1912 Eastern Suburbs season

Eastern Suburbs (now known as the Sydney Roosters) competed in their fifth New South Wales Rugby League season in 1912. They won their second premiership back to back finishing 1st at the end of the season to claim both the minor and major premiership due to the rule stipulations for that year.

Players

No.	Position	Player
5	WG	Dan Frawley
9	PR	Larry 'Jersey' O'Malley
10	HK	Sid 'Sandy' Pearce
12	WG	W. Smith
18	CE	Herbert Henry 'Dally' Messenger
23	PR	Percy White
25	PR	Mick Frawley
28	HB	Tom Bruce
29	PR	Eddie Griffiths
43	SR	Barney Dalton

No.	Position	Player
45	PR	Bob Williams
49	CE	John 'Dinny' Campbell
51	FB	Fred Kinghorn
53	WG	Eddie White
54	PR	Charlie Lees
56	SR	Harold Corbett
58	PR	W. Dalton
61	HB	Arthur Halloway
62	CE	Wally Messenger
63	PR	A. Allen

Results

Premiership Round 1, Saturday 4 May 1912.

Eastern Suburbs 8 ( H. H. Messenger Goals ) defeated Annandale 7 ( Lindsay try; Roy Norman 2 Goals ) at the Sydney Sports Ground.

"Eastern Suburbs kicked off, and frees to both sides proved resultless. Play then became exceedingly fast, but many opportunities were lost through wild passing. Roy Norman was playing a good defensive game, and blocked several attempts by Eastern Suburbs to break through. The first points were not long In coming. Lindsay (Annandale) secured after Dalton had fumbled, and crossed over. Roy Norman added the extra points. On resuming the tackling on both sides was good, Roy Norman excelling himself. Subsequently Annandale were penalised for obstruction, and Messenger landed a goal. Eastern Suburbs' handling of the ball was faulty, Messenger sending out several long passes, which were not taken. On the other hand. Annandale were showing out well, the three-quarters putting in excellent work whenever the ball came out to them from the scrum. Then Messenger caused a lull by kicking a goal from a mark. Annandale retaliated, Roy Norman landing a goal from a penalty, thus giving his side a lead of three points. The. game continued very fast, with Annandale holding the advantage, but their attack was jolted by faulty passing. No further scoring resulted before half time, when It was Annandale 7. Eastern Suburbs 4.

On resuming, play was even for a while: then Eastern Suburbs attacked for a briefly period. Then Annandale attacked, and Messenger and his men had to defend for some time. Messenger, however, put his side in a stronger position by kicking another penalty goal. Following this. Annandale put in some brilliant work. Roy Norman secured, and came away with the pack at his heels. He was tackled, but the hall was transferred to Lilyman, thence to Lindsay, but the latter lost the ball on the line. It was a fine effort. Annandale were not having the best of luck, another two points, the result of a penalty kick, being registered against them. Eastern Suburbs now led by 8 points to 7. And Messenger had scored the whole of the points. There now appeared to be little hope for Annandale, and both sides were tiring. The ambulance men were, at this stage, required for the first time, but it was nothing to serious. Annandale made a final dash just before time, but nothing came of It, and a closely contested game finished with Eastern Suburbs leading by a bare point the Final score: - Eastern Suburbs, 8; Annandale, 7." Sydney Morning Herald.

Round		Opponent	Result	Roosters Score	Opponent Score	Date	Venue	Crowd
2		Western Suburbs Magpies	Won	22 (6-2-0)	8 (2-1-0)	11 May 1912	Agricultural

Premiership Round 3, Saturday 18 May 1912

Eastern Suburbs 9 Campbell Try; D. Messenger 3 goals) defeated South Sydney 8 (Darmody 4 goals) at the Agricultural Ground. John 'Dinny' Campbell gives his recollections of the event.

