1943 NSWRFL season


The 1943 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the thirty-sixth season of Sydney’s top-level rugby league competition, Australia's first. Eight teams from across the city contested during the season which lasted from April until September, culminating in the Newtown club’s Grand Final victory over North Sydney.

Season summary

The season is notable for Newtown turning around their second-last placing from the previous season, becoming minor premiers and later premiers. On the other hand, defending premiers Canterbury-Bankstown had a disastrous season, finishing last and picking up the wooden spoon for the first of only four occasions to date. Eastern Suburbs also slumped from the four to their lowest placing and poorest record since 1929, and were not to recover their former prominence until the late 1960s.

Teams

Balmain
36th season
Ground: Leichhardt Oval
Coach: Bill Kelly
Captain: Merv Denton
Canterbury-Bankstown
9th season
Ground: Belmore Oval
Captain-coach: Roy Kirkaldy
Eastern Suburbs
36th season
Ground: Sports Ground
Coach: Dave Brown
Captain: Harry Pierce
Newtown
36th season
Ground: Henson Park
Coach: Arthur Folwell
Captain: Frank Farrell
North Sydney
36th season
Ground: North Sydney Oval
Captain-coach: Frank Hyde
South Sydney
36th season
Ground: Sports Ground
Coach: Jim Tait
St. George
23rd season
Ground: Hurstville Oval
Captain-coach: Neville Smith
Western Suburbs
36th season
Groung: Pratten Park
Coach: Alf Blair
Captain: Jack Whitehurst, Eric Bennett

Ladder

TeamPldWDLPFPAPDPts
1 Newtown141013272143+12921
2 Balmain141013178131+4721
3 North Sydney14734193124+6917
4 St. George14815185188−317
5 South Sydney14806161147+1416
6 Eastern Suburbs144010131214−838
7 Western Suburbs143011132176−446
8 Canterbury-Bankstown143011115244−1296

Finals

For the second year running, the minor premiership was decided by a playoff and again Balmain failed to win this important match, this time against Newtown. The following week both of these teams lost their matches to lower-ranked teams, and as a result, the victors North Sydney and St. George faced off to decide who would meet the minor premiers in the Final. North Sydney won this match which allowed them to face the side they had beaten two weeks earlier again; this time in the final. Here, Newtown won the match and claimed their third and final premiership.

Premiership final

The Final was played at the SCG before a record crowd of 60,922, though there were thousands more on roofs and vantage points outside the ground. Because of the War all service people got in, if they were in uniform, for free. Norths were missing two stars on active service who had contributed to their season’s performance – lock Harry Taylor and full-back Neville Butler who was killed in an Air Force action not long before the Final.
Police closed the gates two hours before kick-off leaving ten thousand fans locked out. Latecomers offered up to £10 for seats in the stand. The match provided a great betting orgy with bets of £100 common and more than £25,000 laid before the match began.
Captained by the colourful Frank "Bumper" Farrell, Newtown took on the fancied North Sydney side. The men from across the harbour were led by Frank Hyde and his Norths' side had shown no sympathy for his former club, having beaten Newtown three times already that season. Newtown countered the short-kicking tactics of the Bears into an advantage of their own, gaining a strong lead at half-time and going on to win 34–7. The 27-point margin was a grand final record. Stars of the day for Newtown were forward Charles Cahill along with backs Len Smith and Tom Kirk. It was the third premiership win for Newtown, and would turn out to be their last.
Newtown 34
defeated
North Sydney 7