1984 NSWRL season

1984 New South Wales Rugby League
Teams	13
Premiers	Canterbury-Bankstown (4th title)
Minor premiers	Canterbury-Bankstown (4th title)
Matches played	163
Points scored	5226
Attendance	1379655
Top points scorer(s)	Steve Gearin (190)
Player of the year	Terry Lamb (Rothmans Medal)
Top try-scorer(s)	Steve Morris (17) Terry Lamb (17)
← 1983 1985 →

The 1984 New South Wales Rugby League season was the 77th season of competition between the top professional rugby league football clubs within New South Wales. With the departure from the first grade competition of Sydney foundation club the Newtown Jets at the close of the previous season, 1984 saw thirteen teams compete for the J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup during the season, which culminated in a grand final between the Canterbury-Bankstown and Parramatta clubs. NSWRL teams also competed for the 1984 National Panasonic Cup.

Season summary[]

The New South Wales Rugby Football League dropped the "football" from its name this year. Twenty-six regular season rounds were played from March till August, resulting in a top five of Canterbury, St. George, Parramatta and Manly, with Souths taking fifth spot after winning a play-off against Canberra

The 1984 season's Rothmans Medallist was Canterbury-Bankstown's five-eighth, Terry Lamb, who was also the season's top try-scorer. The Dally M Award was given to Canterbury's fullback, Michael Potter, while Rugby League Week gave their player of the year award to Parramatta's halfback, Peter Sterling.

Teams[]

At the close of the previous season Newtown became the first club since University in 1937 to exit the League, reducing the number of clubs this season from fourteen to thirteen.^[1] This included five Sydney-based foundation teams, another six from Sydney, one from greater New South Wales and one from the Australian Capital Territory.

Balmain Tigers 77th season Ground: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Frank Stanton Captain: Wayne Pearce	Canberra Raiders Ground: Seiffert Oval Coach: Don Furner Captain: Ron Giteau	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs Ground: Belmore Oval Coach: Warren Ryan Captain: Steve Mortimer	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 18th season Ground: Ronson Field Coach: Terry Fearnley Captain: David Hatch	Eastern Suburbs Roosters Ground: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Laurie Freier Captain: Ron Gibbs	Illawarra Steelers 3rd season Ground: Wollongong Showground Coach: Brian Smith Captain: Michael Bolt	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Bob Fulton Captain: Alan Thompson
North Sydney Bears 77th season Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Greg Hawick Captain: →Fred Teasdell→Mark Graham	Parramatta Eels Ground: Belmore Oval Coach: John Monie Captain: Ray Price	Penrith Panthers Ground: Penrith Park Coach: Tim Sheens Captain: Royce Simmons	South Sydney Rabbitohs Ground: Redfern Oval Coach: Ron Willey Captain: Ziggy Niszczot	St. George Dragons 64th season Ground: Kogarah Oval Coach: Roy Masters Captain: Craig Young	Western Suburbs Magpies 77th season Ground: Lidcombe Oval Coach: Captain: Lee Crooks

Ladder[]

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	24	19	0	5	2	435	237	+198	42
2	St. George Dragons	24	17	0	7	2	445	289	+156	38
3	Parramatta Eels	24	17	0	7	2	412	260	+152	38
4	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	24	14	0	10	2	512	338	+174	32
5	South Sydney Rabbitohs	24	13	0	11	2	333	307	+26	30
6	Canberra Raiders	24	13	0	11	2	379	394	-15	30
7	Penrith Panthers	24	12	1	11	2	409	401	+8	29
8	Illawarra Steelers	24	12	0	12	2	368	388	-20	28
9	Balmain Tigers	24	12	0	12	2	380	405	-25	28
10	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	24	10	1	13	2	446	478	-32	25
11	North Sydney Bears	24	9	1	14	2	371	447	-76	23
12	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	24	5	1	18	2	308	478	-170	15
13	Western Suburbs Magpies	24	1	0	23	2	244	620	-376	6

Finals[]

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Playoff
South Sydney Rabbitohs	23-4	Canberra Raiders	28 August 1984	Sydney Cricket Ground	Greg McCallum	10,101
Qualifying Finals
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	18-22	South Sydney Rabbitohs	1 September 1984	Sydney Cricket Ground	Chris Ward	15,801
St. George Dragons	16-22	Parramatta Eels	2 September 1984	Sydney Cricket Ground	Kevin Roberts	25,675
Semi Finals
St. George Dragons	24-6	South Sydney Rabbitohs	8 September 1984	Sydney Cricket Ground	B. Barnes	32,162
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	16-8	Parramatta Eels	9 September 1984	Sydney Cricket Ground	Greg McCallum	30,044
Preliminary Final
Parramatta Eels	8-7	St. George Dragons	16 September 1984	Sydney Cricket Ground	Kevin Roberts	37,004

Grand Final[]

The 1984 grand final was contested by minor premiers Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the Parramatta Eels. As competition leaders, the Bulldogs needed to win only one finals game to qualify for the grand final, and did so against the third-placed Eels, who had to play three finals games to qualify. Played at the Sydney Cricket Ground before a crowd of 47,076, the game was refereed by Kevin Roberts.

The ruthless game plan of coach Warren Ryan saw Canterbury trump Parramatta in a grueling encounter. The Bulldogs mastered the art of the "gang-tackle" under Ryan and it was executed superbly by Peter Tunks, Peter Kelly, Mark Bugden and Brian Battese. Parramatta had a 4-0 half-time lead after Mick Cronin scored from a neat Peter Sterling pass.

An ingenious moment from Canterbury hooker Bugden won the day - seeing an injured Ray Price on the ground, he ran from dummy-half at the place where Price would have been defending to crash over and score the winning try.

Cronin later missed a close range penalty goal attempt which would have levelled the scores close to full-time.

Canterbury-Bankstown 6
Tries: Bugden
Goals: Chris Mortimer

Parramatta 4
Tries: Cronin

Man-of-the-match: Peter Kelly^[2]

References[]

External links[]

• Rugby League Tables - Season 1984
• Results:1981-90 at rabbitohs.com.au
• 1984 J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup at rleague.com^{[dead link]}
• NSWRL season 1984 at rugbyleagueproject.org