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1952 NSWRFL season

Rugby league competition

Field	Value
year	1952
competition	New South Wales Rugby Football League
teams	10
premiers	[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	16x16px]] Western Suburbs
count	4th
minor premiers	[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	16x16px]] Western Suburbs
mpcount	3rd
matches	95
points	3217
top point scorer	[[Image:Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg	16x16px]] Ron Rowles (178)
top try scorer	[[Image:North Sydney colours.svg	16x16px]] Peter O'Brien (20)
wooden_spoon	Parramatta
wooden_spoon_count	2nd
prevseason_link	1951 NSWRFL season
prevseason_year	1951
nextseason_link	1953 NSWRFL season
nextseason_year	1953

The 1952 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the forty-fifth season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. Ten teams from across Sydney contested for the J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season which culminated in a grand final between Western Suburbs and South Sydney.

Teams

The tail-end of the season was played without star players selected to go on the Australian national team’s 1952–1953 Kangaroo Tour.

North Sydney[[Image:North Sydney Jersey 1941.png	100px	center]]	Parramatta[[Image:Parramatta Jersey 1952.png	100px	center]]	South Sydney[[Image:South Sydney Jersey 1930.png	100px	center]]	St. George[[Image:St George Jersey 1948.png	100px	center]]	Western Suburbs[[Image:Western Suburbs Jersey 1949.png	100px	center]]

Regular season

Team	1	2	3
Balmain	CBY
−1	**STG
−11**	WES
−9	**SOU
−3**	**NEW
−1**	EAS
−10	**MAN
−10**	PAR
+6	NOR
+7	**CBY
+25**	STG
+16	**WES
−2**	SOU
+2	NEW
+30	MAN
−2	**PAR
−1**	**NOR
+8**	**EAS
+51**
Canterbury-Bankstown	**BAL
+1**	NEW
+1	EAS
−5	MAN
−23	**PAR
+8**	NOR
−21	SOU
−22	STG
−17	**WES
−2**	BAL
−25	**NEW
−11**	EAS
+2	**MAN
−8**	PAR
+2	**SOU
−12**	**STG
−6**	WES
0	NOR
−34
Eastern Suburbs	PAR
+10	**NOR
+2**	**CBY
+5**	**STG
−4**	WES
−3	**BAL
+10**	NEW
−1	**SOU
−50**	MAN
−4	**PAR
−16**	NOR
−24	**CBY
−2**	STG
−11	WES
−12	**NEW
+20**	SOU
−8	**MAN
+1**	BAL
−51
Manly-Warringah	SOU
+3	**PAR
+17**	NOR
+3	**CBY
+23**	STG
+17	WES
−1	BAL
+10	**NEW
+20**	**EAS
+4**	SOU
−5	PAR
+6	NOR
−13	CBY
+8	STG
−3	**BAL
+2**	NEW
−8	EAS
−1	WES
−9	NOR
−28
Newtown	**NOR
−5**	**CBY
−1**	STG
−16	**WES
−1**	BAL
+1	SOU
−4	**EAS
+1**	MAN
−20	**PAR
+13**	NOR
−4	CBY
+11	**STG
−24**	WES
−10	**BAL
−30**	EAS
−20	**MAN
+8**	PAR
+9	SOU
−39
North Sydney	NEW
+5	EAS
−2	**MAN
−3**	PAR
+32	**SOU
+3**	**CBY
+21**	**STG
+22**	WES
−20	**BAL
−7**	**NEW
+4**	**EAS
+24**	**MAN
+13**	**PAR
+22**	SOU
−6	**STG
−4**	**WES
+5**	BAL
−8	**CBY
+34**	**MAN
+28**	X	STG
+12	SOU
−14
Parramatta	**EAS
−10**	MAN
−17	SOU
−20	**NOR
−32**	CBY
−8	**STG
−12**	WES
−18	**BAL
−6**	NEW
−13	EAS
+16	**MAN
−6**	**SOU
+6**	NOR
−22	**CBY
−2**	**WES
−4**	BAL
+1	**NEW
−9**	STG
−26
South Sydney	**MAN
−3**	**WES
−2**	**PAR
+20**	BAL
+3	NOR
−3	**NEW
+4**	**CBY
+22**	EAS
+50	STG
+2	**MAN
+5**	WES
+5	PAR
−6	**BAL
−2**	**NOR
+6**	CBY
+12	**EAS
+8**	**STG
−5**	**NEW
+39**	X	WES
+8	X	**NOR
+14**	WES
−10
St. George	**WES
−1**	BAL
+11	**NEW
+16**	EAS
+4	**MAN
−17**	PAR
+12	NOR
−22	**CBY
+17**	**SOU
−2**	WES
+17	**BAL
−16**	NEW
+24	**EAS
+11**	**MAN
+3**	NOR
+4	CBY
+6	SOU
+5	**PAR
+26**	X	X	**NOR
−12**
Western Suburbs	STG
+1	SOU
+2	**BAL
+9**	NEW
+1	**EAS
+3**	**MAN
+1**	**PAR
+18**	**NOR
+20**	CBY
+2	**STG
−17**	**SOU
−5**	BAL
+2	**NEW
+10**	**EAS
+12**	PAR
+4	NOR
−5	**CBY
0**	**MAN
+9**	X	**SOU
−8**	X	X	**SOU
+10**

