1960's New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 53rd season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. Ten teams from across the city competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup during the season, which culminated in a grand final between St. George and Eastern Suburbs.
Season summary With four teams finishing on equal second place at the end of the regular season, and no weight given to the "for" and "against" points differential, minor premiers St. George watched Western Suburbs, Eastern Suburbs, Balmain and Canterbury-Bankstown go through a four-match series of playoffs before the real finals commenced. In a double header at the Sydney Sports Ground, Easts and Wests won the right to play off for second and third spots, while Canterbury and Balmain's losses meant they would play off for the fourth and final place in the finals series.
Also in 1960, NSWRFL president Henry "Jersey" Flegg died and Bill Buckley took up the position.
This season the Western Suburbs Magpies won the NSWRFL Club Championship.
Teams Balmain 53rd seasonGround: Leichhardt Oval Coach: John O'TooleCaptain: Keith Barnes Canterbury-Bankstown 26th seasonGround: Belmore Sports Ground Coach: Eddie BurnsCaptain: Brian Davies Eastern Suburbs 53rd seasonGround: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Dick DunnCaptain: Jack GibsonManly-Warringah 14th seasonGround: Brookvale Oval Coach: Ken ArthursonCaptain: Ron Willey Newtown 53rd seasonGround: Henson Park Coach: Charles CahillCaptain: Bobby Whitton North Sydney 53rd seasonGround: North Sydney Oval Captain-coach: Greg HawickParramatta 14th seasonGround: Cumberland Oval Coach: Jack RaynerCaptain: Ron Boden South Sydney 53rd seasonGround: Redfern Oval Coach: Denis Donoghue Captain: Bernie Purcell St. George 40th seasonGround: Kogarah Oval Captain-coach: Ken KearneyWestern Suburbs 53rd seasonGround: Pratten Park Coach: Dudley Beger Captain: Dick Poole
Regular season
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 F1 F2 F3 F4 GF BalmainSOU+7NEW−3WES−12CBY+7PAR+13MAN+2NOR−20EAS−1STG+4SOU−6NEW+3WES+3CBY−10PAR+21MAN+1NOR+24EAS+3STG−4WES−18CBY−11 Canterbury-BankstownNOR+11WES−11EAS−8BAL−7STG−33PAR+11SOU+7MAN+3NEW−19NOR+10WES+10EAS+4BAL+10STG−36PAR−12SOU+14MAN+3NEW+7EAS−9BAL+11EAS−7 Eastern SuburbsMAN−1NOR−6CBY+8STG−7SOU+15NEW−5WES+9BAL+1PAR+12MAN+7NOR+1CBY−4STG+3SOU+4NEW+18WES−21BAL−3PAR+12CBY+9WES−11CBY+7WES+5STG−25 Manly-WarringahEAS+1STG+12SOU+1NEW+1WES+4BAL−2PAR+17CBY−3NOR+9EAS−7STG−4SOU+5NEW+3WES−23BAL−1PAR+7CBY−3NOR−3 NewtownWES−3BAL+3PAR+3MAN−1NOR+10EAS+5STG−5SOU−13CBY+19WES−9BAL−3PAR+9MAN−3NOR−4EAS−18STG−44SOU−1CBY−7 North SydneyCBY−11EAS+6STG−39SOU−6NEW−10WES−11BAL+20PAR+12MAN−9CBY−10EAS−1STG+14SOU+2NEW+4WES−2BAL−24PAR+22MAN+3 ParramattaSTG−52SOU−13NEW−3WES−14BAL−13CBY−11MAN−17NOR−12EAS−12STG−30SOU+8NEW−9WES−10BAL−21CBY+12MAN−7NOR−22EAS−12 South SydneyBAL−7PAR+13MAN−1NOR+6EAS−15STG−12CBY−7NEW+13WES+9BAL+6PAR−8MAN−5NOR−2EAS−4STG−3CBY−14NEW+1WES−15 St. GeorgePAR+52MAN−12NOR+39EAS+7CBY+33SOU+12NEW+5WES+33BAL−4PAR+30MAN+4NOR−14EAS−3CBY+36SOU+3NEW+44WES+11BAL+4XXWES+24XEAS+25 Western SuburbsNEW+3CBY+11BAL+12PAR+14MAN−4NOR+11EAS−9STG−33SOU−9NEW+9CBY−10BAL−3PAR+10MAN+23NOR+2EAS+21STG−11SOU+15BAL+18EAS+11STG−24EAS−5 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 F1 F2 F3 F4 GF
Bold – Home game X – Bye Opponent for round listed above margin
Ladder TeamPldWDLPFPAPDPts1 St. George181404456176+280282 Western Suburbs181107350298+52223 Eastern Suburbs181107264221+43224 Balmain181107286254+32225 Canterbury181107249285-36226 Manly181008231217+14207 North Sydney188010317357-40168 South Sydney186012211256-45129 Newtown186012251313-621210 Parramatta182016215453-2384
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.
