| Year: | 1942 |
| Competition: | New South Wales Rugby Football League |
| Teams: | 8 |
| Premiers: | Canterbury-Bankstown |
| Count: | 2nd |
| Minor Premiers: | Canterbury-Bankstown |
| Mpcount: | 2nd |
| Matches: | 61 |
| Points: | 1895 |
| Top Point Scorer: | Ray Lindwall (143) |
| Top Try Scorer: | Jack Lindwall (16) |
| Prevseason Link: | 1941 NSWRFL season |
| Prevseason Year: | 1941 |
| Nextseason Link: | 1943 NSWRFL season |
| Nextseason Year: | 1943 |
The 1942 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the thirty-fifth season of Sydney's top-level rugby league football competition, Australia's first. Eight teams from across the city contested the premiership during the season, which lasted from May until September, culminating in the Canterbury-Bankstown club's grand final victory over St. George.[1]
| width=175 | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canterbury | 14 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 264 | 162 | +102 | 20 | |
| 2 | Balmain | 14 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 223 | 192 | +31 | 20 | |
| 3 | St. George | 14 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 271 | 205 | +66 | 18 | |
| 4 | Eastern Suburbs | 14 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 213 | 214 | -1 | 16 | |
| 5 | South Sydney | 14 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 209 | 191 | +18 | 15 | |
| 6 | North Sydney | 14 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 220 | 216 | +4 | 10 | |
| 7 | Newtown | 14 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 189 | 266 | -77 | 9 | |
| 8 | Western Suburbs | 14 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 148 | 291 | -143 | 4 |
The minor premiership was won by Canterbury-Bankstown in a play off against Balmain after both sides had finished the season on twenty points.
In the semi-finals, Canterbury-Bankstown lost their match to St. George whilst Eastern Suburbs, who only just made the finals after South Sydney had drawn their match in the final round of the season, defeated Balmain. The result of the first semi final meant that St. George and Eastern Suburbs played a preliminary final which would decide who met minor premiers Canterbury-Bankstown in the Grand Final. St. George won the match, as they had done four weeks earlier over Easts in the final round of the season proper.
St. George had won two matches in the semis while Canterbury had just one victory, but the Berries were guaranteed a Grand Final berth under a call back of the old rules giving the minor premiers a right of challenge. In the Grand Final, Canterbury-Bankstown narrowly defeated St. George to collect their second premiership victory.
| Home | Score | Away | Match information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=17% | Date and time | width=17% | Venue | width=11% | Referee | width=7% | Crowd | ||
| Playoff | |||||||||
| align=left | Canterbury-Bankstown | 26–20 | align=left | Balmain | 15 August 1942 | Sydney Cricket Ground | 17,300 | ||
| Semifinals | |||||||||
| align=left | Canterbury-Bankstown | 10–25 | align=left | St. George | 22 August 1942 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Jack O'Brien | 26,467 | |
| align=left | Balmain | 14–20 | align=left | Eastern Suburbs | 29 August 1942 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Jack O'Brien | 19,782 | |
| Preliminary Final | |||||||||
| align=left | St. George | 18–5 | align=left | Eastern Suburbs | 5 September 1942 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Jack O'Brien | 30,858 | |
| Grand Final | |||||||||
| align=left | Canterbury-Bankstown | 11–9 | align=left | St. George | 12 September 1942 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Jack O'Brien | 26,171 | |
| Canterbury-Bankstown | Position | St. George | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13. Ray Lindwall | |||
| WG | 10. Doug McRitchie | ||
| 9. Ron Bailey (c) | 29. Ted McHugh | ||
| CE | 12. Noel Jones | ||
| 17. Jack Lindwall | |||
| 53. Cedric Turvey | |||
| HB | 20. Eric Laurence | ||
| 3. Charlie Montgomery | |||
| 15. Roy Kirkaldy | |||
| 5. Bill McRitchie | |||
| SR | 43. Alister Clarke | ||
| 5. Bob Farrar | 4. Len Kelly (c/c) | ||
| 26. Bill Collier | |||
| Coach |
Canterbury's defence was tested during a torrid ten-minute period when St. George hurled themselves at the line from never more than eight yards away. The Berries defence held and the Dragons could not break through.
The Canterbury-Bankstown tactics were to keep the game with the forwards and away from the St George backs. Canterbury hooker Kirkaldy won the vital scrums. Bob Farrar, Frank Sponberg and Henry Porter were tireless with Porter's handling and kicking skills on display.
Saints were leading 9–6 late in the match after a try to their record-breaking winger Jack Lindwall was converted by his brother Ray Lindwall. Berries' winger Bob Jackson then scored a magnificent try made possible by a resolute and tricky run from skipper Ron Bailey which locked up the scores at 9–all.
Canterbury's Lindsay Johnson managed a late conversion to secure the win. Johnson's goal just scraped over the cross bar to give his team the premiership.
Canterbury-Bankstown 11 (Tries: Jackson. Goals: Johnson 4)[3]
defeated
St George 9 (Tries: J. Lindwall. Goals: R. Lindwall 3)[4]
The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 14.Top 5 point scorers
| width=50 | Points | width=200 | Player | width=30 | Tries | width=30 | Goals | width=30 | Field Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 115 | Ray Lindwall | 1 | 56 | 0 | |||||
| 92 | Fred Felsch | 6 | 37 | 0 | |||||
| 67 | Dick Dunn | 3 | 29 | 0 | |||||
| 63 | Rex Harrison | 3 | 27 | 0 | |||||
| 48 | Lin Johnson | 0 | 24 | 0 |
| width=50 | Tries | width=200 | Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | Jack Lindwall | ||
| 13 | Arthur Patton | ||
| 10 | Eddie Burns | ||
| 9 | Gerald Scully | ||
| 8 | Lin McLean |
| width=50 | Goals | width=200 | Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| 56 | Ray Lindwall | ||
| 37 | Fred Felsch | ||
| 29 | Dick Dunn | ||
| 27 | Rex Harrison | ||
| 24 | Lin Johnson |