1941 NSWRFL season

1941 New South Wales Rugby Football League
Teams	8
Premiers	St. George (1st title)
Minor premiers	Eastern Suburbs (10th title)
Matches played	59
Points scored	1933
Top points scorer(s)	Neville Smith (84)
Top try-scorer(s)	Percy Dermond (13) Sel Lisle (13)

The 1941 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the thirty-fourth season of Sydney’s top-level rugby league competition, Australia’s first. Eight teams from across the city contested the premiership during the season, which lasted from April until August, culminating in Eastern Suburbs’ loss to St. George in the grand final.

Owing to the fact that three clubs were equal on points at the end of the home-and-away season, no club had the right of challenge in the finals.

Eastern Suburbs and St. George won their respective semi finals, allowing them to meet in the Final.

In a tough encounter the Dragons won their first ever premiership in their twenty-first season in the competition. St George captain-coach Neville Smith was knocked out after a heavy tackle early in the match. Smith recovered and scored 13 points through one try and five goals.

Along with Smith, St George centre Gordon Hart also gave a sparkling display of free-running rugby league. Recently enlisted in the AIF, Hart had been given permission to leave barracks to participate in the finals.

In another incident Easts’ prop Jack Arnold and Saints’ lock Bill Tyquin were sent off after an almighty punch up. Tyquin, a Queensland representative who would later captain Australia, played only the 1941 war-time season in Sydney while he was stationed there on duty with the AIF.

It was to prove to be the final match in the stellar, record-setting career of Easts’ Dave Brown who at twenty-nine years of age announced his retirement at game’s end.

St George 31 (Tries: Campbell 2, Hanson 2, Smith, Kelly, Hart, McAndrew. Goals: Smith 5)

defeated

Eastern Suburbs 14 (Tries: Dermond 2, Brown, Bamford. Goals: Brown 1)

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