1956's New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 49th season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. Ten teams from across the city competed for the J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season, which culminated in a Grand Final between St. George and Balmain.
Season summary
Teams Balmain 49th seasonGround: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Norman RobinsonCaptain: Brian StauntonCanterbury-Bankstown 22nd seasonGround: Belmore Oval Coach: Vic HeyCaptain: Col GeelanEastern Suburbs 49th seasonGround: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Frank O'Connor Captain: Kevin Hansen Manly-Warringah 10th seasonGround: Brookvale Oval Coach: Pat DeveryCaptain: George Hunter Newtown 49th seasonGround: Henson Park Captain-Coach: Dick Poole North Sydney 49th seasonGround: North Sydney Oval Coach: Bruce RyanCaptain: Trevor AllanParramatta 10th seasonGround: Cumberland Oval Coach: Cec FifieldCaptain: Graham Laird South Sydney 49th seasonGround: Redfern Oval Coach: Jack Rayner Captain: Les Cowie St. George 36th seasonGround: Kogarah Oval Coach: Norm TippingCaptain: Ken KearneyWestern Suburbs 49th seasonGround: Pratten Park Coach: Jack Walsh Captain: Keith Holman
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 BalmainPAR+4CBY+27NOR+23NEW+4EAS+13WES+3SOU−35STG+11MAN+6PAR+4CBY+6NOR−1NEW−5EAS+9WES−14SOU+2STG−14MAN+9XXSTG−5SOU+3STG−6 Canterbury-BankstownWES−19BAL−27STG−26MAN+3PAR−1SOU−5NOR+1NEW−2EAS−17WES−14BAL−6STG−19MAN−3PAR+18SOU+1NOR+1NEW−10EAS+8 Eastern SuburbsNOR−5NEW−26SOU−24WES+2BAL−13STG−36MAN−15PAR+7CBY+17NOR+8NEW−8SOU−6WES−19BAL−9STG−9MAN0PAR+1CBY−8 Manly-WarringahSTG−3SOU−5PAR+22CBY−3NOR+33NEW−25EAS+15WES+10BAL−6STG0SOU−4PAR+23CBY+3NOR0NEW+8EAS0WES−5BAL−9 NewtownSOU−5EAS+26WES+9BAL−4STG+10MAN+25PAR+28CBY+2NOR+22SOU+13EAS+8WES−8BAL+5STG−24MAN−8PAR−4CBY+10NOR−1WES−5 North SydneyEAS+5WES−1BAL−23STG−4MAN−33PAR−4CBY−1SOU−8NEW−22EAS−8WES+10BAL+1STG−12MAN0PAR+7CBY−1SOU−13NEW+1 ParramattaBAL−4STG−20MAN−22SOU+3CBY+1NOR+4NEW−28EAS−7WES−23BAL−4STG−11MAN−23SOU0CBY−18NOR−7NEW+4EAS−1WES−1 South SydneyNEW+5MAN+5EAS+24PAR−3WES+3CBY+5BAL+35NOR+8STG+22NEW−13MAN+4EAS+6PAR0WES−9CBY−1BAL−2NOR+13STG−3XWES+38XBAL−3 St. GeorgeMAN+3PAR+20CBY+26NOR+4NEW−10EAS+36WES+27BAL−11SOU−22MAN0PAR+11CBY+19NOR+12NEW+24EAS+9WES−6BAL+14SOU+3XXBAL+5XBAL+6 Western SuburbsCBY+19NOR+1NEW−9EAS−2SOU−3BAL−3STG−27MAN−10PAR+23CBY+14NOR−10NEW+8EAS+19SOU+9BAL+14STG+6MAN+5PAR+1NEW+5SOU−38 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. George181314398239+159272 Balmain181305293241+52263 South Sydney181116364265+99234 Newtown181107333229+104225 Western Suburbs181107276221+55226 Manly18738323269+54177 Canterbury186012235352-117128 North Sydney185112218324-106119 Eastern Suburbs185112211354-1431110 Parramatta184113224381-1579
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 4 6 8 8 10 12 12 12 13 15 17 19 21 23 23 25 272 Balmain 2 4 6 8 10 12 12 14 16 18 20 20 20 22 22 24 24 263 South Sydney 2 4 6 6 8 10 12 14 16 16 18 20 21 21 21 21 23 234 Newtown 0 2 4 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 18 20 20 20 20 22 225 Western Suburbs 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 6 8 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 226 Manly-Warringah 0 0 2 2 4 4 6 8 8 9 9 11 13 14 16 17 17 177 Canterbury-Bankstown 0 0 0 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 6 8 10 10 128 North Sydney 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 6 6 7 9 9 9 119 Eastern Suburbs 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 4 6 8 8 8 8 8 8 9 11 1110 Parramatta 0 0 0 2 4 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 9 9 9
Finals HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeCrowd Playoff Newtown5–10 Western Suburbs14 August 1956Redfern Oval20,920 Semifinals South Sydney45–7 Western Suburbs18 August 1956Sydney Cricket GroundCol Pearce51,775 St. George30–25 Balmain25 August 1956Sydney Cricket GroundCol Pearce37,339 Preliminary Final Balmain36–33 South Sydney1 September 1956Sydney Cricket GroundDarcy Lawler42,350 Grand Final St. George18–12 Balmain8 September 1956Sydney Cricket GroundDarcy Lawler61,987
