The 1958 NSWRFL season was the 51st season of the New South Wales Rugby Football League, Australia's first rugby league football competition. Ten teams from across Sydney competed for the J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season, which culminated in a grand final between St. George and Western Suburbs.
Harry Bath was the competition's leading goal scorer in 1958, with his St George teammate Eddie Lumsden the leading try scorer. Bath shattered the Dragons club's point scoring record with 225 season points from three tries and 108 goals.
Nineteen-year-old Reg Gasnier, later to be honoured as one of the Australian game's Immortals, made his Third Grade debut in 1958 and was immediately noticed, regularly scoring length-of-the-field tries.
The developing Western Suburbs side which would become such a force at the beginning of the 1960s, was already building around the class of internationals Keith "Yappy" Holman, Harry "Dealer" Wells, Kel "Twigs" O'Shea along with their hard men Neville "Boxhead" Charlton, Mark Patch and fiery nineteen-year-old Peter Dimond. With a simple game plan of "retaliate first", the Magpies' aggression in the semifinal stunned St George who were coming off a coasting run through the end of the season. In spite of having beaten Wests twice in the regular season, the Dragons were mauled by them 34–10 in the major-semi final with Dimond dominating his opposite five-eighth Peter Carroll and forcing the Dragons to a sudden death final against Balmain for the right to defend their title.
The lessons from this loss sat heavily with St George – how an early forward onslaught designed to knock the spirit of the rival pack could determine the course of the entire game. For the next eight years, in all of their finals appearances, the Dragons would play a deliberate tactic of giving the opposition the ball in the first fifteen minutes and setting about demoralising them with brutal defence.
In an effort to negate Peter Dimond, Saints dropped Peter Carroll for the Grand Final, selecting lock and hard hitting defender, Brian Clay at five-eighth. From the kick-off, the record crowd saw a furious St George team lay into Wests. High tackles and punches were the order of the day and referee Darcy Lawler penalised the Dragons seventeen times to Wests seven.
Wests were unable to counter the onslaught which saw a ruthless Dragon defence advancing upon them at every opportunity although the score remained close for most of the match. Eventually with the Magpies subdued, Norm Provan and Bob Bugden cut loose, with Provan scoring two tries and Bugden snatching an intercept try near the end. Saints won the fight, and the match. For eighty minutes Clay was all over Dimond who ended the match dazed and bleeding.
The Sydney Morning Herald described the match as the most “savage” game of the season.
St George 20 (Tries: N. Provan 2, Bugden, Lumsden. Goals: Bath 4.)
Wests 9 (Tries: Russell. Goals: Russell 3 )
Player statisticsedit
The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 18.
Writer, Larry (1995) Never Before, Never Again, Pan MacMillan, Sydney
1958 J J Giltinan Shield at rleague.com[dead link]
1958 Final at Dragons History site
October 27, 2023
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The 1958 NSWRFL season was the 51st season of the New South Wales Rugby Football League Australia s first rugby league football competition Ten teams from across Sydney competed for the J J Giltinan Shield during the season which culminated in a grand final between St George and Western Suburbs 1958 New South Wales Rugby Football LeagueTeams10PremiersSt George 5th title Minor premiersSt George 5th title Matches played95Points scored3050Attendance1030272Top try scorer s Eddie Lumsden 18 19571959 Contents 1 Season summary 1 1 Teams 1 2 Ladder 2 Finals 2 1 Grand Final 3 Player statistics 4 Great Britain Lions Tour 5 References 6 External linksSeason summary editHaving been wooden spooners in 1955 Wests embarked on a massive spending spree to recruit internationals Harry