1970 NSWRFL season

1970 New South Wales Rugby Football League
Teams	12
Premiers	South Sydney (19th title)
Minor premiers	South Sydney (16th title)
Matches played	136
Points scored	4407 (total) 32.404 (per match)
Attendance	1,630,630 (total) 11,990 (per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Eric Simms (241)
Top try scorer(s)	Ken Irvine (16)

The 1970 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 63rd season of Sydney's professional rugby league football competition, Australia's first. Twelve teams, including six foundation clubs and another six admitted post 1908, competed for the J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season which culminated in a grand final match for the WD & HO Wills Cup between the Manly-Warringah and South Sydney clubs.

Season summary

Following the previous season's "lay-down" or "stop-start" grand final, rugby league's rules were changed for this season so that rather than stopping the game to call a doctor onto the field when a player goes down injured, the ball is given to a team-mate to play so that no advantage can be gained from feigning injury.^[1] Head-high tackles were also outlawed at the commencement of the 1971 season. Each side met all others twice in twenty-two regular season rounds before the top four finishers, Souths, Manly, St. George and Canterbury, fought out four finals for a place in the grand final.

The 1970 season's Rothmans Medallist was Eastern Suburbs' halfback Kevin Junee. Rugby League Week awarded their player of the year award to Cronulla-Sutherland's halfback Tommy Bishop.

Teams


Balmain 63rd season Ground: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Leo Nosworthy Captain: Keith Outten	Canterbury-Bankstown 36th season Ground: Belmore Sports Ground Coach: Kevin Ryan Captain: Ron Raper	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 4th season Ground: Endeavour Field Captain-coach: Tommy Bishop	Eastern Suburbs 63rd season Ground: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Don Furner Captain: John Brass
Manly-Warringah 24th season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Ron Willey Captain: John McDonald	Newtown 63rd season Ground: Henson Park Coach: Harry Bath Captain: Oscar Danielson	North Sydney 63rd season Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Roy Francis Captain: Ken Irvine	Parramatta 24th season Ground: Cumberland Oval Captain-coach: Ron Lynch
Penrith 4th season Ground: Penrith Stadium Captain-coach: Bob Boland	South Sydney 63rd season Ground: Redfern Oval Coach: Clive Churchill Captain: John Sattler	St. George 50th season Ground: Jubilee Oval Coach: Jack Gibson Captain: Graeme Langlands	Western Suburbs 63rd season Ground: Lidcombe Oval Coach: Ron Watson Captain: Roy Ferguson

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	South Sydney	22	17	1	4	479	273	+206	35
2	Manly-Warringah	22	16	1	5	422	285	+137	33
3	St. George	22	15	0	7	408	329	+79	30
4	Canterbury-Bankstown	22	14	0	8	308	269	+39	28
5	Eastern Suburbs	22	13	0	9	386	320	+66	26
6	Balmain	22	12	1	9	380	347	+33	25
7	Cronulla-Sutherland	22	9	0	13	374	335	+39	18
8	Newtown	22	9	0	13	345	409	-64	18
9	North Sydney	22	7	1	14	332	435	-103	15
10	Penrith	22	7	1	14	292	406	-114	15
11	Western Suburbs	22	6	1	15	329	403	-74	13
12	Parramatta	22	4	0	18	240	484	-244	8

Finals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
Home	Score	Away	Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Semi Finals
St. George	12 - 7	Canterbury-Bankstown	29 August 1970	Sydney Cricket Ground	Keith Page	40,083
South Sydney	22 - 15	Manly-Warringah	5 September 1970	Sydney Cricket Ground	Don Lancashire	40,211
Preliminary Final
Manly-Warringah	15 - 6	St. George	12 September 1970	Sydney Cricket Ground	Don Lancashire	43,147
Grand Final
South Sydney	23 - 12^[2]	Manly-Warringah	19 September 1970	Sydney Cricket Ground	Don Lancashire	53,241

