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1956 NSWRFL season

Rugby league competition

Field	Value
year	1956
competition	New South Wales Rugby Football League
imagesize	125px
teams	10
premiers	[[Image:St. George colours.svg	16x16px]] St. George
count	3rd
minor premiers	[[Image:St. George colours.svg	16x16px]] St. George
mpcount	3rd
matches	95
points	3096
top point scorer	[[Image:St. George colours.svg	16x16px]] Doug Fleming (189)
top try scorer	[[Image:St. George colours.svg	16x16px]] Tommy Ryan (19)
wooden_spoon	Parramatta
wooden_spoon_count	4th
prevseason_link	1955 NSWRFL season
prevseason_year	1955
nextseason_link	1957 NSWRFL season
nextseason_year	1957

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

North Sydney[[Image:North Sydney Jersey 1954.png	100px	center]]	Parramatta[[Image:Parramatta Jersey 1953.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 1953.png	100px	center]]

Regular season

Team	1	2	3
Balmain	PAR
+4	**CBY
+27**	NOR
+23	**NEW
+4**	**EAS
+13**	**WES
+3**	SOU
−35	**STG
+11**	**MAN
+6**	**PAR
+4**	CBY
+6	**NOR
−1**	NEW
−5	EAS
+9	WES
−14	**SOU
+2**	**STG
−14**	MAN
+9	X	X	STG
−5	**SOU
+3**	STG
−6
Canterbury-Bankstown	**WES
−19**	BAL
−27	STG
−26	**MAN
+3**	PAR
−1	**SOU
−5**	NOR
+1	NEW
−2	EAS
−17	WES
−14	**BAL
−6**	**STG
−19**	MAN
−3	**PAR
+18**	SOU
+1	**NOR
+1**	**NEW
−10**	**EAS
+8**
Eastern Suburbs	NOR
−5	NEW
−26	SOU
−24	WES
+2	BAL
−13	STG
−36	MAN
−15	**PAR
+7**	**CBY
+17**	**NOR
+8**	**NEW
−8**	**SOU
−6**	**WES
−19**	**BAL
−9**	**STG
−9**	**MAN
0**	PAR
+1	CBY
−8
Manly-Warringah	STG
−3	**SOU
−5**	**PAR
+22**	CBY
−3	NOR
+33	NEW
−25	**EAS
+15**	**WES
+10**	BAL
−6	**STG
0**	SOU
−4	PAR
+23	**CBY
+3**	**NOR
0**	**NEW
+8**	EAS
0	WES
−5	**BAL
−9**
Newtown	SOU
−5	**EAS
+26**	WES
+9	BAL
−4	**STG
+10**	**MAN
+25**	**PAR
+28**	**CBY
+2**	NOR
+22	**SOU
+13**	EAS
+8	**WES
−8**	**BAL
+5**	**STG
−24**	MAN
−8	PAR
−4	CBY
+10	**NOR
−1**	**WES
−5**
North Sydney	**EAS
+5**	WES
−1	**BAL
−23**	STG
−4	**MAN
−33**	PAR
−4	**CBY
−1**	SOU
−8	**NEW
−22**	EAS
−8	**WES
+10**	BAL
+1	**STG
−12**	MAN
0	**PAR
+7**	CBY
−1	**SOU
−13**	NEW
+1
Parramatta	**BAL
−4**	**STG
−20**	MAN
−22	**SOU
+3**	**CBY
+1**	**NOR
+4**	NEW
−28	EAS
−7	WES
−23	BAL
−4	STG
−11	**MAN
−23**	SOU
0	CBY
−18	NOR
−7	**NEW
+4**	**EAS
−1**	**WES
−1**
South Sydney	**NEW
+5**	MAN
+5	**EAS
+24**	PAR
−3	WES
+3	CBY
+5	**BAL
+35**	**NOR
+8**	**STG
+22**	NEW
−13	**MAN
+4**	EAS
+6	**PAR
0**	**WES
−9**	**CBY
−1**	BAL
−2	NOR
+13	**STG
−3**	X	**WES
+38**	X	BAL
−3
St. George	**MAN
+3**	PAR
+20	**CBY
+26**	**NOR
+4**	NEW
−10	**EAS
+36**	**WES
+27**	BAL
−11	SOU
−22	MAN
0	**PAR
+11**	CBY
+19	NOR
+12	NEW
+24	EAS
+9	WES
−6	BAL
+14	SOU
+3	X	X	**BAL
+5**	X	**BAL
+6**
Western Suburbs	CBY
+19	**NOR
+1**	**NEW
−9**	**EAS
−2**	**SOU
−3**	BAL
−3	STG
−27	MAN
−10	**PAR
+23**	**CBY
+14**	NOR
−10	NEW
+8	EAS
+19	SOU
+9	**BAL
+14**	**STG
+6**	**MAN
+5**	PAR
+1	NEW
+5	SOU
−38

