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1962 NSWRFL season

Rugby league competition

Field	Value
year	1962
competition	New South Wales Rugby Football League
imagesize	125px
teams	10
premiers	[[Image:St. George colours.svg	16x16px]] St. George
count	9th
minor premiers	[[Image:St. George colours.svg	16x16px]] St. George
mpcount	8th
matches	94
points	2683
attendance	963433
top point scorer	[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	16x16px]] Don Parish (123)
top try scorer	[[Image:St. George colours.svg	16x16px]] Eddie Lumsden (21)
wooden_spoon	South Sydney
wooden_spoon_count	3rd
prevseason_link	1961 NSWRFL season
prevseason_year	1961
nextseason_link	1963 NSWRFL season
nextseason_year	1963

The 1962 NSWRFL season was the 55th New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership, Australia's first rugby league competition. Ten teams from across Sydney competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup during the season, which culminated in a replay of the previous year's grand final between St. George and Western Suburbs.

Season summary

The league approved the use of substitutions to replace injured players, on the condition that the replacement player had already appeared in a lower grade match on the same day.

The 1962 season was also the last in the playing career of future Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame inductee, Brian Carlson.

Teams

North Sydney[[Image:North Sydney Jersey 1960.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

Regular season

Team	1	2
Balmain	**STG
+8**	MAN
0	**CBY
−17**	SOU
−7	**WES
−21**	NOR
+4	**PAR
−9**	NEW
−3	**EAS
−3**	**STG
0**	**MAN
+8**	CBY
−5	**SOU
−1**	WES
−20	**NOR
+10**	PAR
+5	**NEW
−1**	EAS
−11
Canterbury-Bankstown	NEW
−3	**EAS
+24**	BAL
+17	**MAN
+23**	STG
−20	SOU
+5	**WES
−12**	NOR
−7	PAR
0	**NEW
−22**	EAS
−5	**BAL
+5**	MAN
−2	STG
−21	**SOU
−2**	WES
0	**NOR
+12**	**PAR
+1**
Eastern Suburbs	**MAN
−4**	CBY
−24	SOU
0	WES
−13	**NOR
−16**	PAR
−3	**NEW
+2**	**STG
−3**	BAL
+3	MAN
−6	**CBY
+5**	**SOU
+17**	**WES
+4**	NOR
+4	**PAR
+15**	NEW
−10	**STG
+1**	**BAL
+11**
Manly-Warringah	EAS
+4	**BAL
0**	STG
−12	CBY
−23	**SOU
+3**	WES
−9	**NOR
+26**	**PAR
−3**	NEW
−6	**EAS
+6**	BAL
−8	**STG
−12**	**CBY
+2**	SOU
+6	**WES
−3**	NOR
−11	PAR
+5	**NEW
−1**
Newtown	**CBY
+3**	SOU
+2	WES
−4	NOR
+8	PAR
+6	**STG
−11**	EAS
−2	**BAL
+3**	**MAN
+6**	CBY
+22	**SOU
+12**	**WES
−7**	**NOR
+13**	**PAR
−4**	**STG
+1**	**EAS
+10**	BAL
+1	MAN
+1	X	STG
−21	**WES
−12**
North Sydney	WES
−3	**STG
−8**	PAR
0	**NEW
−8**	EAS
+16	**BAL
−4**	MAN
−26	**CBY
+7**	**SOU
+1**	**WES
−13**	STG
−25	**PAR
−7**	NEW
−13	**EAS
−4**	BAL
−10	**MAN
+11**	CBY
−12	SOU
0
Parramatta	SOU
−7	**WES
+2**	**NOR
0**	STG
−21	**NEW
−6**	**EAS
+3**	BAL
+9	MAN
+3	**CBY
0**	**SOU
+27**	WES
+12	NOR
+7	**STG
+11**	NEW
+4	EAS
−15	**BAL
−5**	**MAN
−5**	CBY
−1	WES
−6
South Sydney	**PAR
+7**	**NEW
−2**	**EAS
0**	**BAL
+7**	MAN
−3	**CBY
−5**	STG
−17	**WES
−5**	NOR
−1	PAR
−27	NEW
−12	EAS
−17	BAL
+1	**MAN
−6**	CBY
+2	**STG
−34**	WES
−13	**NOR
0**
St. George	BAL
−8	NOR
+8	**MAN
+12**	**PAR
+21**	**CBY
+20**	NEW
+11	**SOU
+17**	EAS
+3	WES
+8	BAL
0	**NOR
+25**	MAN
+12	PAR
−11	**CBY
+21**	NEW
−1	SOU
+34	EAS
−1	WES
+8	X	**NEW
+21**	X	**WES
+3**
Western Suburbs	**NOR
+3**	PAR
−2	**NEW
+4**	**EAS
+13**	BAL
+21	**MAN
+9**	CBY
+12	SOU
+5	**STG
−8**	NOR
+13	**PAR
−12**	NEW
+7	EAS
−4	**BAL
+20**	MAN
+3	**CBY
0**	**SOU
+13**	**STG
−8**	**PAR
+6**	X	NEW
+12	STG
−3

