# 1984 NSWRL season

The 1984 New South Wales Rugby League season was the 77th season of competition between the top professional rugby league football clubs within New South Wales. With the departure from the first grade competition of Sydney foundation club the Newtown Jets at the close of the previous season, 1984 saw thirteen teams compete for the J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup during the season, which culminated in a grand final between the Canterbury-Bankstown and Parramatta clubs. NSWRL teams also competed for the 1984 National Panasonic Cup.

## Season summary

The New South Wales Rugby Football League dropped the "football" from its name this year. Twenty-six regular season rounds were played from March till August, resulting in a top five of Canterbury, St. George, Parramatta and Manly, with Souths taking fifth spot after winning a play-off against Canberra
The 1984 season's Rothmans Medallist was Canterbury-Bankstown's five-eighth, Terry Lamb, who was also the season's top try-scorer. The Dally M Award was given to Canterbury's fullback, Michael Potter, while Rugby League Week gave their player of the year award to Parramatta's halfback, Peter Sterling.

### Teams

At the close of the previous season Newtown became the first club since University in 1937 to exit the League, reducing the number of clubs this season from fourteen to thirteen. This included five Sydney-based foundation teams, another six from Sydney, one from greater New South Wales and one from the Australian Capital Territory.

### Ladder

| | Team | Pld | W | D | L | B | PF | PA | PD | Pts |
| 1 | Canterbury | 24 | 19 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 435 | 237 | +198 | 42 |
| 2 | St. George | 24 | 17 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 445 | 289 | +156 | 38 |
| 3 | Parramatta | 24 | 17 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 412 | 260 | +152 | 38 |
| 4 | Manly | 24 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 512 | 338 | +174 | 32 |
| 5 | South Sydney | 24 | 13 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 333 | 307 | +26 | 30 |
| 6 | Canberra | 24 | 13 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 379 | 394 | -15 | 30 |
| 7 | Penrith | 24 | 12 | 1 | 11 | 2 | 409 | 401 | +8 | 29 |
| 8 | Illawarra | 24 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 368 | 388 | -20 | 28 |
| 9 | Balmain | 24 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 380 | 405 | -25 | 28 |
| 10 | Cronulla | 24 | 10 | 1 | 13 | 2 | 446 | 478 | -32 | 25 |
| 11 | North Sydney | 24 | 9 | 1 | 14 | 2 | 371 | 447 | -76 | 23 |
| 12 | Eastern Suburbs | 24 | 5 | 1 | 18 | 2 | 308 | 478 | -170 | 15 |
| 13 | Western Suburbs | 24 | 1 | 0 | 23 | 2 | 244 | 620 | -376 | 6 |

## Finals

| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | Match Information | Match Information | Match Information |
| Home | Score | Away | Date and Time | Venue | Referee | Crowd |
| Playoff |||||||
| South Sydney Rabbitohs | 23-4 | Canberra Raiders | 28 August 1984 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Greg McCallum | 10,101 |
| Qualifying Finals |||||||
| Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | 18-22 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | 1 September 1984 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Chris Ward | 15,801 |
| St. George Dragons | 16-22 | Parramatta Eels | 2 September 1984 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Kevin Roberts | 25,675 |
| Semi-finals |||||||
| St. George Dragons | 24-6 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | 8 September 1984 | Sydney Cricket Ground | B. Barnes | 32,162 |
| Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 16-8 | Parramatta Eels | 9 September 1984 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Greg McCallum | 30,044 |
| Preliminary final |||||||
| Parramatta Eels | 8-7 | St. George Dragons | 16 September 1984 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Kevin Roberts | 37,004 |

### Chart

| Qualifying final | Qualifying final | Qualifying final | Major semi-final | Major semi-final | Major semi-final | Preliminary final | Preliminary final | Preliminary final | Grand final | Grand final | Grand final |
| | | | 1 | Canterbury | 16 | | | | Canterbury | 6 |
| | | | | Parramatta | 8 | | | | Parramatta | Parramatta | 4 |
| 2 | St. George | 16 | | | | Parramatta | Parramatta | 8 | | | |
| 3 | Parramatta | 22 | Minor semi-final | Minor semi-final | Minor semi-final | St. George | St. George | 7 | | | |
| | | | St. George | St. George | 24 | | | | | | |
| 4 | Manly | 18 | South Sydney | South Sydney | 6 | | | | | | |
| 5 | South Sydney | 22 | | | | | | | | | |

### Grand final

The 1984 grand final was contested by minor premiers Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the Parramatta Eels. As competition leaders, the Bulldogs needed to win only one finals game to qualify for the grand final, and did so against the third-placed Eels, who had to play three finals games to qualify. Played at the Sydney Cricket Ground before a crowd of 47,076, the game was refereed by Kevin Roberts.
| Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | Position | Parramatta Eels |
| Mick Potter | FB | Paul Taylor |
| 2. Peter Mortimer | WG | 2. Neil Hunt |
| 3. Andrew Farrar | CE | 3. Mick Cronin |
| 4. Chris Mortimer | CE | 4. Steve Ella |
| 5. Steve O’Brien | WG | 5. Eric Grothe |
| 6. Terry Lamb | FE | 6. Brett Kenny |
| 7. Steve Mortimer (c) | HB | 7. Peter Sterling |
| 8. Paul Langmack | LK | 8. Ray Price |
| 9. Steve Folkes | SR | 9. Chris Phelan |
| 16. Brian Battese | SR | 10. John Muggleton |
| 11. Peter Kelly | PR | 11. Paul Mares |
| 12. Mark Bugden | HK | 12. Steve Edge (c) |
| 13. Peter Tunks | PR | 13. Stan Jurd |
| 10. Darryl Brohman | Res. | 15. David Liddiard |
| 20. Greg Mullane | Res. | 17. Glenn Mansfield |
| 22. Geoff Robinson | Res. | 20. Ron Quinn |
| | Res. | 22. Steve Sharp |
| Warren Ryan | Coach | John Monie |
The ruthless game plan of coach Warren Ryan saw Canterbury trump Parramatta in a grueling encounter. The Bulldogs mastered the art of the "gang-tackle" under Ryan and it was executed superbly by Peter Tunks, Peter Kelly, Mark Bugden and Brian Battese. Parramatta had a 4-0 half-time lead after Mick Cronin scored from a neat Peter Sterling pass.
An ingenious moment from Canterbury hooker Bugden won the day - seeing an injured Ray Price on the ground, he ran from dummy-half at the place where Price would have been defending to crash over and score the winning try.
Cronin later missed a close range penalty goal attempt which would have levelled the scores close to full-time.
Canterbury-Bankstown 6 Tries: Bugden Goals: Chris Mortimer
Parramatta 4 Tries: Cronin
Man-of-the-match: Peter Kelly

## Player statistics

The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 26.
| Points | Player | Tries | Goals | Field goals |
| 186 | Tony Armstrong | 9 | 75 | 0 |
| 176 | Steve Gearin | 7 | 74 | 0 |
| 159 | Ron Giteau | 6 | 67 | 1 |
| 143 | Neil Baker | 5 | 59 | 5 |
| 142 | Mark Levy | 2 | 67 | 0 |
| Tries | Player |
| 17 | Terry Lamb |
| 13 | Steve Morris |
| 12 | Dean Carney |
| 12 | Steve Broughton |
| 11 | Eric Grothe Sr. |
| 11 | Phil Blake |
| 11 | Brad Izzard |
| Goals | Player |
| 75 | Tony Armstrong |
| 74 | Steve Gearin |
| 67 | Ron Giteau |
| 67 | Mark Levy |
| 59 | Neil Baker |