1973 NSWRFL season
| 1973 New South Wales Rugby Football League | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 12 |
| Premiers |
 Manly-Warringah (2nd title) |
| Minor premiers |
Manly-Warringah (3rd title) |
| Matches played | 139 |
| Points scored | 4234 |
| Attendance | 1390810 |
| Top points scorer(s) |
 Graeme Langlands (183) |
| Player of the year |
 Ken Maddison (Rothmans Medal) |
| Top try-scorer(s) |
Bob Fulton (18) |
The 1973 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the sixty-sixth season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. Twelve district clubs from across the city, including six foundation clubs, competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup during the season, which culminated in a grand final between Manly-Warringah and Cronulla-Sutherland. This season also saw the introduction of an under-23s competition as well as a five-team finals series (rather than the previous four).
The 1973 NSWRFL season saw the introduction of the metric system to the playing field, and a five-team semi-final series. Twenty-two regular season rounds were played from March until August, resulting in a top five of Manly, Cronulla, St. George, Newtown and Canterbury who went on to battle it out in the finals.
The 1973 Rothmans Medal was awarded to Cronulla-Sutherland forward Ken Maddison. Rugby League Week awarded their player of the year award to Manly-Warringah's halfback Johnny Mayes.
The 1973 season also saw the retirement from the League of future Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame inductee, Ken Irvine. A legendary speedster who started his career with North Sydney in 1958, Irvine finished his stellar career with two deserved premierships playing for Manly-Warringah. Irvine also finished his career as the highest ever try scorer in the Sydney premiership (the record still stands as of 2017). He crossed for 171 tries in 176 games for Norths and 41 in 60 games for Manly.
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