1975 Brisbane Rugby League season explained

Year:1975
Competition:Brisbane Rugby League
Teams:8
Premiers: Western Suburbs
Minor Premiers: Western Suburbs
Top Try Scorer: Wayne Bennett
Player Of The Year: Steve Calder (Rothmans Medal)
Prevseason Year:1974
Nextseason Year:1976

The 1975 Brisbane Rugby League season was the 67th season of Brisbane Rugby League premiership. Eight rugby league teams from across Brisbane competed for the premiership, which culminated in a grand final match between the Western Suburbs and Redcliffe clubs.

Season summary

Teams played each other three times, with 21 rounds of competition played. It resulted in a top five of Western Suburbs, Northern Suburbs, Redcliffe, Eastern Suburbs and Wynnum-Manly.

The 1975 season's Rothmans Medallist was Northern Suburbs player Steve Calder.[1]

With seconds remaining in the decider, Redcliffe were trailing 26–24 to minor premiers Western Suburbs. The Dolphins had the ball and launched a bomb hoping for the best. However, before the ball landed, fans had flooded Lang Park ensuring there was no chance for Redcliffe to pressure Wests' receiver into an error.[2] The ball ended up going into touch, ensuring that the fans did not ruin the final play of the game.

Teams

Club Home ground Coach Captain
Des Morris
Henry Holloway Marty Scanlan
Bishop Park Tommy Bishop
Corbett Park Brian Fitzsimmons Wayne Bennett
Ian Pearce
Harry Bath Gary Dobrich
Harry Cameron
Nev Hornery

Ladder

width=20 abbr="Position×" width=175 Teamwidth=20 abbr="Played" Pldwidth=20 abbr="Won" Wwidth=20 abbr="Drawn" Dwidth=20 abbr="Lost" Lwidth=20 abbr="Points for" PFwidth=20 abbr="Points against" PAwidth=20 abbr="Points difference" PDwidth=20 abbr="Points" Pts
1 Western Suburbs211605473296+17732
2 Northern Suburbs211317467346+12127
3 Redcliffe211308387337+5026
4 Eastern Suburbs211128390338+5224
5 Wynnum-Manly2110110352342+1021
6 Past Brothers218112347385-3817
7 Southern Suburbs216015331490-15912
8 Fortitude Valley214116289495-2069

Finals

HomeScoreAwayMatch Information
width=17%Date and Timewidth=17%Venuewidth=11%Refereewidth=7%Crowd
Qualifying Finals
align=left Eastern Suburbs7-9align=left Wynnum-Manly30 August 1975Lang ParkEddie Ward8,000
align=left Northern Suburbs15–2align=left Redcliffe31 August 1975Lang ParkIan Smith
Semi-finals
align=left Redcliffe22-15align=left Wynnum-Manly6 September 1975Lang ParkIan Smith
align=left Western Suburbs21-11align=left Northern Suburbs7 September 1975Lang ParkEddie Ward
Preliminary Final
align=left Northern Suburbs2-25align=left Redcliffe13 September 1975Lang ParkEddie Ward
Grand Final
align=left Western Suburbs26-24align=left Redcliffe21 September 1975Lang ParkIan Smith41,000

Grand Final

Western SuburbsPositionRedcliffe
  1. Greg McCarthy
FB
  1. Tony Obst
2. Michael Flesser WG2. Brian Gardiner
3. Harry Cameron (c) CE3. Peter Flanders
4. Greg Heading CE4. Ian Pearce (c)
5. Wayne Stewart 5. Victor Tighe
FE6. Steve Williams
7. Brian Winney
LK8. Ian Thinee
9. Rod Bradshaw SR9. Rod Halley
10. Henry Williamson 10. Forrester Grayson
11. Max Williamson 11. Bevan Bleakley
12. Kel Brown 12. Bob Jones
13. John Young 13. Steve Bullow
14. Bob Green Reserves 14. Chris Mason
19. Carlo Costa Reserves 15. Geoff Russell
20. C Anderson Reserves 16. Peter Leis
Reserves 19. Brad McArthur
Coach Barry Muir

Redcliffe's storming finish was not enough, as Western Suburbs held on to claim its first premiership in 21 years.

Redcliffe were coming home strong 26–24, but Panthers held on, to win their ninth premiership and first since 1954. Redcliffe won the scrum count 7–4, the Dolphins winning the penalties 11-7 as well.

Western Suburbs 26 (Tries: H. Cameron, R. Bradshaw, G. McCarthy, G. Heading. Goals: W. Stewart)

Redcliffe 24 (Tries: T. Obst, I. Pearce, G. Russell, B. Bleakley. Goals: I. Pearce 6)[3] [4]

Notes and References

  1. https://www.qrl.com.au/news/2015/11/02/vale-steve-calder/ QRL Media
  2. "Best 10 Brisbane or QRL grand finals in past 50 years" in Courier Mail, September 26, 2014
  3. 1975 BRL Grand Final Highlights Wests 26 v Redcliffe 24 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBHXh5M4icY
  4. 1975 Brisbane Rugby League Grand Final https://web.archive.org/web/20060214040520/http://queensland.rleague.com/flashback/1975gf.php