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1960 NSWRFL season

Rugby league competition

Field	Value
year	1960
competition	New South Wales Rugby Football League
imagesize	125px
teams	10
premiers	[[Image:St. George colours.svg	16x16px]] St. George
count	7th
minor premiers	[[Image:St. George colours.svg	16x16px]] St. George
mpcount	7th
matches	98
points	3084
attendance	1032655
top point scorer	[[Image:St. George colours.svg	16x16px]] Brian Graham (193)
top try scorer	[[Image:St. George colours.svg	16x16px]] Reg Gasnier (25)
wooden_spoon	Parramatta
wooden_spoon_count	8th
prevseason_link	1959 NSWRFL season
prevseason_year	1959
nextseason_link	1961 NSWRFL season
nextseason_year	1961

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

North Sydney[[Image:North Sydney Jersey 1960.png	100px	center]]	Parramatta[[Image:Parramatta Jersey 1953.png	100px	center]]	South Sydney[[Image:South Sydney Jersey 1959.png	100px	center]]	St. George[[Image:St George Jersey 1959.png	100px	center]]	Western Suburbs

Regular season

Team	1	2	3
Balmain	SOU
+7	**NEW
−3**	WES
−12	CBY
+7	**PAR
+13**	**MAN
+2**	NOR
−20	**EAS
−1**	**STG
+4**	**SOU
−6**	NEW
+3	**WES
+3**	**CBY
−10**	PAR
+21	MAN
+1	**NOR
+24**	EAS
+3	**STG
−4**	WES
−18	**CBY
−11**
Canterbury-Bankstown	**NOR
+11**	WES
−11	**EAS
−8**	**BAL
−7**	STG
−33	**PAR
+11**	**SOU
+7**	MAN
+3	NEW
−19	NOR
+10	**WES
+10**	EAS
+4	BAL
+10	STG
−36	PAR
−12	SOU
+14	**MAN
+3**	**NEW
+7**	EAS
−9	BAL
+11	EAS
−7
Eastern Suburbs	**MAN
−1**	NOR
−6	CBY
+8	**STG
−7**	**SOU
+15**	NEW
−5	**WES
+9**	BAL
+1	PAR
+12	**MAN
+7**	**NOR
+1**	**CBY
−4**	**STG
+3**	SOU
+4	**NEW
+18**	WES
−21	**BAL
−3**	**PAR
+12**	**CBY
+9**	WES
−11	**CBY
+7**	WES
+5	STG
−25
Manly-Warringah	EAS
+1	STG
+12	SOU
+1	NEW
+1	WES
+4	BAL
−2	PAR
+17	**CBY
−3**	**NOR
+9**	EAS
−7	STG
−4	**SOU
+5**	NEW
+3	WES
−23	**BAL
−1**	**PAR
+7**	CBY
−3	NOR
−3
Newtown	**WES
−3**	BAL
+3	PAR
+3	**MAN
−1**	NOR
+10	**EAS
+5**	**STG
−5**	SOU
−13	**CBY
+19**	WES
−9	**BAL
−3**	**PAR
+9**	**MAN
−3**	**NOR
−4**	EAS
−18	STG
−44	**SOU
−1**	CBY
−7
North Sydney	CBY
−11	**EAS
+6**	STG
−39	SOU
−6	**NEW
−10**	WES
−11	**BAL
+20**	**PAR
+12**	MAN
−9	**CBY
−10**	EAS
−1	**STG
+14**	**SOU
+2**	NEW
+4	**WES
−2**	BAL
−24	PAR
+22	**MAN
+3**
Parramatta	STG
−52	SOU
−13	**NEW
−3**	WES
−14	BAL
−13	CBY
−11	**MAN
−17**	NOR
−12	**EAS
−12**	STG
−30	**SOU
+8**	NEW
−9	**WES
−10**	**BAL
−21**	**CBY
+12**	MAN
−7	**NOR
−22**	EAS
−12
South Sydney	**BAL
−7**	**PAR
+13**	**MAN
−1**	**NOR
+6**	EAS
−15	**STG
−12**	CBY
−7	**NEW
+13**	**WES
+9**	BAL
+6	PAR
−8	MAN
−5	NOR
−2	**EAS
−4**	STG
−3	**CBY
−14**	NEW
+1	WES
−15
St. George	**PAR
+52**	**MAN
−12**	**NOR
+39**	EAS
+7	**CBY
+33**	SOU
+12	NEW
+5	**WES
+33**	BAL
−4	**PAR
+30**	**MAN
+4**	NOR
−14	EAS
−3	**CBY
+36**	**SOU
+3**	**NEW
+44**	WES
+11	BAL
+4	X	X	**WES
+24**	X	**EAS
+25**
Western Suburbs	NEW
+3	**CBY
+11**	**BAL
+12**	**PAR
+14**	**MAN
−4**	**NOR
+11**	EAS
−9	STG
−33	SOU
−9	**NEW
+9**	CBY
−10	BAL
−3	PAR
+10	**MAN
+23**	NOR
+2	**EAS
+21**	**STG
−11**	**SOU
+15**	**BAL
+18**	**EAS
+11**	STG
−24	**EAS
−5**