Team1234567891011121314151617181 St. George 2 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 14 16 18 18 18 20 22 24 26 282 Western Suburbs 2 4 6 8 8 10 10 10 10 12 12 12 14 16 18 20 20 223 Eastern Suburbs 0 0 2 2 4 4 6 8 10 12 14 14 16 18 20 20 20 224 Balmain 2 2 2 4 6 8 8 8 10 10 12 14 14 16 18 20 22 225 Canterbury-Bankstown 2 2 2 2 2 4 6 8 8 10 12 14 16 16 16 18 20 226 Manly-Warringah 2 4 6 8 10 10 12 12 14 14 14 16 18 18 18 20 20 207 North Sydney 0 2 2 2 2 2 4 6 6 6 6 8 10 12 12 12 14 168 South Sydney 0 2 2 4 4 4 4 6 8 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 12 129 Newtown 0 2 4 4 6 8 8 8 10 10 10 12 12 12 12 12 12 1210 Parramatta 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 4
Finals HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeCrowd Playoffs Western Suburbs28–10 Balmain9 August 1960Sydney Sports Ground21,308 Eastern Suburbs20–11 Canterbury-Bankstown9 August 1960Sydney Sports Ground21,308 Western Suburbs18–7 Eastern Suburbs13 August 1960Sydney Cricket Ground21,855 Balmain7–18 Canterbury-Bankstown14 August 1960Sydney Sports Ground16,507 Semifinals St. George31–7 Western Suburbs20 August 1960Sydney Cricket GroundCol Pearce38,407 Eastern Suburbs16–9 Canterbury-Bankstown21 August 1960Sydney Sports GroundDarcy Lawler18,455 Preliminary Final Western Suburbs15–20 Eastern Suburbs27 August 1960Sydney Cricket GroundDarcy Lawler29,393 Grand Final St. George31–6 Eastern Suburbs3 September 1960Sydney Cricket GroundDarcy Lawler53,156
Grand Final St. GeorgePositionEastern Suburbs 13. Brian Graham FB 40. John Andrew 43. Johnny King WG 42. Boyce Beeton 21. John Stathers CE 9. Bill Roney 10. Reg Gasnier CE 17. Doug Ricketson 23. Dave Brown WG 10. Bob Landers 8. Brian Clay FE 8. Billy McNamara 7. Bob Bugden HB 7. Bruce Ranier Billy Wilson PR 15. Bob McDonagh 3. Ken Kearney (Ca./Co.) HK 2. Ken Ashcroft 14. Kevin Ryan PR 14. Jack Gibson (c) 4. Monty Porter SR 4. Brian Wright 5. Norm Provan SR 5. Bob Heffernan 6. Johnny Raper LK 6. Dick See Coach Dick Dunn St. George had lost to Eastern Suburbs late in the regular season and expected them to be a finals force. But due to the playoffs for the minor premiership placements the Roosters were playing their sixth match in four weeks, including an extra-time tussle in the minor semi against Canterbury.
For the first grand final in four the defending premiers left their strongarm tactics in the locker room and let their skilled backline excel. Five minutes into the game Bob Bugden toed a loose ball through and fell on it to open the scoring. At 23 minutes the second try was set up by Brian Clay who beat his opposite Billy McNamara and passed to Reg Gasnier who dazzled the opposition with a change of pace that left them flatfooted.
Prop Kevin Ryan may have been in his rookie St. George season but he had already represented for Australia at rugby union and for Queensland in boxing. He had fit into the tough St. George pack with ease and featured on Grand Final day in setting up firstly fellow newcomer Johnny King for a first half try, then Gasnier after the break for his second before being sent off at the 60 minute mark, along with Easts forward Brian Wright, for fighting.
Norm Provan and Dave Brown also scored in the second half and two minutes before the bell an interplay between Provan and Brian Graham resulted in King getting his second try. Only a few weeks earlier Johnny King had been the third grade fullback, having been declined a contract offer early in the season from South Sydney.
Although they were on the wrong side of a 17-6 penalty caning, St. George scored seven tries to nil, walloping Eastern Suburbs 31-6.
Ken Kearney became the oldest player to appear in a grand final (36 years 123 days) and also equalled Jack Rayner's record of five grand finals won as captain.
St. George 31 (Tries: Gasnier 2, King 2, Bugden, Brown, Provan. Goals: Graham 5.)
Eastern Suburbs 6 (Goals: Landers 3.)
Player statistics The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 18.
Top 5 point scorers PointsPlayerTriesGoalsField Goals173 Brian Graham3820156 Darcy Russell2750134 Bob Landers12490122 Kevin Considine6520118 Keith Barnes0590 Top 5 try scorers TriesPlayer21 Reg Gasnier16 Ken Irvine15 Bob Mara13 Peter Dimond12 Bob Landers12 Horrie Toole
Top 5 goal scorers GoalsPlayer82 Brian Graham75 Darcy Russell59 Keith Barnes53 Ron Willey52 Kevin Considine
References
External links Rugby League Tables - Season 1960 The World of Rugby League Writer, Larry (1995) Never Before, Never Again, Pan MacMillan, Sydney Results:1951-1960 at rabbitohs.com.au 1960 J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup at rleague.com NSWRFL season 1960 at rugbyleagueproject.com 1960 Final at Dragons History site