St George Dragons

Sean Fagan of RL1908.com

Part 2 / Part 1

1959 - 1998

The 1959 season saw the St George Dragons become only the sixth side in the history of the game to go through a season unbeaten. The year also saw the arrival of Johnny Raper, Monty Porter and Reg Gasnier. In the Grand Final the Dragons and Manly took the fight to each other early, before St George poured on the power to win 20-0.

Kevin Ryan arrived in 1960 to bolster the ranks as St George took their fifth title in succession - only the second club in Sydney rugby league history to achieve it (Souths 1925-1929 being the first). The Dragons brushed past Wests 31-7 in the semi-final before demolishing the Eastern Suburbs side 31-6.

The magnitude of the 1960 win showed that St. George were still on an upward curve. No club had ever before displayed anything like their relentless domination of the game. The only club who would go close to them during thier premiership-run were Western Suburbs.

Wests and St George finished a massive ten points clear of the field in 1961, as the Magpies took the Minor Premiership on for and against. The Dragons though were too good again when it mattered, winning over Wests in the semi-final (9-4) and Grand Final (22-0). The Wests side contained seven current Test players but weren't able to outplay the St George teamwork and coaching of Kearney.

After six successive titles, the St George Dragons stood alone with the greatest premiership title run in history.

Norm Provan took on the captain-coaching role for the 1962 season and the club reclaimed the minor premiership title, one point ahead of Newtown. In the semi-final the Bluebags were out-gunned by a blinding Reg Gasnier as the Saints won 30-9 to progress to yet another Grand Final - again the opponent was Western Suburbs. In a close game, Johnny King scored the only try of the match and St George won 9-6. In the seven titles achieved in the run so far, the Wests effort of 1962 had proved to be the most formidable.

Graeme Langlands and Billy Smith arrived in 1963 as Wests were yet again the main challengers.

The Magpies defeated the Dragons in both the home and away games, before they again beat the Saints in the semi-final by 10-8. For the first time in five seasons St George were forced into the preliminary final to reach the decider.

Just under 60,000 spectators saw Reg Gasnier score a try in the final minutes of play as the St George Dragons defeated Parramatta by 12-7 to make the Grand Final.

The Grand Final would be St. George's fourth game of the season against Wests and the Magpies were yet to be beaten. In spite of heavy rain, 70,000 spectators were at the SCG to witness St George's controversial 8-3 win. This was the match where photographer John O'Gready took his famous image of Norm Provan and Arthur Summons: "The Gladiators". The Magpies and many independent observers have always claimed that St. George were lucky to win.

1964 saw Parramatta finish second behind St George in the race for the minor premiership. However, the Eels lost both play-off games and Balmain appeared in the Grand Final against St George. After a mesmerising run by Graeme Langlands, Saints winger Johnny King scored the only try of the game and the Tigers went down by 11-6.

St George and South Sydney fought out the 1965 Grand Final after both had disposed of North Sydney's spirited challenge. A record crowd of over 78,000 took up any vantage point they could to witness a great exhibition of unlimited tackle rugby league. St George eventually prevailed over the youthful Rabbitohs by 12-8 to secure their tenth straight title.

The Dragons had become very astute at securing and developing the best in junior talent and elite players. Along with a binding "club spirit" like no other, it seemed the Saints had adopted a recipe for success that would not yield.

Balmain's team in 1966 was formidable and included Barnes, Bolton, Beetson and Peter Provan. The Tigers took the challenge right to St George. Yet it happened again. Captain Ian Walsh led the Dragons into their 11th straight Grand Final after they beat the Tigers 10-2 in a semi-final. Balmain still made it to the Grand Final but a comfortable win went St George's way by 23-4.

The 1967 season saw the introduction of the four tackle rule and a general belief that St. George's domination would soon be over. It wasn't - well immediately anyway - and it is arguable that it was player performance and injuries, rather than the "new rule".

St George were still the team of the 1967 season, finishing yet again as minor premiership winners ahead of Souths, Canterbury and Easts. Despite scoring two tries to one, the Dragons lost their first semi-final of 1967 to the Rabbitohs by 13-8. This forced St. George into the preliminary final against Canterbury who were captain-coached by ex-Saint Kevin Ryan. It was the Berries first play-offs appearance since 1947.

The St George Dragons began well and raced to an early 9-0 lead and within reach of their 12th straight Grand Final. However, St. George first had to withstand a Canterbury fightback. With a quarter of the game remaining, St George were behind by 12-11. The pressure of the enormity of the moment fast approaching weighed heavily on the players. Despite relentlessly attacking the Canterbury line, they could not be breached.

St. George's glorious 11 season title-winning run was over.

St George continued though to feature in the finals in the seasons that followed. They again reached the Grand Final in 1971 where they were beaten by Souths. The Dragons returned to the premiership decider in 1975 however they were over-run by a powerful Easts side.

With a new breed of young players in 1977, coached by Harry Bath, St George played a drawn Grand Final 9-all with Parramatta. With Ted Goodwin in scintillating form and vigorous play from forwards Rod Reddy and Robert Stone, the Dragons thrashed the Eels in the Grand Final replay by 22-0 to win their 14th title. The majority of the same players returned in the Saints 1979 Grand Final winning side which defeated Canterbury 17-13 after leading 17-2 early.

In 59 seasons St. George had won 15 premierships - near enough to 25%! An astounding record.

In the twenty seasons that followed, St George appeared in four more Grand Finals however all proved to be unsuccessful challenges. After finishing as minor premiers in 1985, the Dragons lost to Canterbury by 7-6 following an Andrew Farrer field goal. St George played Brisbane in back-to-back Grand Finals in 1992 and 1993 but fell at the final hurdle each time (28-8 and 14-8).

Under inspirational leadership from Mark Coyne, St George faced up to the 1996 season (its 75th) in disarray from the effects of the Super League war. Yet Coyne and coach David Waite turned the team around on the back of Anthony Mundine, Nathan Brown, Noel Goldthorpe, Mark Bell, Lance Thompson and Wayne Bartrim.

The Saints beat Canberra, Easts and Norths to reach the Grand Final against Manly. However, a disputed "not-tackled" call by the referee saw Manly take a 14-2 halftime lead and with it any real hope of a Dragons premiership.

The end of the 1998 season saw the passing of an era in the history of the St George club with the decision to merge with the Illawarra Steelers.

Ian Heads' closing remarks from "Saints: The Legend Lives On" summed the feelings up best:

"… the game of rugby league had moved on. So, too, had the team which was stillborn one night in 1908 and re-emerged in 1921 to begin richly famous years. In 1998 when the rugby league world had turned, St George RLFC, the most famous club of them all, paused to reflect, then got on with business … just as it always had".

Within a season, the joint venture Dragons would appear in a Grand Final.

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