1957 NSWRFL season

1957's New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 50th season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. Ten teams from across the city competed for the J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season, which culminated in a grand final between St. George and Manly-Warringah.

1957 New South Wales Rugby Football League
Teams	10
Premiers	St. George (4th title)
Minor premiers	St. George (4th title)
Matches played	94
Points scored	3103
Attendance	1089273
Top points scorer(s)	Darcy Russell (169)
Wooden spoon	Parramatta (5th spoon)
Top try-scorer(s)	Tommy Ryan (26)
← 1956 1958 →

Season summary

Teams

Balmain 50th season Ground: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Sid Ryan Captain: Brian Staunton	Canterbury-Bankstown season Ground: Belmore Oval Captain-coach: Col Geelan	Eastern Suburbs 50th season Ground: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Dave Brown Captain: Tony Paskins	Manly-Warringah 11th season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Ken Arthurson Captain: George Hunter	Newtown 50th season Ground: Henson Park Captain-Coach: Dick Poole
North Sydney 50th season Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Trevor Allan Captain: Ken McCaffery, Bob Dawson	Parramatta 11th season Ground: Cumberland Oval Captain-Coach: Ken Slattery	South Sydney 50th season Ground: Redfern Oval Coach: Jack Rayner Captain: Clive Churchill	St. George 37th season Ground: Kogarah Oval Captain-coach: Ken Kearney	Western Suburbs 50th season Ground: Pratten Park Coach: Jack Walsh Captain: Keith Holman

Regular season

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	F1	F2	F3	GF
Balmain	STG −6	MAN −15	PAR +24	CBY +2	SOU +27	WES +14	NOR −10	EAS +14	NEW +3	STG −6	MAN +16	PAR +6	CBY −4	SOU −2	WES −13	NOR −7	EAS +29	NEW −1
Canterbury-Bankstown	NOR +3	EAS −4	NEW −15	BAL −2	MAN 0	PAR −4	STG −37	SOU −13	WES −1	NOR −8	EAS −12	NEW −8	BAL +4	MAN −10	PAR +7	STG −9	SOU −14	WES −34
Eastern Suburbs	PAR +5	CBY +4	SOU +5	WES −11	NOR −8	STG −21	NEW −19	BAL −14	MAN −27	PAR +7	CBY +12	SOU −2	WES +4	NOR +3	STG +9	NEW +19	BAL −29	MAN −7
Manly-Warringah	NEW +11	BAL +15	STG −23	PAR +7	CBY 0	SOU −13	WES +6	NOR +21	EAS +27	NEW +9	BAL −16	STG −3	PAR +21	CBY +10	SOU −9	WES +5	NOR −2	EAS +7	X	STG −14	SOU +4	STG −22
Newtown	MAN −11	PAR +35	CBY +15	SOU +6	WES +8	NOR −10	EAS +19	STG −3	BAL −3	MAN −9	PAR −14	CBY +8	SOU +24	WES −8	NOR +6	EAS −19	STG −6	BAL +1
North Sydney	CBY −3	SOU +8	WES 0	STG −12	EAS +8	NEW +10	BAL +10	MAN −21	PAR +15	CBY +8	SOU −1	WES −6	STG −30	EAS −3	NEW −6	BAL +7	MAN +2	PAR +28
Parramatta	EAS −5	NEW −35	BAL −24	MAN −7	STG −39	CBY +4	SOU −40	WES −7	NOR −15	EAS −7	NEW +14	BAL −6	MAN −21	STG −23	CBY −7	SOU −36	WES −20	NOR −28
South Sydney	WES −40	NOR −8	EAS −5	NEW −6	BAL −27	MAN +13	PAR +40	CBY +13	STG +22	WES +6	NOR +1	EAS +2	NEW −24	BAL +2	MAN +9	PAR +36	CBY +14	STG −8	WES +13	X	MAN −4
St. George	BAL +6	WES −18	MAN +23	NOR +12	PAR +39	EAS +21	CBY +37	NEW +3	SOU −22	BAL +6	WES +8	MAN +3	NOR +30	PAR +23	EAS −9	CBY +9	NEW +6	SOU +8	X	MAN +14	X	MAN +22
Western Suburbs	SOU +40	STG +18	NOR 0	EAS +11	NEW −8	BAL −14	MAN −6	PAR +7	CBY +1	SOU −6	STG −8	NOR +6	EAS −4	NEW +8	BAL +13	MAN −5	PAR +20	CBY +34	SOU −13
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	F1	F2	F3	GF

Bold – Home game
X – Bye
Opponent for round listed above margin

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	St. George	18	15	0	3	417	232	+185	30
2	Manly	18	11	1	6	282	209	+73	23
3	South Sydney	18	11	0	7	354	314	+40	22
4	Western Suburbs	18	10	1	7	358	251	+107	21
5	North Sydney	18	9	1	8	292	278	+14	19
6	Balmain	18	9	0	9	352	281	+71	18
7	Newtown	18	9	0	9	267	228	+39	18
8	Eastern Suburbs	18	9	0	9	277	347	-70	18
9	Canterbury	18	3	1	14	182	339	-157	7
10	Parramatta	18	2	0	16	189	491	-302	4

Ladder progression

• Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 4.
• Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.
• Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished last place on the ladder in that round.

