1964 NSWRFL season

The 1964 NSWRFL season was the fifty-seventh season of Sydney's professional rugby league football competition, the New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership, Australia's first. Ten clubs from across the city competed for the J. J. Giltinan Shield and the WD & HO Wills Cup during the season, which culminated in a grand final between St. George and Balmain.

1964 New South Wales Rugby Football League
Teams	10
Premiers	St. George (11th title)
Minor premiers	St. George (10th title)
Matches played	94
Points scored	2736
Attendance	1197569
Top points scorer(s)	Fred Griffiths (160)
Wooden spoon	Canterbury-Bankstown (3rd spoon)
Top try-scorer(s)	Reg Gasnier (18)
← 1963 1965 →

Teams

Balmain 57th season Ground: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Harry Bath Captain: Keith Barnes	Canterbury-Bankstown 30th season Ground: Belmore Oval Coach: Clive Churchill Captain: Les Johns	Eastern Suburbs 57th season Ground: Sydney Sports Ground Captain-Coach: Nat Silcock Jr.[1]	Manly-Warringah 18th season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Tony Paskins Captain: Barry O'Connell, Tony Paskins	Newtown 57th season Ground: Henson Park Coach: Allan Ellis Captain: Tony Brown
North Sydney 57th season Ground: North Sydney Oval Captain-Coach: Fred Griffiths	Parramatta 18th season Ground: Cumberland Oval Coach: Ken Kearney Captain: Ron Lynch	South Sydney 57th season Ground: Redfern Oval Coach: Bernie Purcell Captains: Darrel Chapman, Jim Lisle	St. George 44th season Ground: Kogarah Jubilee Oval Captain-coach: Norm Provan	Western Suburbs 57th season Ground: Pratten Park Coach: Jack Fitzgerald Captain: Noel Kelly

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	St. George	18	15	0	3	393	154	+239	30
2	Parramatta	18	14	0	4	274	188	+86	28
3	Balmain	18	12	0	6	247	192	+55	24
4	North Sydney	18	11	1	6	334	257	+77	23
5	South Sydney	18	11	0	7	304	250	+54	22
6	Newtown	18	9	0	9	236	268	-32	18
7	Western Suburbs	18	8	1	9	259	274	-15	17
8	Manly	18	5	1	12	229	331	-102	11
9	Eastern Suburbs	18	2	0	16	190	351	-161	4
10	Canterbury	18	1	1	16	168	369	-201	3

Finals

Home	Score	Away	Match information
			Date and time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Semi-finals
Balmain	11–9	North Sydney	29 August 1964	Sydney Cricket Ground	Jack Bradley	35,082
St. George	42–0	Parramatta	5 September 1964	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	33,659
Preliminary Final
Parramatta	7–16	Balmain	12 September 1964	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	35,389
Grand Final
St. George	11–6	Balmain	19 September 1964	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	61,369

Grand Final

St. George	Position	Balmain
Graeme Langlands	FB	Keith Barnes (c)
2. Johnny King	WG	2. Dick Quinn
3. Reg Gasnier	CE	3. Brian Dunlop
4. Billy Smith	CE	4. Robert Ridley
5. Eddie Lumsden	WG	5. Bob Mara
6. Brian Clay	FE	6. Jack Danzey
7. George Evans	HB	7. Billy Bischoff Jr.
13. Monty Porter	PR	13. Bob Boland
12. Peter Armstrong	HK	12. Dick Wilson
11. Kevin Ryan	PR	11. George Piper
10. Elton Rasmussen	SR	10. Ron Clothier
9. Norm Provan (Ca./Co.)	SR	9. Peter Provan
8. Johnny Raper	LK	8. Dennis Tutty
	Coach	Harry Bath

St. George captain-coach Norm Provan was matching up against his younger brother (and former Dragon) Peter, who had moved to the Tigers in 1961.

The Tigers’ defence was strong throughout a dour first half and for the first time in nine grand finals the Dragons trailed at half-time (4–2) with Balmain in the lead after penalty goals from Keith "Golden Boots" Barnes.

The turning point of the match came five minutes into the second half. The Tigers were defending their own line with some desperate tackling when they received a relieving penalty from referee Pearce. Balmain's Bob Boland put in a big punt which at first looked like a good touch finder. To Balmain's horror, Graeme Langlands stretched and then caught the ball with his boots only an inch or two from the touchline. The champion fullback then raced cross-field towards the Balmain line and sent a cut-out pass to Billy Smith 25 yards out from the tryline. The centre made further inroads before channeling a pass to Johnny King who sped down the left wing for 20 yards to score a diving try.

Test winger Johnny King thus kept intact his grand final record with this being his fifth successive try in a decider.

Eighteen-year-old Dennis Tutty stood out for the Tigers, providing reliable cover defence that stopped the Dragons on numerous occasions. For St. George, Smith and Langlands had strong games with Langlands tallying 72 points in his last four games of the season. Brian Clay had by now reclaimed his five-eighth position from Bruce Pollard and excelled just as he had in his five previous Grand Final appearances.

St. George 11 (Tries: King. Goals: Langlands 4.)

Balmain 6 (Goals: Barnes 3.)

Player statistics

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

Top 5 point scorers Points Player Tries Goals Field Goals 154 Fred Griffiths 2 74 0 131 Ken Bray 1 64 0 128 Brian Graham 2 61 0 115 Greg McMillan 3 53 0 82 Brian Hambly 0 41 0 Top 5 try scorers Tries Player 16 Reg Gasnier 16 Nick Yakich 15 Ken Irvine 14 Michael Cleary 11 Johnny King

Top 5 goal scorers Goals Player 74 Fred Griffiths 64 Ken Bray 61 Brian Graham 53 Greg McMillan 41 Brian Hambly

Season notes

• The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs' wooden spoon season was their last until 2002, when they were sentenced to finish last that season as punishment due to gross salary cap breaches uncovered by the NRL in August that year. It wouldn't be until 2008 that they would again finish last as a result of poor on-field performances during the season.^[2][3]