| Year: | 1948 |
| Competition: | New South Wales Rugby Football League |
| Teams: | 10 |
| Count: | 3rd |
| Mpcount: | 2nd |
| Matches: | 94 |
| Points: | 2829 |
| Top Point Scorer: | Jack Lindwall (101) |
| Top Try Scorer: | Norm Jacobson (27) |
| Prevseason Link: | 1947 NSWRFL season |
| Prevseason Year: | 1947 |
| Nextseason Link: | 1949 NSWRFL season |
| Nextseason Year: | 1949 |
The 1948 NSWRFL season was the forty-first New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership season, Sydney’s top-level rugby league football competition, and Australia’s first. The teams remained unchanged from the previous season, with ten clubs from across the city contesting the premiership during the season which culminated in Western Suburbs’ victory over Balmain in the grand final.[1]
When Balmain’s young stars of 1946 and 1947 Pat Devery and Harry Bath left for big money offers in England it seemed doubtful that the Tigers would be able to continue their run of success. However Balmain gave themselves every chance to achieve their third title in a row and made it through to the Grand Final match up against Wests.
| 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 | Western Suburbs (P) | 18 | 16 | 0 | 2 | 322 | 189 | +133 | 32 | ||||||||||
| 2 | Newtown | 18 | 13 | 0 | 5 | 386 | 248 | +138 | 26 | ||||||||||
| 3 | Balmain | 18 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 287 | 222 | +65 | 26 | ||||||||||
| 4 | St. George | 18 | 10 | 1 | 7 | 332 | 262 | +70 | 21 | ||||||||||
| 5 | Canterbury-Bankstown | 18 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 282 | 276 | +6 | 16 | ||||||||||
| 6 | Eastern Suburbs | 18 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 225 | 248 | -23 | 16 | ||||||||||
| 7 | South Sydney | 18 | 7 | 1 | 10 | 265 | 302 | -37 | 15 | ||||||||||
| 8 | Parramatta | 18 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 237 | 346 | -109 | 11 | ||||||||||
| 9 | Manly-Warringah | 18 | 4 | 1 | 13 | 221 | 334 | -113 | 9 | ||||||||||
| 10 | North Sydney | 18 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 191 | 321 | -130 | 8 | ||||||||||
In Balmain’s preliminary final match up with St George, Balmain winger Arthur Patton refused to leave the field whilst injured as the Tigers held on to win 13–12. At game’s end it was found that he had a broken leg.
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=17% | Date and Time | width=17% | Venue | width=11% | Referee | width=7% | Crowd | ||
| Semifinals | |||||||||
| align=left | Western Suburbs | 7–8 | align=left | Balmain | 28 August 1948 | Sydney Cricket Ground | George Bishop | 25,907 | |
| align=left | Newtown | 8–20 | align=left | St. George | 4 September 1948 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Jack O'Brien | 31,310 | |
| Preliminary Final | |||||||||
| align=left | Balmain | 13–12 | align=left | St. George | 11 September 1948 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Jack O'Brien | 37,404 | |
| Grand Final | |||||||||
| align=left | Western Suburbs | 8–5 | align=left | Balmain | 18 September 1948[2] | Sydney Sports Ground | George Bishop | 29,122 | |
| Western Suburbs | Position | Balmain |
|---|---|---|
| WG | 30. Leo Nosworthy | |
| 6. George Williams | ||
| CE | 4. Tom Bourke (c) | |
| 42. Mitchell Wallace | ||
| 32. William Sneddon | ||
| HB | 20. Des Bryan | |
| 10. Jim Thomson | ||
| 45Robert Crane | ||
| 8. Jack Spencer | |
| SR | 12. Sid Ryan | |
| 25. Pat Madden | ||
| 13. Jack Hampstead | ||
| Coach | Athol Smith | |
Western Suburbs Magpies 8 (Tries: Hudson, Hansen. Goals: Keato)
defeated
Balmain Tigers 5 (Tries: Bourke. Goals: Bourke)
The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 18.Top 5 point scorers
| width=50 | Points | width=200 | Player | width=30 | Tries | width=30 | Goals | width=30 | Field Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 101 | Jack Lindwall | 9 | 37 | 0 | |||||
| 94 | Colin Schomberg | 0 | 47 | 0 | |||||
| 93 | Bill Keato | 1 | 45 | 0 | |||||
| 92 | Oriel Kennerson | 2 | 43 | 0 | |||||
| 81 | Norm Jacobson | 27 | 0 | 0 |
| width=50 | Tries | width=200 | Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | Norm Jacobson | ||
| 18 | Arthur Patton | ||
| 11 | Eddie Tracey | ||
| 11 | Len Allmond | ||
| 9 | Eric Bennett | ||
| 9 | Pat Leal | ||
| 9 | Len Smith | ||
| 9 | Jack Lindwall |
| width=50 | Goals | width=200 | Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| 47 | Colin Schomberg | ||
| 45 | Bill Keato | ||
| 43 | Oriel Kennerson | ||
| 37 | Jack Lindwall | ||
| 33 | Joe Jorgenson |