The 1982 NSWRFL season was the 75th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and saw the New South Wales Rugby Football League’s first expansion since 1967 with the introduction of the first two clubs from outside the Sydney area in over half a century: the Canberra Raiders and the Illawarra Steelers. Thus a total of 14 clubs (including 6 Sydney-based foundation teams, another 6 from Sydney, one from greater New South Wales, and one from the Australian Capital Territory) competed for the J.J. Giltinan Shield and newly-created Winfield Cup during the season, which culminated in a grand final between the Parramatta and Manly-Warringah clubs. This season, NSWRFL teams also competed for the 1982 KB Cup which was won by Manly-Warringah.

1982 New South Wales Rugby Football League
Teams14
Premiers Parramatta (2nd title)
Minor premiers Parramatta (2nd title)
Matches played188
Points scored5,927
Attendance1,716,490
Top points scorer(s) Mick Cronin (279)
Rothmans Medal Greg Brentnall
Top try-scorer(s) Steve Ella (23)

Season summary

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The first Charity Shield match was played before the 1982 season between St. George and South Sydney.

This year a bronze replica of “the Gladiators” – the 1963 photo taken by John O'Gready of Norm Provan and Arthur Summons’ post-game, mud-caked embrace – was first adopted to adorn the Winfield Cup, the new trophy to be awarded to the grand final winners. Because of the introduction of two new teams, twenty-six (rather than twenty-two) regular season rounds were played from February till August, resulting in a top five of Parramatta, Manly, Norths, Easts and Wests. The new teams, the Illawarra Steelers and the Canberra Raiders, would finish their debut seasons in second last and last place respectively.

The 1982 season saw the only nil-all scoreline in competition history. Newtown and Canterbury-Bankstown drew their match at Henson Park on 28 March, with neither team scoring a point. The long-standing record for the longest suspension for a player in the League's history was broken during the season. Western Suburbs' Bob Cooper was suspended for 15 months for punching Illawarra’s Lee Pomfret.

The 1982 season's Rothmans Medallist was Canterbury-Bankstown’s Greg Brentnall and the Dally M Award went to Parramatta’s lock forward, Ray Price. Rugby League Week gave their player of the year award to Eastern Suburbs’ halfback Kevin Hastings for the third consecutive season.

Teams

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This year the number of clubs in the League reached a new high of fourteen, with the addition of two expansion clubs, the Illawarra Steelers and the Canberra Raiders.[1] This saw the first inclusion of teams based outside of the Sydney area since the foundation Newcastle club departed the League in 1909. This was the first of several expansions that would take place over the next decade and a half which would see the Sydney-wide competition grow into a New South Wales-wide competition and eventually into a national league. Also, for the first time in three quarters of a century, the League's 1908 foundation teams were outnumbered by teams introduced since the inaugural season.

Balmain
 

75th season
Ground: Leichhardt Oval
Coach: Frank Stanton
Captain: Neil WhittakerTrevor Ryan

Canberra
 

1st season
Ground: Seiffert Oval
Coach: Don Furner
Captain: David Grant

Canterbury-Bankstown
 

48th season
Ground: Belmore Sports Ground
Coach: Ted Glossop
Captain: George Peponis

Cronulla-Sutherland
 

16th season
Ground: Endeavour Field
Coach: Greg Pierce
Captain: Steve Rogers

Eastern Suburbs
 

75th season
Ground: Sydney Sports Ground
Coach: Bob Fulton
Captain: Royce Ayliffe

Illawarra
 

1st season
Ground: Wollongong Showground
Coach: Allan Fitzgibbon
Captain: John Dorahy

Manly-Warringah
 

36th season
Ground: Brookvale Oval
Coach: Ray Ritchie
Captain: Max Krilich

Newtown
 

75th season
Ground: Henson Park
Coach: Warren Ryan
Captain: Tom Raudonikis & Ken Wilson

