1970 NSWRFL season

1970 New South Wales Rugby Football League
Teams	12
Premiers	South Sydney (19th title)
Minor premiers	South Sydney (16th title)
Matches played	136
Points scored	4407
Attendance	1630630
Top points scorer(s)	Eric Simms (241)
Player of the year	Kevin Junee (Rothmans Medal)
Top try-scorer(s)	Ken Irvine (16)
← 1969 1971 →

The 1970 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 63rd season of Sydney's professional rugby league football competition, Australia's first. Twelve teams, including six foundation clubs and another six admitted post 1908, competed for the J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season which culminated in a grand final match for the WD & HO Wills Cup between the Manly-Warringah and South Sydney clubs.

Season summary[]

Following the previous season's "lay-down" or "stop-start" grand final, rugby league's rules were changed for this season so that rather than stopping the game to call a doctor onto the field when a player goes down injured, the ball is given to a team-mate to play so that no advantage can be gained from feigning injury.^[1] Head-high tackles were also outlawed at the commencement of the 1971 season. Each side met all others twice in twenty-two regular season rounds before the top four finishers, Souths, Manly, St. George and Canterbury, fought out four finals for a place in the grand final.

The 1970 season's Rothmans Medallist was Eastern Suburbs' halfback Kevin Junee. Rugby League Week awarded their player of the year award to Cronulla-Sutherland's halfback Tommy Bishop.

Teams[]

Balmain 63rd season Ground: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Leo Nosworthy Captain: Keith Outten	Canterbury-Bankstown 36th season Ground: Belmore Sports Ground Coach: Kevin Ryan Captain: Ron Raper	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 4th season Ground: Endeavour Field Captain-coach: Tommy Bishop	Eastern Suburbs 63rd season Ground: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Don Furner Captain: John Brass
Manly-Warringah Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Ron Willey Captain: John McDonald	Newtown 63rd season Ground: Henson Park Coach: Harry Bath Captain: Oscar Danielson	North Sydney 63rd season Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Roy Francis Captain: Ken Irvine	Parramatta Ground: Cumberland Oval Captain-coach: Ron Lynch
Penrith Ground: Penrith Stadium Captain-coach: Bob Boland	South Sydney Ground: Redfern Oval Coach: Clive Churchill Captain: John Sattler	St. George 50th season Ground: Jubilee Oval Coach: Jack Gibson Captain: Graeme Langlands	Western Suburbs 63rd season Ground: Lidcombe Oval Coach: Ron Watson Captain: Roy Ferguson

Ladder[]

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	South Sydney	22	17	1	4	479	273	+206	35
2	Manly-Warringah	22	16	1	5	422	285	+137	33
3	St. George	22	15	0	7	408	329	+79	30
4	Canterbury-Bankstown	22	14	0	8	308	269	+39	28
5	Eastern Suburbs	22	13	0	9	386	320	+66	26
6	Balmain	22	12	1	9	380	347	+33	25
7	Cronulla-Sutherland	22	9	0	13	374	335	+39	18
8	Newtown	22	9	0	13	345	409	-64	18
9	North Sydney	22	7	1	14	332	435	-103	15
10	Penrith	22	7	1	14	292	406	-114	15
11	Western Suburbs	22	6	1	15	329	403	-74	13
12	Parramatta	22	4	0	18	240	484	-244	8

Finals[]

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Semi Finals
St. George	12–7	Canterbury-Bankstown	29 August 1970	Sydney Cricket Ground	Keith Page	40,083
South Sydney	22–15	Manly-Warringah	5 September 1970	Sydney Cricket Ground	Don Lancashire	40,211
Preliminary Final
Manly-Warringah	15–6	St. George	12 September 1970	Sydney Cricket Ground	Don Lancashire	43,147
Grand Final
South Sydney	23–12[2]	Manly-Warringah	19 September 1970	Sydney Cricket Ground	Don Lancashire	53,241

Grand Final[]

Having lost the previous Grand Final to Balmain, Souths was desperate to win this year. After four minutes the Rabbitohs had scored. Approximately five minutes later Souths captain John Sattler collapsed, having been punched in an off-the-ball incident by Manly forward John Bucknall.^[3] He suffered a double fracture to his jaw but pleaded to team mate Mike Cleary, "Hold me up so they don't know I'm hurt". He was helped up and continued to play in the game. At half-time Souths was leading 12–6 when his teammates learnt about his injury.

During the interval Sattler refused treatment and insisted he continue playing. He also told the side, "the next bloke who tries to cut me out of the play is in trouble", to prevent his team mates trying to protect him from further injury. The Souths forward pack returned to the fray and completely dominated the play with its backline hardly called upon. Bucknall had been replaced by Allan Thomson in the 35th minute after a sustained punitive attention from the Rabbitohs pack saw him suffer a shoulder injury in a heavy tackle.

South Sydney halfback Bob Grant opened the scoring in the fourth minute, crossing untouched while his opposite number Eddie Whiley was off the field having an injury treated. Rabbitohs winger Ray Branighan also crossed untouched six minutes from full-time. By game's end South Sydney had scored three tries to nil in a 23–12 victory. Sattler later went to hospital to receive treatment but only after receiving the J. J. Giltinan Shield and making an acceptance speech.

Eric Simms' record of four field-goals that day stands as the most ever kicked in a Grand Final.

South Sydney 23 (Tries: Grant 2, R Branighan. Goals: Simms 3. Field Goals: Simms 4)

defeated

Manly-Warringah 12 (Goals: Batty 4. Field Goals: Fulton 2)

References[]

External links[]

• Rugby League Tables – Season 1970 The World of Rugby League
• 1970 Grand Final at eraofthebiff.com
• Results:1961-70 at rabbitohs.com.au
• 1970 J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup at rleague.com^{[dead link]}
• NSWRFL season 1970 at rugbyleagueproject.com