1953 NSWRFL season

The 1953 New South Wales Rugby Football League season was the forty-sixth 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 final between South Sydney and St. George.

1953 New South Wales Rugby Football League
Teams	10
Premiers	South Sydney (14th title)
Minor premiers	South Sydney (13th title)
Matches played	93
Points scored	3241
Top points scorer(s)	Ron Rowles (152)
Wooden spoon	Western Suburbs (9th spoon)
Top try-scorer(s)	Ian Moir (23)
← 1952 1954 →

Teams

Balmain 46th season Ground: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Arthur Patton Captain: Bob Lulham	Canterbury-Bankstown 19th season Ground: Belmore Oval Coach: Jack Hampstead Captain: Cec Cooper	Eastern Suburbs 46th season Ground: Sydney Sports Ground Captain-Coach: Col Donohoe	Manly-Warringah 7th season Ground: Brookvale Oval Captain-Coach: Roy Bull	Newtown 46th season Ground: Erskineville Oval Captain-Coach: Frank Johnson
North Sydney 46th season Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Ross McKinnon Captain: Lloyd Hudson	Parramatta 7th season Ground: Cumberland Oval Coach: Vic Hey Captain: Ian Johnston	South Sydney 46th season Ground: Redfern Oval Captain-coach: Jack Rayner	St. George 33rd season Ground: Jubilee Oval Coach: Norm Tipping Captain: Ken Kearney	Western Suburbs 46th season Ground: Pratten Park Captain-Coach: Peter McLean

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	South Sydney	18	11	1	6	384	278	+106	23
2	St. George	18	11	0	7	313	289	+24	22
3	North Sydney	18	10	1	7	421	283	+138	21
4	Eastern Suburbs	18	10	1	7	330	310	+20	21
5	Newtown	18	9	2	7	292	268	+24	20
6	Canterbury	18	9	2	7	252	291	-39	20
7	Parramatta	18	8	1	9	271	291	-20	17
8	Balmain	18	7	0	11	313	377	-64	14
9	Manly	18	6	0	12	294	393	-99	12
10	Western Suburbs	18	5	0	13	287	377	-90	10

Finals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Semifinals
South Sydney	5–4	North Sydney	29 August 1953	Sydney Cricket Ground	Jack O'Brien	30,392
St. George	25–7	Eastern Suburbs	5 September 1953	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	37,753
Final
South Sydney	31–12	St. George	12 September 1953	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	44,581

Chart

	Semi-finals					Final					Grand final
	1	Souths	5
											MP	Souths	X
	3	Norths	4
						Souths		31				Souths	X
						St George		12
	2	St George	25
	4	Easts	7

Final

South Sydney	Position	St. George
13. Clive Churchill	FB	3. Noel Pidding
12. Ian Moir	WG	15. Kevin Hole
18. Martin Gallagher	CE	5. Tommy Ryan
14. Kevin Woolfe	CE	44. Merv Lees
11. Frank Threlfo	WG	2. Ross Kite
21. John Dougherty	FE	4. Allan Staunton
22. Greg Hawick	HB	20. Peter Bracken
Denis Donoghue	PR	39. Kevin Brown
2. Ernie Hammerton	HK	12. Ken Kearney (c)
5. Jim Richards	PR	11. Bob Bower
41. Bob Moon	SR	10. Barry Passfield
4. Jack Rayner (Ca./Co.)	SR	9. Norm Provan
6. Les Cowie	LK	8. Billy Wilson
	Coach	Norm Tipping

To win the 1953 premiership St George would need to beat minor premiers Souths in both a final and a Grand final, emulating the feats of the Dragons of 1949 from which team only Noel Pidding was still playing. A crowd of 44,581 were at the Sydney Cricket Ground to see the first phase of this attempt.

Souths opened the scoring with a penalty goal in the ninth minute kicked by Clive Churchill from 40 yards. The Dragons threatened Souths' line continuously in the next stanza but bombed three tries and then lost some momentum in the 14 minutes before half-time during the absence of centre Merv Lees while he was off the field having stitches to his lip after driving a tooth through it. Souths scored 13 points in this period. Ian Moir capitalised on a spillage of the ball by Pidding behind his own line after a heavy tackle, Churchill then featured when he firstly sent Threlfo in and then set up Moir for his second try. The score at half time was 15–0.

Early in the second half Pidding kicked a penalty and a few minutes later Wilson and Gallagher were sent off for fighting. With Wilson gone Rabbitoh hard-men Rayner and Donoghue then took control and four Souths tries flowed to Woolfe, Dougherty, Hammerton and Moir’s third. Two late Dragons’ tries to Brown and Lees made no difference and South Sydney powered to their fourteenth premiership.

South Sydney Rabbitohs 31
Tries: Moir (3), Woolfe, Threlfo, Dougherty, Hammerton
Goals: Dougherty (4), Churchill (1)

St George Dragons 12
Tries: Lees, Brown
Goals: Pidding (3)

Player statistics

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

Top 5 point scorers Points Player Tries Goals Field Goals 152 Ron Rowles 8 64 0 114 Bob Hobbs 2 54 0 99 Noel Pidding 3 45 0 91 Norm Stewart 1 44 0 88 Gordon Clifford 0 44 0 Top 5 try scorers Tries Player 20 Ian Moir 18 Horrie Toole 18 Ray Preston 14 Barry Stenhouse 13 Peter O'Brien

Top 5 goal scorers Goals Player 64 Ron Rowles 54 Bob Hobbs 45 Noel Pidding 44 Norm Stewart 44 Gordon Clifford