"In 1912 Easts' were playing Souths on the Agricultural ground, and like all such games , this one was as keen as mustard. Early on, with the help of Messenger, I scored between the posts - Easts 5, South 0. Darmondy of Souths kicked a good goal and then kicked another just before the interval, which left Easts leading 5-4 at half time. Soon after the Resumption Darmody kicked a 3rd goal. Souths 6, Easts 5. Gleefully Souths supporters were yelling out: "how do you like it, Dally, being beaten at your own game?" Dally, not to be daunted, kicked a good goal. Easts 7, Souths 6. With about 15 minutes to go Darmody kicked his 4th goal, to lead 8-7. The crowd were ecstatic. Easts were all over Souths but could not penetrate. Then right on the bell, I broke through, came to Hallet, put the ball over his head. It was a great race between Hallet and myself and the deadball line. The dead ball line won.Was that the end? No. Hallet dropped out from the 25-yard line and Dally, appearing from nowhere, caught the ball and called for a 'mark'. A good 5 yards on his own side of halfway and right on the sideline. I can still hear 'Pony' Halloway, Dan Frawley and myself moan at his attitude. We wanted him to come round the open side and with a last effort endeavor to score a try. We claimed it was a million to one chance of his finding the goal posts. As Messenger placed the ball many people began to jeer and hoot. Because of the mark he had taken the ball back another 5 yards making 65 yards from the corner flag. Even some of his own supporters joined in the jeering at his seemingly high opinion of himself. With still greater deliberation, he walked slowly back some six or seven yards, stopped, wiped the toe of his right boot on his left leg and with a quick run launched the mighty kick. The jeers were quitening as the ball started to lift across the ground, as the projection increased some gasps were heard, and the crowd went berserk as the ball flew between the posts and landed over the dead ball line, and Easts had won the match."...John 'Dinny' Campbell.

Premiership Round 4, Saturday 25 May 1912.

Eastern Suburbs 10 ( H. H Messeger 4, W Messenger goals ) defeated Glebe Dirty Reds 2 ( goal ) at the Agricultural Ground. Crowd: 2200.

Round	Opponent	Result	Roosters Score	Opponent Score	Date	Venue	Crowd
5	Newtown Jets	Lost	2 (0-1-0)	4 (0-2-0)	8 June 1912	Agricultural	8000
6	North Sydney Bears	Won	34 (8-5-0)	7 (1-2-0)	15 June 1912	Agricultural	8000
7	Balmain Tigers	Won	35 (9-4-0)	0 (0-0-0)	29 July 1912	Agricultural	4000
8	Annandale Dales	Won	12 (2-3-0)	7 (1-2-0)	6 July 1912	Wentworth	5000

Premiership Round 9, 10 August 1912

Eastern Suburbs 41 (W. Messenger 2, E.White 2, Griffiths. Frawley, Campbell tries; H. Messenger 9 goals, ? goal) beat Western Suburbs 9 (A. Joas try; Medcalf 3 goals) at the Agricultural Ground, crowd 2000

“ Eastern Suburbs made merry at the expense of Western Suburbs, whom they defeated by the large margin of 32 points. The premiers took matters very easily throughout, and could have increased their margin if they so wished. Messenger made himself prominent by kicking 9 goals, and otherwise playing splendidly. Kinghorn gave one of his best exhibitions as fullback, and was loudly applauded for blocking a short punt over his head, when all expected Wests to score. Frawley was very elusive, his tricky runs being a feature. Williams And P. White were the best of the forwards...Sydney Mornming Herald”

Round		Opponent	Result	Roosters Score	Opponent Score	Date	Venue	Crowd
10		South Sydney Rabbitohs	Won	10 (2-2-0)	7 (1-2-0)	27 July 1912	Sports Ground	14000

Premiership Round 11, Saturday 3 August 1912.

Eastern Suburbs 6 (W. Messenger, D. Messenger Goals; D. Messenger Field Goal) defeated Glebe 4 (Theiring 2 Goals) at the Sydney Sports Ground.

With no finals system played in the 1912 season the round 11 clash between the two front running sides went a long way towards determining the Premiers for that season. The match winning play is described this way

“	"From a scrum, with time running out, the ball swept from Dalton to (D)Messenger on the touchline, the skipper turned inside and potted the winning field goal."	”
	— Sydney Morning Herald

Both Griffiths and Glebe's Redmond were sent off in the match.

Premiership Round 11, 10 August 1912.

