1973 NSWRFL season

From 1973 onwards, Newtown were known as the “Jets”.[2]

Balmain 66th season Ground: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Leo Nosworthy Captain: John Spencer	Canterbury-Bankstown 39th season Ground: Belmore Oval Coach: Malcolm Clift Captain: Geoff Connell	Cronulla-Sutherland 7th season Ground: Endeavour Field Captain-coach: Tommy Bishop	Eastern Suburbs 66th season Ground: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Tony Paskins Captain: Ron Coote
Manly-Warringah 27th season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Ron Willey Captain: Fred Jones	Newtown Jets 66th season Ground: Henson Park Coach: Jack Gibson Captain: Lionel Williamson	North Sydney 66th season Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Noel Kelly Captain: Ross Warner	Parramatta 27th season Ground: Cumberland Oval Coach: Dave Bolton Captain: Bob McCarthy
Penrith 7th season Ground: Penrith Stadium Coach: Bob Boland→Leo Trevena Captain: Ron Lynch	South Sydney 66th season Ground: Redfern Oval Coach: Clive Churchill Captain: Bob McCarthy	St. George 53rd season Ground: Kogarah Jubilee Oval Captain-coach: Graeme Langlands	Western Suburbs 66th season Ground: Lidcombe Oval Coach: Don Parish Captain: Tommy Raudonikis

• Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 5.
• 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.

	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
1	Manly-Warringah	1	3	3	5	7	7	9	11	13	15	17	19	21	23	25	25	27	29	31	33	33	35
2	Cronulla-Sutherland	2	2	4	6	6	8	8	10	12	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	24	26	28	30	32	34
3	St. George	2	2	4	6	8	8	10	10	12	12	14	16	16	16	18	20	22	24	26	26	28	30
4	Newtown	0	2	4	4	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	16	18	18	18	18	20	22	22	24	26	28
5	Canterbury-Bankstown	1	1	3	5	7	9	9	11	13	13	13	13	13	13	15	17	19	19	21	23	25	25
6	Eastern Suburbs	0	2	2	4	4	4	4	6	6	8	10	12	12	14	16	18	18	18	18	20	22	24
7	South Sydney	0	2	2	2	4	6	6	8	10	12	13	13	15	15	15	17	19	19	21	23	23	23
8	North Sydney	2	2	2	2	4	6	8	8	8	8	9	9	9	11	11	13	13	13	13	13	13	15
9	Western Suburbs	0	0	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	6	6	8	10	12	12	12	12	14	14	14	14	14
10	Balmain	0	2	4	4	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	8	8	10	10	10	10	12	12	14	14
11	Parramatta	2	4	4	4	4	6	8	8	8	8	8	10	10	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12
12	Penrith	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	8	10	10	10	10	10

	Qualifying final					Major semi-final					Preliminary final					Grand final
						1	Manly	14								Manly		10
							Cronulla-Sutherland	4								Cronulla-Sutherland		7
	2	Cronulla-Sutherland	18								Cronulla-Sutherland		20
	3	St. George	0			Minor semi-final					Newtown		11
						St. George		5*
	4	Newtown	13			Newtown		8*
	5	Canterbury	2

* - Indicates only the replay match, and not the match ending in a draw.

After Cronulla-Sutherland's 14–4 loss in the major semi-final, Manly-Warringah expected the Sharks would be fired up for the grand final. And they were. Ian Heads wrote in the Sunday Telegraph the next day that It was a grand final as tough and dirty as any bar-room brawl.[3] Alan Clarkson wrote in the Sun Herald The fare served up in the first half belonged in the Colosseum.[4] The first half was not how the game's administrators would have wished to show-case rugby league, every tackle was loaded with menace and meant to damage. Nevertheless, from the melee Bob Fulton emerged and showed his unrivalled skill. Heads and Clarkson wrote of his "towering genius" and "football brilliance" respectively.

Manly's English import Malcolm Reilly, himself never one to take a backward step, was the first victim of the carnage. In the opening minute, Cronulla hooker Ron "Rocky" Turner set his sights on Reilly as the Englishman got an early kick away to take advantage of a strong breeze blowing towards the Bradman Stand (Paddington End). Turner missed Reilly the first time around, but didn't miss him a few minutes later. The Manly lock was left in agony from a badly bruised hip and had to leave the field for painkilling injections. Knowing he probably wouldn't last the first half he then returned to the field and created mayhem despite the injections he received failing to work properly. He set about doing as much physical damage to Cronulla players as he could, but bowed out in the 25th minute and was replaced by reserve forward John Bucknall, who had played in Manly's winning Reserve Grade Grand final side earlier in the day. Bucknall didn't think he would be needed and actually had a full lunch and soft drink shortly before the first grade game began.

After a number of brawls in the first half, referee Keith Page eventually called in all 26 players twice for mass cautions, threatening that any more foul play would result in players being sent off. Despite his warnings the back-alley tactics continued from both teams, and Page didn't send anyone from the field.[5]

Then Fulton took over in the 29th and 58th minutes. “Bozo” demonstrated power and pace in both tries. The first came from a brilliant Fred Jones flick pass [6] which saw Fulton split Eric Archer and Steve Rogers just twenty-five metres from the line. Fulton ran around to touch down near the posts and give Graham Eadie an easier shot at conversion which he duly slotted through the posts. Manly took a 5–0 scoreline to the half time break.

The second Fulton try came after Eadie took a pass from five-eighth Ian Martin, then looked for Fulton and set him up perfectly. Fulton raced for the Brewongle Stand corner and managed to put the ball down before being bundled into touch by Rogers and replacement fullback Rick Bourke. From out wide Eadie missed the conversion to make it 8–2 after Steve Rogers had previously kicked a penalty goal.

Cronulla had to wait a long time before they dented the Manly line. It was in the 70th minute that the crack appeared. Trailing 8–2, the Sharks struck when lock Greg Pierce positioned Rick Bourke for a try (Bourke was flattened by Manly winger Max Brown as he scored, resulting in a broken thumb for Brown). Rogers easily kicked the conversion to reduce the deficit to just one point. Eadie stretched the lead to three points from a penalty kick and then the Sharks rallied and bombarded Manly. Ultimately, the Manly defence of John Mayes, Terry Randall, Peter Peters, Eadie and Fulton were up to the task. It will, however, go down in Sharks folklore that a Tommy Bishop flick pass in the dying moments failed to go to hand with the Manly line wide open. It was a set move Cronulla had successfully played all year, but had adjusted for the grand final in anticipation of Manly's familiarity with the standard move. As expected, the Manly defence reacted to snuff out the set play, leaving a gap that Bishop's pass managed to pinpoint. However, in the heat of the moment, Sharks second-rower Ken Maddison also played for the old move, ran the wrong line and the ball went to ground – and with it went the premiership.

Manly-Warringah 10 (Tries: Fulton 2. Goals: Eadie 2/6)

Cronulla-Sutherland 7 (Tries: Bourke. Goals: Rogers 2/5)

Man of the Match: Bob Fulton (Manly)
Referee: Keith Page
Attendance: 52,044