The 1982 NSWRFL season was the 75th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and saw the New South Wales Rugby Football League’s first expansion since 1967 with the introduction of the first two clubs from outside the Sydney area in over half a century: the Canberra Raiders and the Illawarra Steelers. Thus a total of 14 clubs (including 6 Sydney-based foundation teams, another 6 from Sydney, one from greater New South Wales, and one from the Australian Capital Territory) competed for the J.J. Giltinan Shield and newly-created Winfield Cup during the season, which culminated in a grand final between the Parramatta and Manly-Warringah clubs. This season, NSWRFL teams also competed for the 1982 KB Cup which was won by Manly-Warringah.
Season summary The first Charity Shield match was played before the 1982 season between St. George and South Sydney.
This year a bronze replica of “the Gladiators” – the 1963 photo taken by John O'Gready of Norm Provan and Arthur Summons’ post-game, mud-caked embrace – was first adopted to adorn the Winfield Cup, the new trophy to be awarded to the grand final winners. Because of the introduction of two new teams, twenty-six (rather than twenty-two) regular season rounds were played from February till August, resulting in a top five of Parramatta, Manly, Norths, Easts and Wests. The new teams, the Illawarra Steelers and the Canberra Raiders, would finish their debut seasons in second last and last place respectively.
The 1982 season saw the only nil-all scoreline in competition history. Newtown and Canterbury-Bankstown drew their match at Henson Park on 28 March, with neither team scoring a point. The long-standing record for the longest suspension for a player in the League's history was broken during the season. Western Suburbs' Bob Cooper was suspended for 15 months for punching Illawarra’s Lee Pomfret.
The 1982 season's Rothmans Medallist was Canterbury-Bankstown’s Greg Brentnall and the Dally M Award went to Parramatta’s lock forward, Ray Price. Rugby League Week gave their player of the year award to Eastern Suburbs’ halfback Kevin Hastings for the third consecutive season.
Teams This year the number of clubs in the League reached a new high of fourteen, with the addition of two expansion clubs, the Illawarra Steelers and the Canberra Raiders. This saw the first inclusion of teams based outside of the Sydney area since the foundation Newcastle club departed the League in 1909. This was the first of several expansions that would take place over the next decade and a half which would see the Sydney-wide competition grow into a New South Wales-wide competition and eventually into a national league. Also, for the first time in three quarters of a century, the League's 1908 foundation teams were outnumbered by teams introduced since the inaugural season. Balmain 75th seasonGround: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Frank StantonCaptain: Neil Whittaker→Trevor RyanCanberra 1st seasonGround: Seiffert Oval Coach: Don FurnerCaptain: David GrantCanterbury-Bankstown 48th seasonGround: Belmore Sports Ground Coach: Ted GlossopCaptain: George PeponisCronulla-Sutherland 16th seasonGround: Endeavour Field Coach: Greg PierceCaptain: Steve RogersEastern Suburbs 75th seasonGround: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Bob FultonCaptain: Royce AyliffeIllawarra 1st seasonGround: Wollongong Showground Coach: Allan FitzgibbonCaptain: John DorahyManly-Warringah 36th seasonGround: Brookvale Oval Coach: Ray RitchieCaptain: Max KrilichNewtown 75th seasonGround: Henson Park Coach: Warren RyanCaptain: Tom Raudonikis & Ken WilsonNorth Sydney 75th seasonGround: North Sydney Oval Coach: Ron WilleyCaptain: Mark GrahamParramatta 36th seasonGround: Belmore Sports Ground Coach: Jack GibsonCaptain: Steve EdgePenrith 16th seasonGround: Penrith Stadium Coach: John PeardCaptain: Darryl BrohmanSouth Sydney 75th seasonGround: Redfern Oval Coach: Bill AndersonCaptain: Mitch BrennanSt. George 62nd seasonGround: Jubilee Oval Coach: Roy MastersCaptain: Craig YoungWestern Suburbs 75th seasonGround: Lidcombe Oval Coach: Terry FearnleyCaptain: Warren Boland