North Sydney
 

75th season
Ground: North Sydney Oval
Coach: Ron Willey
Captain: Mark Graham

Parramatta
 

36th season
Ground: Belmore Sports Ground
Coach: Jack Gibson
Captain: Steve Edge

Penrith
 

16th season
Ground: Penrith Stadium
Coach: John Peard
Captain: Darryl Brohman

South Sydney
 

75th season
Ground: Redfern Oval
Coach: Bill Anderson
Captain: Mitch Brennan

St. George
 

62nd season
Ground: Jubilee Oval
Coach: Roy Masters
Captain: Craig Young

Western Suburbs
 

75th season
Ground: Lidcombe Oval
Coach: Terry Fearnley
Captain: Warren Boland

Ladder

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Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1   Parramatta 26 21 0 5 619 242 +377 42
2   Manly 26 17 0 9 530 411 +119 34
3   North Sydney 26 16 1 9 399 360 +39 33
4   Eastern Suburbs 26 15 2 9 437 304 +133 32
5   Western Suburbs 26 16 0 10 412 349 +63 32
6   South Sydney 26 14 1 11 395 400 -5 29
7   Newtown 26 13 2 11 406 309 +97 28
8   Cronulla 26 13 1 12 400 336 +64 27
9   Canterbury 26 12 3 11 399 361 +38 27
10   St. George 26 11 2 13 408 402 +6 24
11   Balmain 26 10 1 15 383 427 -44 21
12   Penrith 26 7 1 18 375 441 -66 15
13   Illawarra 26 6 0 20 344 572 -228 12
14   Canberra 26 4 0 22 269 862 -593 8

Finals

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Home Score Away Match information
Date and time Venue Referee Crowd
Qualifying Finals
  Eastern Suburbs 11–7   Western Suburbs 4 September 1982 Sydney Cricket Ground Jack Danzey 21,167
  Manly-Warringah 26–3   North Sydney 5 September 1982 Sydney Cricket Ground John Gocher 24,690
Semi-finals
  North Sydney 10–12   Eastern Suburbs 11 September 1982 Sydney Cricket Ground Jack Danzey 19,566
  Parramatta 0–20   Manly-Warringah 12 September 1982 Sydney Cricket Ground John Gocher 31,604
Preliminary final
  Parramatta 33–0   Eastern Suburbs 19 September 1982 Sydney Cricket Ground John Gocher 24,637
Grand final
  Manly-Warringah 8–21   Parramatta 26 September 1982 Sydney Cricket Ground John Gocher 52,186

Chart

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Qualifying finalMajor semi-finalPreliminary finalGrand final
1  Parramatta0  Manly8
  Manly20  Parramatta21
2  Manly26  Parramatta33
3  North Sydney3Minor semi-final  Eastern Suburbs0
  North Sydney10
4  Eastern Suburbs11  Eastern Suburbs12
5  Western Suburbs7

Grand final

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Manly-Warringah Position Parramatta
  1. Graham Eadie
FB
  1. Paul Taylor
2. John Ribot WG 2. Neil Hunt
3. Chris Close CE 3. Mick Cronin
4. Michael Blake CE 4. Steve Ella
5. Phil Carey WG 5. Eric Grothe
6. Alan Thompson (c) FE 6. Brett Kenny
7. Phil Blake HB 7. Peter Sterling
13. Geoff Gerard PR 13. Geoff Bugden
12. Ray Brown HK 12. Steve Edge (c)
11. Terry Randall PR 11. Chris Phelan
10. Paul Vautin SR 10. Steve Sharp
14. Les Boyd SR 9. John Muggleton
8. Paul McCabe LK 8. Ray Price
9. Bruce Walker Reserve 14. Peter Wynn
15. Max Krillich Reserve 17. Gary Martine
18. Ian Thomson Reserve 19. Mark Laurie
Reserve 19. Steve Halliwell
Ray Ritchie Coach Jack Gibson

The Eels won the minor premiership with ease – eight points ahead of Manly – and breezed through the decider with the same confidence. Manly opened the scoring through Phil Blake in the opening minutes, but Parramatta replied quickly when Brett Kenny put Steve Ella over. After a quiet period, Manly collapsed in the ten minutes before half-time with Parramatta scoring three tries. The first to Eric Grothe came when Brett Kenny had shown brilliant evasive skills on the second tackle after Manly dropped the ball, the second came when a Peter Sterling bomb deflected off a Parramatta player into Kenny's arms, and the third after quick hands saw Kenny send Neil Hunt over in the corner. The Eels led 16–3 at half-time and, despite Les Boyd scoring after playing the ball forward in the 48th minute, Brett Kenny's second try in the 62nd minute sealed victory.

Parramatta 21 (Tries: Kenny 2, Ella, Grothe, Hunt. Goals: Cronin 3/5.)

Manly 8 (Tries: P Blake, Boyd. Goal: Eadie 1/2.)

Player statistics

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

References

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  1. ^ "History of the Premiership". centenaryofrugbyleague.com.au. Australian Rugby League. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
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