New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1973

New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1973
Teams	12
Premiers	Manly-Warringah (2nd title)
Minor premiers	Manly-Warringah (3rd title)
Matches played	139
Points scored	4234 (total) 30.46 (per match)
Attendance	1,390,810 (total) 10,006 (per match)
Top points scorer(s)	Graeme Langlands (183)
Top try scorer(s)	Bob Fulton (18)

The 1973 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the sixty-sixth season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. Twelve teams from across the city, including six foundation clubs, competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup during the season, which culminated in a grand final between the Manly-Warringah and Cronulla-Sutherland clubs.

Season summary

Twenty-two regular season rounds were played from March until August, resulting in in a top four of Manly, Cronulla, St. George and Newtown who went on to battle it out in the finals.

The 1973 Rothmans Medal was awarded to Cronulla-Sutherland forward Ken Maddison. Rugby League Week awarded their player of the year award to Manly-Warringah's halfback Johnny Mayes.

The 1973 season also saw the retirement from the League of future Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame inductee, Ken Irvine.

Teams

From 1973 onwards, Newtown were known as the Newtown Jets^[1]

Balmain	Canterbury-Bankstown	Cronulla-Sutherland	Eastern Suburbs
Manly-Warringah	Newtown Jets	North Sydney	Parramatta
Penrith	South Sydney	St. George	Western Suburbs

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Manly	22	17	1	4	500	226	+274	35
2	Cronulla	22	17	0	5	389	219	+170	34
3	St. George	22	15	0	7	372	213	+159	30
4	Newtown Jets	22	14	0	8	358	224	+134	28
5	Canterbury	22	12	1	9	369	269	+100	25
6	Eastern Suburbs	22	12	0	10	415	314	+101	24
7	South Sydney	22	11	1	10	345	367	-22	23
8	North Sydney	22	7	1	14	239	350	-101	15
9	Western Suburbs	22	7	0	15	310	414	-104	14
10	Balmain	22	7	0	15	254	495	-241	14
11	Parramatta	22	6	0	16	275	492	-217	12
12	Penrith	22	5	0	17	272	525	-253	10

Finals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Qualifying Finals
Cronulla	18-0	St. George	25 August 1973	Sydney Cricket Ground	Keith Page	37,778
Newtown	13-2	Canterbury	26 August 1973	Sydney Sports Ground	Keith Page	17,778
Semi Finals
Manly-Warringah	14-4	Cronulla	1 September 1973	Sydney Cricket Ground	Keith Page	41,898
St. George	12-12	Newtown Jets	2 September 1973	Sydney Cricket Ground	Keith Page	24,390
St. George	5-8	Newtown Jets	4 September 1973	Sydney Sports Ground	Keith Page	27,791
Preliminary Final
Cronulla	20-11	Newtown Jets	8 September 1973	Sydney Cricket Ground	Keith Page	30,649
Grand Final
Manly-Warringah	10-7	Cronulla	15 September 1973	Sydney Cricket Ground	Keith Page	52,044

Grand Final

After Cronulla's 14-4 loss in the major semi-final, Manly expected the Sharks would be fired up for the Grand Final. And they were. Ian Heads wrote in the Sunday Telegraph the next day that It was a Grand Final as tough and dirty as any bar-room brawl^[2]. Alan Clarkson wrote in the Sun Herald The fare served up in the first half belonged in the Colosseum^[3]. The first half was not how the game's administrators would have wished to show-case rugby league, every tackle was loaded with menace and meant to damage. But from the melee Bob Fulton emerged and showed his unrivalled skill. Heads and Clarkson wrote of his "towering genius" and "football brilliance" respectively.

Manly's English import Malcolm "Mal" Reilly himself never one to take a backward step, was the first victim of the carnage. In the opening minute a Cronulla forward set his sights on Reilly and didn't miss his target. Reilly was in agony from a badly bruised hip and left the field for pain-killers, to return for revenge. He then created mayhem but bowed out in the 25th minute and was replaced by John Bucknall.

After an all-in brawl in the first half, Referee Keith Page eventually called all 26 players in for a mass caution, advising that he would send the next infringer off.

Then Fulton took over in the 29th and 58th minutes. 'Bozo' demonstrated power and pace in both tries. The first came from a brilliant Fred Jones pass which saw Fulton split Eric Archer and Steve Rogers just 25 metres from the line. Manly took a 5-0 scoreline to the half time break.

The second Fulton try came after Eadie took a pass from five-eighth. Ian Martin then looked for Fulton and set him up perfectly.

Cronulla had to wait a long time before they dented the Manly line. It was in the 70th minute that the crack appeared. Trailing 8-2, the Sharks struck when lock Greg Pierce positioned replacement fullback Rick Bourke for a try. Eadie stretched the lead to three points from a penalty kick and then the Sharks rallied and bombarded Manly. However the Manly defence of John Mayes, Terry Randall, Peter Peters, Eadie and Fulton were up to the task.

Manly-Warringah 10 (Tries: Fulton 2. Goals: Eadie 2. )

Cronulla 7 (Tries: Bourke. Goals: Rogers )

References

• Rugby League Tables - Notes The World of Rugby League
• Rugby League Tables - Season 1973 The World of Rugby League
• Premiership History and Statistics RL1908
• Clarkson, Alan (1997) The Greatest Games We Ever Played (Essay Collection, ed Geoff Prenter) Ironbark Publishing, Sydney

Footnotes

External links

• 1973 Grand Final at eraofthebiff.com
• Results:1971-80 at rabbitohs.com.au
• 1973 J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup at rleague.com
• NSWRFL season 1973 at rugbyleagueproject.com