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	373	194	+179
2	[[Image:Newtown colours.svg	16x16px]] Newtown	18	13	0	5	290	230	+60
3	[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	16x16px]] Western Suburbs	18	12	1	5	299	210	+89
4	[[Image:Parramatta colours.svg	16x16px]] Parramatta	18	9	2	7	236	218	+18
5	[[Image:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg	16x16px]] Eastern Suburbs	18	9	1	8	213	230	-17
6	[[Image:Canterbury colours.svg	16x16px]] Canterbury	18	7	2	9	228	235	-7
7	[[Image:Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg	16x16px]] Manly	18	7	1	10	234	270	-36
8	[[Image:Balmain colours.svg	16x16px]] Balmain	18	5	2	11	237	300	-63
9	[[Image:North Sydney colours.svg	16x16px]] North Sydney	18	4	2	12	263	361	-98
10	[[Image:South Sydney colours.svg	16x16px]] South Sydney	18	4	2	12	212	337	-125

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	0	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	17	19	21	21	23	23	25	25
2	Newtown	2	4	4	6	8	8	8	10	12	14	16	16	18	18	20	22	24
3	Western Suburbs	2	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	16	16	18	18	20	22	23	25
4	Parramatta	0	2	3	3	3	5	7	9	10	12	14	16	18	20	20	20	20
5	Eastern Suburbs	0	0	1	1	1	1	3	3	5	5	7	9	11	13	15	15	17
6	Canterbury-Bankstown	0	2	4	6	6	8	8	8	9	9	9	11	11	11	11	12	14
7	Manly-Warringah	2	3	3	3	5	5	7	7	7	9	9	9	11	13	13	13	15
8	Balmain	2	3	3	3	3	5	5	5	5	6	8	8	8	8	10	12	12
9	North Sydney	0	0	1	1	3	3	3	5	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	9	9
10	South Sydney	2	2	3	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	7	7	9	9	9

Finals

Home	Score	Away	Match information	Date and time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Semi-finals
[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	23x23px]] Western Suburbs	6–0	[[Image:Parramatta colours.svg	23x23px]] Parramatta	25 August 1962	Sydney Sports Ground	Darcy Lawler	26,281
[[Image:St. George colours.svg	23x23px]] St. George	30–9	[[Image:Newtown colours.svg	23x23px]] Newtown	1 September 1962	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	36,058
Preliminary Final
[[Image:Newtown colours.svg	23x23px]] Newtown	13–25	[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	23x23px]] Western Suburbs	8 September 1962	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	26,554
Grand Final
[[Image:St. George colours.svg	23x23px]] St. George	9–6	[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	23x23px]] Western Suburbs	15 September 1962	Sydney Cricket Ground	Jack Bradley	41,184

