1981:

HISTORY SPOT UNDERARM BOWLING and the LILLIE KICK

SAINTS FAIL TO MAKE SEMIS
Kogarah Oval, 31 May 1981: Saints have recorded their biggest win in 1981 beating Manly 22-4 in front of 6,239 spectators. It was a poor year for the Dragons who only managed eight wins and eighth position on the league ladder.
HARRY BATH'S FINAL YEAR
Former St George forward, Harry Bath. 'The Old Fox' has followed up a remarkable playing career with a more than impressive coaching career; taking Balmain to two Grand Final appearances in 1964 and 1966 and coaching Australia to World Cup wins in 1968 and 1970.

Reg Gasnier, John Raper, Bob Fulton, Clive Churchill

In 1977, he returned to Saints with immediate success claiming a premiership. Dubbed 'Bath's Babes', the Dragons posted another Grand Final win in 1979.
Harry Bath resigned as coach at the end of season 1981 leaving a marvelous legacy of innovative forward play in the Sydney competition.
At 56 years of age, Harry departed Sydney for Queensland, buying a newsagency on the Gold Coast.
The new coach for 1982 will be Roy Masters.
CHOOK, GAZ RECOGNISED AS 'IMMORTALS'
St George's Johnny Raper and Reg Gasnier have been recognised as 'Immortals' by a Rugby League Week sponsored promotion in 1981.
Also included are Manly's Bob Fulton and South Sydney's Clive Churchill. There was some amazement in Rugby League circles as to how Graeme Langlands could be overlooked. 'Chang' however, was also honoured as an Immortal some 18 years later.

LEN 'DEACON' KELLY PASSES AWAY Len 'Deacon' Kelly (pic right) quietly passed away in 1981 aged 66. After a sharing a congratulatory drink with new coach Roy Masters, Len Kelly was driven home by legendary cricketer Ernie 'Tiger' Black. The next morning Len Kelly passed away. A prolific try scoring forward (59 tries), Len played 208 grade games for Saints (180 in first Grade) between 1933-1944, which was a club record at the time. Once described as the 'undisputed champion of club football', Kelly only ever played for St George. He went on to become an Australian selector in 1956, vice president of the NSWRL and president of the St George club from 1962-77. An extremely influential figure in Rugby League, Len 'Deacon' Kelly was an important factor in the greatness of St George.

1982:

WAV (282 Kb) Click on the speaker and hear founding Illawarra Steelers secretary, Bob Millward recall the 1982 inclusion.

ILLAWARRA STEELERS JOIN '82 COMP
In 1982, a combined team from the South Coast was at last included in the Sydney competition. To many, this inclusion was long overdue. The Canberra Raiders were also admitted.

As was the case with 1967 admission of Cronulla, the Dragons' traditional junior base was further compromised with the coming of the Steelers.

WIN Stadium, 28 February 1982: The Illawarra Steelers first game in first grade. In front of 9,652 spectators, the Steelers were downed by Penrith 17-7. The Panthers scored three tries to one. Other newcomers, Canberra were thrashed in their first match by Souths 37-7.

Click on pic to see a larger image. ILLAWARRA STEELERS' FIRST TEAM 1982: The first ever first grade Illawarra team was: John Sparks; Shane McKellar; John Dorahy (c); Brian Hetherington; Chris Montgomery; Lee Pomfret; Steve Topper; Marty Cavill; Wayne Springall; Rod Henniker; Peter Ryan; Barry Jenson and Greg Cook. Greg Cook scored Illawarra's first try in first grade. The coach was Allan Fitzgibbon from Dapto.

DRAGONS FOOTBALL CLUB INCORPORATED 1982 saw the beginning of sweeping changes in the make up of both the St George football and leagues club boards. The changes being brought about by escalating footballer's contracts and changing leagues club's concerns. The football club became an incorporated company with the committee of 14 being reduced to seven directors. This would pave the way for merging of the two boards (leagues club and football club) and by 1987, there would be only one board but with two separate chairpersons.

