New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1978
| New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1978 | |
| Teams | 12 |
| Premiers |  Manly-Warringah (4th title) |
| Minor premiers |  Western Suburbs (5th title) |
| Matches played | 140 |
| Points scored | 4375 (average 31.25 per match) |
| Attendance | 1,582,914 (average 11,307 per match) |
| Top points scorer(s) |  Mick Cronin (282) |
| Top try scorer(s) |  Larry Corowa (24) |
1978's New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the seventy-first season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Twelve clubs, including six Sydney-based foundation teams and another six from Sydney competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup during the season, which culminated in a grand final between the Manly-Warringah and Cronulla-Sutherland clubs. NSWRFL teams also competed for the 1978 Amco Cup.
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This season video citing was introduced for incidents of foul play that are not detected on the field. Twenty-two regular season rounds were played from March till August, resulting in a top five of Western Suburbs, Cronulla-Sutherland, Manly-Warringah, Parramatta and Canterbury-Bankstown who battled it out in the finals.
Mick Cronin set a new record for most points scored by an individual in Australian club rugby league history with his tally of 282 points from 25 games in 1978. This record would stand for another twenty years. He also broke Arthur Oxford's 1920 record for consecutive goals with 26 in a row.
The 1978 season's Rothmans Medallist was Parramatta centre Mick Cronin. Rugby League Week gave their player of the year award to Parramatta forward Geoff Gerard.
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Western Suburbs |
22 | 16 | 1 | 5 | 426 | 288 | +138 | 33 |
| 2 |  Cronulla-Sutherland |
22 | 15 | 0 | 7 | 418 | 261 | +157 | 30 |
| 3 | Manly-Warringah |
22 | 15 | 0 | 7 | 427 | 287 | +140 | 30 |
| 4 | Parramatta |
22 | 14 | 0 | 8 | 525 | 306 | +219 | 28 |
| 5 |  Canterbury-Bankstown |
22 | 13 | 2 | 7 | 307 | 273 | +34 | 28 |
| 6 |  Eastern Suburbs |
22 | 13 | 0 | 9 | 377 | 280 | +57 | 26 |
| 7 |  South Sydney |
22 | 12 | 1 | 9 | 298 | 300 | -2 | 25 |
| 8 |  St. George |
22 | 10 | 1 | 11 | 367 | 354 | +13 | 21 |
| 9 | Balmain |
22 | 9 | 1 | 12 | 337 | 344 | -7 | 19 |
| 10 |  Penrith |
22 | 4 | 2 | 16 | 206 | 463 | -257 | 10 |
| 11 |  North Sydney |
22 | 4 | 1 | 17 | 325 | 439 | -114 | 9 |
| 12 |  Newtown |
22 | 2 | 1 | 19 | 199 | 577 | -378 | 5 |
Manly had finished the regular season in the relatively strong position of equal second with Cronulla, three points behind minor premiers Wests. However after Cronulla beat Manly 17-12 in the preliminary final, every game from that point was a sudden-death fixture for the Sea-Eagles.
The second week of finals saw Manly come from 13-3 behind Parramatta to draw 13-all in the semi-final requiring a mid-week replay. Again in that match Parramatta led (11-2 this time), before Manly stormed home with three late tries in ten minutes to win 17-11.
Manly then had to back up a few days later to play a fresh Wests side in the Preliminary Final. Thus far the Magpies had only played one final to Manly's three. Wests had two tries disallowed by referee Greg Hartley. Manly coach Frank Stanton somehow coaxed a courageous effort out of his exhausted players and on field, five-eighth Alan Thompson was inspirational as they triumphed 14-7 and reached the Grand Final.
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and Time | Venue | Referee | Crowd | |||||
| Qualifying Finals | ||||||||
| Cronulla-Sutherland |
17-12 | Manly-Warringah |
26 August 1978 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Jack Danzey | 17,718 | ||
| Parramatta |
22-15 | Canterbury-Bankstown |
27 August 1978 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Greg Hartley | 24,967 | ||
| Semi Finals | ||||||||
| Western Suburbs |
10-14 | Cronulla-Sutherland |
2 September 1978 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Jack Danzey | 22,789 | ||
| Manly-Warringah |
13-13 | Parramatta |
3 September 1978 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Greg Hartley | 30,850 | ||
| Manly-Warringah |
17-11 | Parramatta |
6 September 1978 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Greg Hartley | 42,678 | ||
| Preliminary Final | ||||||||
| Western Suburbs |
7-14 | Manly-Warringah |
9 September 1978 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Greg Hartley | 27,345 | ||
| Grand Finals | ||||||||
| Cronulla-Sutherland |
11-11 | Manly-Warringah |
16 September 1978 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Greg Hartley | 51,510 | ||
| Cronulla-Sutherland |
0-16 | Manly-Warringah |
19 September 1978 | Sydney Cricket Ground | Greg Hartley | 33,552 | ||
| Manly Sea Eagles | Position | Cronulla Sharks |
|---|---|---|
| Graham Eadie | FB | Mick Mullane |
| Tom Mooney | WG | Rick Bourke |
| Russell Gartner | CE | Steve Rogers (c) |
| Simon Booth | CE | Dave Chamberlin |
| Stephen Knight | WG | Steve Edmonds |
| Alan Thompson | FE | Barry Andrews |
| Steve Martin | HB | Steve Hansard |
| Ian Thomson | PR | Paul Khan |
| Max Krilich (c) | HK | John McMartin |
| John Harvey | PR | Gary Stares |
| Bruce Walker | SR | Steve Kneen |
| Terry Randall | SR | Eric Archer |
| Ian Martin | LK | John Glossop |
| Reserve | Rowland Beckett | |
| Frank Stanton | Coach | Norm Provan |
In the Grand Final, Cronulla went to a 9-4 lead in the second half before Manly came back to hit the front 11-9. A Steve Rogers penalty squared it at 11-all but he then missed a desperate late field-goal attempt and at full time the scores remained locked. For the second consecutive season the weary Grand Finalists were required to play a mid-week rematch three days later.
Manly 11 (Tries: Mooney. Goals: Eadie.)
Cronulla 11 (Tries: Edmonds. Goals: Rogers 4.)
The Tuesday rematch in front of 33,500 was Manly's sixth game in twenty-four days. It was the second Grand Final in a row to end up going into a mid-week replay with the 1977 Grand Final also needing a re-match to decide the Premiers.
In the first half Cronulla had no answer to Graham Eadie's blind-side bursts. His display completely routed the hapless Sharks and Manly went to the break holding a 15-0 lead.
The only points in the second half came from a field goal by Eadie.
In the replay, as throughout their extraordinary finals campaign, Manly were inspired by the leadership of captain Max Krilich and coach Frank Stanton, their iron-man Terry Randall, their cool five eighth Alan Thompson and classy fullback Graham Eadie.
As of the 2007 NRL season no player since Eadie has scored the combination of a try, a goal and a field-goal in a Grand Final.
Manly 16 (Tries: Gartner 2, Eadie. Goals: Eadie 3. Field Goal: Eadie.)
Cronulla 0
Man-of-the-match: Graham Eadie
- Rugby League Tables - Season 1978 The World of Rugby League
- Results: 1971-80 at rabbitohs.com.au
- 1978 J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup at rleague.com
- NSWRFL season 1978 at rugbyleagueproject.com