Eastern Suburbs 12 ( Frawley, P. White tries; Messenger, Frawley goals ) defeated Newtown 6 (Russell 3 goals ) at the Agricultural ground. crowd 10,000

But two rounds of the rugby League competition remain to be played, and the last vestige of hope that Glebe possesse of dethroning Eastern Sububurb has almost disappeared, for the Sydney Tricolours will have to be beaten in both contests before they are overhauled by the Reds - a most unlikely happening.

At the Agricultural Ground about 10,000 people witnessed the second meeting of I astern Suburbs and Newtown. The latter won the first engagement, and they looked like repeating the performance. for the greatest part of the game. However, after enjoying a lead of six points to nil until half way through the second spell, they crumbled before the repeated onslaughts of the premiérs, and had a penalty goal and two converted tries recorded against them.

Round		Opponent	Result	Roosters Score	Opponent Score	Date	Venue	Crowd
13		North Sydney Bears	Won	15 (3-3-0)	10 (2-2-0)	17 August 1912	North Sydney	8000
14		Balmain Tigers	Won	14 (2-4-0)	7 (1-2-0)	24 August 1912	Sports Ground	5000

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Eastern Suburbs	14	13	1	230	86	+144	26
2	Glebe	14	11	3	199	83	+116	22
3	Newtown	14	9	5	178	132	+46	18
4	South Sydney	14	8	6	207	137	+70	16
5	Balmain	14	6	8	138	168	-30	12
6	North Sydney	14	6	8	124	197	-73	12
7	Annandale	14	2	12	86	134	-48	4
8	Western Suburbs	14	1	13	100	325	-225	2

Point analysis

Offence

The lowdown:

Eastern Suburbs completed the following score options in the 1912 season:

42 tries
50 goals
2 field goals

The result:

Eastern Suburbs scored a total of 230 points in 1912.

The verdict:

Eastern Suburbs try scoring ability dropped by 6.6% on their previous season.
Eastern Suburbs goal scoring ability dropped by 21.8% on their previous season.
Eastern Suburbs field goal kicking ability was maintained on their previous season.
Eastern Suburbs overall point scoring ability dropped 15.3% on their previous season.
Eastern Suburbs total point score dropped by 23.3% on their previous season.

Defence

The lowdown:

Eastern Suburbs conceded the following score options in the 1912 season:

10 tries
28 goals
0 field goals

The result:

Eastern Suburbs conceded a total of 86 points in the 1912 season.

The verdict:

Eastern Suburbs try scoring defence improved by 70.5% on their previous season.
Eastern Suburbs goal kicking defence dropped by 7.1% on their previous season.
Eastern Suburbs field goal defence improved by 100% on their previous season.
Eastern Suburbs overall defense improved by 37.7% on their previous season.
Eastern Suburbs total points against defensive effort improved by 33.3% on their previous season.

Season highlights

Eastern Suburbs Won their second consecutive premiership by finishing 1st at the end of the regular season.
Eastern Suburbs won its first minor premiership.

Notes

There was no finals played that year, with the winner of the Minor premiership automatically being awarded the 1912 premiership.

References

Rugby League Tables and Statistics

Ian Heads, True Blue - the true story of the NSW Rugby League, ISBN 1 875471 138,

Preceded by 1911	Season 1912	Succeeded by 1913

Sydney Roosters

Est. 1908 in Paddington, New South Wales

The Club	History Records Honours Seasons Players Representatives Coaches

Home grounds	Current Sydney Football Stadium Past Royal Agricultural Society Ground Sydney Sports Ground Sydney Cricket Ground Henson Park

Culture	Nick Politis Brian Canavan Eastern Suburbs Leagues Club Royal Agricultural Society Shield ANZAC Day Cup Foundation Cup Jack Gibson Cup Ron Coote Cup The Roosters Girls

Hall of Fame	Arthur Beetson Brad Fittler Dally Messenger Dave Brown Dick Dunn Jack Gibson Kevin Hastings Ray Stehr Ron Coote

League	Current NRL Past NSWRL ARL

Titles	Premierships – 13 1911 1912 1913 1923 1935 1936 1937 1940 1945 1974 1975 2002 2013

Seasons – 108	1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Other competitions	Current Auckland Nines National Youth Competition S. G. Ball Cup Harold Matthews Cup Past Amco Cup New South Wales Cup Jersey Flegg Cup

Affiliations	Sydney Roosters Juniors Wyong Roos

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