| | | St George Dragons Rugby League History
Since
1921 - Our Proud History
1940-1944 |
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WAR
AND PEACE
 With
the outbreak of World War Two in 1939 came a whole new
set of hardships. Apart from the fear of invasion, there
was also a mass exodus of young men leaving Australia
to join the fight. No sport was left untouched as scores
of the countries' best athletes went off, many never to
return. Like all Rugby League clubs, St George was hit
hard. But this didn't stop Saints winning their first
ever premiership in 1941.
In
1942, despite performing better
in the semi-finals, Saints were denied their second premiership.
The 1940s also saw record breaking Jack Lindwall
(pic right) reach his career heights. Jack's brother,
Ray Lindwall also played for Saints in the 1940s
and was a talented footballer before becoming a champion
cricketer.
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In
a League of their own
1940:
Club Champions for first time!
SAINTS SWITCH BACK TO HURSTVILLE OVAL AND DON NEW JERSEY
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Season
Snapshot
In
1940, Saints finished in third position on the ladder
qualifying for semi-finals before bowing out in the major
semi-final.
|
Hurstville
Oval, 3 August 1940: St George completed round 14 by defeating
Wests 31-15. Saints did well in all three grades in 1940 and won
the Club Championship for the first time. 1940 also saw the club
return to Hurstville Oval as their home ground after 15 seasons
at Earl Park.
St George also have done away with their red vee
jersey and switched back to a red hoops jersey, similar to that
which they wore between 1921-1927. The main difference being the
thin red hoops on either side of wider hoops instead of the simple
wide red hoops of the 1920s. The jersey earned St George another
new nickname, 'Blood & Bandages'. The club would eventually
return a wide red vee later in the 1940s.
SAINTS DEFEATED IN MAJOR SEMI FINAL
Sydney Cricket Ground, 17 August 1940: Saints'
season has come to an end after being defeated by Easts 10-3 in
front of 17,473 people.
SAINTS SIGN ANOTHER LINDWALL
Also in 1940, St George signed promising fullback
and goal kicker, Ray Lindwall, the brother of Jack Lindwall
who came to Saints in 1938. Ray, an all round sportsman is also
a talented cricketer.
HAZLETON DEPARTS
Charlie
Hazleton, Illawarra district's first international has had
his Rugby League career cut short by the war. 'Saus' Hazleton,
a Kangaroo, played two seasons with St George in 1939 and
1940 and as winger scored 17 tries in just 14 rounds in 1939.
After the war, he will return to play in Port Kembla.
|
1940
NSWRL First Grade
Ladder
(top
4 in semis)
| Easts
p |
19 |
| Newtown |
18 |
| St
George |
16 |
| Canterbury |
16 |
| Balmain |
15 |
| Souths |
14 |
| Norths |
8 |
| Wests |
6 |
p = Season Premiers
Saints 1940
AFTER 14 ROUNDS
Minor Premiership
Won-Lost-Draw-Bye
Points For 263
(1st best attack)
Points Against 203
(5th best defence)
|
|
MP Standing
3rd
(8 teams)
|
FINALS
Points For 3
Points Against 10
|
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Final Standing
3rd
|
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TOTALS
15 matches
|
Points For 266
Points Against 213 |
|
1941:
Click on pic for larger image and names
|
ST
GEORGE WIN FIRST PREMIERSHIP
 Sydney
Cricket Ground, 30 August 1941: Following
20 years of persistence and near misses, St George finally
win their first premiership
After 14 rounds Saints were in 4th position on 17 pts but
were only one point behind Easts, Balmain and Canterbury.
Supporters were ruing the round nine match when Saints scored
two tries to one but went down to Canterbury 15-14 thus ultimately
denying the Dragons the minor premiership.
But with by far the best season attacking record (63 tries)
Saints made easy work of Balmain in the minor semi-final,
winning 32-8. The Dragons then went on to win the greatest
prize of all when they trounced Easts in the Final 31-14,
in front of 39,957 people.
THE 1941 FINAL, ST GEORGE SCORERS:
Tries: Roy 'Torchy' Hasson
(halfback) 2, Owen 'Bricky' Campbell (winger) 2, Neville
Smith (c-coach) 1, Gordon Hart (winger) 1, Len
Kelly (forward) 1.
Goals: Neville Smith 5.
FULLTIME SCORE: St George 31-14.
Referee: Tom McMahon.
|
1941
NSWRL
First Grade
Ladder
(top 4 in semis)
| Easts |
18 |
| Balmain |
18 |
| Canterbury |
18 |
| St
George p |
17 |
| Newtown |
14 |
| Wests |
12 |
| Souths |
8 |
| Norths |
7 |
(14
ROUNDS)
Saints
'41 record
Win Loss Draw
8W, 5L, 1D
Pts for/against
For 307 (1st)
Against 248 (6th) |
SKIPPER
KNOCKED OUT
 In
what was a tough encounter, St George captain-coach and star player,
Neville Smith [pic left] was knocked out after a heavy tackle
early in the match.
Neville Smith recovered and scored 13 points with one try and
five goals.
In 1939, Neville came to St George from Valleys (Brisbane) and
became the youngest ever captain-coach in the club's history. |
TWO PLAYERS
SENT OFF
 In
another incident, Easts forward, Jack Arnold and Saints
forward, Bill Tyquin were sent off after an almighty punch
up.
Tyquin [pic right] had just one memorable season in the Sydney
premiership. The next year he returned back to Queensland and
went on to captain the state side in 1948-49. He also represented
Australia as a '48 Kangaroo.
The record shows no representative appearances for Jack Arnold.
