kicking brilliance of Keith Barnes.

The opening skirmishes on the day of the decider were balanced. Balmain took an early lead when Barnes kicked a penalty goal. St. George's Billy Smith struck back when he set up a run around movement with Brian Clay, which led to a try to Bruce Pollard.

The turning point of the match came soon after when the Dragons' English import Dick Huddart and Ian Walsh put on a set move as the Tigers' defence rushed up too early. Walsh bust through the line and with only the fullback to beat and passed the ball to Huddart who raced 30 yards to score.

On the other side of half-time Billy Smith sliced through and found Johnny Raper who got to the Balmain 25-yard line before finding prop Kevin Ryan in support. It was a spectacular run from the evergreen forward who out-raced his pursuers and dived through the air to score and put the match beyond doubt.

Balmain had tried to slow down the Dragons with stifling tactics but this backfired and resulted in an unfavourable penalty count. Classy Dragons fullback Graeme Langlands capitalised on this, kicking seven goals.

Huddart was dominant for the clinical Saints who did not concede a try for a staggering seventh time in eight grand final victories. He had been niggled early in the game by the Balmain forwards and responded by running freely all match and crashing the Tigers with fiery tackles. With the full-time siren St George had won their 11th successive Grand Final, setting a record that is unlikely to be ever broken in first grade rugby league or perhaps in any top-grade world team sport.

It was the last game played for the club by Dragons enforcer Kevin Ryan after seven Grand Final wins and also the farewell match for winger Eddie Lumsden who had appeared in nine of the victories.

St. George 23 (Tries: Pollard, Huddart, Ryan. Goals: Langlands 7.)

Balmain 4 ( Goals: Barnes 2.)

References

* Writer, Larry (1995) "Never Before, Never Again", Pan MacMillan, Sydney
* [http://www.stats.rleague.com/rl/seas/1966.html Rugby League Tables - Season 1966] "The World of Rugby League"
* [http://www.rabbitohs.com.au/The-Club/Tradition/Results---1961-1970.html Results:1961-70 at rabbitohs.com.au]
* [http://www.rleague.com//db/year/1966/j_j_giltinan_shield_and_wd_ho_wills_cup/index.php 1966 J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup at rleague.com]
* [http://rugbyleagueproject.com/competitions/NSWRL_1966.html NSWRFL season 1966 at rugbyleagueproject.com]
* [http://www.showroom.com.au/dragons/dragonshistory/history_stgeorge4c.htm#1966 St. George 1966 season at showroom.com.au]