| Year: | 1935 |
| Competition: | New South Wales Rugby Football League |
| Teams: | 9 |
| Premiers: | Eastern Suburbs |
| Count: | 5th |
| Minor Premiers: | Eastern Suburbs |
| Mpcount: | 6th |
| Matches: | 75 |
| Top Point Scorer: | Dave Brown (244) |
| Top Try Scorer: | Dave Brown (38) |
| Prevseason Link: | 1934 NSWRFL season |
| Prevseason Year: | 1934 |
| Nextseason Link: | 1936 NSWRFL season |
| Nextseason Year: | 1936 |
The 1935 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the twenty-eighth season of Sydney’s top-grade rugby league club competition, Australia’s first. The season culminated in Eastern Suburbs’ victory over South Sydney in the final.[1]
The addition of Canterbury-Bankstown meant that the League involved nine clubs for the first time since 1929.[2]
The University club did not win a single match in 1935, continuing a losing streak that started in round 2, 1934 and which would run till round 14, 1936, and which marks the most consecutive losses in NSWRL/NRL premiership history at 42.[3]
On 11 May at Earl Park, St. George defeated newcomers Canterbury 91–6, this remaining the biggest winning margin and most points scored by one team in the history of the NSWRFL/NSWRL/ARL/NRL, beating South Sydney’s 67–nil win over Western Suburbs in 1910.[4] The following weekend on 18 May, Eastern Suburbs defeated the “Cantabs” (as Canterbury were initially known) 87–7, this remaining the second-highest score and winning margin in the history of the competition.[4] The record in any grade occurred on 19 July 1913 when South Sydney reserves defeated Mosman by 102 points to 2.[5] [6]
In the second half of the Earl Park match, St. George scored fourteen tries and sixty-eight points, this being the most scored in one half of any match.[7]
Eastern Suburbs winger Rod O'Loan scored a club record of seven tries in a 61–5 win over University. This tally stands second (behind Frank Burge's eight tries in 1920) on the list of most individual tries in a premiership match. Dave Brown’s six tries in a 1935 game against Canterbury stands in equal third place in that same list, Easts winning the match 65–10.[8]
The standing record for most tries in one season also comes from 1935, being 38 by Brown.[9]
Dave Brown’s season tally of 244 points stood for 34 years as the record points scored in a season until topped by Eric Simms in 1969.
| width=175 | Team | Pld | W | D | L | B | PF | PA | PD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Easts | 16 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 599 | 157 | +442 | 34 | |
| 2 | Souths | 16 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 314 | 222 | +92 | 26 | |
| 3 | Wests | 16 | 10 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 345 | 243 | +102 | 24 | |
| 4 | Norths | 16 | 9 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 248 | 253 | -5 | 23 | |
| 5 | Balmain | 16 | 8 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 320 | 225 | +95 | 21 | |
| 6 | St. George | 16 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 334 | 162 | +172 | 20 | |
| 7 | Newtown | 16 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 280 | 248 | +32 | 20 | |
| 8 | Canterbury | 16 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 150 | 660 | -510 | 8 | |
| 9 | University | 16 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 109 | 529 | -420 | 4 |
In the two semi-finals played as a double-header at the Sydney Cricket Ground on the same day, the top two ranked teams Eastern Suburbs and South Sydney beat their lower-ranked opponents Western Suburbs and North Sydney. Eastern Suburbs and South Sydney won their respective matches and met each other in the Final.
| Eastern Suburbs | Position | South Sydney | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13. Tom Dowling | FB | 32. Les McDonald | |
| 9. Rod O’Loan | WG | 15. Harry Thompson | |
| 10. Ross McKinnon | CE | 18. Harry Eyers | |
| 12. Jack Beaton | CE | 34. Eddie Finucane | |
| 24. Fred Tottey | WG | 54. George Shankland | |
| 8. Ernie Norman | FE | 12. Jack 'Paddy' Stewart | |
| 7. Viv Thicknesse | HB | 10. Percy Williams(c) | |
| PR | 6. Jack McCormack | |
| 14. Tom McLachlan | HK | 7. George Kilham | |
| 3. Max Nixon | PR | 4. Eric Lewis | |
| 4. Harry Pierce | SR | ||
| 5. Joe Pearce | SR | 2. Michael Williams | |
| 6. Andy Norval | LK | 3. Eddie Hinson | |
| Arthur Halloway | Coach | Dave Watson |
Tries: Rod O'Loan 2, Harry Pierce, Fred Tottey, Jack Beaton. Goals: Ross McKinnon 2
Try: George Shankland
Source:[12]
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 244 | Dave Brown | 38 | 65 | 0 | |||||
| 154 | Syd Christensen | 12 | 59 | 0 | |||||
| 125 | Les Griffin | 7 | 52 | 0 | |||||
| 118 | Les Mead | 4 | 53 | 0 | |||||
| 116 | Percy Williams | 4 | 52 | 0 |
| width=50 | Tries | width=200 | Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| 38 | Dave Brown | ||
| 25 | Rod O'Loan | ||
| 17 | Fred Tottey | ||
| 16 | Sid Goodwin | ||
| 15 | Alan Ridley |
| width=50 | Goals | width=200 | Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| 65 | Dave Brown | ||
| 59 | Syd Christensen | ||
| 53 | Les Mead | ||
| 52 | Percy Williams | ||
| 52 | Les Griffin |