1985 NSWRL season

Season summary

The regular season commenced in March with reigning premiers Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs winning 18–4 against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. Bulldogs forward Paul Langmack scored the first try of the season. Parramatta played their round 2 match against the Canberra at Orana Park following the opening of a new 1.25m grandstand. It was the first match played at the venue since 1983. Parramatta hosted their remaining matches at Belmore Sports Ground with the new Parramatta Stadium to open in time for the 1986 season.

St. George would be undefeated through the opening eight rounds of the season, before losing to Balmain 24–19 at Kogarah Oval, the Tigers had been behind 13–0 after only 17 minutes of the match.

In the second half of the season, the NSWRL experimented by fixturing 11 matches played at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Monday nights, with matches broadcast live by Network 10. The experiment was hailed as a success with average attendance over 10,000 fans and an average television audience of 750,000.

Following the final round of the season, Penrith and Manly Warringah Sea Eagles finished level on 31 competition points to force a Tuesday night playoff for fifth place. The scores were tied at 6-all after 80 minutes forcing extra time. Manly led 7–6 early in the first half of extra time, but two goals by Penrith halfback Greg Alexander gave the Panthers a 10–7 victory.

Penrith joined minor premiers St. George in the finals with Balmain, Canterbury and Parramatta the other finalists.

Awards

• Rothmans Medal — Wayne Pearce (Balmain Tigers)
• Dally M Medal — Greg Alexander (Penrith Panthers)
• Rugby League Week Player of the Year — Ray Price (Parramatta Eels)

Teams

The lineup of clubs remained unchanged from the previous year, with 13 clubs contesting the 1985 premiership, including five Sydney-based foundation teams, another six from Sydney, one from greater New South Wales and one from the Australian Capital Territory.

Regular season

Bold – Home game

X – Bye

• – Extra time game

Opponent for round listed above margin

Ladder

Ladder progression

• Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 5.
• 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.

Finals

Chart

| team-width=150

| RD1-seed1=2 | RD1-team1= Balmain | RD1-score1=8 | RD1-seed2=3 | RD1-team2= Canterbury | RD1-score2=14

| RD1-seed3=4 | RD1-team3= Parramatta | RD1-score3=38 | RD1-seed4=5 | RD1-team4= Penrith | RD1-score4=6

| RD2-seed1=1 | RD2-team1= St. George | RD2-score1=17 | RD2-seed2= | RD2-team2= Canterbury | RD2-score2=6

| RD2-seed3= | RD2-team3= Balmain | RD2-score3=4 | RD2-seed4= | RD2-team4= Parramatta | RD2-score4=32

| RD3-seed1= | RD3-team1= Canterbury | RD3-score1=26 | RD3-seed2= | RD3-team2= Parramatta | RD3-score2=0

| RD4-seed1= | RD4-team1= St. George | RD4-score1=6 | RD4-seed2= | RD4-team2= Canterbury | RD4-score2=7

Grand Final

St George Dragons Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs Debbie Spillane (sideline) (ABC) Graeme Hughes (sideline) (Network 10)

Teams

Aiming for back-to-back premierships, Canterbury-Bankstown's team featured 12 players who had played in the 1984 Grand Final, including replacements Mark Bugden and Greg Mullane. Michael Hagan replaced an injured Terry Lamb at five-eighth. The three Mortimer brothers and Steve Folkes also played in the 1979, 1980, 1984 and 1985 matches. St. George captain Craig Young, Steve Morris and Graeme Wynn had all played in the Dragons' 1979 premiership victory.

Match details

The two teams had played twice during the regular season, playing out a 10-all draw at the Belmore Sports Ground in April, with St. George taking the return match 16–6 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in June. The teams met again in the major semi final, with the Dragons taking a 17–6 win to progress through the Grand Final. Canterbury then thrashed Parramatta 26–0 in the preliminary final to earn another grand final berth.

The match was played in sunny, albeit breezy conditions at the Sydney Cricket Ground before a crowd of 44,569.

St. George and goalkicker Michael O'Connor was injured in the first few minutes of the match and was in the hands of medical staff for a number of minutes before returning to his position. Canterbury's Steve Folkes was also struggling with a rib injury following the early exchanges. The Dragons had a few half-chances in the first ten minutes, but were unable to capitalise on the opportunities to score, while Canterbury centre Andrew Farrar was seen heading to the sidelines for treatment.

As the first half progressed with each team cancelling the other out, it would be Canterbury's tactical kicking game that continually put St. George fullback Glenn Burgess under the test of the high-ball in his in-goal area, which under the rules of the time, resulted in a line drop-out with the Bulldogs regaining possession.

Midway through the half, a penalty was awarded to Canterbury against St. George captain Craig Young for punching Farrar in a tackle. Opting to take a shot at opening the scoring, Farrar's kick from 39 metres from the posts on a slight angle missed.

