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1966 NSWRFL season

Rugby league competition

Field	Value
year	1966
competition	New South Wales Rugby Football League
teams	10
premiers	[[Image:St. George colours.svg	16x16px]] St. George
count	13th
minor premiers	[[Image:St. George colours.svg	16x16px]] St. George
mpcount	12th
matches	95
points	2715
attendance	1293261
top point scorer	[[Image:Newtown colours.svg	16x16px]] Bob Lanigan (185)
top try scorer	[[Image:St. George colours.svg	16x16px]] Johnny King (15)
wooden_spoon	Eastern Suburbs
wooden_spoon_count	4th
prevseason_link	1965 NSWRFL season
prevseason_year	1965
nextseason_link	1967 NSWRFL season
nextseason_year	1967

The 1966 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 59th season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. Ten clubs from across the city competed for the J.J. Giltinan Shield and the WD & HO Wills Cup during the season, which culminated in a replay of the 1964 grand final between St. George and Balmain.

Season summary

1966 was the last season played under the unlimited tackle rule. Balmain, with their talented raw rookie recruit Arthur Beetson, appeared to be about to topple the Dragons from their long-held perch when the Tigers won eleven consecutive regular season games. However a late season slump saw them pegged back to the rest of the field and an eventual second place on the minor-premiership ladder behind the Dragons, who were being led by new captain-coach Ian Walsh.

Eastern Suburbs did not win a single match in 1966, continuing a losing streak that started in round 14, 1965 and which would run till round 2, 1967. This marked the second-most consecutive losses in NSWRFL premiership history at 25 behind University’s 42 in the middle 1930s. Their winless streak ran a total of 29 games between their 11–9 win over Canterbury in Round 12, 1965 and beating North Sydney 17–11 in Round 6 of 1967. , this remains the last time any team would go through an Australian rugby league season winless.

No team would finish a season on zero points again until the Melbourne Storm finished last in the 2010 NRL season as punishment for gross salary cap breaches uncovered by the NRL in April that year.

Teams

North Sydney[[File:North Sydney Jersey 1965.png	100px	center]]	Parramatta[[File:Parramatta Jersey 1963.png	100px	center]]	South Sydney[[File:South Sydney Jersey 1965.png	100px	center]]	St. George[[File:St George Jersey 1959.png	100px	center]]	Western Suburbs

Regular season

Team	1	2	3
Balmain	**STG
+3**	EAS
+6	**CBY
+4**	**MAN
+5**	SOU
+4	**PAR
+9**	**NOR
+20**	**NEW
+3**	**WES
+5**	**STG
+7**	**EAS
+23**	CBY
−4	**MAN
+13**	**SOU
−8**	X	PAR
−2	NOR
−5	NEW
−2	WES
−5	X	X	STG
−8	**MAN
+3**	STG
−19
Canterbury-Bankstown	**WES
−10**	**NEW
−7**	BAL
−4	EAS
+15	**STG
−2**	MAN
−23	**SOU
+4**	NOR
−9	**PAR
+2**	**WES
+3**	NEW
+5	**BAL
+4**	**EAS
+2**	STG
−2	X	**MAN
−4**	SOU
−19	**NOR
+6**	PAR
−12
Eastern Suburbs	**NEW
−7**	**BAL
−6**	STG
−26	**CBY
−15**	MAN
−17	**SOU
−7**	PAR
−12	WES
−9	NOR
−18	NEW
−6	BAL
−23	**STG
−15**	CBY
−2	**MAN
−53**	**NOR
−13**	SOU
−30	**PAR
−9**	**WES
−31**	X
Manly-Warringah	**NOR
+10**	WES
−7	NEW
−8	BAL
−5	**EAS
+17**	**CBY
+23**	STG
−19	**PAR
−7**	SOU
−11	NOR
+6	**WES
+21**	**NEW
+16**	BAL
−13	EAS
+53	X	CBY
+4	STG
+2	PAR
+4	**SOU
+6**	X	**NEW
+1**	X	BAL
−3
Newtown	EAS
+7	CBY
+7	**MAN
+8**	**SOU
+4**	PAR
+7	NOR
+8	**WES
−1**	BAL
−3	STG
−17	**EAS
+6**	**CBY
−5**	MAN
−16	SOU
+10	**PAR
−7**	X	**NOR
+9**	WES
−5	**BAL
+2**	**STG
−2**	**WES
+15**	MAN
−1
North Sydney	MAN
−10	**SOU
+5**	**PAR
+8**	**STG
−1**	WES
−5	**NEW
−8**	BAL
−20	**CBY
+9**	**EAS
+18**	**MAN
−6**	SOU
−22	PAR
0	**STG
−11**	**WES
+9**	EAS
+13	NEW
−9	**BAL
+5**	CBY
−6	X
Parramatta	**SOU
−10**	**STG
0**	NOR
−8	**WES
+11**	**NEW
−7**	BAL
−9	**EAS
+12**	MAN
+7	CBY
−2	SOU
−16	STG
−10	**NOR
0**	WES
+10	NEW
+7	X	**BAL
+2**	EAS
+9	**MAN
−4**	**CBY
+12**
South Sydney	PAR
+10	NOR
−5	**WES
+6**	NEW
−4	**BAL
−4**	EAS
+7	CBY
−4	**STG
−28**	**MAN
+11**	**PAR
+16**	**NOR
+22**	WES
−4	**NEW
−10**	BAL
+8	X	**EAS
+30**	**CBY
+19**	**STG
−29**	MAN
−6
St. George	BAL
−3	PAR
0	**EAS
+26**	NOR
+1	CBY
+2	WES
+28	**MAN
+19**	SOU
+28	**NEW
+17**	BAL
−7	**PAR
+10**	EAS
+15	NOR
+11	**CBY
+2**	X	**WES
−3**	**MAN
−2**	SOU
+29	NEW
+2	X	X	**BAL
+8**	X	**BAL
+19**
Western Suburbs	CBY
+10	**MAN
+7**	SOU
−6	PAR
−11	**NOR
+5**	**STG
−28**	NEW
+1	**EAS
+9**	BAL
−5	CBY
−3	MAN
−21	**SOU
+4**	**PAR
−10**	NOR
−9	X	STG
+3	**NEW
+5**	EAS
+31	**BAL
+5**	NEW
−15