Bold – Home game

X – Bye

Opponent for round listed above margin

Ladder

Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	16x16px]] Western Suburbs	18	14	1	3	331	264	+67
2	[[Image:St. George colours.svg	16x16px]] St. George	18	13	0	5	375	279	+96
3	[[Image:South Sydney colours.svg	16x16px]] South Sydney	18	12	0	6	344	189	+155
4	[[Image:North Sydney colours.svg	16x16px]] North Sydney	18	11	0	7	384	247	+137
5	[[Image:Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg	16x16px]] Manly	18	11	0	7	334	261	+73
6	[[Image:Balmain colours.svg	16x16px]] Balmain	18	8	0	10	351	256	+95
7	[[Image:Newtown colours.svg	16x16px]] Newtown	18	6	0	12	210	341	-131
8	[[Image:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg	16x16px]] Eastern Suburbs	18	6	0	12	259	397	-138
9	[[Image:Canterbury colours.svg	16x16px]] Canterbury	18	5	1	12	214	386	-172
10	[[Image:Parramatta colours.svg	16x16px]] Parramatta	18	3	0	15	241	423	-182

Ladder progression

Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 4.
Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.
Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished last place on the ladder in that round.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
1	Western Suburbs	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	18	18	20	22	24	26	26	27
2	St. George	0	2	4	6	6	8	8	10	10	12	12	14	16	18	20	22	24
3	South Sydney	0	0	2	4	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	16	16	18	20	22	22
4	North Sydney	2	2	2	4	6	8	10	10	10	12	14	16	18	18	18	20	20
5	Manly-Warringah	2	4	6	8	10	10	12	14	16	16	18	18	20	20	22	22	22
6	Balmain	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	4	6	8	8	10	12	12	12	14
7	Newtown	0	0	0	0	2	2	4	4	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	10	12
8	Eastern Suburbs	2	4	6	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	10	10	12
9	Canterbury-Bankstown	2	4	4	4	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	8	8	10	10	10	11
10	Parramatta	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	4	4	4	4	6	6

Finals

The 1952 season saw North Sydney reach the finals for the first time since 1943. | access-date = 2009-12-05}} Their win over St. George in their semi-final would prove North Sydney’s last victory in a first grade semi-final until their 1991 major preliminary semi-final against Manly-Warringah.

Home	Score	Away	Match Information	Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Playoff
[[Image:North Sydney colours.svg	23x23px]] North Sydney	36–8	[[Image:Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg	23x23px]] Manly-Warringah	27 August 1952	Sydney Cricket Ground		8,770
Semifinals
[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	23x23px]] Western Suburbs	10–18	[[Image:South Sydney colours.svg	23x23px]] South Sydney	30 August 1952	Sydney Cricket Ground	Jack O'Brien	34,181
[[Image:St. George colours.svg	23x23px]] St. George	9–21	[[Image:North Sydney colours.svg	23x23px]] North Sydney	6 September 1952	Sydney Cricket Ground	George Bishop	41,976
Preliminary Final
[[Image:South Sydney colours.svg	23x23px]] South Sydney	26–12	[[Image:North Sydney colours.svg	23x23px]] North Sydney	13 September 1952	Sydney Cricket Ground	Jack O'Brien	44,166
Final
[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	23x23px]] Western Suburbs	22–12	[[Image:South Sydney colours.svg	23x23px]] South Sydney	20 September 1952	Sydney Cricket Ground	George Bishop	41,060

