# 1972 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles season

The 1972 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles season was the 26th in the club's history since their entry into the then New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership in 1947. After 5 previous Grand Final losses, the Sea Eagles broke through for their first premiership win.
The 1972 Sea Eagles were coached by former Australian international and Manly fullback Ron Willey. Captaining the side was long serving hooker Fred Jones. The club competed in the New South Wales Rugby Football League's 1972 Premiership season and played its home games at the 25,000 capacity Brookvale Oval.

## Ladder

| | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts |
| 1 | Manly-Warringah | 22 | 18 | 1 | 3 | 460 | 255 | +205 | 37 |
| 2 | Eastern Suburbs | 22 | 17 | 1 | 4 | 514 | 297 | +217 | 35 |
| 3 | St. George | 22 | 16 | 2 | 4 | 398 | 221 | +177 | 34 |
| 4 | South Sydney | 22 | 14 | 0 | 8 | 456 | 331 | +125 | 28 |
| 5 | Newtown | 22 | 11 | 2 | 9 | 402 | 371 | +31 | 24 |
| 6 | Canterbury-Bankstown | 22 | 12 | 0 | 10 | 382 | 373 | +9 | 24 |
| 7 | Western Suburbs | 22 | 8 | 1 | 13 | 367 | 398 | -31 | 17 |
| 8 | Cronulla-Sutherland | 22 | 8 | 0 | 14 | 332 | 378 | -46 | 16 |
| 9 | North Sydney | 22 | 7 | 1 | 14 | 320 | 405 | -85 | 15 |
| 10 | Balmain | 22 | 6 | 1 | 15 | 333 | 455 | -122 | 13 |
| 11 | Penrith | 22 | 5 | 1 | 16 | 278 | 490 | -212 | 11 |
| 12 | Parramatta | 22 | 4 | 2 | 16 | 317 | 585 | -268 | 10 |

## Finals
### Major Semi-Final
### Grand Final

* Saturday 16 September
| Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | 19 – 14 | Eastern Suburbs Roosters |
| Tries: Fred Jones Ray Branighan Goals: Ray Branighan (6/8) Field Goals: Bob Fulton (1) | | Tries: John Ballesty Bill Mullins Goals: Allan McKean (4/6) |
* Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Attendance: 54,357 Referee: Keith Page Player of the Match: Dennis Ward
| Manly-Warringah | Eastern Suburbs |
| FB | 1 | Graham Eadie |
| LW | 2 | Ken Irvine |
| CE | 3 | Ray Branighan |
| CE | 4 | Bob Fulton |
| RW | 5 | Max Brown |
| FE | 6 | Ian Martin |
| HB | 7 | Dennis Ward |
| LK | 8 | Mal Reilly |
| SR | 9 | Terry Randall |
| SR | 10 | Allan Thomson |
| PR | 11 | John O'Neill |
| HK | 12 | Fred Jones (c) |
| PR | 13 | Bill Hamilton |
| Substitutions: ||
| IC | 14 | |
| IC | 15 | |
| Coach: ||
| Ron Willey ||
| FB | 1 | Allan McKean |
| LW | 2 | Jim Porter |
| CE | 3 | Harry Cameron |
| CE | 4 | Mark Harris |
| RW | 5 | Bill Mullins |
| FE | 6 | John Ballesty |
| HB | 7 | Kevin Junee |
| LK | 8 | Ron Coote (c) |
| SR | 9 | John Quayle |
| SR | 10 | Greg Bandiera |
| PR | 11 | Arthur Beetson |
| HK | 12 | Peter Moscatt |
| PR | 13 | John Armstrong |
| Substitutions: ||
| IC | 14 | Laurie Freier |
| IC | 15 | |
| Coach: ||
| Don Furner ||
After twenty-five years in the competition and five Grand Final losses, Manly finally broke through to win the club's first NSWRFL premiership.
In a controversial match, the Sea-Eagles downed the Eastern Suburbs Roosters 19 to 14, thus shedding their 'bridesmaids' tag. The Roosters were highly critical of referee Keith Page after the match, claiming both of Manly's tries shouldn't have been awarded. To add to their rage, Easts crossed for 2 tries that were disallowed.
A dour first half saw the teams go to the break at 4-all, before a try by hooker Fred Jones put Manly ahead. Jones appeared to drop the ball as he attempted to ground it, but was awarded the try nonetheless. For his part Jones contends that he did place the ball with downward pressure. Midway through the second half, controversy flared again when Manly centre Ray Branighan appeared to stop over the Eastern Suburbs try line after accepting what looked like a forward pass from prop Bill Hamilton. However, referee Page allowed it and the Manly fans began celebrating, knowing that at 19-4 their first premiership victory was assured. Although Easts fought back with two late tries to John Ballesty and Bill Mullins and brought the score to 19-14, time ran out for the Roosters and Manly had won their first ever premiership in first grade.
In the end, it was Manly's part-time goal kicker Ray Branighan who proved the difference, kicking 6 goals from 8 attempts.

## Player statistics

Note: Games and (sub) show total games played, e.g. 1 (1) is 2 games played.
| Player | Tries | Goals | FG | Points |
| John Barber | | | | |
| Keith Blackett | | | | |
| Ray Branighan | 4 | 24 | | 60 |
| Max Brown | 4 | 29 | | 70 |
| John Bucknall | | | | |
| Bob Cameron | | | | |
| Bill Clare | 7 | | | 21 |
| Graham Eadie | 4 | 15 | | 42 |
| Bob Fulton | 19 | 6 | 4 | 73 |
| Bill Hamilton | 2 | | | 6 |
| Les Hanigan | 3 | | | 9 |
| Ken Irvine | 13 | 11 | | 61 |
| Fred Jones (c) | 4 | | | 12 |
| Allan Maddalena | 4 | | | 12 |
| Ian Martin | 4 | | | 12 |
| Derek Moritz | 5 | 18 | | 51 |
| Bob Moses | 1 | | | 3 |
| John O'Neill | | | | |
| Peter Peters | | | | |
| Norm Pounder | 2 | | | 6 |
| Terry Randall | 3 | | | 9 |
| Mal Reilly | 4 | | | 12 |
| Allan Thomson | 3 | | | 9 |
| Gary Thoroughgood | 3 | | | 9 |
| Gary Train | | | | |
| Dennis Ward | 10 | | 2 | 32 |
| Graham Williams | | | | |
| Mark Willoughby | | 1 | | 2 |
| TOTAL | 99 | 104 | 6 | 511 |

## Representative Players
### International

* Australia – Ray Branighan, Bob Fulton, Fred Jones, John O'Neill, Dennis Ward

### State

* New South Wales – Bob Fulton, Bill Hamilton, Ian Martin, Terry Randall

### City vs Country

* City Seconds – Dennis Ward