| Year: | 1949 |
| Competition: | New South Wales Rugby Football League |
| Teams: | 10 |
| Premiers: | St. George[1] |
| Count: | 2nd |
| Mpcount: | 10th |
| Matches: | 94 |
| Points: | 2995 |
| Top Point Scorer: | Bill Keato (163) |
| Top Try Scorer: | Ron Roberts (25) |
| Prevseason Link: | 1948 NSWRFL season |
| Prevseason Year: | 1948 |
| Nextseason Link: | 1950 NSWRFL season |
| Nextseason Year: | 1950 |
The 1949 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the forty-second season of Sydney's top-level professional rugby league football club competition, Australia's first. Ten teams from across the city contested the premiership during the season which culminated in a grand final between St. George and South Sydney.[2]
St. George winger Ron Roberts’ 25 tries during 1949 stands in third place behind Les Brennan's 29 in 1954 and Bob Lulham’s 28 in 1947 for the highest number of tries by a player in a debut season.
The 1949 season was also the last in the NSWRFL for future Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame inductee, Vic Hey.
| 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 | South Sydney | 18 | 13 | 1 | 4 | 360 | 210 | +150 | 27 | ||||||||||
| 2 | Western Suburbs | 18 | 12 | 0 | 6 | 365 | 280 | +85 | 24 | ||||||||||
| 3 | St. George | 18 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 345 | 231 | +114 | 23 | ||||||||||
| 4 | Balmain | 18 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 265 | 206 | +59 | 22 | ||||||||||
| 5 | Parramatta | 18 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 311 | 269 | +42 | 20 | ||||||||||
| 6 | Newtown | 18 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 358 | 332 | +26 | 19 | ||||||||||
| 7 | Canterbury-Bankstown | 18 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 236 | 337 | −101 | 14 | ||||||||||
| 8 | Manly-Warringah | 18 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 171 | 293 | −122 | 13 | ||||||||||
| 9 | North Sydney | 18 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 253 | 369 | −116 | 11 | ||||||||||
| 10 | Eastern Suburbs | 18 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 214 | 351 | −137 | 7 | ||||||||||
Minor premier South Sydney's loss to St. George in the finals meant that a grand final would be necessary.[3]
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=17% | Date and Time | width=17% | Venue | width=11% | Referee | width=7% | Crowd | ||
| Semifinals | |||||||||
| align=left | South Sydney | 12–16 | align=left | St. George | 20 August 1949 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Tom McMahon | 41,696 | |
| align=left | Western Suburbs | 13–20 | align=left | Balmain | 27 August 1949 | Sydney Cricket Ground | George Bishop | 38,209 | |
| Preliminary Final | |||||||||
| align=left | St. George | 18–7 | align=left | Balmain | 3 September 1949 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Jack O'Brien | 55,341 | |
| Grand Final | |||||||||
| align=left | South Sydney | 12–19 | align=left | St. George | 10 September 1949 | Sydney Cricket Ground | George Bishop | 56,534 | |
| South Sydney | Position | St. George |
|---|---|---|
| 26. Doug Fleming | ||
| WG | 11. Ron Roberts | |
| 10. Doug McRitchie | ||
| CE | 9. Matt McCoy | |
| 13. Noel Pidding | ||
| 8. Johnny Hawke (capt) | ||
| HB | 7. Noel Hill | |
| 3. Jack Holland | ||
| 29. Ernie Hammerton | 2. Frank Facer (v.capt) | |
| 54. Jack Munn | ||
| SR | 16. Carl Langton | |
| 4. Jack Rayner (Ca./Co.) | 4. Charles Banks | |
| 6. George Jardine | ||
| Coach | Jim Duckworth | |
Souths opened the scoring, with a converted try to Graves after 21 minutes. However the Dragons were led masterfully by their captain, Kangaroos five-eighth, Norman "Johnny" Hawke. Controlling all aspects of the match, Hawke took the game away from Souths who only got back into the contest when he was forced from the field with injury. Also injured was Saints forward George Jardine who played the match with a broken wrist.
St. George led 11–5 at half time. Hawke returned to the field after treatment and was later dubbed "Man of the Match" and "the Player’s Player". The Dragons' wingers, season's top try scorer Ron Roberts (25 tries) and newcomer Noel Pidding scored two tries each.
Each of the grand final winning players received a record bonus of £300 each.
St. George 19
Tries: Roberts (2), Pidding (2), McCoy
Goals: McCoy, Pidding
South Sydney 12
Tries: Graves, Purcell
Goals: Graves (3)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 159 | Bill Keato | 1 | 78 | 0 | |||||
| 122 | Matt McCoy | 8 | 49 | 0 | |||||
| 110 | Ron Crossley | 4 | 49 | 0 | |||||
| 100 | Darcy Russell | 0 | 50 | 0 | |||||
| 92 | Bobby Lulham | 16 | 22 | 0 |
| width=50 | Tries | width=200 | Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | Ron Roberts | ||
| 18 | Mitchell Wallace | ||
| 17 | Len Allmond | ||
| 16 | Bobby Lulham | ||
| 14 | Horrie Kessey |
| width=50 | Goals | width=200 | Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| 78 | Bill Keato | ||
| 50 | Darcy Russell | ||
| 49 | Matt McCoy | ||
| 49 | Ron Crossley | ||
| 44 | Colin Schomberg |