Ladder TeamPldWDLPFPAPDPts1 Parramatta262105619242+377422 Manly261709530411+119343 North Sydney261619399360+39334 Eastern Suburbs261529437304+133325 Western Suburbs2616010412349+63326 South Sydney2614111395400-5297 Newtown2613211406309+97288 Cronulla2613112400336+64279 Canterbury2612311399361+382710 St. George2611213408402+62411 Balmain2610115383427-442112 Penrith267118375441-661513 Illawarra266020344572-2281214 Canberra264022269862-5938
Finals HomeScoreAwayMatch informationDate and timeVenueRefereeCrowd Qualifying Finals Eastern Suburbs11–7 Western Suburbs4 September 1982Sydney Cricket GroundJack Danzey21,167 Manly-Warringah26–3 North Sydney5 September 1982Sydney Cricket GroundJohn Gocher24,690 Semi-finals North Sydney10–12 Eastern Suburbs11 September 1982Sydney Cricket GroundJack Danzey19,566 Parramatta0–20 Manly-Warringah12 September 1982Sydney Cricket GroundJohn Gocher31,604 Preliminary final Parramatta33–0 Eastern Suburbs19 September 1982Sydney Cricket GroundJohn Gocher24,637 Grand final Manly-Warringah8–21 Parramatta26 September 1982Sydney Cricket GroundJohn Gocher52,186 Chart
Grand final Manly-WarringahPositionParramatta Graham Eadie FB Paul Taylor 2. John Ribot WG 2. Neil Hunt 3. Chris Close CE 3. Mick Cronin 4. Michael Blake CE 4. Steve Ella 5. Phil Carey WG 5. Eric Grothe 6. Alan Thompson (c) FE 6. Brett Kenny 7. Phil Blake HB 7. Peter Sterling 13. Geoff Gerard PR 13. Geoff Bugden 12. Ray Brown HK 12. Steve Edge (c) 11. Terry Randall PR 11. Chris Phelan 10. Paul Vautin SR 10. Steve Sharp 14. Les Boyd SR 9. John Muggleton 8. Paul McCabe LK 8. Ray Price 9. Bruce Walker Reserve 14. Peter Wynn 15. Max Krillich Reserve 17. Gary Martine 18. Ian Thomson Reserve 19. Mark Laurie Reserve 19. Steve Halliwell Ray Ritchie Coach Jack Gibson The Eels won the minor premiership with ease – eight points ahead of Manly – and breezed through the decider with the same confidence. Manly opened the scoring through Phil Blake in the opening minutes, but Parramatta replied quickly when Brett Kenny put Steve Ella over. After a quiet period, Manly collapsed in the ten minutes before half-time with Parramatta scoring three tries. The first to Eric Grothe came when Brett Kenny had shown brilliant evasive skills on the second tackle after Manly dropped the ball, the second came when a Peter Sterling bomb deflected off a Parramatta player into Kenny's arms, and the third after quick hands saw Kenny send Neil Hunt over in the corner. The Eels led 16–3 at half-time and, despite Les Boyd scoring after playing the ball forward in the 48th minute, Brett Kenny's second try in the 62nd minute sealed victory.
Parramatta 21 (Tries: Kenny 2, Ella, Grothe, Hunt. Goals: Cronin 3/5.)
Manly 8 (Tries: P Blake, Boyd. Goal: Eadie 1/2.)
Player statistics The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 26.
Top 5 point scorers PointsPlayerTriesGoalsField Goals255 Mick Cronin91140187 Steve Rogers9792186 Tony Melrose8794161 Ron Giteau4741159 John Dorahy6701 Top 5 try scorers TriesPlayer21 Steve Ella18 John Ribot17 Steve Broughton17 Steve Morris15 John Ferguson
Top 5 goal scorers GoalsPlayer114 Mick Cronin79 Tony Melrose79 Steve Rogers74 Ron Giteau71 Michael Eden
References
External links Rugby League Tables – Season 1982 The World of Rugby League Results:1981-90 at rabbitohs.com.au 1982 J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup at rleague.com.au NSRFL season 1982 at rugbyleagueproject.org