1984 NSWRL season

Last updated
1984 New South Wales Rugby League
Teams13
Premiers Canterbury colours.svg Canterbury-Bankstown (4th title)
Minor premiers Canterbury colours.svg Canterbury-Bankstown (4th title)
Matches played163
Points scored5226
Attendance1379655
Top points scorer(s) St. George colours.svg Steve Gearin (190)
Player of the year Canterbury colours.svg Terry Lamb (Rothmans Medal)
Top try-scorer(s) St. George colours.svg Steve Morris (17)
Canterbury colours.svg Terry Lamb (17)

The 1984 New South Wales Rugby League season was the 77th season of competition between the top professional rugby league football clubs within New South Wales. With the departure from the first grade competition of Sydney foundation club the Newtown Jets at the close of the previous season, 1984 saw thirteen teams compete for the J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup during the season, which culminated in a grand final between the Canterbury-Bankstown and Parramatta clubs. NSWRL teams also competed for the 1984 National Panasonic Cup.

Contents

Season summary

The New South Wales Rugby Football League dropped the "football" from its name this year. Twenty-six regular season rounds were played from March till August, resulting in a top five of Canterbury, St. George, Parramatta and Manly, with Souths taking fifth spot after winning a play-off against Canberra

The 1984 season's Rothmans Medallist was Canterbury-Bankstown's five-eighth, Terry Lamb, who was also the season's top try-scorer. The Dally M Award was given to Canterbury's fullback, Michael Potter, while Rugby League Week gave their player of the year award to Parramatta's halfback, Peter Sterling.

Teams

At the close of the previous season Newtown became the first club since University in 1937 to exit the League, reducing the number of clubs this season from fourteen to thirteen. [1] This included five Sydney-based foundation teams, another six from Sydney, one from greater New South Wales and one from the Australian Capital Territory.

Balmain Tigers
Balmain Jersey 1984.png

77th season
Ground: Leichhardt Oval
Coach: Frank Stanton
Captain: Wayne Pearce

Canberra Raiders
Canberra Jersey 1984.png

3rd season
Ground: Seiffert Oval
Coach: Don Furner
Captain: Ron Giteau

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
Canterbury-Bankstown Jersey 1984.png

50th season
Ground: Belmore Oval
Coach: Warren Ryan
Captain: Steve Mortimer

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
Cronulla-Sutherland Jersey 1984.png

18th season
Ground: Ronson Field
Coach: Terry Fearnley
Captain: David Hatch

Eastern Suburbs Roosters
Eastern Suburbs Jersey 1984.png

77th season
Ground: Sydney Sports Ground
Coach: Laurie Freier
Captain: Ron Gibbs

Illawarra Steelers
Illawarra Jersey 1984.png

3rd season
Ground: Wollongong Showground
Coach: Brian Smith
Captain: Michael Bolt

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Manly-Warringah Jersey 1984.png

38th season
Ground: Brookvale Oval
Coach: Bob Fulton
Captain: Alan Thompson

North Sydney Bears
North Sydney Jersey 1984.png

77th season
Ground: North Sydney Oval
Coach: Greg Hawick
Captain: →Fred Teasdell→Mark Graham

Parramatta Eels
Parramatta Jersey 1984.png

38th season
Ground: Belmore Oval
Coach: John Monie
Captain: Ray Price

Penrith Panthers
Penrith Jersey 1984.png

18th season
Ground: Penrith Park
Coach: Tim Sheens
Captain: Royce Simmons

South Sydney Rabbitohs
South Sydney Jersey 1984.png

77th season
Ground: Redfern Oval
Coach: Ron Willey
Captain: Ziggy Niszczot

St. George Dragons
St George Jersey 1984.png

64th season
Ground: Kogarah Oval
Coach: Roy Masters
Captain: Craig Young

Western Suburbs Magpies
Western Suburbs Jersey 1984.png

77th season
Ground: Lidcombe Oval
Coach: Ken Gentle
Captain: Lee Crooks

Ladder

TeamPldWDLBPFPAPDPts
1 Canterbury colours.svg Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 2419052435237+19842
2 St. George colours.svg St. George Dragons 2417072445289+15638
3 Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta Eels 2417072412260+15238
4 Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 24140102512338+17432
5 South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney Rabbitohs 24130112333307+2630
6 Canberra colours.svg Canberra Raiders 24130112379394-1530
7 Penrith colours.svg Penrith Panthers 24121112409401+829
8 Illawarra colours.svg Illawarra Steelers 24120122368388-2028
9 Balmain colours.svg Balmain Tigers 24120122380405-2528
10 Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 24101132446478-3225
11 North Sydney colours.svg North Sydney Bears 2491142371447-7623
12 Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Eastern Suburbs Roosters 2451182308478-17015
13 Western Suburbs colours.svg Western Suburbs Magpies 2410232244620-3766

