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1959 NSWRFL season

Rugby league competition

Field	Value
year	1959
competition	New South Wales Rugby Football League
teams	10
premiers	[[Image:St. George colours.svg	16x16px]] St. George
count	6th
minor premiers	[[Image:St. George colours.svg	16x16px]] St. George
mpcount	6th
matches	94
points	3107
attendance	896911
top point scorer	[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	16x16px]] Darcy Russell (206)
top try scorer	[[Image:North Sydney colours.svg	16x16px]] Ken Irvine (19)
wooden_spoon	Parramatta
wooden_spoon_count	7th
prevseason_link	1958 NSWRFL season
prevseason_year	1958
nextseason_link	1960 NSWRFL season
nextseason_year	1960

1959's New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 52nd 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 Manly-Warringah.

Season summary

The St. George team went through the 1959 season undefeated{{cite news | access-date = 2010-09-14}} – a feat achieved by five teams prior to 1959 but by none since. The club won nineteen of their twenty matches and played a draw against Balmain. They were able to score more than forty points on six occasions. After eighteen premiership rounds St. George had scored an average of over thirty points per match and conceded an average of ten points.

Future Immortals Reg Gasnier and Johnny Raper both debuted for St. George in first grade in 1959 and both made the Australian side, aged just 19. Seven St. George players made that year's Kangaroo Tour.

The 1959 season also saw the retirement from the League of future Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame inductee, Harry Bath.

Teams

North Sydney[[Image:North Sydney Jersey 1959.png	100px	center]]	Parramatta[[Image:Parramatta Jersey 1953.png	100px	center]]	South Sydney[[Image:South Sydney Jersey 1959.png	100px	center]]	St. George[[Image:St George Jersey 1959.png	100px	center]]	Western Suburbs[[Image:Western Suburbs Jersey 1953.png	100px	center]]

Regular season

Team	1	2
Balmain	MAN
−3	**STG
−14**	CBY
−4	**EAS
+12**	NOR
−8	**WES
−19**	**PAR
+8**	NEW
−15	**SOU
+9**	**MAN
−2**	STG
0	**CBY
+12**	EAS
−4	**NOR
+6**	WES
−9	PAR
+16	**NEW
−5**	SOU
−8
Canterbury-Bankstown	SOU
−10	MAN
−6	**BAL
+4**	**STG
−12**	EAS
−9	**NOR
−33**	WES
−38	**PAR
+7**	**NEW
−12**	**SOU
−1**	**MAN
+5**	BAL
−12	STG
−51	**EAS
+6**	NOR
−22	**WES
0**	PAR
+1	NEW
−1
Eastern Suburbs	NEW
−3	SOU
−20	**MAN
−11**	BAL
−12	**CBY
+9**	**STG
−9**	NOR
−20	**WES
−3**	PAR
−4	**NEW
+7**	**SOU
+9**	MAN
−12	**BAL
+4**	CBY
−6	**STG
−16**	**NOR
+6**	WES
−28	**PAR
+6**
Manly-Warringah	**BAL
+3**	**CBY
+6**	EAS
+11	NOR
−7	WES
−11	PAR
+5	**NEW
−4**	SOU
+8	**STG
−10**	BAL
+2	CBY
−5	**EAS
+12**	NOR
+1	**WES
−3**	**PAR
+21**	NEW
+17	SOU
+3	STG
−5	**NEW
+17**	X	WES
+1	STG
−20
Newtown	**EAS
+3**	**NOR
−6**	WES
−7	PAR
+9	**STG
−17**	**SOU
+2**	MAN
+4	**BAL
+15**	CBY
+12	EAS
−7	NOR
+2	**WES
−2**	**PAR
+8**	**STG
−35**	SOU
−12	**MAN
−17**	BAL
+5	**CBY
+1**	MAN
−17
North Sydney	PAR
+23	NEW
+6	**SOU
+20**	**MAN
+7**	**BAL
+8**	CBY
+33	**EAS
+20**	**STG
−21**	**WES
−5**	**PAR
+20**	**NEW
−2**	SOU
−10	**MAN
−1**	BAL
−6	**CBY
+22**	EAS
−6	**STG
−7**	WES
−12
Parramatta	**NOR
−23**	**WES
−10**	STG
−39	**NEW
−9**	SOU
+5	**MAN
−5**	BAL
−8	CBY
−7	**EAS
+4**	NOR
−20	WES
−22	**STG
−57**	NEW
−8	**SOU
−6**	MAN
−21	**BAL
−16**	**CBY
−1**	EAS
−6
South Sydney	**CBY
+10**	**EAS
+20**	NOR
−20	**WES
+1**	**PAR
−5**	NEW
−2	**STG
−33**	**MAN
−8**	BAL
−9	CBY
+1	EAS
−9	**NOR
+10**	WES
+5	PAR
+6	**NEW
+12**	**STG
−3**	**MAN
−3**	**BAL
+8**
St. George	WES
+1	BAL
+14	**PAR
+39**	CBY
+12	NEW
+17	EAS
+9	SOU
+33	NOR
+21	MAN
+10	**WES
+30**	**BAL
0**	PAR
+57	**CBY
+51**	NEW
+35	EAS
+16	SOU
+3	NOR
+7	**MAN
+5**	X	**WES
+10**	X	**MAN
+20**
Western Suburbs	**STG
−1**	PAR
+10	**NEW
+7**	SOU
−1	**MAN
+11**	BAL
+19	**CBY
+38**	EAS
+3	NOR
+5	STG
−30	**PAR
+22**	NEW
+2	**SOU
−5**	MAN
+3	**BAL
+9**	CBY
0	**EAS
+28**	**NOR
+12**	X	STG
−10	**MAN
−1**