Grand Final

South Sydney	Position	Manly-Warringah
Eric Simms	FB	Bob Batty
Michael Cleary	WG	Derek Moritz
Paul Sait	CE	Bob Fulton
Arthur Branighan	CE	Alec Tennant
Ray Branighan	WG	John McDonald (c)
Denis Pittard	FE	Ian Martin
Bob Grant	HB	Ed Whiley
John Sattler (c)	PR	Bill Hamilton
Elwyn Walters	HK	Fred Jones
John O'Neill	PR	John Bucknall
Bob McCarthy	SR	Lindsay Drake
Gary Stevens	SR	John Morgan
Ron Coote	LK	Ron Cameron
Bob Honan	Reserve	Allan Thomson
Clive Churchill	Coach	Ron Willey

Having lost the previous Grand Final to the Balmain Tigers, Souths were desperate to win this year. After four minutes the Rabbitohs had scored. Approximately five minutes later Souths captain John Sattler collapsed, having been punched in an off-the-ball incident by Manly forward John Bucknall.^[3] He suffered a double fracture to his jaw but pleaded to team mate Mike Cleary, "Hold me up so they don't know I'm hurt". He was helped up and continued to play in the game. At half-time Souths were leading 12-6 when his team mates learnt about his injury.

During the interval Sattler refused treatment and insisted he continue playing. He also told the side, "the next bloke who tries to cut me out of the play is in trouble", to prevent his team mates trying to protect him from further injury. The Souths forward pack returned to the fray and completely dominated the play with their backline hardly called upon. Bucknall had been replaced by Alan Thompson in the 35th minute after sustained punitive attention from the Rabbitohs pack saw him suffer a shoulder injury in a heavy tackle.

Souths' halfback Bob Grant opened the scoring in the fourth minute crossing untouched while his opposite number Eddie Whiley was off the field having an injury treated. Rabbitohs winger Ray Branighan also crossed untouched six minutes from full-time. By game's end South Sydney had scored 3 tries to nil in a 23-12 victory. Sattler later went to hospital to receive treatment but only after receiving the J. J. Giltinan Shield and making an acceptance speech.

Eric Simms' record of four field-goals that day stands as the most ever kicked in a Grand Final.

South Sydney 23 (Tries: Grant 2, R Branighan. Goals: Simms 3. Fld Goals: Simms 4)

defeated

Manly-Warringah 12 (Goals: Batty 4. Fld Goals: Fulton 2)

References

↑ Sean Fagan (3 October 2010). "In league, we leave the dead where they fall". The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia: Fairfax Media). Retrieved 3 October 2010.
↑ "Sydney Cricket Ground Magic Moments". sydneycricketground.com.au. Sydney Cricket & Sports Ground Trust. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
↑ Roberts, Michael (2008). Great Australian Sporting Moments. Australia: The Miegunyah Press. ISBN 978-0-522-85547-0. Retrieved 12 March 2011.

South Sydney squad - 1970 NSWRFL Premiers (19th title)

1. Eric Simms 2. Michael Cleary 3. Paul Sait 4. Arthur Branighan 5. Ray Branighan 6. Denis Pittard 7. Bob Grant 8. John Sattler 9. Elwyn Walters 10. John O'Neill 11. Bob McCarthy 12. Gary Stevens 13. Ron Coote 14. Bob Honan Coach: Clive Churchill

South Sydney Rabbitohs

Est. 1908 at Redfern Town Hall, Sydney, New South Wales

The club	History Honours Players Coaches Records Representatives Results

Home grounds	Current ANZ Stadium Past Sydney Sports Ground Redfern Oval Sydney Football Stadium

Culture	Charity Shield South Side Story Book of Feuds Ron Coote Cup Rivalries Return to Redfern South Sydney Leagues Club Red and Green Ball George Piggins Medal Souths Cares Rabbitohs Hall Of Fame

Important figures	Arthur Hennessy Benny Wearing George Treweek Jack Rayner Clive Churchill John Sattler Bob McCarthy George Piggins Russell Crowe

League	Current NRL Past NSWRL ARL

Titles	Premierships – 21 1908 1909 1914 1918 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1931 1932 1950 1951 1953 1954 1955 1967 1968 1970 1971 2014

Seasons (105)	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	South Sydney District Junior Rugby Football League North Sydney Bears

Related articles	The Burrow Reggie the Rabbit South Sydney Central

NRL seasons

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ARL / SL war	1995 1996 1997 (ARL / SL) ....

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