1975 Brisbane Rugby League season

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1975 Brisbane Rugby League
Teams8
Premiers Western Suburbs
Minor premiers Western Suburbs
Player of the year Steve Calder (Rothmans Medal)
Top try-scorer(s) Wayne Bennett
← 1974
1976 →

The 1975 Brisbane Rugby League season was the 67th season of Brisbane Rugby League premiership. Eight rugby league teams from across Brisbane competed for the premiership, which culminated in a grand final match between the Western Suburbs and Redcliffe clubs.

Season summary[edit]

Teams played each other three times, with 21 rounds of competition played. It resulted in a top five of Western Suburbs, Northern Suburbs, Redcliffe, Eastern Suburbs and Wynnum-Manly.

The 1975 season's Rothmans Medallist was Northern Suburbs player Steve Calder.[1]

With seconds remaining in the decider, Redcliffe were trailing 26–24 to minor premiers Western Suburbs. The Dolphins had the ball and launched a bomb hoping for the best. However, before the ball landed, fans had flooded Lang Park ensuring there was no chance for Redcliffe to pressure Wests' receiver into an error.[2] The ball ended up going into touch, ensuring that the fans did not ruin the final play of the game.

Teams[edit]

Club Home ground Coach Captain
Eastern Suburbs Langlands Park Des Morris Des Morris
Fortitude Valley Neumann Oval Henry Holloway Marty Scanlan
Northern Suburbs Bishop Park Tommy Bishop Tommy Bishop
Past Brothers Corbett Park Brian Fitzsimmons Wayne Bennett
Redcliffe Redcliffe Showgrounds Barry Muir Ian Pearce
Southern Suburbs Davies Park Harry Bath Gary Dobrich
Western Suburbs Purtell Park Ron Raper Harry Cameron
Wynnum-Manly Kougari Oval T. Berry Nev Hornery

Ladder[edit]

Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1 Western Suburbs 21 16 0 5 473 296 +177 32
2 Northern Suburbs 21 13 1 7 467 346 +121 27
3 Redcliffe 21 13 0 8 387 337 +50 26
4 Eastern Suburbs 21 11 2 8 390 338 +52 24
5 Wynnum-Manly 21 10 1 10 352 342 +10 21
6 Past Brothers 21 8 1 12 347 385 -38 17
7 Southern Suburbs 21 6 0 15 331 490 -159 12
8 Fortitude Valley 21 4 1 16 289 495 -206 9

Finals[edit]

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Crowd
Qualifying Finals
Eastern Suburbs 7-9 Wynnum-Manly 30 August 1975 Lang Park Eddie Ward 8,000
Northern Suburbs 15–2 Redcliffe 31 August 1975 Lang Park Ian Smith
Semi-finals
Redcliffe 22-15 Wynnum-Manly 6 September 1975 Lang Park Ian Smith
Western Suburbs 21-11 Northern Suburbs 7 September 1975 Lang Park Eddie Ward
Preliminary Final
Northern Suburbs 2-25 Redcliffe 13 September 1975 Lang Park Eddie Ward
Grand Final
Western Suburbs 26-24 Redcliffe 21 September 1975 Lang Park Ian Smith 41,000

Grand Final[edit]

Western Suburbs Position Redcliffe
  1. Greg McCarthy
FB
  1. Tony Obst
2. Michael Flesser WG 2. Brian Gardiner
3. Harry Cameron (c) CE 3. Peter Flanders
4. Greg Heading CE 4. Ian Pearce (c)
5. Wayne Stewart WG 5. Victor Tighe
6. Geoff Richardson FE 6. Steve Williams
7. Greg Oliphant HB 7. Brian Winney
8. Norm Carr LK 8. Ian Thinee
9. Rod Bradshaw SR 9. Rod Halley
10. Henry Williamson SR 10. Forrester Grayson
11. Max Williamson PR 11. Bevan Bleakley
12. Kel Brown HK 12. Bob Jones
13. John Young PR 13. Steve Bullow
14. Bob Green Reserves 14. Chris Mason
19. Carlo Costa Reserves 15. Geoff Russell
20. C Anderson Reserves 16. Peter Leis
Reserves 19. Brad McArthur
Ron Raper Coach Barry Muir

Redcliffe's storming finish was not enough, as Western Suburbs held on to claim its first premiership in 21 years.

Redcliffe were coming home strong 26–24, but Panthers held on, to win their ninth premiership and first since 1954. Redcliffe won the scrum count 7–4, the Dolphins winning the penalties 11-7 as well.

Western Suburbs 26 (Tries: H. Cameron, R. Bradshaw, G. McCarthy, G. Heading. Goals: W. Stewart)

Redcliffe 24 (Tries: T. Obst, I. Pearce, G. Russell, B. Bleakley. Goals: I. Pearce 6)[3][4]

References[edit]

  1. ^ QRL Media
  2. ^ "Best 10 Brisbane or QRL grand finals in past 50 years" in Courier Mail, September 26, 2014
  3. ^ 1975 BRL Grand Final Highlights Wests 26 v Redcliffe 24 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBHXh5M4icY
  4. ^ 1975 Brisbane Rugby League Grand Final https://web.archive.org/web/20060214040520/http://queensland.rleague.com/flashback/1975gf.php