1956 NSWRFL season

Rugby league competition March 2024 1956 New South Wales Rugby Football League 125px 10 16x16px St. George 3rd 16x16px St. George 3rd 95 3096 16x16px Doug Fleming (189) 16x16px Tommy Ryan (19) Parramatta 4th 1955 NSWRFL season 1955 1957 NSWRFL season 1957 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 Balmain100px|center 49th seasonGround: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Norman RobinsonCaptain: Brian StauntonCanterbury-Bankstown100px|center 22nd seasonGround: Belmore Oval Coach: Vic HeyCaptain: Col GeelanEastern Suburbs100px|center 49th seasonGround: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Frank O'Connor Captain: Kevin Hansen Manly-Warringah100px|center 10th seasonGround: Brookvale Oval Coach: Pat DeveryCaptain: George Hunter Newtown100px|center 49th seasonGround: Henson Park Captain-Coach: Dick Poole North Sydney100px|center 49th seasonGround: North Sydney Oval Coach: Bruce RyanCaptain: Trevor AllanParramatta100px|center 10th seasonGround: Cumberland Oval Coach: Cec FifieldCaptain: Graham Laird South Sydney100px|center 49th seasonGround: Redfern Oval Coach: Jack Rayner Captain: Les Cowie St. George100px|center 36th seasonGround: Kogarah Oval Coach: Norm TippingCaptain: Ken KearneyWestern Suburbs100px|center 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 16x16px St. George181314398239+159272 16x16px Balmain181305293241+52263 16x16px South Sydney181116364265+99234 16x16px Newtown181107333229+104225 16x16px Western Suburbs181107276221+55226 16x16px Manly18738323269+54177 16x16px Canterbury186012235352-117128 16x16px North Sydney185112218324-106119 16x16px Eastern Suburbs185112211354-1431110 16x16px 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. Team1234567891011121314151617181St. George 16 St. George 2 4 6 8 8 10 12 12 12 13 15 17 19 21 23 23 25 272Balmain 16 Balmain 2 4 6 8 10 12 12 14 16 18 20 20 20 22 22 24 24 263South Sydney 16 South Sydney 2 4 6 6 8 10 12 14 16 16 18 20 21 21 21 21 23 234Newtown 16 Newtown 0 2 4 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 18 20 20 20 20 22 225Western Suburbs 16 Western Suburbs 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 6 8 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 226Manly 16 Manly-Warringah 0 0 2 2 4 4 6 8 8 9 9 11 13 14 16 17 17 177Canterbury 16 Canterbury-Bankstown 0 0 0 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 6 8 10 10 128North Sydney 16 North Sydney 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 6 6 7 9 9 9 119Eastern Suburbs 16 Eastern Suburbs 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 4 6 8 8 8 8 8 8 9 11 1110Parramatta 16 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 23x23px Newtown5–10 23x23px Western Suburbs14 August 1956Redfern Oval20,920 Semifinals 23x23px South Sydney45–7 23x23px Western Suburbs18 August 1956Sydney Cricket GroundCol Pearce51,775 23x23px St. George30–25 23x23px Balmain25 August 1956Sydney Cricket GroundCol Pearce37,339 Preliminary Final 23x23px Balmain36–33 23x23px South Sydney1 September 1956Sydney Cricket GroundDarcy Lawler42,350 Grand Final 23x23px St. George18–12 23x23px 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 Goals171St. George Doug Fleming3801158Manly Ron Willey2760140Balmain Keith Barnes0700122Canterbury John Kell0610120North Sydney Alan Arkey0591 Top 5 try scorers TriesPlayer16St. George Tommy Ryan14St. George Kevin O'Brien14Newtown Kevin Considine14Manly Ray Ritchie13Newtown Ray Preston Top 5 goal scorers GoalsPlayer80St. George Doug Fleming76Manly Ron Willey70Balmain Keith Barnes61Canterbury John Kell59North Sydney 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 Category:New South Wales Rugby League premiership Nswrfl season