1947 NSWRFL season explained

Year:1947
Competition:New South Wales Rugby Football League
Teams:10
Premiers: Balmain[1]
Count:10th
Mpcount:3rd
Matches:95
Points:3238
Top Point Scorer: Pat Devery (142)
Top Try Scorer: Bob Lulham (28)
Prevseason Link:1946 NSWRFL season
Prevseason Year:1946
Nextseason Link:1948 NSWRFL season
Nextseason Year:1948

The 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the fortieth season of Sydney’s top-level rugby league competition, Australia’s first. For the first time, the number of clubs in the league reached double digits due to the admission of Manly-Warringah and Parramatta to the first grade competition. The season culminated in a grand final between the Balmain and Canterbury-Bankstown clubs.[2]

Season summary

Midway through the season the Balmain club looked out of touch winning only six of their first twelve games. Five consecutive wins to end the regular season left them in position to make a finals assault. Balmain’s Bob Lulham set a new record for the highest number of tries by a player in a debut season with a tally of 28 tries in eighteen matches. This remains that club’s record for tries in a season.

Teams

The addition of two teams, Manly-Warringah and Parramatta, saw ten teams from across the city contest during the 1947 premiership, the first expansion of the League since Canterbury-Bankstown’s introduction in 1935. Manly had been competing for a number of years in the NSWRFL's President's Cup (3rd grade) competition and had been assured by the league of first grade status should they win the Presidents Cup, which they finally did in 1946. After Cumberland’s demise from the league, pressure began to build in the area for another team in the NSWRFL in the 1930s, though this died down during World War II and a Parramatta district club was not proposed again until 1946 when the club was successfully admitted into the Premiership.[3] [4]

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=25 abbr="Points difference" PDwidth=20 abbr="Points" Pts
1 Canterbury-Bankstown181314366272+9427
2 Balmain181206342265+7724
3 Newtown181116375302+7323
4 St. George181107353272+8122
5 Western Suburbs181107295253+4222
6 North Sydney18918287278+919
7 South Sydney18909314328-1418
8 Eastern Suburbs185112270316-4611
9 Manly-Warringah184014242364-1228
10 Parramatta183015230424-1946

Finals

HomeScoreAwayMatch Information
width=17%Date and Timewidth=17%Venuewidth=11%Refereewidth=7%Crowd
Playoff
align=left St. George5–10align=left Western Suburbs27 August 1947Sydney Sports Ground13,552
Semifinals
align=left Canterbury25–15align=left Newtown30 August 1947Sydney Cricket GroundGeorge Bishop36,303
align=left Balmain27–16align=left Western Suburbs6 September 1947Sydney Sports GroundTom McMahon29,375
Final
align=left Canterbury19–25align=left Balmain13 September 1947Sydney Sports GroundJack O'Brien34,994
Grand Final
align=left Canterbury9–13align=left Balmain20 September 1947[5] Sydney Sports GroundJack O'Brien29,292

Grand final

Canterbury-BankstownPositionBalmain
  1. Jack McCullough
WG2. Robert Lulham
3. Pat Devery
CE14. Joe Jorgenson
15. Arthur Patton
4. George Williams
HB32. Des Bryan
  1. Eddie Burns
34. John Brannigan
9. Herb Gilbert Jnr
3. Henry Porter (c) 8. Jack Spencer
SR24. Sid Ryan
11. Harry Bath
7. Tom Bourke (c)
Coach Norm Robinson
The Tigers had strung together seven consecutive wins including a preliminary final victory over minor premiers Canterbury in their attempt at a second straight premiership. Canterbury exercised their “right of challenge” after losing the final and called for a Grand Final decider.

The formidable Canterbury front row of Eddie Burns, Roy Kirkaldy and Henry Porter were combining in their tenth season for over one hundred and fifty appearances as a scrum front trio. They led a punishing Berries defence and gave their side a better-than-even chance of possession in the scrum contests.

Balmain’s star international centre and Kangaroo captain Joe Jorgenson had played and coached on a country contract in Junee in 1947 but returned to the Tigers reserve-grade in time for the semifinals. The Grand Final marked his sole first-grade appearance of the season. Balmain’s Test five-eighth Pat Devery was the nominated match kicker but after several misses he passed over to Jorgenson who kicked three penalties to keep Balmain in the game and trailing 9–6 with ten minutes to go.

Then Jorgenson crashed over for a try under the posts and after receiving medical attention he converted his own goal to give the Tigers an 11–9 lead. A final 45-yard penalty goal then sealed the match for the Tigers at 13–9 with Jorgenson scoring all of Balmain’s points and being chaired victorious from the field.

Balmain 13 (Tries: Jorgenson. Goals: Jorgenson 5)

defeated

Canterbury-Bankstown 9 (Tries: Hasson. Goals: Johnson 2, Hasson)

Player statistics

The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 18.Top 5 point scorers

width=50 Pointswidth=200 Playerwidth=30 Trieswidth=30 Goalswidth=30 Field Goals
130 Bill Keato0650
126 Jack Lindwall14420
116 Tom Kirk0580
114 Pat Devery6480
81 Roy Hasson11240
Top 5 try scorers
width=50 Trieswidth=200 Player
25 Bobby Lulham
14 Jack Lindwall
13 Morrie Murphy
13 Len Smith
13 Norm Jacobson
Top 5 goal scorers
width=50 Goalswidth=200 Player
65 Bill Keato
58 Tom Kirk
48 Pat Devery
42 Jack Lindwall
33 Frank Bonner

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://rl1908.com/clubcomps/Honours.htm Premiership Roll of Honour
  2. News: Canterbury wants Kilham back . . Australia . 8 . 1947-09-15 . 2009-11-20.
  3. Web site: Fagan. Sean. Parramatta Eels. RL1908. 18 September 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20070929102842/http://www.rl1908.com/Clubs/Parramatta-Eels.htm. 29 September 2007. dead. dmy-all.
  4. Web site: History of the Premiership . https://web.archive.org/web/20080209104018/http://www.centenaryofrugbyleague.com.au/site/about/history/history-of-the-premiership.aspx . dead . 9 February 2008 . centenaryofrugbyleague.com.au . . 21 October 2013 .
  5. http://www.nrlstats.com/archive/match.cfm?MatchID=2327 1947 Grand Final