The 1955 NSWRFL season was the 48th season of the New South Wales Rugby Football League. Ten teams from across Sydney competed for the NSWRFL Premiership J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season, which culminated in a replay of the previous year's Grand Final between the South Sydney and Newtown clubs.

Season summary Halfway through the 1955 season Souths were in equal 9th place having won just three of ten matches. From that point they didn't lose another game, winning eight season encounters in a row before the finals. Eventually they finished 4th. Had they lost a single one of these games they would have missed the finals.

In the second last match of the regular season Souths met Manly-Warringah and were behind 4–7 with moments to go. Clive Churchill had broken his arm early in the game tackling Manly winger George Hugo but refused to leave the field. Souths lock Les Cowie managed to score a try in the corner and Churchill with a broken arm took a sideline conversion attempt that wobbled over the posts and won Souths the game. Churchill would take no part in Souths' 1955 finals campaign.

Teams Balmain 48th seasonGround: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Norm "Latchem" Robinson Captain: Bill MarshCanterbury-Bankstown 21st seasonGround: Belmore Sports Ground Coach: Vic HeyCaptain: Ray Gartner Eastern Suburbs 48th seasonGround: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Frank O'Connor Captain: Noel Pidding Manly-Warringah 9th seasonGround: Brookvale Oval Coach: Pat DeveryCaptain: Roy BullNewtown 48th seasonGround: Henson Park Captain-Coach: Dick PooleNorth Sydney 48th seasonGround: North Sydney Oval Coach: Rex Harrison Captain: George Martin Parramatta 9th seasonGround: Cumberland Oval Captain-Coach: Johnny SladeSouth Sydney 48th seasonGround: Redfern Oval Captain-Coach: Jack RaynerSt. George 35th seasonGround: Kogarah Oval Captain-Coach: Ken KearneyWestern Suburbs 48th seasonGround: Pratten Park Captain-Coach: Keith Holman

Regular season

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 F1 F2 F3 GF BalmainMAN+2NEW+4SOU−18PAR−12WES+22STG−3NOR−4CBY+6EAS−4MAN0NEW+4SOU−8PAR+16WES+13STG−2NOR−13CBY+4EAS+8 Canterbury-BankstownWES−9STG−17NOR+2SOU−25EAS−3MAN−17NEW−25BAL+6PAR+5WES+3STG−18NOR−28SOU−34EAS−34MAN−26NEW−10BAL−4PAR−13 Eastern SuburbsPAR+19WES−13STG−4NOR−19CBY+3SOU+3MAN−7NEW0BAL+4PAR+26WES+18STG−7NOR−4CBY+34SOU−11MAN+1NEW−18BAL−8 Manly-WarringahBAL−2PAR+6WES+46STG−18NOR+4CBY+17EAS+7SOU+12NEW−44BAL0PAR−2WES+26STG+3NOR+2CBY+26EAS−1SOU−2NEW+7SOU−2 NewtownSOU+23BAL−4PAR+3WES+17STG+6NOR+10CBY+25EAS0MAN+44SOU+1BAL−4PAR+17WES+26STG+5NOR+7CBY+10EAS+18MAN−7XSTG+3XSOU−1 North SydneySTG−10SOU+8CBY−2EAS+19MAN−4NEW−10BAL+4PAR+7WES+22STG−11SOU−15CBY+28EAS+4MAN−2NEW−7BAL+13PAR+1WES+22 ParramattaEAS−19MAN−6NEW−3BAL+12SOU+9WES−4STG−8NOR−7CBY−5EAS−26MAN+2NEW−17BAL−16SOU−22WES+20STG−29NOR−1CBY+13 South SydneyNEW−23NOR−8BAL+18CBY+25PAR−9EAS−3WES+25MAN−12STG−18NEW−1NOR+15BAL+8CBY+34PAR+22EAS+11WES+11MAN+2STG+10MAN+2XSTG+4NEW+1 St. GeorgeNOR+10CBY+17EAS+4MAN+18NEW−6BAL+3PAR+8WES+13SOU+18NOR+11CBY+18EAS+7MAN−3NEW−5BAL+2PAR+29WES+15SOU−10XNEW−3SOU−4 Western SuburbsCBY+9EAS+13MAN−46NEW−17BAL−22PAR+4SOU−25STG−13NOR−22CBY−3EAS−18MAN−26NEW−26BAL−13PAR−20SOU−11STG−15NOR−22 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 F1 F2 F3 GF

Bold – Home game X – Bye Opponent for round listed above margin

Ladder TeamPldWDLPFPAPDPts1 Newtown181413376179+197292 St. George181404396247+149283 Manly181116332245+87234 South Sydney181107367260+107225 North Sydney181008345278+67206 Eastern Suburbs18819342325+17177 Balmain18819384381+3178 Parramatta185013258365-107109 Canterbury184014167414-247810 Western Suburbs183015186459-2736

Ladder progression

Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 4. Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round. Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished last place on the ladder in that round.

