# 1958 NSWRFL season

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

## Season summary

Having been wooden spooners in 1955, Wests embarked on a massive spending spree to recruit internationals Harry Wells, Kel O'Shea, Arthur Summons, Dick Poole, Darcy Henry and Ian Moir 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, 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.

### Ladder

| | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts |
| 1 | St. George | 18 | 16 | 0 | 2 | 480 | 187 | +293 | 32 |
| 2 | Western Suburbs | 18 | 12 | 0 | 6 | 379 | 263 | +116 | 24 |
| 3 | Manly | 18 | 11 | 1 | 6 | 291 | 251 | +40 | 23 |
| 4 | Newtown | 18 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 297 | 252 | +45 | 20 |
| 5 | Balmain | 18 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 254 | 273 | −19 | 20 |
| 6 | North Sydney | 18 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 279 | 322 | −43 | 18 |
| 7 | Eastern Suburbs | 18 | 8 | 0 | 10 | 244 | 252 | −8 | 16 |
| 8 | South Sydney | 18 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 246 | 391 | −145 | 12 |
| 9 | Canterbury | 18 | 4 | 1 | 13 | 207 | 276 | −69 | 9 |
| 10 | Parramatta | 18 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 202 | 412 | −210 | 6 |

## 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. With a simple game plan of "retaliate first", the Magpies' aggression in the semifinal 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.
| Home | Score | Away | Match information | Match information | Match information | Match information |
| Home | Score | Away | Date and time | Venue | Referee | Crowd |
| Playoff |||||||
| Newtown | 4–15 | Balmain | 19 August 1958 | Redfern Oval | | 10,430 |
| Semifinals |||||||
| Manly-Warringah | 10–22 | Balmain | 23 August 1958 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Darcy Lawler | 27,985 |
| St. George | 10–34 | Western Suburbs | 30 August 1958 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Darcy Lawler | 38,857 |
| Preliminary Final |||||||
| St. George | 26–21 | Balmain | 6 September 1958 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Darcy Lawler | 39,132 |
| Grand Final |||||||
| Western Suburbs | 9–20 | St. George | 13 September 1958 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Darcy Lawler | 62,283 |

### Grand Final

| St. George | Position | Western Suburbs |
| Brian Graham | FB | Darcy Russell |
| 2. Eddie Lumsden | WG | 2. Bernard Kelly |
| 19. Ray Smith | CE | 3. Harry Wells (c) |
| 4. Geoff Weekes | CE | 6. Darcy Henry |
| 17. Brian Messiter | WG | 5. Don Malone |
| 8. Brian Clay | FE | 4. Peter Dimond |
| 7. Bob Bugden | HB | 7. Keith Holman |
| 13. Billy Wilson | PR | 13. Mark Patch |
| 12. Ken Kearney (Ca./Co.) | HK | 12. Bede Goff |
| 10. Harry Bath | PR | 11. Neville Charlton |
| 24. Monty Porter | SR | 10. Bill Carson |
| 9. Norm Provan | SR | 9. Jack Bowman |
| 8. Peter Provan | LK | 8. Doug Jones |
| | Coach | Vic Hey |
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 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.
| Points | Player | Tries | Goals | Field Goals |
| 205 | Harry Bath | 3 | 98 | 0 |
| 176 | Darcy Russell | 2 | 85 | 0 |
| 146 | Brian Carlson | 10 | 58 | 0 |
| 144 | Ron Willey | 4 | 66 | 0 |
| 124 | Gordon Clifford | 0 | 62 | 0 |
| Tries | Player |
| 16 | Brian Allsop |
| 15 | Eddie Lumsden |
| 13 | Jack Fifield |
| 13 | Peter Dimond |
| 12 | Darcy Henry |
| 12 | Kevin Considine |
| Goals | Player |
| 98 | Harry Bath |
| 85 | Darcy Russell |
| 66 | Ron Willey |
| 62 | Gordon Clifford |
| 58 | Brian Carlson |

## 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 as well as games against various sides including Sydney Firsts, New South Wales and a Sydney Representative Colts side that featured a young Reg Gasnier.
The team was coached by Jim Brough and was captained was Alan Prescott.
Note: Other than the Ashes Tests, only games in NSW listed
| Game | Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
| 1 | 18 May | Great Britain def. Southern Districts 36–18 | Wollongong Showground, Wollongong | |
| 2 | 21 May | Great Britain drew with Western Districts 24–24 | Wade Park, Orange | |
| 3 | 24 May | Great Britain def. Newcastle 35–16 | Newcastle Sportsground, Newcastle | 21,126 |
| 4 | 28 May | Great Britain def. Northern NSW 27–17 | Scully Park, Tamworth | |
| 5 | 31 May | Great Britain def. Sydney 20–15 | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney | 48,692 |
| 6 | 4 June | Great Britain def. Riverina 29–10 | Leeton | 6,000 |
| 7 | 7 June | Great Britain def. New South Wales 19–10 | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney | 52,963 |
| 8 | 14 June | Australia def. Great Britain 25–8 | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney | 68,777 |
| 15 | 5 July | Great Britain def. Australia 25–18 | Brisbane Exhibition Ground, Brisbane | 33,563 |
| 17 | 13 July | Great Britain def. NSW North Coast 56–15 | Oakes Oval, Oakes Oval, Lismore | 5,541 |
| 18 | 19 July | Great Britain def. Australia 28–26 | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney | 68,720 |
| ?? | 14 August | Representative Colts vs Great Britain | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney | |
| ?? | 17 August | Coalfields vs Great Britain | Maitland Showground, Maitland | |