	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
1	St. George	2	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	16	18	20	22	24	24	26	28	30
2	Manly-Warringah	2	4	4	6	7	7	9	11	13	15	15	15	17	19	19	21	21	23
3	South Sydney	0	0	0	0	0	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	16	18	20	22	22
4	Western Suburbs	2	4	5	7	7	7	7	9	11	11	11	13	13	15	17	17	19	21
5	North Sydney	0	2	3	3	5	7	9	9	11	13	13	13	13	13	13	15	17	19
6	Balmain	0	0	2	4	6	8	8	10	12	12	14	16	16	16	16	16	18	18
7	Newtown	0	2	4	6	8	8	10	10	10	10	10	12	14	14	16	16	16	18
8	Eastern Suburbs	2	4	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	8	10	10	12	14	16	18	18	18
9	Canterbury-Bankstown	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	5	5	7	7	7	7
10	Parramatta	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4

Finals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Semifinals
South Sydney	26–13	Western Suburbs	31 August 1957	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	46,957
St. George	21–7	Manly-Warringah	7 September 1957	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	39,845
Preliminary Final
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	15–11	South Sydney	14 September 1957	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	39,065
Grand Final
St. George	31–9	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	21 September 1957	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	54,399

Grand Final

St. George	Position	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
26. Brian Graham	FB	Ron Willey
11. Tommy Ryan	WG	2. Ray Ritchie
41. Ray Smith	CE	4. Ray Quinnell
23. Jack Fifield	CE	17. Bill Lloyd
25. Eddie Lumsden	WG	5. George Hugo
8. Peter Carroll	FE	33. Kevin Diett
7. Bob Bugden	HB	7. Peter Burke
Kevin Brown	PR	13. Roy Bull
2. Ken Kearney (Ca./Co.)	HK	12. George Lenon
14. Bryan Orrock	PR	11. Denis Meaney
3. Harry Bath	SR	10. Doug Daley
5. Norm Provan	SR	9. Rex Mossop
6. Brian Clay	LK	8. George Hunter (c)
	Coach	Ken Arthurson

Under 27 year-old coach Ken Arthurson, Manly were playing in their second grand final. The match began with Saints pounding the (then called) 'Seagulls' with some heavy tackling. Brian Clay in particular targeted Manly's Rex Mossop, often trapping the dual international forward with the ball. “Poppa” Clay had a fearsome reputation in defence and at one point he knocked the Manly captain George Hunter senseless.

Manly were up to the task in the first half with the score locked at 4–4 for 30 minutes. Straight after half time, the flood gates opened following a magnificent run up the centre by second-row forward Norm Provan. He palmed off Manly defenders, ran deep into their territory, high stepped past fullback Ron Willey and slipped the ball to Poppa Clay who scored under the posts.

A second Dragon try followed within three minutes and the game began to slip away from the Manly side. The Larry Writer reference quotes Manly coach Arthurson: "The sheer physical strength of the St. George team is in itself a formidable thing to overcome. Our fellows tried everything, but St. George had so much more to give. Those big fellows are so clever."^[1]

Harry Bath kicked eight goals from eight attempts establishing a standing record for the most goals in a grand final and the most points scored in a grand final (16). His fellow ball playing forward and tactician Ken Kearney had returned for this, the first of five successful seasons as coach (four as captain-coach).

St. George 31 (Tries: Clay 2, Ryan, Fifield, Lumsden. Goals: Bath 8.)

Manly 9 (Tries: Burke. Goals: Willey 3.)

Player statistics

The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 18.

Top 5 point scorers Points Player Tries Goals Field Goals 165 Darcy Russell 3 78 0 142 Ron Willey 4 65 0 140 Alan Arkey 0 70 0 115 Fred Dunn 1 56 0 110 Doug Fleming 2 52 0 Top 5 try scorers Tries Player 24 Tommy Ryan 18 Eric Sladden 18 Des Horne 15 Eddie Lumsden 15 Ian Moir 15 Laurie McMahon

Top 5 goal scorers Goals Player 78 Darcy Russell 70 Alan Arkey 65 Ron Willey 56 Fred Dunn 52 Doug Fleming

References

• Rugby League Tables - Season 1957 The World of Rugby League
• Writer, Larry (1995) Never Before, Never Again, Pan MacMillan, Sydney