1959's New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 52nd 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 Manly-Warringah.

Season summary The St. George team went through the 1959 season undefeated – a feat achieved by five teams prior to 1959 but by none since. The club won nineteen of their twenty matches and played a draw against Balmain. They were able to score more than forty points on six occasions. After eighteen premiership rounds St. George had scored an average of over thirty points per match and conceded an average of ten points.

Future Immortals Reg Gasnier and Johnny Raper both debuted for St. George in first grade in 1959 and both made the Australian side, aged just 19. Seven St. George players made that year's Kangaroo Tour.

The 1959 season also saw the retirement from the League of future Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame inductee, Harry Bath.

Teams Balmain 52nd seasonGround: Leichhardt Oval Coach: John O'Toole Captain: Keith BarnesCanterbury-Bankstown 25th seasonGround: Belmore Oval Coach: Cec CooperCaptain: Brian DaviesEastern Suburbs 52nd seasonGround: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Dave BrownCaptain: Terry FearnleyManly-Warringah 13th seasonGround: Brookvale Oval Coach: Ken ArthursonCaptain: Ron WilleyNewtown 52nd seasonGround: Henson Park Coach: Charles CahillCaptain: Tony BrownNorth Sydney 52nd seasonGround: North Sydney Oval Coach: Ross McKinnonCaptain: Bob HoneysettParramatta 13th seasonGround: Cumberland Oval Coach: Jack RaynerCaptain: Roy FisherSouth Sydney 52nd seasonGround: Redfern Oval Coach: Denis DonoghueCaptain: Bernie PurcellSt. George 39th seasonGround: Kogarah Oval Captain-coach: Ken KearneyWestern Suburbs 52nd seasonGround: Pratten Park Coach: Vic HeyCaptain: Dick Poole

Regular season

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 F1 F2 F3 GF BalmainMAN−3STG−14CBY−4EAS+12NOR−8WES−19PAR+8NEW−15SOU+9MAN−2STG0CBY+12EAS−4NOR+6WES−9PAR+16NEW−5SOU−8 Canterbury-BankstownSOU−10MAN−6BAL+4STG−12EAS−9NOR−33WES−38PAR+7NEW−12SOU−1MAN+5BAL−12STG−51EAS+6NOR−22WES0PAR+1NEW−1 Eastern SuburbsNEW−3SOU−20MAN−11BAL−12CBY+9STG−9NOR−20WES−3PAR−4NEW+7SOU+9MAN−12BAL+4CBY−6STG−16NOR+6WES−28PAR+6 Manly-WarringahBAL+3CBY+6EAS+11NOR−7WES−11PAR+5NEW−4SOU+8STG−10BAL+2CBY−5EAS+12NOR+1WES−3PAR+21NEW+17SOU+3STG−5NEW+17XWES+1STG−20 NewtownEAS+3NOR−6WES−7PAR+9STG−17SOU+2MAN+4BAL+15CBY+12EAS−7NOR+2WES−2PAR+8STG−35SOU−12MAN−17BAL+5CBY+1MAN−17 North SydneyPAR+23NEW+6SOU+20MAN+7BAL+8CBY+33EAS+20STG−21WES−5PAR+20NEW−2SOU−10MAN−1BAL−6CBY+22EAS−6STG−7WES−12 ParramattaNOR−23WES−10STG−39NEW−9SOU+5MAN−5BAL−8CBY−7EAS+4NOR−20WES−22STG−57NEW−8SOU−6MAN−21BAL−16CBY−1EAS−6 South SydneyCBY+10EAS+20NOR−20WES+1PAR−5NEW−2STG−33MAN−8BAL−9CBY+1EAS−9NOR+10WES+5PAR+6NEW+12STG−3MAN−3BAL+8 St. GeorgeWES+1BAL+14PAR+39CBY+12NEW+17EAS+9SOU+33NOR+21MAN+10WES+30BAL0PAR+57CBY+51NEW+35EAS+16SOU+3NOR+7MAN+5XWES+10XMAN+20 Western SuburbsSTG−1PAR+10NEW+7SOU−1MAN+11BAL+19CBY+38EAS+3NOR+5STG−30PAR+22NEW+2SOU−5MAN+3BAL+9CBY0EAS+28NOR+12XSTG−10MAN−1 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 F1 F2 F3 GF

Bold – Home game X – Bye Opponent for round listed above margin

Ladder TeamPldWDLPFPAPDPts1 St. George181710550190+360352 Western Suburbs181314405273+132273 Manly181107283239+44224 Newtown181008254296-42205 North Sydney18909371282+89186 South Sydney18909257276-19187 Balmain186111308336-28138 Eastern Suburbs186012211314-103129 Canterbury185112194378-1841110 Parramatta182016150399-2494