Bold – Home game

X – Bye

Opponent for round listed above margin

Ladder

Team	Pld	W	D	L	PA	PD	Pts
1	[[Image:St. George colours.svg	16x16px]] St. George	18	14	4	456	176	+280
2	[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	16x16px]] Western Suburbs	18	11	7	350	298	+52
3	[[Image:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg	16x16px]] Eastern Suburbs	18	11	7	264	221	+43
4	[[Image:Balmain colours.svg	16x16px]] Balmain	18	11	7	286	254	+32
5	[[Image:Canterbury colours.svg	16x16px]] Canterbury	18	11	7	249	285	-36
6	[[Image:Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg	16x16px]] Manly	18	10	8	231	217	+14
7	[[Image:North Sydney colours.svg	16x16px]] North Sydney	18	8	10	317	357	-40
8	[[Image:South Sydney colours.svg	16x16px]] South Sydney	18	6	12	211	256	-45
9	[[Image:Newtown colours.svg	16x16px]] Newtown	18	6	12	251	313	-62
10	[[Image:Parramatta colours.svg	16x16px]] Parramatta	18	2	16	215	453	-238

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.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
1	St. George	2	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	16	18	18	18	20	22	24	26
2	Western Suburbs	2	4	6	8	8	10	10	10	10	12	12	12	14	16	18	20	20
3	Eastern Suburbs	0	0	2	2	4	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	16	18	20	20	20
4	Balmain	2	2	2	4	6	8	8	8	10	10	12	14	14	16	18	20	22
5	Canterbury-Bankstown	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	8	8	10	12	14	16	16	16	18	20
6	Manly-Warringah	2	4	6	8	10	10	12	12	14	14	14	16	18	18	18	20	20
7	North Sydney	0	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	6	6	6	8	10	12	12	12	14
8	South Sydney	0	2	2	4	4	4	4	6	8	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	12
9	Newtown	0	2	4	4	6	8	8	8	10	10	10	12	12	12	12	12	12
10	Parramatta	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	4	4	4

Finals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information	Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Playoffs
[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	23x23px]] Western Suburbs	28–10	[[Image:Balmain colours.svg	23x23px]] Balmain	9 August 1960	Sydney Sports Ground		21,308
[[Image:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg	23x23px]] Eastern Suburbs	20–11	[[Image:Canterbury colours.svg	23x23px]] Canterbury-Bankstown	9 August 1960	Sydney Sports Ground		21,308
[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	23x23px]] Western Suburbs	18–7	[[Image:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg	23x23px]] Eastern Suburbs	13 August 1960	Sydney Cricket Ground		21,855
[[Image:Balmain colours.svg	23x23px]] Balmain	7–18	[[Image:Canterbury colours.svg	23x23px]] Canterbury-Bankstown	14 August 1960	Sydney Sports Ground		16,507
Semifinals
[[Image:St. George colours.svg	23x23px]] St. George	31–7	[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	23x23px]] Western Suburbs	20 August 1960	Sydney Cricket Ground	Col Pearce	38,407
[[Image:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg	23x23px]] Eastern Suburbs	16–9	[[Image:Canterbury colours.svg	23x23px]] Canterbury-Bankstown	21 August 1960	Sydney Sports Ground	Darcy Lawler	18,455
Preliminary Final
[[Image:Western Suburbs colours.svg	23x23px]] Western Suburbs	15–20	[[Image:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg	23x23px]] Eastern Suburbs	27 August 1960	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	29,393
Grand Final
[[Image:St. George colours.svg	23x23px]] St. George	31–6	[[Image:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg	23x23px]] Eastern Suburbs	3 September 1960	Sydney Cricket Ground	Darcy Lawler	53,156

Grand Final

St. George	Position	Eastern 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
	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

Points	Player	Tries
Brian Graham	3	82
Darcy Russell	2	75
Bob Landers	12	49
Kevin Considine	6	52
Keith Barnes	0	59

Top 5 try scorers

Tries	Player	21	16	15	13	12	12
Reg Gasnier
Ken Irvine
Bob Mara
Peter Dimond
Bob Landers
Horrie Toole

Top 5 goal scorers

Goals	Player	82	75	59	53	52
Brian Graham
Darcy Russell
Keith Barnes
Ron Willey
Kevin Considine

References

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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