1984 NSWRL season

The 1984 New South Wales Rugby League season was the 77th season of competition between the top professional rugby league football clubs within New South Wales. With the departure from the first grade competition of Sydney foundation club the Newtown Jets at the close of the previous season, 1984 saw thirteen teams compete for the J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup during the season, which culminated in a grand final between the Canterbury-Bankstown and Parramatta clubs. NSWRL teams also competed for the 1984 National Panasonic Cup.

1984 New South Wales Rugby League
Teams	13
Premiers	Canterbury-Bankstown (4th title)
Minor premiers	Canterbury-Bankstown (4th title)
Matches played	163
Points scored	5226
Attendance	1379655
Top points scorer(s)	Steve Gearin (190)
Player of the year	Terry Lamb (Rothmans Medal)
Top try-scorer(s)	Steve Morris (17) Terry Lamb (17)
← 1983 1985 →

Season summary

The New South Wales Rugby Football League dropped the "football" from its name this year. Twenty-six regular season rounds were played from March till August, resulting in a top five of Canterbury, St. George, Parramatta and Manly, with Souths taking fifth spot after winning a play-off against Canberra

The 1984 season's Rothmans Medallist was Canterbury-Bankstown's five-eighth, Terry Lamb, who was also the season's top try-scorer. The Dally M Award was given to Canterbury's fullback, Michael Potter, while Rugby League Week gave their player of the year award to Parramatta's halfback, Peter Sterling.

Teams

At the close of the previous season Newtown became the first club since University in 1937 to exit the League, reducing the number of clubs this season from fourteen to thirteen.^[1] This included five Sydney-based foundation teams, another six from Sydney, one from greater New South Wales and one from the Australian Capital Territory.

Balmain Tigers   77th season Ground: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Frank Stanton Captain: Wayne Pearce	Canberra Raiders   3rd season Ground: Seiffert Oval Coach: Don Furner Captain: Ron Giteau	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs   50th season Ground: Belmore Oval Coach: Warren Ryan Captain: Steve Mortimer	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks   18th season Ground: Ronson Field Coach: Terry Fearnley Captain: David Hatch	Eastern Suburbs Roosters   77th season Ground: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Laurie Freier Captain: Ron Gibbs	Illawarra Steelers   3rd season Ground: Wollongong Showground Coach: Brian Smith Captain: Michael Bolt	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles   38th season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Bob Fulton Captain: Alan Thompson
North Sydney Bears   77th season Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Greg Hawick Captain: →Fred Teasdell→Mark Graham	Parramatta Eels   38th season Ground: Belmore Oval Coach: John Monie Captain: Ray Price	Penrith Panthers   18th season Ground: Penrith Park Coach: Tim Sheens Captain: Royce Simmons	South Sydney Rabbitohs   77th season Ground: Redfern Oval Coach: Ron Willey Captain: Ziggy Niszczot	St. George Dragons   64th season Ground: Kogarah Oval Coach: Roy Masters Captain: Craig Young	Western Suburbs Magpies   77th season Ground: Lidcombe Oval Coach: Ken Gentle Captain: Lee Crooks

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	24	19	0	5	2	435	237	+198	42
2	St. George Dragons	24	17	0	7	2	445	289	+156	38
3	Parramatta Eels	24	17	0	7	2	412	260	+152	38
4	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	24	14	0	10	2	512	338	+174	32
5	South Sydney Rabbitohs	24	13	0	11	2	333	307	+26	30
6	Canberra Raiders	24	13	0	11	2	379	394	-15	30
7	Penrith Panthers	24	12	1	11	2	409	401	+8	29
8	Illawarra Steelers	24	12	0	12	2	368	388	-20	28
9	Balmain Tigers	24	12	0	12	2	380	405	-25	28
10	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	24	10	1	13	2	446	478	-32	25
11	North Sydney Bears	24	9	1	14	2	371	447	-76	23
12	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	24	5	1	18	2	308	478	-170	15
13	Western Suburbs Magpies	24	1	0	23	2	244	620	-376	6

