| Year: | 1940 |
| Competition: | New South Wales Rugby Football League |
| Teams: | 8 |
| Count: | 8th |
| Mpcount: | 9th |
| Matches: | 59 |
| Points: | 1738 |
| Top Point Scorer: | Tom Kirk (99) |
| Top Try Scorer: | Jack Lindwall (19) |
| Prevseason Link: | 1939 NSWRFL season |
| Prevseason Year: | 1939 |
| Nextseason Link: | 1941 NSWRFL season |
| Nextseason Year: | 1941 |
The 1940 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the thirty-third season of Sydney’s top-level rugby league club competition, Australia’s first. Eight teams from across the city contested the premiership during the season, which lasted from April until August, culminating in Eastern Suburbs’ victory over Canterbury-Bankstown in the final.[1]
For this season St. George returned to Hurstville Oval as their home ground.
| width=20 abbr="Position" | width=175 | Team | width=20 abbr="Played" | Pld | width=20 abbr="Won" | W | width=20 abbr="Drawn" | D | width=20 abbr="Lost" | L | width=20 abbr="Points for" | PF | width=20 abbr="Points against" | PA | width=20 abbr="Points difference" | PD | width=20 abbr="Points" | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eastern Suburbs | 14 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 250 | 136 | +114 | 19 | ||||||||||
| 2 | Newtown | 14 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 261 | 200 | +61 | 18 | ||||||||||
| 3 | St. George | 14 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 263 | 203 | +60 | 16 | ||||||||||
| 4 | Canterbury-Bankstown | 14 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 204 | 195 | +9 | 16 | ||||||||||
| 5 | Balmain | 14 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 199 | 162 | +37 | 15 | ||||||||||
| 6 | South Sydney | 14 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 165 | 259 | -94 | 14 | ||||||||||
| 7 | North Sydney | 14 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 156 | 243 | -87 | 8 | ||||||||||
| 8 | Western Suburbs | 14 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 159 | 259 | -100 | 6 | ||||||||||
In the two semi finals, minor premiers Eastern Suburbs defeated St. George whilst fourth-placed Canterbury-Bankstown beat second-placed Newtown. Eastern Suburbs then beat Canterbury-Bankstown in the final to collect their eighth premiership.
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=17% | Date and Time | width=17% | Venue | width=11% | Referee | width=7% | Crowd | ||
| Semifinals | |||||||||
| align=left | Eastern Suburbs | 10–3 | align=left | St. George | 17 August 1940 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Jack O'Brien | 17,473 | |
| align=left | Newtown | 11–19 | align=left | Canterbury-Bankstown | 24 August 1940 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Jack O'Brien | 22,061 | |
| Final | |||||||||
| align=left | Eastern Suburbs | 24–14 | align=left | Canterbury-Bankstown | 31 August 1940 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Jack O'Brien | 24,167 | |
| Eastern Suburbs | Position | Canterbury-Bankstown |
|---|---|---|
| 13. Lindsay Johnson | ||
| WG | 17. Edgar Newham | |
| 9. Merv Denton | ||
| CE | 23. Bob Russell | |
| 11. Jack Bonnyman (c) | ||
| 8. Ted Anderson | ||
| HB | 7. Roy McCarter | |
| 14. Jim Gibbs | |
| 2.Roy Kirkaldy | ||
| 18. John Clarke | 6. Jack Reilly | |
| SR | 5. Bob Allison | |
| 15. Bob Farrar | ||
| 31. Gordon Clunas | ||
| Coach | ||
Although Brown was ruled out on the morning of the decider with a leg injury, replacement Bill Brew slotted into the side and scored a try after backing up second rower Sid “Joe” Pearce who also scored the next try. The young Easts team, who averaged twenty years of age, overcame Canterbury by six tries to two.
Eastern Suburbs 24 (Tries: Pierce 2, O'Loan, Brew, Pearce, Clarke. Goals: Dunn 2)
defeated
Canterbury-Bankstown 14 (Tries: Bonnyman, Denton. Goals: Johnson 4)