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 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 ...

during the season, which culminated in a grand final between St. George and Western Suburbs.

Season summary

Having been wooden spooners in

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

, Wests embarked on a massive spending spree to recruit internationals Harry Wells, Kel O'Shea, Arthur Summons, Dick Poole,

Darcy Henry Darcy Henry (1932–2004) was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s. Playing career Henry was from Tamworth, New South Wales, and came to Eastern Suburbs as a teenager in 1951. After the 1952 season, Henry moved to pla ...

and

Ian Moir Ian James Moir (1932–1990) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer, a champion wing three-quarter who played in the 1950s and 1960s for South Sydney and Western Suburbs. He made eight Test appearances for the Australian na ...

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 Reginald William "Reg" Gasnier (12 May 1939 – 11 May 2014) was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. He played for the St. George Dragons from 1959 to 1967 and represented Australian national rugby league team, Australia in a then ...

, 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

Ladder

Finals

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 Peter Dimond (28 November 1938 – 21 April 2021) was an Australian rugby league footballer who played his club rugby league for Western Suburbs. Born in Dapto, New South Wales, he is the younger brother of former Australian test player and Ne ...

. With a simple game plan of "retaliate first", the Magpies' aggression in the semi-final 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.

Grand Final

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 ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

'' 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

The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 18. Top 5 point scorers Top 5 try scorers Top 5 goal scorers

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 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 ...

as well as games against various sides including

Sydney Firsts 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 Mountains ...

, New South Wales and a Sydney Representative Colts side that featured a young

. The team was coached by Jim Brough and was captained was

Alan Prescott George Alan Prescott (17 June 1927 – 20 September 1998) was an English rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and coached in the 1960s. He played initially at , and then later at or . In 404 matches for St Helens. ...

. ''Note: Other than the Ashes Tests, only games in NSW listed''

References

External links

1958 Season
''Rugby League Tables'' * Writer, Larry (1995) ''Never Before, Never Again'', Pan MacMillan, Sydney
1958 J J Giltinan Shield at rleague.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nswrfl season NSW New South Wales Rugby League premiership