Finals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Playoff
South Sydney Rabbitohs	23-4	Canberra Raiders	28 August 1984	Sydney Cricket Ground	Greg McCallum	10,101
Qualifying Finals
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	18-22	South Sydney Rabbitohs	1 September 1984	Sydney Cricket Ground	Chris Ward	15,801
St. George Dragons	16-22	Parramatta Eels	2 September 1984	Sydney Cricket Ground	Kevin Roberts	25,675
Semi-finals
St. George Dragons	24-6	South Sydney Rabbitohs	8 September 1984	Sydney Cricket Ground	B. Barnes	32,162
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	16-8	Parramatta Eels	9 September 1984	Sydney Cricket Ground	Greg McCallum	30,044
Preliminary final
Parramatta Eels	8-7	St. George Dragons	16 September 1984	Sydney Cricket Ground	Kevin Roberts	37,004

Chart

	Qualifying final					Major semi-final					Preliminary final					Grand final
						1	Canterbury	16								Canterbury		6
							Parramatta	8								Parramatta		4
	2	St. George	16								Parramatta		8
	3	Parramatta	22			Minor semi-final					St. George		7
						St. George		24
	4	Manly	18			South Sydney		6
	5	South Sydney	22

Grand final

The 1984 grand final was contested by minor premiers Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the Parramatta Eels. As competition leaders, the Bulldogs needed to win only one finals game to qualify for the grand final, and did so against the third-placed Eels, who had to play three finals games to qualify. Played at the Sydney Cricket Ground before a crowd of 47,076, the game was refereed by Kevin Roberts.

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Position	Parramatta Eels
Mick Potter	FB	Paul Taylor
Steve O'Brien	WG	Neil Hunt
Andrew Farrar	CE	Mick Cronin
Chris Mortimer	CE	Steve Ella
Peter Mortimer	WG	Eric Grothe
Terry Lamb	FE	Brett Kenny
Steve Mortimer (c)	HB	Peter Sterling
Paul Langmack	LK	Ray Price
Steve Folkes	SR	John Muggleton
Brian Battese	SR	Chris Phelan
Peter Kelly	PR	Paul Mares
Mark Bugden	HK	Steve Edge (c)
Peter Tunks	PR	Stan Jurd
Geoff Robinson	Res.	David Liddiard
Darryl Brohman	Res.	Steve Sharp
Greg Mullane	Res.	Ron Quinn
	Res.	Glen Mansfield
Warren Ryan	Coach	John Monie

The ruthless game plan of coach Warren Ryan saw Canterbury trump Parramatta in a grueling encounter. The Bulldogs mastered the art of the "gang-tackle" under Ryan and it was executed superbly by Peter Tunks, Peter Kelly, Mark Bugden and Brian Battese. Parramatta had a 4-0 half-time lead after Mick Cronin scored from a neat Peter Sterling pass.

An ingenious moment from Canterbury hooker Bugden won the day - seeing an injured Ray Price on the ground, he ran from dummy-half at the place where Price would have been defending to crash over and score the winning try.

Cronin later missed a close range penalty goal attempt which would have levelled the scores close to full-time.

Canterbury-Bankstown 6
Tries: Bugden
Goals: Chris Mortimer

Parramatta 4
Tries: Cronin

Man-of-the-match: Peter Kelly^[2]

Player statistics

The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 26.

Top 5 point scorers Points Player Tries Goals Field goals 186   Tony Armstrong 9 75 0 176   Steve Gearin 7 74 0 159   Ron Giteau 6 67 1 143   Neil Baker 5 59 5 142   Mark Levy 2 67 0 Top 5 try scorers Tries Player 17   Terry Lamb 13   Steve Morris 12   Dean Carney 12   Steve Broughton 11   Eric Grothe Sr. 11   Phil Blake 11   Brad Izzard

Top 5 goal scorers Goals Player 75   Tony Armstrong 74   Steve Gearin 67   Ron Giteau 67   Mark Levy 59   Neil Baker

References

1. "History of the Premiership". centenaryofrugbyleague.com.au. Australian Rugby League. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
2. D'Souza, Miguel. . wwos.ninemsn.com.au. AAP. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2013.

External links

• 1984 J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup at rleague.com^{[dead link]}
• NSWRL season 1984 at rugbyleagueproject.org