- New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1983
Infobox rugby league season
year = 1983
competition = New South Wales Rugby Football League
imagesize = 125px
caption =
teams = 14
premiers =
count = 3rd
minor premiers =
mpcount = 5th
matches = 189
points = 7296
attendance = 1458144
top points scorer = (256)
top try scorer = (27)The1983 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the seventy-sixth season of professionalrugby league football in Australia. Fourteen teams competed for theJ J Giltinan Shield andWinfield Cup during the season, which culminated in a replay of the previous year'sgrand final between the Parramatta and Manly-Warringah clubs. During the season, NSWRFL teams also competed for the1983 KB Cup .eason summary
For the first time, the number of points awarded for scoring a try was raised from three to four. There was also the introduction of a hand over if a team was caught in possession six times, which had the effect of killing the traditional scrum but attracted many new followers to a game that had seen crowds decline by fifty percent since the record year of 1968. To counter a lucrative illegal
betting market, legal betting viaFootyTAB was introduced and was a resounding success.Twenty-six regular season rounds were played from February till August, resulting in a top five of Manly, Parramatta, Canterbury, Balmain and St. George who battled it out in the finals. Manly-Warringah managed 23 wins from 28 matches in 1983 - at the time the most wins in a season by a club in NSWRL/NRL premieship history alongside Parramatta's 23 in 1982. This was also the last season in the competition for foundation club the
Newtown Jets , who were dropped at the season's end.The 1983 season's
Rothmans Medal list was Eastern Suburbs back,Michael Eden and theDally M Award went to Western Suburbs' half,Terry Lamb . "Rugby League Week " gave their player of the year award to Manly-Warringah winger,Phil Sigsworth .Teams
The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous season, with fourteen clubs, including six
Sydney -based foundation teams, another six from Sydney, one from greaterNew South Wales and one from theAustralian Capital Territory .Grand Final
Parramatta powered over Manly for the second year straight to claim their third successive title. The one-sided 18-6 win saw Brett Kenny claim a unique achievement in scoring two tries in three successive grand finals. Kenny opened the scoring and the Eels raced to a 10-0 lead after 13 minutes when Eric Grothe steamrolled burly Manly fullback Graham Eadie.
Parramatta 18 (Tries: Brett Kenny 2, Eric Grothe; Goals: Cronin 3)
defeated
Manly-Warringah 6 (Tries: Sigsworth; Goals: Eadie)
References
* [http://www.stats.rleague.com/rl/seas/1983.html Rugby League Tables - Season 1983] "The World of Rugby League"
* [http://www.rabbitohs.com.au/The-Club/Tradition/Results---1981-1990.html Results: 1981-90 at rabbitohs.com.au]
* [http://www.rleague.com//db/year/1983/j_j_giltinan_shield_and_winfield_cup/index.php 1983 J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup at rleague.com]
* [http://rugbyleagueproject.com/competitions/NSWRL_1983.html NSWRFL season 1983 at rugbyleagueproject.com]
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