1956 NSWRFL season
| 1956 New South Wales Rugby Football League | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 10 |
| Premiers |
 St. George (3rd title) |
| Minor premiers |
St. George (3rd title) |
| Matches played | 95 |
| Points scored |
3096 (total) 32.589 (per match) |
| Top point scorer(s) |
Doug Fleming (189) |
| Top try scorer(s) |
Tommy Ryan (19) |
1956's New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 49th 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 Balmain.
Season summary
Teams
Balmain Ground: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Norman Robinson Captain: Brian Staunton |
Canterbury-Bankstown 22nd season |
Eastern Suburbs 49th season Ground: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Frank O'Connor Captain: Kevin Hansen |
Manly-Warringah 10th season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Pat Devery Captain: George Hunter |
Newtown Ground: Henson Park Captain-Coach: Dick Poole |
North Sydney Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Bruce Ryan Captain: Trevor Allan |
Parramatta 10th season Ground: Cumberland Oval Coach: Cec Fifield Captain: Graham Laird |
South Sydney 49th season Ground: Redfern Oval Coach: Jack Rayner Captain: Les Cowie |
| St. George 36th season Ground: Kogarah Oval Coach: Norm Tipping Captain: Ken Kearney |
Western Suburbs 49th season Ground: Pratten Park Coach: Jack Walsh Captain: Keith Holman |
Ladder
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. George |
18 | 13 | 1 | 4 | 398 | 239 | +159 | 27 |
| 2 |  Balmain |
18 | 13 | 0 | 5 | 293 | 241 | +52 | 26 |
| 3 |  South Sydney |
18 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 364 | 265 | +99 | 23 |
| 4 |  Newtown |
18 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 333 | 229 | +104 | 22 |
| 5 |  Western Suburbs |
18 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 276 | 221 | +55 | 22 |
| 6 |  Manly |
18 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 323 | 269 | +54 | 17 |
| 7 |  Canterbury |
18 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 235 | 352 | -117 | 12 |
| 8 |  North Sydney |
18 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 218 | 324 | -106 | 11 |
| 9 |  Eastern Suburbs |
18 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 211 | 354 | -143 | 11 |
| 10 |  Parramatta |
18 | 4 | 1 | 13 | 224 | 381 | -157 | 9 |
Finals
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and Time | Venue | Referee | Crowd | |||||
| Playoff | ||||||||
| Newtown |
10-5 | Western Suburbs |
14 August 1956 | Redfern Oval | 20,920 | |||
| Semi Finals | ||||||||
| South Sydney |
45-7 | Western Suburbs |
18 August 1956 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Col Pearce | 51,775 | ||
| St. George |
30-25 | Balmain |
25 August 1956 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Col Pearce | 37,339 | ||
| Preliminary Final | ||||||||
| Balmain |
36-33 | South Sydney |
1 September 1956 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Darcy Lawler | 42,350 | ||
| Grand Final | ||||||||
| St. George |
18-12 | Balmain |
8 September 1956 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Darcy Lawler | 61,987 | ||
Grand Final
| St George | Position | Balmain |
|---|---|---|
| Doug Fleming | FB | Keith Barnes |
| Ross Kite | WG | Arthur Lorimer |
| Merv Lees | CE | Geoff Hawkey |
| Kevin O'Brien | CE | Kevin Mosman |
| Tommy Ryan | WG | Terry McGovern |
| Peter Carroll | FE | Bill Harris |
| Bob Bugden | HB | Brian Staunton (c) |
| Kevin Brown | PR | Jack Moon |
| Ken Kearney (c) | HK | Neville Watt |
| Bryan Orrock | PR | Robert Heaney |
| Harry Melville | SR | Jack Moses |
| Norm Provan | SR | Ron Potter |
| Billy Wilson | LK | Gus Gray |
| Norm Tipping | Coach | Norman Robinson |
Up and coming Balmain fullback Keith Barnes came into the game with confidence, having booted 17 goals in his previous two games. In the most recent of those contests, the Preliminary Final against South Sydney, Tigers half-back, playmaker and captain Brian Staunton had been flattened by a Clive Churchill stiffarm tackle and as a consequence was still out-of-sorts on grand final day.
St George centre Merv Lees cracked his collar bone in a tackle in the 13th minute and hardman prop Billy Wilson moved out from the pack to play in the centres in spite of being constrained himself with a knee ligament injury. Wilson tormented Hawkey and Mosman in both attack and defence and set up both his own wingers for a number of long dashes. He was later selected by his teammates as Man of the Match with Kevin Brown, Bob Bugden and Norm Provan also starring in the game.
The sides were evenly matched for the first 38 minutes before a backline move from a scrum saw Dragons winger Tommy Ryan draw Barnes and pass to prop Kevin Brown who had freed himself from the scrum to be present in support.
Tries to Bugden and Kevin O'Brien came quickly after the break with Harry Melville's final try for the Dragons 18 minutes into the second half putting the game out of the Tigers' reach. Staunton responded with his second try for Balmain late in the game.
Norm Tipping had coached the Dragons to an excellent season result of 15 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw but would be ousted regardless from the coaching job shortly after the grand final. He was the loser in a power struggle with Dragons on-field leader Ken Kearney who that year had captained Australia to a three Test whitewash of New Zealand, had captained New South Wales to state victory over Queensland, won the Sunday Telegraph's Player of the Year award and ultimately captained the Saints to a premiership. Kearney had lost the coaching role to Tipping at the end of the 1955 season. At the end of 1956 the St George committee chose to back Kearney's fine football brain and his advanced English-learned strategies on attack, defense and conditioning in choosing him as their captain-coach to go forward. In the process they laid the foundation for the Dragons' record-breaking premiership stranglehold.
St George 18 (Tries: O'Brien, Bugden, Brown, Melville. Goals: Fleming 3.)
Balmain 12 (Tries: Staunton 2. Goals: Barnes 3.)
References
- Rugby League Tables - Season 1956 The World of Rugby League
- Writer, Larry (1995) Never Before, Never Again, Pan MacMillan, Sydney
- Results: 1951-60 at rabbitohs.com.au
- 1956 J J Giltinan Shield at rleague.com
- NSWRFL season 1956 at rugbyleagueproject.com
- 1956 Final at Dragons History site
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