NEW ST GEORGE COACH FOR 1982 Roy Masters has been appointed as the new Dragons coach for '82 following the departure of Harry Bath. Masters comes to Saints following four years as coach of Western Suburbs thereby breaking with a tradition which usually saw a coach selected from within club ranks. DRAGONS DOWN STEELERS IN LOCAL DERBY WIN Stadium Wollongong, 11 April 1982: In front of 10,413 people, the St George Dragons have romped home to score nine tries to one to thrash the Illawarra Steelers 37-5. By round 26, the Dragons had failed to make the semis and finished in 10th position. STEELERS SERVE OUT REVENGE TO DRAGONS Kogarah Oval, 18 July 1982: The Steelers have defeated the Dragons by scoring six tries to five in a 32-23 victory. In front of a poor crowd of only 4, 621, the Steelers were kicked home by posting seven goals to four. In their first season, the Steelers finished in 13th position on the ladder.

1984:
ILLAWARRA IMPROVING IN 1984
BRIAN SMITH NEW COACH

THE DEMISE OF NEWTOWN IN 1984 The NSWRL withdrew its invitation to founding club, Newtown. Geographical and financial reasons were given for the struggling inner-city club's departure from the NSWRL first grade. But there were also a series of incidents involving NSWRL boss Kevin Humphreys. Humphreys had offered Newtown a financial lifeline and relocation to Campbelltown, and the future of the foundation club seemed to be back on track. But Humphreys' career was interrupted by controversy following an ABC 4 Corners episode entitled 'The Big League'. After Humphreys was forced to step down as NSWRL boss, a new 'professionalism' headed up by John Quayle came into being. This saw Newtown, the premiership's oldest club, being forced to withdraw from the competition. Wests also had their invitation withdrawn but won a court action to stay. With 13 teams, 1984 saw the inclusion of byes for the first time since 1937.

Kogarah Oval, 5 August 1984: Steelers have defeated the Dragons 12-8 in front of 6,417 people.

1984 saw a marked improvement for Illawarra finishing in 8th position, two points outside of the semis. The Steelers had an opportunity to make the semis but suffered their worse defeat of the season in round 26, going down to Manly 34-10 at Brookvale Oval (26 Aug) in front of 12,012 people.

Much of the credit for Illawarra's improved showing was given to new coach, Brian Smith who came to the Steelers after coaching Souths U/23s (premiers 1981).

Smith previously played 14 games at Souths (1975, 1976, 1979) and 17 games at St George (1974) as halfback.

SAINTS GO DOWN IN FINAL
Sydney Cricket Ground, 16 September 1984: Parramatta Eels have defeated the St George Dragons by 8-7 in front of 37,004 with some observers claiming that Saints were robbed!

Both teams scored one try each with winger, 'Slippery' Steve Morris (pic below right) opening the scoring with a runaway try under the posts, Steve Gearin was successful with the conversion. Saints' Steve Rogers also kicked a field goal.

CLUB CHAMPIONS In 1984 Saints were positioned second on the ladder in first grade and did well in all three grades, winning the 1984 Club Championship.

Parramatta were kept in the match with two penalty goals and with minutes to go, received three quick penalties from referee Kevin Roberts placing the Eels in a strong position.

Despite a desperate covering tackle from Rogers, Parramatta's Eric Grothe scored out wide to snatch victory for the Eels.

Prior to the Final, Saints were defeated by the Eels 22-16 (2 September, SCG) before defeating the South Sydney Rabbitohs 24-6 (8 September, SCG).

SLIPPERY STEVE MORRIS
Steve Morris did it again in 1984 becoming the club's top try scorer for the fifth time in six years. In all, 'Slippery' was Saints best finisher in 1980 (11 tries), 1982 (17 tries), 1983 (19 tries) and 1984 (17 tries). He was also awarded the 'Dally M' winger of the year in 1984, an achievement he would repeat again in 1987.

Team mate Steve Gearin (7 tries, 81 goals, 190 points) in his final season with Saints was the club's top point scorer for the second year running.