1968 NSWRFL season
The 1968 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 61st season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Twelve teams, including six Sydney-based foundation teams and another six from around Sydney competed for the J.J. Giltinan Shield and the WD & HO Wills Cup during the season, which culminated in a grand final between South Sydney and Manly-Warringah.
| 1968 New South Wales Rugby Football League | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 12 |
| Premiers |  |
| Minor premiers | |
| Matches played | 136 |
| Points scored | 4027 |
| Attendance | 1894627 |
| Top points scorer(s) | |
| Player of the year |  |
| Top try-scorer(s) |  |
Season summary
The 1968 season's Rothmans Medallist was Cronulla-Sutherland's Terry Hughes.
The Balmain club narrowly missed out on a place in the top four, which was made up of South Sydney, Manly-Warringah, St. George and Eastern Suburbs.
Teams
| Balmain 61st season Ground: Leichhardt Oval Captain-Coach: Keith Barnes |
 34th season Ground: Belmore Sports Ground Captain-coach: Kevin Ryan |
Cronulla-Sutherland 2nd season Ground: Endeavour Field Coach: Ken Kearney Captain: Warren Ryan |
Eastern Suburbs 61st season Ground: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Jack Gibson Captain: Jim Matthews |
| Manly-Warringah 22nd season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: George Hunter Captain: Bob Fulton |
 61st season Ground: Henson Park Coach: Dick Poole Captain: Bobby Keyes |
 61st season Ground: North Sydney Oval Captain-coach: Colin Greenwood |
Parramatta 22nd season Ground: Cumberland Oval Coach: Ian Johnston Captain: Dick Thornett |
| Penrith 2nd season Ground: Penrith Park Captain-Coach: Bob Boland |
South Sydney 61st season Ground: Redfern Oval Coach: Clive Churchill Captain: John Sattler |
St. George 48th season Ground: Jubilee Oval Coach: Norm Provan Captain: Johnny Raper |
Western Suburbs 61st season Ground: Lidcombe Oval Captain-coach: Noel Kelly |
Ladder
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |
22 | 16 | 0 | 6 | 394 | 271 | +123 | 32 |
| 2 |  |
22 | 15 | 1 | 6 | 379 | 282 | +97 | 31 |
| 3 | |
22 | 13 | 3 | 6 | 416 | 320 | +96 | 29 |
| 4 |  |
22 | 14 | 1 | 7 | 362 | 274 | +88 | 29 |
| 5 |  |
22 | 14 | 0 | 8 | 393 | 284 | +109 | 28 |
| 6 |  |
22 | 12 | 1 | 9 | 308 | 284 | +24 | 25 |
| 7 |  |
22 | 12 | 0 | 10 | 328 | 279 | +49 | 24 |
| 8 |  |
22 | 11 | 0 | 11 | 298 | 352 | -54 | 22 |
| 9 |  |
22 | 9 | 1 | 12 | 259 | 301 | -42 | 19 |
| 10 | |
22 | 6 | 0 | 16 | 259 | 405 | -146 | 12 |
| 11 |  |
22 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 259 | 388 | -129 | 8 |
| 12 |  |
22 | 2 | 1 | 19 | 257 | 472 | -215 | 5 |
Finals
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and Time | Venue | Referee | Crowd | |||||
| Semi Finals | ||||||||
|
17–10 | |
31 August 1968 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Col Pearce | 49,747 | ||
|
15–23 | |
7 September 1968 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Col Pearce | 49,128 | ||
| Preliminary Final | ||||||||
|
20–8 | |
14 September 1968 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Col Pearce | 44,803 | ||
| Grand Final | ||||||||
|
9–13 | |
21 September 1968 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Col Pearce | 54,255 | ||
Grand Final
| Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | Position | South Sydney Rabbitohs |
|---|---|---|
| Bob Batty | FB | Eric Simms |
| Michael McLean | WG | Michael Cleary |
| Alec Tennant | CE | Bob Honan |
| Frank Stanton | CE | Arthur Branighan |
| Les Hanigan | WG | Brian James |
| Bob Fulton (c) | FE | Denis Pittard |
| Denis Ward | HB | Bob Grant |
| Bill Hamilton | PR | Jim Morgan |
| Fred Jones | HK | Elwyn Walters |
| Norm Pounder | PR | John O'Neill |
| David Knox | SR | John Sattler (c) |
| John Morgan | SR | Bob Moses |
| Bill Bradstreet | LK | Ron Coote |
| S. Williams | Res. | Paul Sait |
| George Hunter | Coach | Clive Churchill |
Manly was making its fourth ever Grand Final appearance and still looking for its first title. 21-year-old captain Bob Fulton led a young Sea Eagles side, while Souths was skippered by John Sattler who that season had been honoured as "Catholic Sportsman of the Year". Neither team lineup had any players older than 29 years of age. The depth of the Souths line-up was indicated by the fact that it’s stars Kevin Longbottom, Bob McCarthy and Ray Branighan were all named and played in the Rabbitohs' reserve grade side which ominously won its grand final match-up also against Manly.
The first-grade match began furiously with the toughening-up period resulting in four cautions by referee Pearce in the first four minutes. Ron Coote clashed with Bill Bradstreet and the opposing giants Hamilton and John O'Neill also measured up. Souths, with a strong breeze at its back, was the first to score when Michael Cleary intercepted a pass meant for Manly winger Les Hanigan and raced 80 yards to score. Simms punished Manly with a conversion and three successful penalty goals in the first half and at the break Souths led 11–2.
The Sea Eagles refused to lay down and mid-way through the second half second-rower John Morgan crashed over for a try which was converted by Bob Batty. Then a Bob Fulton field goal with fourteen minutes left brought Manly within reach. But despite the Manly fightback Souths was too resilient and hung on to win its second successive premiership and the club's 18th title.
South Sydney 13 (Tries: Cleary. Goals: Simms 5.)
Manly-Warringah 9 (Tries: Morgan. Goals: Batty 2. Fld Goals: Fulton 1.)