NSWRFL season 1940

1940 New South Wales Rugby Football League
Teams8
Premiers Eastern Suburbs (8th title)
Minor premiers Eastern Suburbs (9th title)
Matches played59
Points scored1738
Top points scorer(s) Tom Kirk (99)
Top try-scorer(s) Jack Lindwall (19)

The 1940 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the thirty-third season of Sydney’s top-level rugby league club competition, Australia’s first. Eight teams from across the city contested the premiership during the season, which lasted from April until August, culminating in Eastern Suburbs’ victory over Canterbury-Bankstown in the final.[1]

Season summary

For this season St. George returned to Hurstville Oval as their home ground.

Teams

Balmain

33rd season
Ground: Leichhardt Oval
Coach: Bill Kelly
Captain: Sid Goodwin

Canterbury-Bankstown

6th season
Ground: Belmore Oval
Coach: Alan Brady
Captain: Alan Brady→Jack Bonnyman

Eastern Suburbs

33rd season
Ground: Sydney Sports Ground
Coach: Dave Brown
Captain: Ray Stehr

Newtown

33rd season
Ground: Henson Park
Coach: Frank Burge
Captain: Percy Williams

North Sydney

33rd season
Ground: North Sydney Oval
Coach: Arthur Halloway
Captain: Roy Thompson

South Sydney

33rd season
Ground: Sydney Sports Ground
Coach: Charlie Lynch
Captain: Fred Felsch

St. George

20th season
Ground: Hurstville Oval
Captain-coach: Neville Smith

Western Suburbs

33rd season
Ground: Pratten Park
Captain-Coach: Max Gray

Ladder

The geographical locations of the teams that contested the 1940 premiership across Sydney.
Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1 Eastern Suburbs 14 9 1 4 250 136 +114 19
2 Newtown 14 9 0 5 261 200 +61 18
3 St. George 14 7 2 5 263 203 +60 16
4 Canterbury-Bankstown 14 8 0 6 204 195 +9 16
5 Balmain 14 7 1 6 199 162 +37 15
6 South Sydney 14 7 0 7 165 259 -94 14
7 North Sydney 14 4 0 10 156 243 -87 8
8 Western Suburbs 14 3 0 11 159 259 -100 6

Finals

In the two semi finals, minor premiers Eastern Suburbs defeated St. George whilst fourth-placed Canterbury-Bankstown beat second-placed Newtown. Eastern Suburbs then beat Canterbury-Bankstown in the final to collect their eighth premiership.

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Crowd
Semifinals
Eastern Suburbs 10–3 St. George 17 August 1940 Sydney Cricket Ground Jack O'Brien 17,473
Newtown 11–19 Canterbury-Bankstown 24 August 1940 Sydney Cricket Ground Jack O'Brien 22,061
Final
Eastern Suburbs 24–14 Canterbury-Bankstown 31 August 1940 Sydney Cricket Ground Jack O'Brien 24,167

Premiership final

Eastern Suburbs Position Canterbury-Bankstown
13. Doug Bartlett FB 13. Lindsay Johnson
12. Rod O'Loan WG 17. Edgar Newham
37. Stan Callaghan CE 9. Merv Denton
10. Dick Dunn CE 23. Bob Russell
22. Bill Brew WG 11. Jack Bonnyman (c)
8. Fred May FE 8. Ted Anderson
25. Sel Lisle HB 7. Roy McCarter
  1. Ray Stehr (c)
 PR 14. Jim Gibbs
2. Noel Hollingdale HK 2.Roy Kirkaldy
18. John Clarke PR 6. Jack Reilly
4. Harry Pierce SR 5. Bob Allison
5. Sid Pearce SR 15. Bob Farrar
6. Andrew Norval LK 31. Gordon Clunas
Dave Brown Coach Alan Brady

Led by their standard-setting captain-coach Dave Brown, the Tricolours continued their strong season performance with a semi-final victory over St George to gain a final berth.

Although Brown was ruled out on the morning of the decider with a leg injury, replacement Bill Brew slotted into the side and scored a try after backing up second rower Sid “Joe” Pearce who also scored the next try. The young Easts team, who averaged twenty years of age, overcame Canterbury by six tries to two.

Eastern Suburbs 24 (Tries: Pierce 2, O'Loan, Brew, Pearce, Clarke. Goals: Dunn 2 )

defeated

Canterbury-Bankstown 14 (Tries: Bonnyman, Denton. Goals: Johnson 4)

References

  1. ^ Premiership Roll of Honour Archived 2007-04-28 at the Wayback Machine at rl1908.com

External links