Wells Kel O Shea Arthur Summons Dick Poole Darcy Henry and Ian Moir over a five year period The fruits of this labour began to show in 1958 when they finished in second place for the minor premiership and posed a challenge to St George in the finals Harry Bath was the competition s leading goal scorer in 1958 with his St George teammate Eddie Lumsden the leading try scorer Bath shattered the Dragons club s point scoring record with 225 season points from three tries and 108 goals Nineteen year old Reg Gasnier later to be honoured as one of the Australian game s Immortals made his Third Grade debut in 1958 and was immediately noticed regularly scoring length of the field tries The 1958 season also saw the retirement from the League of future Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame inductee Clive Churchill Teams edit Balmain nbsp 51st seasonGround Leichhardt Oval Coach John O Toole Captain Bill Marsh Canterbury Bankstown nbsp 24th seasonGround Belmore Sports Ground Coach Cec CooperCaptain Ray Gartner Eastern Suburbs nbsp 51st seasonGround Sydney Sports Ground Coach Dave BrownCaptain Terry Fearnley Manly Warringah nbsp 12th seasonGround Brookvale Oval Coach Ken ArthursonCaptain Ron Willey Newtown nbsp 51st seasonGround Henson Park Coach Dick PooleCaptain Gordon CliffordNorth Sydney nbsp 51st seasonGround North Sydney Oval Coach Trevor AllenCaptain Bob Honeysett Parramatta nbsp 12th seasonGround Cumberland Oval Coach Jack RaynerCaptain Roy Fisher South Sydney nbsp 51st seasonGround Redfern Oval Captain Coach Clive Churchill St George nbsp 38th seasonGround Jubilee Oval Captain coach Ken Kearney Western Suburbs nbsp 51st seasonGround Pratten Park Coach Vic HeyCaptain Harry WellsLadder edit Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts1 nbsp St George 18 16 0 2 480 187 293 322 nbsp Western Suburbs 18 12 0 6 379 263 116 243 nbsp Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 18 11 1 6 291 251 40 234 nbsp Newtown 18 10 0 8 297 252 45 205 nbsp Balmain 18 10 0 8 254 273 19 206 nbsp North Sydney 18 9 0 9 279 322 43 187 nbsp Eastern Suburbs 18 8 0 10 244 252 8 168 nbsp South Sydney 18 6 0 12 246 391 145 129 nbsp Canterbury 18 4 1 13 207 276 69 910 nbsp Parramatta 18 3 0 15 202 412 210 6Finals editThe developing Western Suburbs side which would become such a force at the beginning of the 1960s was already building around the class of internationals Keith Yappy Holman Harry Dealer Wells Kel Twigs O Shea along with their hard men Neville Boxhead Charlton Mark Patch and fiery nineteen year old Peter Dimond With a simple game plan of retaliate first the Magpies aggression in the semifinal stunned St George who were coming off a coasting run through the end of the season In spite of having beaten Wests twice in the regular season the Dragons were mauled by them 34 10 in the major semi final with Dimond dominating his opposite five eighth Peter Carroll and forcing the Dragons to a sudden death final against Balmain for the right to defend their title The lessons from this loss sat heavily with St George how an early forward onslaught designed to knock the spirit of the rival pack could determine the course of the entire game For the next eight years in all of their finals appearances the Dragons would play a deliberate tactic of giving the opposition the ball in the first fifteen minutes and setting about demoralising them with brutal defence Home Score Away Match informationDate and time Venue Referee CrowdPlayoff nbsp Newtown 4 15 nbsp Balmain 19 August 1958 Redfern Oval 10 430Semifinals nbsp Manly Warringah 10 22 nbsp Balmain 23 August 1958 Sydney Cricket Ground Darcy Lawler 27 985 nbsp St George 10 34 nbsp Western Suburbs 30 August 1958 Sydney Cricket Ground Darcy Lawler 38 857Preliminary Final nbsp St George 26 21 nbsp Balmain 6 September 1958 Sydney Cricket Ground Darcy Lawler 39 132Grand Final nbsp Western Suburbs 9 20 nbsp St George 13 September 1958 Sydney Cricket Ground Darcy Lawler 62 283Grand Final edit St George Position Western SuburbsBrian Graham FB Darcy Russell2 