DAVE BROWN RETIRES: Easts' centre Dave Brown retires
from League after Easts' loss to Saints. Brown has often been
referred to as 'the Bradman of League' and holds many League records.
|
1942:
Late goal saves Canterbury-Bankstown
SAINTS RUNNERS UP
Sydney
Cricket Ground, 12 September 1942:
A crowd of 26,171 saw Canterbury's
Lindsay Johnson manage a late conversion to secure an 11-9
win in the 1942 Grand Final. Saints were leading 9-6 late in the
match but a Canterbury try locked up the scores at 9-all The Canterbury
fullback's goal just scraped over the cross bar giving his team
the premiership. It was a
tight match with both teams scoring one try each.
In the previous weeks, Saints
had already beaten Canterbury 25-10 on August 22. Saints also
won the Preliminary Final, defeating Easts 18-5 which normally
would have declared Saints as being the Premiers.
But under a call back
of rules previously deemed unworkable in the 1930s Saints, had
to play minor premiers Canterbury again in the Grand Final. A
revision of the system showed that it did have some merits but
it is clear that extra games meant extra gate money.
Canterbury gained their minor
premiership by way of a play off with Balmain
when both teams finished on 20 points after 14 rounds. Saints
finished third on the ladder with 18 points with Easts on
16 points.
Coming into the premiership
decider, Saints had won two matches in the semis while Canterbury
had just one victory but were always guaranteed a grand final
berth.
Given the circumstances, St
George supporters must have been full of despair at losing the
Grand Final.
FULL TIME: Canterbury 11
St George 9.
Point scorers for St George: Jack Lindwall 1 try, Ray
Lindwall 3 goals.
NB: All three grades
made it to Grand Final - Saints third grade won.
 NEW
SIGNINGS:
Saints blooded promising local
junior Doug McRitchie (pictured) into first grade
in 1942 without allowing him any experience in the lower grades.
Later (1945), the centre would serve in New Guinea and like many
players of the time, his football career was to be interrupted
by the war. |
1942
NSWRL First Grade
Ladder
(top 4 in semis)
| Canterbury
p |
20 |
| Balmain |
20 |
| St
George |
18 |
| Easts |
16 |
| Souths |
15 |
| Norths |
10 |
| Newtown |
9 |
| Wests |
4 |
(14
ROUNDS)
Saints
'42 record
Win Loss Draw
9W, 5L, 0D
Pts for/against
For 271 (1st)
Against 205 (4th) |
1943
NSWRL
First Grade
Ladder
(top 4 in semis)
| Newtown
p |
21 |
| Balmain |
21 |
| Norths |
17 |
| St
George |
17 |
| Souths |
16 |
| Easts |
8 |
| Wests |
6 |
| Canterbury |
6 |
(14
ROUNDS)
Saints
'43 record
Win Loss Draw
8W, 5L, 1D
Pts for/against
For 185 (3rd)
Against 188 (6th) |
1943:
SAINTS BOW OUT IN PRELIMINARY
FINAL
Sydney Cricket Ground, 28 August 1943: Saints
finished 4th on the ladder coming into the semis. They defeated
Balmain 12-5 in the minor semi on August 21. Saints were defeated
in the preliminary final by Norths 25-19 on August 28 in front
of 41,646. A crowd record was set the following week in the Grand
Final when Newtown beat Norths by 34-7 in front of a mammoth SCG
audience of 60,922.
1943 was the year that Neville Smith
made a return to St George as captain-coach after an absence if
one year. However, it was to be his final season in a short career
of 59 matches in which he scored 15 tries and 118 goals for a
personal tally of 281 points. He also represented NSW six times
in 1940 and 1941 (captain in 1940). He would have played for Australia
if not for World War Two.
1944:
ST GEORGE SUFFER WORST DEFEAT
Sydney
Cricket Ground, 26 August 1944: In the same year that allied
troops were making their run on the beaches of Normandy, St George
were copping a hiding at the hands of Newtown in the major semi
final. In front of 34,883 spectators, Newtown romped in 11 tries
to two to humble the Dragons 55-7. This is the worse defeat ever
delivered to St George (It would take another 50 years to be broken.
See 1994).
In 1944, Saints finished 3rd on the ladder. |
1944
NSWRL
First Grade
Ladder
(top 4 in semis)
| Newtown |
22 |
| Balmain
p |
21 |
| St
George |
18 |
| Souths |
15 |
| Norths |
11 |
| Wests |
10 |
| Easts |
8 |
| Canterbury |
7 |
(14
ROUNDS)
Saints
'44 record
Win Loss Draw
9W, 5L, 0D
Pts for/against
For 230 (3rd)
Against 238 (4th) |
1944 was
the final year as a player for inspirational forward, Len Kelly
who played 161 games for Saints. For a forward, Len was a
prolific try scorer with 59 tries.
After retiring from first grade, Len went to the
bush to captain-coach Picton. He later found a career in administration
as an Australian selector (1956) and was to become vice president
of the NSWRL as well president of the St George club.
 SAINTS
SIGN WOLLONGONG JUNIOR
In 1944, St George secured the services of Frank
Johnson for two seasons. The popular hooker represented Country
between 1940-1943 while playing for Port Kembla. He remained a
Dragon in 1945 but returned to Captain coach Wollongong in 1946.
Also in 1944, Saints lost winger / fullback, Norm
Tipping (pic right) who came to St George from the district's
Rugby Union ranks in 1932.
Norm's career was riddled with injury. He had to sit out the 1935
season only to suffer a spinal injury in 1936. He returned in
1943 and 1944 and ended his career with one try and one goal in
25 games with the Dragons. |
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Seasons
In Review