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	331	156	+175
2	[[Image:Balmain colours.svg	16x16px]] Balmain	18	12	0	6	279	203	+76
3	[[Image:Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg	16x16px]] Manly	18	11	0	7	348	256	+92
4	[[Image:Newtown colours.svg	16x16px]] Newtown	18	10	0	8	261	249	+12
5	[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	16x16px]] Western Suburbs	18	10	0	8	228	241	-13
6	[[Image:South Sydney colours.svg	16x16px]] South Sydney	18	9	0	9	263	228	+35
7	[[Image:Parramatta colours.svg	16x16px]] Parramatta	18	8	2	8	236	232	+4
8	[[Image:Canterbury colours.svg	16x16px]] Canterbury	18	8	0	10	244	295	-51
9	[[Image:North Sydney colours.svg	16x16px]] North Sydney	18	7	1	10	282	313	-31
10	[[Image:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg	16x16px]] Eastern Suburbs	18	0	0	18	147	446	-299

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.
Underlined numbers indicate that the team had a bye during that round.

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

Finals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information	Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Playoff
[[Image:Newtown colours.svg	23x23px]] Newtown	20–5	[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	23x23px]] Western Suburbs	23 August 1966	Sydney Sports Ground	W.Kelly	10,724
Semi-finals
[[Image:Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg	23x23px]] Manly-Warringah	10–9	[[Image:Newtown colours.svg	23x23px]] Newtown	27 August 1966	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	31,803
[[Image:St. George colours.svg	23x23px]] St. George	10–2	[[Image:Balmain colours.svg	23x23px]] Balmain	3 September 1966	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	46,531
Preliminary Final
[[Image:Balmain colours.svg	23x23px]] Balmain	8–5	[[Image:Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg	23x23px]] Manly-Warringah	10 September 1966	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	39,461
Grand Final
[[Image:St. George colours.svg	23x23px]] St. George	23–4	[[Image:Balmain colours.svg	23x23px]] Balmain	18 September 1966	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	61,129

Grand Final

St. George Balmain

Teams

Balmain had to replace John Spencer (broken hand) and George Piper (knee) in the days before the match after they suffered injuries in their win over Manly the previous week. Ken Maddison, Dick Huddart, and Trevor Levin made their Grand Final debuts for St. George. Brian Clay equalled Norm Provan's record of ten Grand Final appearances, having played two with Newtown before joining St. George.

Match details

Balmain had beaten St. George twice in the regular season and in their coach Harry Bath, who had helped design the Dragons premiership winning formula, had a tactician well placed to counter it. They had a number of young players in Arthur Beetson, Kevin Yow Yeh and Dennis Tutty who could trouble the Dragons, plus the experience of Dave Bolton, Peter Provan and the unrivalled goal-kicking brilliance of captain Keith Barnes.