Finals

HomeScoreAwayMatch Information
Date and TimeVenueRefereeCrowd
Playoff
South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney Rabbitohs 23-4 Canberra colours.svg Canberra Raiders 28 August 1984 Sydney Cricket Ground Greg McCallum10,101
Qualifying Finals
Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 18-22 South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney Rabbitohs 1 September 1984 Sydney Cricket Ground Chris Ward15,801
St. George colours.svg St. George Dragons 16-22 Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta Eels 2 September 1984 Sydney Cricket Ground Kevin Roberts25,675
Semi-finals
St. George colours.svg St. George Dragons 24-6 South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney Rabbitohs 8 September 1984 Sydney Cricket Ground B. Barnes32,162
Canterbury colours.svg Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 16-8 Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta Eels 9 September 1984 Sydney Cricket Ground Greg McCallum30,044
Preliminary final
Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta Eels 8-7 St. George colours.svg St. George Dragons 16 September 1984 Sydney Cricket Ground Kevin Roberts37,004

Chart

Qualifying finalMajor semi-finalPreliminary finalGrand final
1 Canterbury colours.svg Canterbury16 Canterbury colours.svg Canterbury6
Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta8 Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta4
2 St. George colours.svg St. George16 Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta8
3 Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta22Minor semi-final St. George colours.svg St. George7
St. George colours.svg St. George24
4 Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg Manly18 South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney6
5 South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney22

Grand final

The 1984 grand final was contested by minor premiers Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the Parramatta Eels. As competition leaders, the Bulldogs needed to win only one finals game to qualify for the grand final, and did so against the third-placed Eels, who had to play three finals games to qualify. Played at the Sydney Cricket Ground before a crowd of 47,076, the game was refereed by Kevin Roberts.

Canterbury-Bankstown BulldogsPositionParramatta Eels
Mick Potter FB Paul Taylor
Steve O'Brien WG Neil Hunt
Andrew Farrar CE Mick Cronin
Chris Mortimer CE Steve Ella
Peter Mortimer WG Eric Grothe
Terry Lamb FE Brett Kenny
Steve Mortimer (c) HB Peter Sterling
Paul Langmack LK Ray Price
Steve Folkes SR John Muggleton
Brian Battese SR Chris Phelan
Peter Kelly PR Paul Mares
Mark Bugden HK Steve Edge (c)
Peter Tunks PR Stan Jurd
Geoff Robinson Res. David Liddiard
Darryl Brohman Res. Steve Sharp
Greg Mullane Res. Ron Quinn
Res. Glen Mansfield
Warren Ryan Coach John Monie

The ruthless game plan of coach Warren Ryan saw Canterbury trump Parramatta in a grueling encounter. The Bulldogs mastered the art of the "gang-tackle" under Ryan and it was executed superbly by Peter Tunks, Peter Kelly, Mark Bugden and Brian Battese. Parramatta had a 4-0 half-time lead after Mick Cronin scored from a neat Peter Sterling pass.

An ingenious moment from Canterbury hooker Bugden won the day - seeing an injured Ray Price on the ground, he ran from dummy-half at the place where Price would have been defending to crash over and score the winning try.

Cronin later missed a close range penalty goal attempt which would have levelled the scores close to full-time.

Canterbury-Bankstown 6
Tries: Bugden
Goals: Chris Mortimer

Parramatta 4
Tries: Cronin

Man-of-the-match: Peter Kelly [2]

Player statistics

The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 26.

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References

  1. "History of the Premiership". centenaryofrugbyleague.com.au. Australian Rugby League. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  2. D'Souza, Miguel. "Grand final History". wwos.ninemsn.com.au. AAP. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2013.