Eddie Lumsden WG 2 Bernard Kelly19 Ray Smith CE 3 Harry Wells c 4 Geoff Weekes CE 6 Darcy Henry17 Brian Messiter WG 5 Don Malone8 Brian Clay FE 4 Peter Dimond7 Bob Bugden HB 7 Keith Holman13 Billy Wilson PR 13 Mark Patch12 Ken Kearney Ca Co HK 12 Bede Goff10 Harry Bath PR 11 Neville Charlton24 Monty Porter SR 10 Bill Carson9 Norm Provan SR 9 Jack Bowman8 Peter Provan LK 8 Doug JonesCoach Vic HeyIn an effort to negate Peter Dimond Saints dropped Peter Carroll for the Grand Final selecting lock and hard hitting defender Brian Clay at five eighth From the kick off the record crowd saw a furious St George team lay into Wests High tackles and punches were the order of the day and referee Darcy Lawler penalised the Dragons seventeen times to Wests seven Wests were unable to counter the onslaught which saw a ruthless Dragon defence advancing upon them at every opportunity although the score remained close for most of the match Eventually with the Magpies subdued Norm Provan and Bob Bugden cut loose with Provan scoring two tries and Bugden snatching an intercept try near the end Saints won the fight and the match For eighty minutes Clay was all over Dimond who ended the match dazed and bleeding The Sydney Morning Herald described the match as the most savage game of the season St George 20 Tries N Provan 2 Bugden Lumsden Goals Bath 4 Wests 9 Tries Russell Goals Russell 3 Player statistics editThe following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 18 Top 5 point scorers Points Player Tries Goals Field Goals205 nbsp Harry Bath 3 98 0176 nbsp Darcy Russell 2 85 0146 nbsp Brian Carlson 10 58 0144 nbsp Ron Willey 4 66 0124 nbsp Gordon Clifford 0 62 0Top 5 try scorers Tries Player16 nbsp Brian Allsop15 nbsp Eddie Lumsden13 nbsp Jack Fifield13 nbsp Peter Dimond12 nbsp Darcy Henry12 nbsp Kevin Considine Top 5 goal scorers Goals Player98 nbsp Harry Bath85 nbsp Darcy Russell66 nbsp Ron Willey62 nbsp Gordon Clifford58 nbsp Brian CarlsonGreat Britain Lions Tour editMain article 1958 Great Britain Lions tour From May until August the Great Britain Lions toured Australia and New Zealand In Australia they played the three Test Ashes series against Australia as well as games against various sides including Sydney Firsts New South Wales and a Sydney Representative Colts side that featured a young Reg Gasnier The team was coached by Jim Brough and was captained was Alan Prescott Note Other than the Ashes Tests only games in NSW listed Game Date Result Venue Attendance1 18 May nbsp Great Britain def nbsp Southern Districts 36 18 Wollongong Showground Wollongong2 21 May nbsp Great Britain drew with nbsp Western Districts 24 24 Wade Park Orange3 24 May nbsp Great Britain def nbsp Newcastle 35 16 Newcastle Sportsground Newcastle 21 1264 28 May nbsp Great Britain def nbsp Northern NSW 27 17 Scully Park Tamworth5 31 May nbsp Great Britain def nbsp Sydney 20 15 Sydney Cricket Ground Sydney 48 6926 4 June nbsp Great Britain def nbsp Riverina 29 10 Leeton 6 0007 7 June nbsp Great Britain def nbsp New South Wales 19 10 Sydney Cricket Ground Sydney 52 9638 14 June nbsp Australia def nbsp Great Britain 25 8 Sydney Cricket Ground Sydney 68 77715 5 July nbsp Great Britain def nbsp Australia 25 18 Brisbane Exhibition Ground Brisbane 33 56317 13 July nbsp Great Britain def nbsp NSW North Coast 56 15 Oakes Oval Oakes Oval Lismore 5 54118 19 July nbsp Great Britain def nbsp Australia 28 26 Sydney Cricket Ground Sydney 68 720 14 August nbsp Representative Colts vs nbsp Great Britain Sydney Cricket Ground Sydney 17 August Coalfields vs nbsp Great Britain Maitland Showground MaitlandReferences editExternal links edit1958 Season Rugby League Tables Writer Larry 1995 Never Before Never Again Pan MacMillan Sydney Results 1951 60 at rabbitohs com au 1958 J J Giltinan Shield at rleague com dead link NSWRFL season 1958 at rugbyleagueproject org 1958 Final at Dragons History site Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 1958 NSWRFL season amp oldid 1166764004, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
