1959 NSWRFL season

1959 New South Wales Rugby Football League
Teams	10
Premiers	St. George (6th title)
Minor premiers	St. George (6th title)
Matches played	94
Points scored	3107
Attendance	896911
Top points scorer(s)	Darcy Russell (206)
Wooden spoon	Parramatta  (7th spoon)
Top try-scorer(s)	Ken Irvine (19)
← 1958 1960 →

1959's New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 52nd season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. Ten teams from across the city competed for the J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season, which culminated in a grand final between St. George and Manly-Warringah.

Season summary

The St. George team went through the 1959 season undefeated ^[1] – a feat achieved by five teams prior to 1959 but by none since. The club won nineteen of their twenty matches and played a draw against Balmain. They were able to score more than forty points on six occasions. After eighteen premiership rounds St. George had scored an average of over thirty points per match and conceded an average of ten points.

Future Immortals Reg Gasnier and Johnny Raper both debuted for St. George in first grade in 1959 and both made the Australian side, aged just 19. Seven St. George players made that year's Kangaroo Tour.

The 1959 season also saw the retirement from the League of future Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame inductee, Harry Bath.

Teams

Balmain 52nd season Ground: Leichhardt Oval Coach: John O'Toole Captain: Keith Barnes	Canterbury-Bankstown 25th season Ground: Belmore Oval Coach: Cec Cooper Captain: Brian Davies	Eastern Suburbs 52nd season Ground: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Dave Brown Captain: Terry Fearnley	Manly-Warringah 13th season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Ken Arthurson Captain: Ron Willey	Newtown 52nd season Ground: Henson Park Coach: Charles Cahill Captain: Tony Brown
North Sydney 52nd season Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Ross McKinnon Captain: Bob Honeysett	Parramatta 13th season Ground: Cumberland Oval Coach: Jack Rayner Captain: Roy Fisher	South Sydney 52nd season Ground: Redfern Oval Coach: Denis Donoghue Captain: Bernie Purcell	St. George 39th season Ground: Kogarah Oval Captain-coach: Ken Kearney	Western Suburbs 52nd season Ground: Pratten Park Coach: Vic Hey Captain: Dick Poole

Regular season

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	F1	F2	F3	GF
Balmain	MAN −3	STG −14	CBY −4	EAS +12	NOR −8	WES −19	PAR +8	NEW −15	SOU +9	MAN −2	STG 0	CBY +12	EAS −4	NOR +6	WES −9	PAR +16	NEW −5	SOU −8
Canterbury-Bankstown	SOU −10	MAN −6	BAL +4	STG −12	EAS −9	NOR −33	WES −38	PAR +7	NEW −12	SOU −1	MAN +5	BAL −12	STG −51	EAS +6	NOR −22	WES 0	PAR +1	NEW −1
Eastern Suburbs	NEW −3	SOU −20	MAN −11	BAL −12	CBY +9	STG −9	NOR −20	WES −3	PAR −4	NEW +7	SOU +9	MAN −12	BAL +4	CBY −6	STG −16	NOR +6	WES −28	PAR +6
Manly-Warringah	BAL +3	CBY +6	EAS +11	NOR −7	WES −11	PAR +5	NEW −4	SOU +8	STG −10	BAL +2	CBY −5	EAS +12	NOR +1	WES −3	PAR +21	NEW +17	SOU +3	STG −5	NEW +17	X	WES +1	STG −20
Newtown	EAS +3	NOR −6	WES −7	PAR +9	STG −17	SOU +2	MAN +4	BAL +15	CBY +12	EAS −7	NOR +2	WES −2	PAR +8	STG −35	SOU −12	MAN −17	BAL +5	CBY +1	MAN −17
North Sydney	PAR +23	NEW +6	SOU +20	MAN +7	BAL +8	CBY +33	EAS +20	STG −21	WES −5	PAR +20	NEW −2	SOU −10	MAN −1	BAL −6	CBY +22	EAS −6	STG −7	WES −12
Parramatta	NOR −23	WES −10	STG −39	NEW −9	SOU +5	MAN −5	BAL −8	CBY −7	EAS +4	NOR −20	WES −22	STG −57	NEW −8	SOU −6	MAN −21	BAL −16	CBY −1	EAS −6
South Sydney	CBY +10	EAS +20	NOR −20	WES +1	PAR −5	NEW −2	STG −33	MAN −8	BAL −9	CBY +1	EAS −9	NOR +10	WES +5	PAR +6	NEW +12	STG −3	MAN −3	BAL +8
St. George	WES +1	BAL +14	PAR +39	CBY +12	NEW +17	EAS +9	SOU +33	NOR +21	MAN +10	WES +30	BAL 0	PAR +57	CBY +51	NEW +35	EAS +16	SOU +3	NOR +7	MAN +5	X	WES +10	X	MAN +20
Western Suburbs	STG −1	PAR +10	NEW +7	SOU −1	MAN +11	BAL +19	CBY +38	EAS +3	NOR +5	STG −30	PAR +22	NEW +2	SOU −5	MAN +3	BAL +9	CBY 0	EAS +28	NOR +12	X	STG −10	MAN −1
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	F1	F2	F3	GF

Bold – Home game
X – Bye
Opponent for round listed above margin

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	St. George	18	17	1	0	550	190	+360	35
2	Western Suburbs	18	13	1	4	405	273	+132	27
3	Manly	18	11	0	7	283	239	+44	22
4	Newtown	18	10	0	8	254	296	-42	20
5	North Sydney	18	9	0	9	371	282	+89	18
6	South Sydney	18	9	0	9	257	276	-19	18
7	Balmain	18	6	1	11	308	336	-28	13
8	Eastern Suburbs	18	6	0	12	211	314	-103	12
9	Canterbury	18	5	1	12	194	378	-184	11
10	Parramatta	18	2	0	16	150	399	-249	4

Ladder progression

• Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 4.
• Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.
• Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished last place on the ladder in that round.