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 10 12 14 16 18 20 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 352 Western Suburbs 0 2 4 4 6 8 10 12 14 14 16 18 18 20 22 23 25 273 Manly-Warringah 2 4 6 6 6 8 8 10 10 12 12 14 16 16 18 20 22 224 Newtown 2 2 2 4 4 6 8 10 12 12 14 14 16 16 16 16 18 205 North Sydney 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 14 14 16 16 16 16 16 18 18 18 186 South Sydney 2 4 4 6 6 6 6 6 6 8 8 10 12 14 16 16 16 187 Balmain 0 0 0 2 2 2 4 4 6 6 7 9 9 11 11 13 13 138 Eastern Suburbs 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 2 4 6 6 8 8 8 10 10 129 Canterbury-Bankstown 0 0 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 6 6 6 8 8 9 11 1110 Parramatta 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

Finals HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeCrowd Semifinals Manly-Warringah17–0 Newtown25 July 1959Sydney Cricket GroundDarcy Lawler8,967 St. George35–25 Western Suburbs1 August 1959Sydney Cricket GroundDarcy Lawler42,347 Preliminary Final Western Suburbs13–14 Manly-Warringah8 August 1959Sydney Cricket GroundDarcy Lawler28,385 Grand Final St. George20–0 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles15 August 1959Sydney Cricket GroundDarcy Lawler49,457

Grand Final St. GeorgePositionManly-Warringah Brian Graham FB Ron Willey (c) 2. Eddie Lumsden WG 15. Len Wadling 15. Johnny Raper CE 3. Kevin Mosman 16. Geoff Weekes CE 4. Bill Lloyd 5. Brian Messiter WG 5. George Hugo 6. Brian Clay FE 14. Alf Madden 7. Bob Bugden HB 19. Peter Burke 13. Harry Bath PR 13. Bill Delamere 12. Ken Kearney (Ca./Co.) HK 12. George Lenon 11. Billy Wilson PR 22. Roy Bull 10. Monty Porter SR 11. Rex Mossop 9. Norm Provan SR 9. Peter Diversi 8. Peter Provan LK 8. Jim Peebles Coach Ken Arthurson In the lead up to the Grand Final, rumours were circulating that Manly-Warringah's Rex Mossop was carrying a broken cheekbone. From the kick off, Saints' forwards took turns at testing Mossop's injury with Harry Bath giving him particular attention. For most of the match the Manly forward copped a hammering until in frustration, Mossop retaliated by standing on Bath's head. A brawl broke out between the two and the referee Lawler sent both off.

In the meantime, St. George's forwards were steamrolling Manly-Warringah and the red and white backs were cutting loose. Winger Eddie Lumsden had a magnificent match, scoring a hat trick of tries. Lumsden beat Ron Willey cold for his first try and then was on the end of later backline passing bursts for two more.

As the Manly-Warringah pack tired in the second half, experienced St. George second rower Norm Provan began to easily break their defence out wide, linking with his backs and being rewarded himself with a try. Reserve grade Geoff Weekes had been promoted when Gasnier and Johnny Riley were both injured in the major semi final. He scored a try as did St. George's steady and safe custodian Brian Graham.

St. George outclassed Manly-Warringah 20–0 in a ruthless display of speed and strength. The match was future Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame inductee Harry Bath's last game.

St. George 20 (Tries: Lumsden 3, Graham, Weekes, N Provan. Goals: Bath 1.)

Manly-Warringah 0

Player statistics The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 18.

Top 5 point scorers PointsPlayerTriesGoalsField Goals189 Harry Bath5870189 Darcy Russell5870142 Ron Willey2680121 Johnny Jones1590110 Kevin Considine10400 Top 5 try scorers TriesPlayer19 Ken Irvine18 Brian Messiter15 Bob Bugden15 Ron Mack14 Darcy Henry

Top 5 goal scorers GoalsPlayer87 Harry Bath87 Darcy Russell68 Ron Willey59 Johnny Jones48 Keith Barnes

References

External links Rugby League Tables - Season 1959 The World of Rugby League Writer, Larry (1995) Never Before, Never Again, Pan MacMillan, Sydney Results: 1951-60 at rabbitohs.com.au 1959 J J Giltinan Shield at rleague.com NSWRFL season 1959 at rugbyleagueproject.com 1959 Final at Dragons History site