Team1234567891011121314151617181 Newtown 2 2 4 6 8 10 12 13 15 17 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 292 St. George 2 4 6 8 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 22 22 24 26 28 283 Manly-Warringah 0 2 4 4 6 8 10 12 12 13 13 15 17 19 21 21 21 234 South Sydney 0 0 2 4 4 4 6 6 6 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 225 North Sydney 0 2 2 4 4 4 6 8 10 10 10 12 14 14 14 16 18 206 Eastern Suburbs 2 2 2 2 4 6 6 7 9 11 13 13 13 15 15 17 17 177 Balmain 2 4 4 4 6 6 6 6 6 7 9 9 11 13 13 13 15 178 Parramatta 0 0 0 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 6 6 6 6 8 8 8 109 Canterbury-Bankstown 0 0 2 2 2 2 2 4 6 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 810 Western Suburbs 2 4 4 4 4 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

Finals

HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeCrowd Semifinals Manly-Warringah12–14 South Sydney27 August 1955Sydney Cricket GroundDarcy Lawler35,677 Newtown11–8 St. George3 September 1955Sydney Cricket GroundDarcy Lawler34,158 Preliminary Final St. George14–18 South Sydney10 September 1955Sydney Cricket GroundCol Pearce41,583 Grand Final Newtown11–12 South Sydney17 September 1955Sydney Cricket GroundCol Pearce42,466

Grand Final NewtownPositionSouth Sydney 13. Gordon Clifford FB 15. Don Murdoch 12. Kevin Considine WG 12. Ian Moir 10. Dick Poole (Ca./Co.) CE 11. Martin Gallagher 9. Brian Clay CE 18. Malcolm Spencer 11. Ray Preston WG 29. Dale Puren 8. Ray Kelly FE 14. John Dougherty 7. Bobby Whitton HB 8. Col Donohoe 2. Don Stait PR Denis Donoghue 27. Greg Ellis HK 2. Ernie Hammerton 3. Les Hampson PR 25. Norm Nilson 4. Henry Holloway SR 4. Jack Rayner (Ca./Co.) 5. Frank Narvo SR 5. Bernie Purcell 6. Peter Ryan LK 6. Les Cowie After their incredible eight game end-of-season run and having come from behind in both their semi-finals it looked unlikely that Souths’ fairytale would end happily on Grand Final day. They were without stars Clive Churchill and Greg Hawick. Newtown were the minor premiers and had eleven of their 1954 Grand Final side back for the 1955 decider, all fit, experienced and keen to avenge their 1954 loss.

The 1955 Grand Final was very closely fought out. Souths trailed 4–8 at half-time and the Bluebags looked home with an 11–7 lead with ten minutes remaining. In the final moments captain-coach Jack Rayner managed to win a strike in the play-the-ball and toed it through. Newtown lock Peter Ryan fumbled and again Rayner got the boot to it. Souths halfback Col Donohoe won the race and grounded the ball next to the posts, enabling an easy conversion by Bernie Purcell for the Rabbitohs to take a one-point lead.

A last gasp long-range penalty goal attempt from Bluebags Gordon Clifford was unsuccessful (it passed between the posts but fractionally under the crossbar) and Souths won by a single point. Despite being the best performed side for two successive seasons Newtown had nothing in the trophy cabinet to show for it. Souths had timed an extraordinary premiership run to absolute perfection.

Jack Rayner's fifth grand final win that day stands along with Ken Kearney's five wins by 1960 as the most number of grand final successes by an individual as captain. As captain-coach for all of those wins Rayner was thus also the first man to coach a side to five grand final victories, a record subsequently matched by Jack Gibson and beaten in 2006 by Wayne Bennett.

South Sydney 12 Tries: Moir, Donohoe. Goals: Purcell 3.

Newtown 11 Try: Considine. Goals: Clifford 3. Field Goal: Clifford

Player statistics The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 18.

Top 5 point scorers PointsPlayerTriesGoalsField Goals177 Doug Fleming1870168 Gordon Clifford0840140 Angus Kellock0700133 Alan Arkey1641123 Keith Barnes1600 Top 5 try scorers TriesPlayer18 Brian Allsop16 Ian Moir16 Dick Poole15 Kevin Considine13 Kevin O'Brien13 Johnny Tenison

Top 5 goal scorers GoalsPlayer87 Doug Fleming84 Gordon Clifford70 Angus Kellock64 Alan Arkey60 Keith Barnes

References

External links Rugby League Tables – Season 1955 The World of Rugby League Results: 1951-60 at rabbitohs.com.au 1955 J J Giltinan Shield at rleague.com NSWRFL season 1955 at rugbyleagueproject.com