Grand Final

St. George	Position	Western Suburbs
15. Kevin McDonald	FB
2. Eddie Lumsden	WG	2. Dave Barsley
3. Reg Gasnier	CE	3. Fred Norden
19. Johnny Riley	CE	14. Gil MacDougall
5. Johnny King	WG	5. Peter Dimond
8. Johnny Raper	FE	7. Arthur Summons (c)
21. George Evans	HB	6. Don Malone
25. Monty Porter	PR	9. John Hayes
12. Ian Walsh	HK	12. Noel Kelly
11. Billy Wilson	PR	11. Denis Meaney
10. Norm Provan (Ca./Co)	SR	13. Jim Cody
9. Kevin Ryan	SR	4. Garry Russell
13. Elton Rasmussen	LK	8. Kevin Smyth
	Coach	Jack Fitzgerald

Wests had finished third on the ladder but won two semi-finals for another crack at their nemesis in a rain-soaked and muddy Grand Final. St George were favoured by a strong breeze in the first half which dropped off in the second half, giving Wests no reciprocal advantage.

The only try of the match was scored in the 17th minute after Norm Provan burst through and found Kevin Ryan in support who in turn found Johnny King on the fly. The winger raced 30 yards over sodden ground to score, notching up another Grand Final try in his unblemished consistent record.

The score was 7–2 at half time, with the Dragons playing almost all the second half with twelve men after Billy “Bluey” Wilson was sent off.{{cite news | access-date = 2010-01-15 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181004074123/http://blogs.watoday.com.au/executive-style/sportandstyle/bencoady/2009/09/28/grandfinaldra.html | archive-date = 2018-10-04 | url-status = dead

The match was a tight forward struggle with misdemeanors from both sides. Provan and Rasmussen finished the game needing stitches and Jim Cody and Garry Russell suffered broken noses. Wests did all they could to contain Reg Gasnier with Gill McDougall enjoying some success in hammering Gasnier and keeping him bottled up.

Saints' best were Ryan, Ian Walsh and Johnny Raper playing at five-eighth in place of Brian Clay whose injury prone season had ended early with a broken arm.

The game is remembered for a couple of off-the-ball incidents which began with Provan being knocked out by Jim Cody five minutes before half time. “Sticks” Provan was carried from the field and didn't return again until well into the second half. Cody escaped any official punishment. Wilson came out as captain in the second half and apparently squared things up in the first seconds after kick-off before the first tackle took place. Accounts differ as to whether “Bluey” Wilson was provoked by Cody before Wilson hit him, but hit him he did and referee Jack Bradley sent Wilson off. With no replacements allowed in those days, St George were reduced to 11 men until Provan returned to the field 15 minutes later.

In what can only be described as a heroic defensive effort, St George held out Wests and won the match.

The match was Billy Wilson's final game for St George; he had appeared in six of the Grand Final victories. The Larry Writer reference suggests that the send-off may have soured Wilson's relationship with club officials in spite of the victory. Whether true or not, at 35 years of age, the end of Wilson's playing career was looming from the club's perspective and his contract was not renewed.

As of the 2015 NRL season, no forward since Wilson has been sent off in a Grand Final. In this game Wilson also became the only man to have been sent off in two grand finals following on from his dismissal by Darcy Lawler in 1953 for fighting with South Sydney's Martin Gallagher.

** St. George 9** (Tries: King. Goals: McDonald 3.)

Western Suburbs 6 ( Goals: Bray 3.)

Player statistics

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

Points	Player	Tries
Bob Landers	6	49
Don Parish	7	44
Ron Willey	1	51
Brian Graham	0	51
Brian Carlson	2	42

Top 5 try scorers

Tries	Player	21	15	14	12	12	12	12	12
Eddie Lumsden
Ken Irvine
Johnny King
Reg Gasnier
Peter Dimond
Ken Foord
Len Wadling
Michael Cleary

Top 5 goal scorers

Goals	Player	51	51	49	44	42
Brian Graham
Ron Willey
Bob Landers
Don Parish
Brian Carlson

References

(13 February 1962). "Replacement For Injured R.L. Players Permitted". [[Sydney Morning Herald]].

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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