The opening skirmishes on the day of the decider were balanced. Balmain took an early lead when Barnes kicked a penalty goal, while Graeme Langlands levelled the scores with a penalty goal a few minutes later following an injury break when Balmain Dave Bolton needed medical attention. Bolton limped back into position, but was hampered by a leg injury. A couple of minutes later St. George's Billy Smith struck back when he set up a run around movement with Brian Clay, which led to a try to Bruce Pollard. Langlands kicked the conversion from the sideline to take the Dragons lead to 7–2.

The turning point of the match came soon after when the Dragons' English import Dick Huddart and Ian Walsh put on a set move as the Tigers' defence rushed up too early. Walsh bust through the line and with only the fullback to beat and passed the ball to Huddart who raced 30 yards to score. Due to the injury he sustained earlier in the match, Balmain halfback Dave Bolton left the field following the Huddart try receiving a pain-killing injection, but did return with bandages around his leg a few minutes later.

Trevor Levin came on after halftime for St. George in place of Robin Gourley, while for Balmain Sid Williams and Dave Cooper came on for Bolton and Brian Sullivan.

After about 12 minutes of the second half, Dragons halfback Billy Smith sliced through and found Johnny Raper who got to the Balmain 25-yard line before finding Kevin Ryan in support. It was a spectacular run from the evergreen forward who out-raced his pursuers and dived through the air to score and put the match beyond doubt.

Balmain had tried to slow down the Dragons with stifling tactics but this backfired and resulted in a lopsided penalty count. Classy Dragons Graeme Langlands capitalised on this, kicking seven goals from 13 attempts, including 10 penalty goal attempts.

Huddart was dominant for the clinical Saints who did not concede a try for a staggering seventh time in eight grand final victories. He had been niggled early in the game by the Balmain forwards and responded by running freely all match and crashing the Tigers with fiery tackles.

With the full-time siren St George had won their 11th successive Grand Final, setting a record that is unlikely to be ever broken in first grade rugby league. It was their most convincing Grand Final win since 1961.

It was the last game played for the club by Dragons enforcer Kevin Ryan after seven Grand Final wins and also the farewell match for Eddie Lumsden who had appeared in nine of the victories.

After the match Balmain coach Harry Bath said "I knew we were gone after 15 minutes. Lack of experience... was a big factor."

Scoreboard

Pollard Huddart Ryan Langlands (7/13) Barnes (2/2)

Other matches

South Sydney won the reserve grade Grand Final 12–5 against Balmain. Souths scored two converted tries and a penalty goal, while Balmain scored one converted try. It was Souths first reserve grade premiership in 10 years.

In the third grade Grand Final, St. George convincingly defeated South Sydney 12–4, scoring two tries in the first half.

Player statistics

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

Points	Player	Tries
Bob Lanigan	2	81
Bob Batty	5	76
Keith Barnes	0	60
Fred Griffiths	3	52
Graeme Langlands	6	46

Top 5 try scorers

Tries	Player	13	11	11	11	10	10
Ken Irvine
Johnny King
Alec Tennant
Michael Cleary
John Mowbray
Fred Pickup

Top 5 goal scorers

Goals	Player	81	76	60	52	48
Bob Lanigan
Bob Batty
Keith Barnes
Fred Griffiths
George Taylforth

Notes

References

Campton, Nick. (4 November 2015). "Who were the worst NRL teams of all time?". The Daily Telegraph.
Stuart Honeysett and Brent Read (23 April 2010) [http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/shocking-end-to-the-melbourne-storm-era/story-e6frg7mf-1225857195771 Shocking end to the Melbourne Storm era] ''[[The Australian]]''
(17 September 1966). "Youth v Experience in R.L. Grand Final". The Sydney Morning Herald.
"NSWRFL 1966 – Grand Final".
(2022). "The Great Grand Finals – Rugby League's Greatest Contests". New Holland.
(18 September 1966). ""Best Display of the Season"". The Sydney Morning Herald.
"Sydney Cricket Ground Magic Moments". Sydney Cricket & Sports Ground Trust.
(18 September 1966). "Saints still the master of League". The Sydney Morning Herald.
(18 September 1966). "Saints coast, win 23-4". The Sydney Morning Herald.
(1 October 2008). "Greats to get man-of-match awards". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney).
(2 October 2015). "NRL grand final: Betting tips, history and facts on the Clive Churchill Medal".
(18 September 1966). "Title regained after 10 years". The Sydney Morning Herald.
(18 September 1966). "Saints easily". The Sydney Morning Herald.

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