The 1979 NSWRFL season was the 72nd season of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

's professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

football competition,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

's first. Twelve

New South Wales Rugby Football League The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was ...

clubs competed for the

J.J. Giltinan Shield The J.J. Giltinan Shield is an Australian rugby league trophy, awarded annually to the National Rugby League minor premiers. It was named after James J. Giltinan who was central to the founding of rugby league in Australia. Giltinan died in 195 ...

and

WD & HO Wills W.D. & H.O. Wills was a British tobacco manufacturing company formed in Bristol, England. It was the first British company to mass-produce cigarettes, and one of the founding companies of Imperial Tobacco along with John Player & Sons. The c ...

Cup during the season, which culminated in a

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

between the

St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

and

Canterbury-Bankstown Canterbury-Bankstown is a customary region of Sydney, Australia, in the south-western suburbs. The area is located around the Bankstown railway line, to the west of the St George region and to the south of the Inner West region. The suburbs o ...

clubs. NSWRFL teams also competed in the 1979 Amco Cup.

Season summary

Twenty-two regular season rounds were played from March till August, resulting in a top five of St. George, Parramatta, Cronulla-Sutherland, Western Suburbs and Canterbury-Bankstown who battled it out in the finals. Parramatta's Ray Price was the 1979 season's

Rothmans Medal The Rothmans Medal was the premier individual award in the New South Wales Rugby League and Brisbane Rugby League competitions, and later in the Australian Rugby League, which was given to the player voted by referees as the best and fairest ...

list, and also won ''

Rugby League Week ''Rugby League Week'' (frequently abbreviated to RLW) was the highest selling Australian rugby league magazine, ahead of major competitor ''Big League''. It was published weekly (on Wednesdays) during the Australian rugby league season, which ru ...

''’s player of the year award. The 1979 season also saw the retirement from the League of future

Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame The Australian Rugby LeaguHall of Fame'' honours players who have shown exceptional skill at rugby league, all-time great coaches and referees, and other major contributors to the game who are Australian. It was officially established in 2002, ...

inductee,

Bob Fulton Robert Fulton (1 December 1947 – 23 May 2021), also nicknamed "Bozo", was an Australian international rugby league footballer, coach and later commentator. Fulton played, coached, selected for and has commentated on the game with great succe ...

Teams

Twelve clubs, including six of 1908's foundation teams and another six from around Sydney competed for the

NSWRFL premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sou ...

Ladder

Finals

Chart

Grand Final

St. George finished 22 rounds as minor premiers with 17 wins and were straight into the Grand Final after defeating Parramatta in the major semi. Their Grand Final opponents Canterbury, qualified after defeating Wests, Cronulla and Parramatta.

Television Coverage Dispute

Under agreements in place at the time, the broadcast rights to the season saw one to two games on ABC TV on Saturday and/or Sunday afternoons, and a Sunday Night primetime replay and highlights of other matches on

ATN ATN is the Sydney flagship television station of the Seven Network in Australia. The licence, issued to a company named Amalgamated Television Services, a subsidiary of John Fairfax & Sons, was one of the first four licences (two in Sydney, two ...

- 7 (part of the ''Seven's Big League'' programming). Under this agreement, the networks had rights to each broadcast and/or simulcast all six of the finals series games, under which they could either accept or decline the matches. The scene was set by an industrial relations dispute between camera and production crews and commercial broadcasting networks towards the end of 1979. This forced ATN-7 and the ABC into a shared feed arrangement using ABC production crew, but separate network commentary teams calling the game. ATN-7, wore the financial costs as the designated broadcaster of the Preliminary Final, and provided the ABC with a clean feed of the match as agreed. However, the ABC refused to offer a clean feed to ATN-7 for the Grand Final, which caused massive controversy. ATN-7 then exercised their right as the primary broadcaster of the competition to broadcast the match between St George and Canterbury exclusively, deciding to source their own freelance crew and cover the match. The ABC then sued ATN-7, and the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal became involved, but ultimately the match remained exclusive to ''Seven's Big League''.

Match

The pre-game talk had been about the match-up of opposing half-backs Steve Morris and Steve Mortimer and the game didn't disappoint, beginning with a 40-metre flying break on a last tackle by Morris from deep in Dragons territory before he was cut down in a classic covering tackle by Mortimer. The first half belonged to St. George with new fullback Brian Johnson scoring an easy opening try after taking a pass 10 metres out from the Canterbury line. Soon after, Rod Reddy, who was subduing his opponents with his experience and ruthlessness, put Morris into a gap. “Slippery” kicked ahead and the race was on. Mortimer had a head start and got there first but Morris tackled him into touch. Soon afterwards Canterbury put a

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...

up and toward the St. George in-goal. Brian Johnson was on hand to field the ball and returned it with a 60-metre run ended by a copybook tackle from his opposing fullback Stan Cutler. However the defence was opening up and it wasn't long before the Dragons scored their second try, with winger Mitch Brennan venturing infield and finding a gap courtesy of centre Robert Finch who slipped a short ball to Brennan 30 metres out. The strapping winger made a powerful run to score. By now, Saints were carving Canterbury up with Morris, on his 20-metre line, putting Graeme Wynn into a gap. The lanky back rower ran 40 metres, leaving defenders in his wake. Next it was “Rocket” Reddy's turn when Morris, Wynn and Reddy combined down the right flank and exposed the Bulldogs defence. 'Rocket' handled twice in scoring a try under the posts. At half time the score was St George 17 – Canterbury 2. Canterbury fought back gamely after the break. Steve Gearin and then Peter Mortimer crossed, with two further tries being disallowed. The St. George defence rallied and held from that point until Stan Cutler scored a third try out wide late in the match. St. George's goal-kicking second rower George Grant was the difference on the day, kicking four to ensure a 17–13 victory. Grant had kicked brilliantly all season, scoring 211 points in 1979. The Dave Brown Medal for the best player on field, went to Steve Morris. St. George 17 (Tries: Johnson, Brennan, Reddy. Goals: Grant 4.) Canterbury-Bankstown 13 (Tries: Gearin, Mortimer, Cutler. Goals: Gearin 2.)

Player statistics

The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 22. Top 5 point scorers Top 5 try scorers Top 5 goal scorers

References

External links

Rugby League Tables – Season 1979
''The World of Rugby League''
1979 J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup at rleague.com
{{National Rugby League seasons New South Wales Rugby League premiership NSWRFL season