	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
1	St. George	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	21	23	25	27	29	31	33	35
2	Western Suburbs	0	2	4	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	16	18	18	20	22	23	25	27
3	Manly-Warringah	2	4	6	6	6	8	8	10	10	12	12	14	16	16	18	20	22	22
4	Newtown	2	2	2	4	4	6	8	10	12	12	14	14	16	16	16	16	18	20
5	North Sydney	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	14	16	16	16	16	16	18	18	18	18
6	South Sydney	2	4	4	6	6	6	6	6	6	8	8	10	12	14	16	16	16	18
7	Balmain	0	0	0	2	2	2	4	4	6	6	7	9	9	11	11	13	13	13
8	Eastern Suburbs	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	6	8	8	8	10	10	12
9	Canterbury-Bankstown	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	6	6	6	8	8	9	11	11
10	Parramatta	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4

Finals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Semifinals
Manly-Warringah	17–0	Newtown	25 July 1959	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	8,967
St. George	35–25	Western Suburbs	1 August 1959	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	42,347
Preliminary Final
Western Suburbs	13–14	Manly-Warringah	8 August 1959	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	28,385
Grand Final
St. George	20–0 [2]	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	15 August 1959	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	49,457

Grand Final

St. George	Position	Manly-Warringah
Brian Graham	FB	Ron Willey (c)
2. Eddie Lumsden	WG	15. Len Wadling
15. Johnny Raper	CE	3. Kevin Mosman
16. Geoff Weekes	CE	4. Bill Lloyd
5. Brian Messiter	WG	5. George Hugo
6. Brian Clay	FE	14. Alf Madden
7. Bob Bugden	HB	19. Peter Burke
13. Harry Bath	PR	13. Bill Delamere
12. Ken Kearney (Ca./Co.)	HK	12. George Lenon
11. Billy Wilson	PR	22. Roy Bull
10. Monty Porter	SR	11. Rex Mossop
9. Norm Provan	SR	9. Peter Diversi
8. Peter Provan	LK	8. Jim Peebles
	Coach	Ken Arthurson

In the lead up to the Grand Final, rumours were circulating that Manly-Warringah's Rex Mossop was carrying a broken cheekbone. From the kick off, Saints' forwards took turns at testing Mossop's injury with Harry Bath giving him particular attention. For most of the match the Manly forward copped a hammering until in frustration, Mossop retaliated by standing on Bath's head. A brawl broke out between the two and the referee Lawler sent both off.

In the meantime, St. George's forwards were steamrolling Manly-Warringah and the red and white backs were cutting loose. Winger Eddie Lumsden had a magnificent match, scoring a hat trick of tries. Lumsden beat Ron Willey cold for his first try and then was on the end of later backline passing bursts for two more.

As the Manly-Warringah pack tired in the second half, experienced St. George second rower Norm Provan began to easily break their defence out wide, linking with his backs and being rewarded himself with a try. Reserve grade centre Geoff Weekes had been promoted when Gasnier and Johnny Riley were both injured in the major semi final. He scored a try as did St. George's steady and safe custodian Brian Graham.

St. George outclassed Manly-Warringah 20–0 in a ruthless display of speed and strength. The match was future Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame inductee Harry Bath's last game.

St. George 20 (Tries: Lumsden 3, Graham, Weekes, N Provan. Goals: Bath 1.)

Manly-Warringah 0

Player statistics

The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 18.

Top 5 point scorers Points Player Tries Goals Field Goals 189 Harry Bath 5 87 0 189 Darcy Russell 5 87 0 142 Ron Willey 2 68 0 121 Johnny Jones 1 59 0 110 Kevin Considine 10 40 0 Top 5 try scorers Tries Player 19 Ken Irvine 18 Brian Messiter 15 Bob Bugden 15 Ron Mack 14 Darcy Henry

Top 5 goal scorers Goals Player 87 Harry Bath 87 Darcy Russell 68 Ron Willey 59 Johnny Jones 48 Keith Barnes

References

1. Clarkson, Alan (1986-09-26). "The best Grand Finals I've seen". The Sydney Morning Herald . Fairfax Media. p. 77. Retrieved 2010-09-14.
2. "Sydney Rugby". The Age . 1959-08-17. p. 20. Retrieved 2009-11-20.

External links

• Rugby League Tables - Season 1959 The World of Rugby League
• Writer, Larry (1995) Never Before, Never Again, Pan MacMillan, Sydney
• Results: 1951-60 at rabbitohs.com.au
• 1959 J J Giltinan Shield at rleague.com
• NSWRFL season 1959 at rugbyleagueproject.com
• 1959 Final at Dragons History site