Bold – Home game

X – Bye

Opponent for round listed above margin

Ladder

Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	[[Image:St. George colours.svg	16x16px]] St. George	18	13	1	4	398	239	+159
2	[[Image:Balmain colours.svg	16x16px]] Balmain	18	13	0	5	293	241	+52
3	[[Image:South Sydney colours.svg	16x16px]] South Sydney	18	11	1	6	364	265	+99
4	[[Image:Newtown colours.svg	16x16px]] Newtown	18	11	0	7	333	229	+104
5	[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	16x16px]] Western Suburbs	18	11	0	7	276	221	+55
6	[[Image:Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg	16x16px]] Manly	18	7	3	8	323	269	+54
7	[[Image:Canterbury colours.svg	16x16px]] Canterbury	18	6	0	12	235	352	-117
8	[[Image:North Sydney colours.svg	16x16px]] North Sydney	18	5	1	12	218	324	-106
9	[[Image:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg	16x16px]] Eastern Suburbs	18	5	1	12	211	354	-143
10	[[Image:Parramatta colours.svg	16x16px]] Parramatta	18	4	1	13	224	381	-157

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	St. George	2	4	6	8	8	10	12	12	12	13	15	17	19	21	23	23	25
2	Balmain	2	4	6	8	10	12	12	14	16	18	20	20	20	22	22	24	24
3	South Sydney	2	4	6	6	8	10	12	14	16	16	18	20	21	21	21	21	23
4	Newtown	0	2	4	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	18	20	20	20	20	22
5	Western Suburbs	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	6	8	8	10	12	14	16	18	20
6	Manly-Warringah	0	0	2	2	4	4	6	8	8	9	9	11	13	14	16	17	17
7	Canterbury-Bankstown	0	0	0	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	6	8	10	10
8	North Sydney	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	6	7	9	9	9
9	Eastern Suburbs	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	4	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	9	11
10	Parramatta	0	0	0	2	4	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	7	7	7	9	9

Finals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information	Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Playoff
[[Image:Newtown colours.svg	23x23px]] Newtown	5–10	[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	23x23px]] Western Suburbs	14 August 1956	Redfern Oval		20,920
Semifinals
[[Image:South Sydney colours.svg	23x23px]] South Sydney	45–7	[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	23x23px]] Western Suburbs	18 August 1956	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	51,775
[[Image:St. George colours.svg	23x23px]] St. George	30–25	[[Image:Balmain colours.svg	23x23px]] Balmain	25 August 1956	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	37,339
Preliminary Final
[[Image:Balmain colours.svg	23x23px]] Balmain	36–33	[[Image:South Sydney colours.svg	23x23px]] South Sydney	1 September 1956	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	42,350
Grand Final
[[Image:St. George colours.svg	23x23px]] St. George	18–12	[[Image:Balmain colours.svg	23x23px]] Balmain	8 September 1956	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	61,987

Grand Final

St George	Position	Balmain
	FB
2. Ross Kite	WG	2. Arthur Lorimer
3. Merv Lees	CE	3. Geoff Hawkey
4. Kevin O'Brien	CE	4. Kevin Mosman
5. Tommy Ryan	WG	5. Terry McGovern
6. Peter Carroll	FE	6. Bill Harris
7. Bob Bugden	HB	7. Brian Staunton (c)
13. Kevin Brown	PR	13. Jack Moon
12. Ken Kearney (c)	HK	12. Neville Watt
11. Bryan Orrock	PR	11. Robert Heaney
26.Harry Melville	SR	10. Ron "Jake" Moses
9. Norm Provan	SR	9. Ron Potter
10. Billy Wilson	LK	8. 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.)

Player statistics

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

Points	Player	Tries	Goals
Doug Fleming	3	80	1
Ron Willey	2	76	0
Keith Barnes	0	70	0
John Kell	0	61	0
Alan Arkey	0	59	1

Top 5 try scorers

Tries	Player	16	14	14	14	13
Tommy Ryan
Kevin O'Brien
Kevin Considine
Ray Ritchie
Ray Preston

Top 5 goal scorers

Goals	Player	80	76	70	61	59
Doug Fleming
Ron Willey
Keith Barnes
John Kell
Alan Arkey

References

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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