Grand Final

Western Suburbs	Position	South Sydney
16. George Bain	FB	13. Don Murdoch
2. Bill Callinan	WG	12. John Graves
3. Col Ratcliff	CE	11. Frank Threlfo
4. Gerry Lowe	CE	10. Malcolm Spencer
5. Jack Fitzgerald	WG	9. Cliff Smailes
24. Dev Dines	FE	8. Norm Spillane
16. Leo Trevena	HB	7. Ken Brogan
13. Kevin Hansen	PR
51. Hec Farrell	HK	2. Ernie Hammerton
11. Bill Horder	PR	3. Bryan Orrock
9. Don Schofield	SR	5. Ken Macreadie
22. Ron Watson	SR	4. Jack Rayner (Ca./Co.)
8. Peter McLean (c)	LK	6. Ray Neilson
Tom McMahon	Coach

The rl1908 reference transcribes Sean Fagan’s 2002 interview with Souths captain-coach Jack Rayner fuelling the suggestion that dubious refereeing decisions cost the Rabbitohs the 1952 title and prevented Souths from stringing together all six premierships of 1950 to 1955. However, it cannot be argued that the Western Suburbs club were themselves a force of the 1950s, and their 1952 achievement was undeniably remarkable, as they played the whole second half of the season and the finals without their stars Frank Stanmore, Keith Holman and Arthur Collinson, who had all left with the touring Kangaroos to England and France.

Wests finished as minor premiers due in great part to their undefeated nine-game streak in the first full round of the 1952 season. In the final they met Souths who were seeking their third premiership in a row.

The controversy centered on a disallowed Rabbitohs try early in the game. Souths’ Frank Threlfo made a break and slipped the ball to Ken Macreadie who was in under the posts. Referee George Bishop ruled the pass forward and disallowed the try. In the interview Rayner also comments on the lopsided penalty count.

However the record-books show that Wests scored six tries to two, winning the match 22–12 and the club’s fourth premiership. Wests’ Hec Farrell and Souths’ Bryan Orrock were sent-off for fighting and went before the judiciary charged with kicking.{{cite news | access-date = 2009-11-20}} Wests' coach Tom McMahon became the first coach to win a premiership in his debut coaching season.

Ironically, ten years later Wests would again threaten to break a string of premiership wins – the 1962 and 1963 Magpie sides both came close to ceasing St. George's long run – but again several refereeing controversies would affect the outcome. Both the 1962 and 1963 Grand Finals have been said to have been decided by questionable calls from referee Darcy Lawler and on those occasion Wests would be on the wrong end of disputed rulings.

Western Suburbs 22 (Tries: Schofield 2, Fitzgerald, Dines, Bain, McLean. Goals: Bain 2.)

South Sydney 12 (Tries: Smailes, Macreadie. Goals: Graves 3.)

Player statistics

The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 18. Top 5 point scorers

Points	Player	Tries
Ron Rowles	8	77
Johnny Graves	13	57
George Bain	3	61
Gordon Clifford	0	53
Noel Pidding	5	41

Top 5 try scorers

Tries	Player	18	16	14	14	13
Peter O'Brien
John McClean
Bill Callinan
Tommy Ryan
Johnny Graves

Top 5 goal scorers

Goals	Player	77	61	57	53	48
Ron Rowles
George Bain
Johnny Graves
Gordon Clifford
Joe Jorgenson

References

Middleton, David; ''Rugby League 1991–92'', pp. 97, 126 {{ISBN. 0949853496
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060511184559/http://www.rl1908.com/Legends/rayner.htm rl1908.com Rayner Interview]

Info: Wikipedia Source

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