The turning point of the first half came in the 27th minute of the match. After felling St George's Graeme Wynn as a scrum broke up, Canterbury forward Peter Kelly was surprising awarded a penalty by referee Kevin Roberts for a different infraction by the Dragons. Gifted field position, Canterbury went on the attack and shortly thereafter Kelly used the blindside to send winger Peter Mortimer over out wide on the Bulldogs right flank to open the scoring with a try. Farrar slotted the conversion attempt for a 6–0 lead, which held to half time after O'Connor missed a penalty goal attempt four minutes from the break.

After a quiet first half, Bulldogs and skipper Steve Mortimer seized control of the match in the second half, as coach Warren Ryan sent on David Gillespie and Mark Bugden to replace Peter Tunks and Billy Johnstone. Winger Matthew Callinan won a contest against Burgess for a high-ball close to the Dragons line and crossed the tryline, only for referee Roberts to deny the try when he ruled Callinan was offside.

In the 57th minute Steve Morris produced a twisting run that beat three defenders only to lose the ball in a tackle just short of the Bulldogs line. The Dragons had another great opportunity to level the scores with just over 10 minutes remaining when Bulldogs fullback Michael Potter was forced into touch close to his own line. The pressure was relieved though when a kick from O'Connor bounced harmlessly into touch in goal.

From there Canterbury went forward set up for a field goal to clinch the match, which Farrar (despite missing an attempt earlier in the second half) had no trouble in kicking in the 72nd minute to take the score to 7–0. A last light of hope appeared for the Dragons when Morris found some space out wide to kick ahead for himself in a bit of individual brilliance to score, with O'Connor adding the two points to cut the lead to a single point with five minutes remaining. In the end though, a well-drilled and clinical approach from Canterbury shut out the Dragons with their defensive pressure. The Bulldogs able to smother the Dragons attack in the umbrella defensive structure.

Described as a "dour match which featured heavy defence," Canterbury coach Ryan said that his team maintained "cruel, ruthless control" over the contest. Although Ryan had led the Bulldogs to consecutive premierships, there was ongoing speculation that he would not be at the club the following season due to a rift with club management. Dragons coach Roy Masters, also embroiled in a bitter feud with Ryan, conceded that "the bottom line is they were too good. Their kicking game was excellent and they certainly had a lot of possession. When we did get the ball, we were too weary from so much tackling to be able to make any impression."

Scoreboard

Morris O'Connor (1/2) Linnane (0/1) P Mortimer Farrar (1/2) Farrar (1/2) S Mortimer (0/1)

Other matches

St. George had teams in each of the three grand finals, winning the Under-23s decider 24–20 against Parramatta, and the reserve grade grand final 22–16 against the Canberra Raiders. The reserve grade premiership was won in the final seconds when Dragons fullback Alan Neil scored a try to break a 16-all deadlock.

Hooker Chris Guider became the first and only player to play in all three grand finals on the same day, starting in the Under-23s match before being used as a replacement in the reserve grade and first grade matches.

Player statistics

The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 26. Top 5 point scorers

Top 5 try scorers

Top 5 goal scorers

References

References

1. (29 September 1985). "What a year". Mordey Enterprises Pty Ltd.
2. (29 September 1985). "Alexander's Big Night". Mordey Enterprises Pty Ltd.
3. "History". [[North Sydney Bears]].
4. (30 September 1985). "Big hits from the Rexicon are missing". The Sydney Morning Herald.
5. "NSWRFL 1985 – Grand Final".
6. (2022). "The Great Grand Finals – Rugby League's Greatest Contests". New Holland.
7. D'Souza, Miguel. "Grand Final History". [[Australian Associated Press.
8. (30 September 1985). "Grafting Canterbury squashes St George". Canberra Times.
9. (30 September 1985). "Defence turned out the best form of attack". The Sydney Morning Herald.
10. (30 September 1985). "Victory... but all is not well in Canterbury camp". The Sydney Morning Herald.
11. (30 September 1985). "The bitter-sweet Bulldogs". The Sydney Morning Herald.
12. (30 September 1985). "'They were too good,' says Masters". The Sydney Morning Herald.
13. (1 October 2008). "Greats to get man-of-match awards". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney).
14. (2 October 2015). "NRL grand final: Betting tips, history and facts on the Clive Churchill Medal".
15. (30 September 1985). "Neil does it with 10 seconds left". The Sydney Morning Herald.
16. (30 September 1985). "Raiders' reserves lose on the siren". Canberra Times.
17. (20 December 2008). "Scientology's little big man keen to 'assist' Dragons". Fairfax Media.
18. (16 July 2019). "The NRL statistics you haven't heard of before".
19. (30 September 2012). "Grand final Sin Bin: Will ARLC keep faith with pre-match shows?".