NEW SOUTH WALES RUGBY FOOTBALL LEAGUE SEASON 1973

(Redirected from NSWRFL season 1973)

The 1973 New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the sixty-sixth season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. Twelve teams from across Sydney contested the season, including six Sydney-based foundation teams and another six from Sydney.

Contents

Ladder

Finals

Grand Final

References

Footnotes

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	16x16px Manly-Warringah	22	17	1	4	500	226	+274	'35'
2	16x16px Cronulla-Sutherland	22	17	0	5	389	219	+170	'34'
3	16x16px St. George	22	15	0	7	372	213	+159	'30'
4	16x16px Newtown	22	14	0	8	358	224	+134	'28'
5	16x16px Canterbury-Bankstown	22	12	1	9	369	269	+100	'25'
6	16x16px Eastern Suburbs	22	12	0	10	415	314	+101	'24'
7	16x16px South Sydney	22	11	1	9	345	367	-22	'23'
8	16x16px North Sydney	22	7	1	14	239	350	-101	'15'
9	16x16px Western Suburbs	22	7	0	15	310	414	-104	'14'
10	16x16px Balmain	22	7	0	15	254	495	-241	'14'
11	16x16px Parramatta	22	6	0	16	275	492	-217	'12'
12	16x16px Penrith	22	5	0	17	272	525	-253	'10'

Finals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
'Qualifying Finals'
23x23px Cronulla-Sutherland	18 - 0	23x23px St. George	25 August 1973	Sydney Cricket Ground	Keith Page	37,778
23x23px Newtown	13 - 2	23x23px Canterbury-Bankstown	26 August 1973	Sydney Sports Ground	Keith Page	17,778
'Semi Finals'
23x23px Manly-Warringah	14 - 4	23x23px Cronulla-Sutherland	1 September 1973	Sydney Cricket Ground	Keith Page	41,898
23x23px St. George	12 - 12	23x23px Newtown	2 September 1973	Sydney Cricket Ground	Keith Page	24,390
23x23px St. George	5 - 8	23x23px Newtown	4 September 1973	Sydney Sports Ground	Keith Page	27,791
'Preliminary Final'
23x23px Cronulla-Sutherland	20 - 11	23x23px Newtown	8 September 1973	Sydney Cricket Ground	Keith Page	30,649
'Grand Final'
23x23px Manly-Warringah	10 - 7	23x23px Cronulla-Sutherland	15 September 1973	Sydney Cricket Ground	Keith Page	52,044

Grand Final

Manly Sea Eagles	Position	Cronulla Sharks
Graham Eadie	FB	Warren Fisher
Ken Irvine	WG	Ray Corcoran
Ray Branighan	CE	Steve Rogers
Bob Fulton	CE	Eric Archer
M Brown	WG	Bob Wear
Ian Martin	FE	Chris Wellman
John Mayes	HB	Tommy Bishop (c)
Bill Hamilton	PR	Cliff Watson
Fred Jones (c)	HK	Ron Turner
John O'Neill	PR	Graham Bowen
Peter Peters	SR	Ken Maddison
Terry Randall	SR	John Maguire
Malcolm Reilly	LK	Greg Pierce
John Bucknall	Bench	Rick Bourke
Ron Willey	Coach	Tommy Bishop

After Cronulla's 14-4 loss in the major semi-final Manly expected the Sharks would be fired up for the Grand Final. And they were. Ian Heads wrote in the Sunday Telegraph the next day ''It was a Grand Final as tough and dirty as any bar-room brawl''^[1]. Alan Clarkson wrote in the Sun Herald ''The fare served up in the first half belonged in the Colosseum''^[2]. The first half was not how the game's administrators would have wished to show-case rugby league, every tackle was loaded with menace and meant to damage. But from the melee Bob Fulton emerged and showed his unrivalled skill. Heads and Clarkson wrote of his "towering genius" amd "football brilliance" respectively.
Manly's English import Malcolm Reilly himself never one to take a backward step, was the first victim of the carnage. In the opening minute a Cronulla forward set his sights on Reilly and didn't miss his target. Reilly was in agony from a badly bruised hip and left the field for pain-killers, to return for revenge. He then created mayhem but bowed out in the 25th minute and was replaced by John Bucknall.
After an all-in brawl in the first half Referee Keith Page eventually called all 26 players in for a mass caution, advising that he would send the next infringer off.
Then Fulton took over in the 29th and 58th minutes. 'Bozo' demonstrated power and pace in both tries. The first came from a brilliant Fred Jones pass which saw Fulton split Eric Archer and Steve Rogers, just 25 metres from the line. Manly took a 5-0 scoreline to the half time break.
The second Fulton try came after Eadie took a pass from five-eighth Ian Martin then looked for Fulton and set him up perfectly.
Cronulla had to wait a long time before they dented the Manly line. It was in the 70th minute that the crack appeared. Trailing 8-2, the Sharks struck when lock Greg Pierce positioned replacement fullback Rick Bourke for a try. Eadie stretched the lead to three points from a penalty kick and then the Sharks rallied and bombarded Manly. The Sea-Eagles defence of Johnny Mayes, Terry Randall, Peter Peters, Eadie and Fulton were up to the task.
' Manly-Warringah 10' (Tries: Fulton 2. Goals: Eadie 2. )
'Cronulla 7' (Tries: Bourke. Goals: Rogers )

References

★ Rugby League Tables - Notes ''The World of Rugby League''

★ Rugby League Tables - Season 1973 ''The World of Rugby League''

★ Premiership History and Statistics ''RL1908''

★ Clarkson, Alan (1997) ''The Greatest Games We Ever Played'' (Essay Collection, ed Geoff Prenter) Ironbark Publishing, Sydney

Footnotes

1. Sydney Sunday Telegraph 16 Sept 1973
2. Sydney Sun Herald 16 Sept 1973