Grand Final St GeorgePositionBalmain Doug Fleming FB Keith Barnes 2. Ross Kite WG 2. Arthur Lorimer 3. Merv Lees CE 3. Geoff Hawkey 4. Kevin O'Brien CE 4. Kevin Mosman 5. Tommy Ryan WG 5. Terry McGovern 6. Peter Carroll FE 6. Bill Harris 7. Bob Bugden HB 7. Brian Staunton (c) 13. Kevin Brown PR 13. Jack Moon 12. Ken Kearney (c) HK 12. Neville Watt 11. Bryan Orrock PR 11. Robert Heaney 26.Harry Melville SR 10. Ron "Jake" Moses 9. Norm Provan SR 9. Ron Potter 10. Billy Wilson LK 8. Gus Gray Norm Tipping Coach Norman Robinson Up and coming Balmain fullback Keith Barnes came into the game with confidence, having booted 17 goals in his previous two games. In the most recent of those contests, the preliminary final against South Sydney, Tigers half-back, playmaker and captain Brian Staunton had been flattened by a Clive Churchill stiffarm tackle and as a consequence was still out-of-sorts on grand final day.
St George centre Merv Lees cracked his collar bone in a tackle in the 13th minute and hardman prop Billy Wilson moved out from the pack to play in the centres in spite of being constrained himself with a knee ligament injury. Wilson tormented Hawkey and Mosman in both attack and defence and set up both his own wingers for a number of long dashes. He was later selected by his teammates as Man of the Match with Kevin Brown, Bob Bugden and Norm Provan also starring in the game.
The sides were evenly matched for the first 38 minutes before a backline move from a scrum saw Dragons winger Tommy Ryan draw Barnes and pass to prop Kevin Brown who had freed himself from the scrum to be present in support.
Tries to Bugden and Kevin O'Brien came quickly after the break with Harry Melville's final try for the Dragons 18 minutes into the second half putting the game out of the Tigers' reach. Staunton responded with his second try for Balmain late in the game.
Norm Tipping had coached the Dragons to an excellent season result of 15 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw but would be ousted regardless from the coaching job shortly after the grand final. He was the loser in a power struggle with Dragons on-field leader Ken Kearney who that year had captained Australia to a three Test whitewash of New Zealand, had captained New South Wales to state victory over Queensland, won the Sunday Telegraph's Player of the Year award and ultimately captained the Saints to a premiership. Kearney had lost the coaching role to Tipping at the end of the 1955 season. At the end of 1956 the St George committee chose to back Kearney's fine football brain and his advanced English-learned strategies on attack, defense and conditioning in choosing him as their captain-coach to go forward. In the process they laid the foundation for the Dragons' record-breaking premiership stranglehold.
St George 18 (Tries: O'Brien, Bugden, Brown, Melville. Goals: Fleming 3.)
Balmain 12 (Tries: Staunton 2. Goals: Barnes 3.)
Player statistics The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 18.
Top 5 point scorers PointsPlayerTriesGoalsField Goals171 Doug Fleming3801158 Ron Willey2760140 Keith Barnes0700122 John Kell0610120 Alan Arkey0591 Top 5 try scorers TriesPlayer16 Tommy Ryan14 Kevin O'Brien14 Kevin Considine14 Ray Ritchie13 Ray Preston
Top 5 goal scorers GoalsPlayer80 Doug Fleming76 Ron Willey70 Keith Barnes61 John Kell59 Alan Arkey
References
External links Rugby League Tables - Season 1956 The World of Rugby League Writer, Larry (1995) Never Before, Never Again, Pan MacMillan, Sydney Results: 1951-60 at rabbitohs.com.au 1956 J J Giltinan Shield at rleague.com NSWRFL season 1956 at rugbyleagueproject.org 1956 Final at Dragons History site