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	17	1	0	550	190	+360
2	[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	16x16px]] Western Suburbs	18	13	1	4	405	273	+132
3	[[Image:Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg	16x16px]] Manly	18	11	0	7	283	239	+44
4	[[Image:Newtown colours.svg	16x16px]] Newtown	18	10	0	8	254	296	-42
5	[[Image:North Sydney colours.svg	16x16px]] North Sydney	18	9	0	9	371	282	+89
6	[[Image:South Sydney colours.svg	16x16px]] South Sydney	18	9	0	9	257	276	-19
7	[[Image:Balmain colours.svg	16x16px]] Balmain	18	6	1	11	308	336	-28
8	[[Image:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg	16x16px]] Eastern Suburbs	18	6	0	12	211	314	-103
9	[[Image:Canterbury colours.svg	16x16px]] Canterbury	18	5	1	12	194	378	-184
10	[[Image:Parramatta colours.svg	16x16px]] Parramatta	18	2	0	16	150	399	-249

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	10	12	14	16	18	20	21	23	25	27	29	31	33
2	Western Suburbs	0	2	4	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	16	18	18	20	22	23	25
3	Manly-Warringah	2	4	6	6	6	8	8	10	10	12	12	14	16	16	18	20	22
4	Newtown	2	2	2	4	4	6	8	10	12	12	14	14	16	16	16	16	18
5	North Sydney	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	14	16	16	16	16	16	18	18	18
6	South Sydney	2	4	4	6	6	6	6	6	6	8	8	10	12	14	16	16	16
7	Balmain	0	0	0	2	2	2	4	4	6	6	7	9	9	11	11	13	13
8	Eastern Suburbs	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	6	8	8	8	10	10
9	Canterbury-Bankstown	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	6	6	6	8	8	9	11
10	Parramatta	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4

Finals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information	Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Semifinals
[[Image:Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg	23x23px]] Manly-Warringah	17–0	[[Image:Newtown colours.svg	23x23px]] Newtown	25 July 1959	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	8,967
[[Image:St. George colours.svg	23x23px]] St. George	35–25	[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	23x23px]] Western Suburbs	1 August 1959	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	42,347
Preliminary Final
[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	23x23px]] Western Suburbs	13–14	[[Image:Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg	23x23px]] Manly-Warringah	8 August 1959	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	28,385
Grand Final
[[Image:St. George colours.svg	23x23px]] St. George	20–0{{cite news	title = Sydney Rugby	work = The Age	pages = 20	date = 1959-08-17	url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=-aUUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Tq8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4016,2669106	access-date = 2009-11-20}}

Grand Final

St. George	Position	Manly-Warringah
	FB
2. Eddie Lumsden	WG	15. Len Wadling
15. Johnny Raper	CE	3. Kevin Mosman
16. Geoff Weekes	CE	4. Bill Lloyd
5. Brian Messiter	WG	5. George Hugo
6. Brian Clay	FE	14. Alf Madden
7. Bob Bugden	HB	19. Peter Burke
13. Harry Bath	PR	13. Bill Delamere
12. Ken Kearney (Ca./Co.)	HK	12. George Lenon
11. Billy Wilson	PR	22. Roy Bull
10. Monty Porter	SR	11. Rex Mossop
9. Norm Provan	SR	9. Peter Diversi
8. Peter Provan	LK	8. Jim Peebles
	Coach	Ken Arthurson

In the lead up to the Grand Final, rumours were circulating that Manly-Warringah's Rex Mossop was carrying a broken cheekbone. From the kick off, Saints' forwards took turns at testing Mossop's injury with Harry Bath giving him particular attention. For most of the match the Manly forward copped a hammering until in frustration, Mossop retaliated by standing on Bath's head. A brawl broke out between the two and the referee Lawler sent both off.

In the meantime, St. George's forwards were steamrolling Manly-Warringah and the red and white backs were cutting loose. Winger Eddie Lumsden had a magnificent match, scoring a hat trick of tries. Lumsden beat Ron Willey cold for his first try and then was on the end of later backline passing bursts for two more.

As the Manly-Warringah pack tired in the second half, experienced St. George second rower Norm Provan began to easily break their defence out wide, linking with his backs and being rewarded himself with a try. Reserve grade Geoff Weekes had been promoted when Gasnier and Johnny Riley were both injured in the major semi final. He scored a try as did St. George's steady and safe custodian Brian Graham.

St. George outclassed Manly-Warringah 20–0 in a ruthless display of speed and strength. The match was future Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame inductee Harry Bath's last game.

St. George 20 (Tries: Lumsden 3, Graham, Weekes, N Provan. Goals: Bath 1.)

Manly-Warringah 0

Player statistics

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

Points	Player	Tries
Harry Bath	5	87
Darcy Russell	5	87
Ron Willey	2	68
Johnny Jones	1	59
Kevin Considine	10	40

Top 5 try scorers

Tries	Player	19	18	15	15	14
Ken Irvine
Brian Messiter
Bob Bugden
Ron Mack
Darcy Henry

Top 5 goal scorers

Goals	Player	87	87	68	59	48
Harry Bath
Darcy Russell
Ron Willey
Johnny Jones
Keith Barnes

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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