The 1985

New South Wales Rugby League 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 Sout ...

was the seventy-eighth season of 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 in Australia. Thirteen teams competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield 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 Canterbury-Bankstown and St. George clubs. This season NSWRL teams also competed for the

1985 National Panasonic Cup The 1985 National Panasonic Cup was the 12th edition of the Amco Cup, NSWRL Midweek Cup, a New South Wales Rugby League, NSWRL-organised national club Rugby League tournament between the leading clubs and representative teams from the New South ...

Season summary

Twenty-six regular season rounds were played from March till September, resulting in a top five of St. George, Balmain, Canterbury, Parramatta and Penrith battling it out in the finals The 1985 season's Rothmans Medallist was Balmain's lock, Wayne Pearce. The Dally M Award was given to Penrith's halfback, Greg Alexander, while '' Rugby League Week'' gave its player of the year award to Parramatta's lock, Ray Price.

Teams

The lineup of clubs remained unchanged from the previous year, with thirteen contesting the 1985 premiership, including five

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 ...

-based foundation teams, another six from Sydney, one from greater

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and one from the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

Ladder

Finals

Chart

Grand Final

The 1985 Grand Final was played at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and as ...

before a crowd of 44,569. Canterbury continually put St George fullback Burgess under the test of the high-ball in his in-goal area, which, under the rules of the time, resulted in a line drop-out with the Bulldogs regaining possession. After felling St George's Graeme Wynn as a scrum broke up, Canterbury's prop Peter Kelly was surprising awarded a penalty and shortly thereafter Kelly used the blindside to send winger Peter Mortimer over out wide for a 6-0 half time lead. Bulldogs half and skipper Steve Mortimer seized control of the match and centre Andrew Farrar clinched it with a field goal in the 72nd minute to take the score to 7-0. A last light of hope appeared for the Dragons when Steve Morris scored and Michael O'Connor converted with five minutes left on the clock. In the end a practised and clinical approach from Canterbury shut out the Dragons who had been the minor premiers. Canterbury-Bankstown 7
Tries: P Mortimer. Goal: Farrar. Field Goal: Farrar. St. George 6
Tries: Morris. Goal: O'Connor. Man-of-the-match: Steve Mortimer

Player statistics

The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 26. Top 5 point scorers Top 5 try scorers Top 5 goal scorers

References

External links

Rugby League Tables - Season 1985
''The World of Rugby League''

at ''rabbitohs.com.au''
1985 J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup
at ''rleague.com''

{{National Rugby League seasons New South Wales Rugby League premiership NSWRL season