| Year: | 1941 |
| Competition: | New South Wales Rugby Football League |
| Teams: | 8 |
| Count: | 1st |
| Mpcount: | 10th |
| Matches: | 59 |
| Points: | 1933 |
| Top Point Scorer: | Neville Smith (84) |
| Top Try Scorer: | Percy Dermond (13) Sel Lisle (13) |
| Prevseason Link: | 1940 NSWRFL season |
| Prevseason Year: | 1940 |
| Nextseason Link: | 1942 NSWRFL season |
| Nextseason Year: | 1942 |
The 1941 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the thirty-fourth season of Sydney’s top-level rugby league competition, Australia’s first. Eight teams from across the city contested the premiership during the season, which lasted from April until August, culminating in Eastern Suburbs’ loss to St. George in the grand final.[1]
| 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 | Eastern Suburbs | 14 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 217 | 160 | +57 | 18 | ||||||||||
| 2 | Balmain | 14 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 243 | 205 | +38 | 18 | ||||||||||
| 3 | Canterbury-Bankstown | 14 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 205 | 182 | +23 | 18 | ||||||||||
| 4 | St. George | 14 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 307 | 248 | +59 | 17 | ||||||||||
| 5 | Newtown | 14 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 219 | 242 | -23 | 14 | ||||||||||
| 6 | Western Suburbs | 14 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 247 | 226 | +21 | 12 | ||||||||||
| 7 | South Sydney | 14 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 193 | 277 | -84 | 8 | ||||||||||
| 8 | North Sydney | 14 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 171 | 262 | -91 | 7 | ||||||||||
Eastern Suburbs and St. George won their respective semi finals, allowing them to meet in the final.
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=17% | Date and Time | width=17% | Venue | width=11% | Referee | width=7% | Crowd | ||
| Semifinals | |||||||||
| align=left | Eastern Suburbs | 24–22 | align=left | Canterbury-Bankstown | 16 August 1941 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Tom McMahon | 21,000 | |
| align=left | Balmain | 8–32 | align=left | St. George | 23 August 1941 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Tom McMahon | 26,790 | |
| Final | |||||||||
| align=left | Eastern Suburbs | 14–31 | align=left | St. George | 30 August 1941 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Tom McMahon | 39,957[2] | |
| Eastern Suburbs | Position | St. George |
|---|---|---|
| 13. Jack Wedgwood | ||
| WG | ||
| 8. Gordon Hart | ||
| 14. Dave Brown | CE | 49. Jack Gilbert |
| 12. Noel Jones | ||
| 8. Fred May | 20. Roy Hasson | |
| HB | 7. Albert McAndrew | |
| 3. Charlie Montgomery | ||
| 2. Lindsay Spencer | |
| SR | 5. Neville Smith (Ca./Co.) | |
| 6. Len Kelly (v.capt) | ||
| 23. Bill Tyquin | ||
| Reserve | 47. Bill Collier | |
| Reserve | 58. Jim Hale | |
Along with Smith, St. George centre Gordon Hart also gave a sparkling display of free-running rugby league. Recently enlisted in the AIF, Hart had been given permission to leave barracks to participate in the finals.[3]
In another incident Easts’ prop Jack Arnold and Saints’ lock Bill Tyquin were sent off after an almighty punch up. Tyquin, a Queensland representative who would later captain Australia, played only the 1941 war-time season in Sydney while he was stationed there on duty with the AIF.
It was to prove to be the final match in the stellar, record-setting career of Easts’ Dave Brown who at twenty-nine years of age announced his retirement at game’s end.
St. George 31 (Tries: Campbell 2, Hanson 2, Smith, Kelly, Hart. Goals: Smith 5)
defeated
Eastern Suburbs 14 (Tries: Dermond 2, Brown, Bamford. Goals: Brown 1)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 68 | Lin Johnson | 0 | 34 | 0 | |||||
| 62 | N. Parkinson | 6 | 22 | 0 | |||||
| 58 | Ray Pratt | 0 | 29 | 0 | |||||
| 57 | Neville Smith | 7 | 18 | 0 | |||||
| 54 | Fred Felsch | 2 | 24 | 0 |
| width=50 | Tries | width=200 | Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | Sel Lisle | ||
| 12 | Arthur Patton | ||
| 11 | William Ryan | ||
| 10 | Sid Goodwin | ||
| 10 | Jack Lindwall | ||
| 10 | Bruce Ryan | ||
| 10 | Bruce Brown |
| width=50 | Goals | width=200 | Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| 34 | Lin Johnson | ||
| 29 | Ray Pratt | ||
| 26 | Percy Williams | ||
| 24 | Fred Felsch | ||
| 22 | N. Parkinson |