1923 NSWRFL Grand Final
Wednesday, 12 September 1923 · Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, New South Wales
1923 NSWRFL Grand Final result: Eastern Suburbs def. South Sydney, 15-12, at Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, New South Wales on Wednesday, 12 September 1923.
Sourcing caveat: Contemporarily styled 'the Final' - a playoff forced by the 30-point tie; 'Grand Final' is retrospective. Attendance: Wikipedia and Rugby League Project record 15,000, but the Sydney Roosters' official club timeline says 14,000 - the discrepancy is unresolved. In 1923 a try was worth 3 points and a goal 2 points; the scoring breakdown above reconciles exactly to 15-12 (Eastern Suburbs: Harry Caples x2 and Les Steel tries x 3 = 9, plus Arthur Oxford 3 goals = 6, totalling 15; South Sydney: Benny Wearing x2 tries x 3 = 6, plus Wearing 3 goals = 6, totalling 12). GENUINE SOURCING CONFLICTS, flagged rather than silently resolved: rugbyleagueproject.org's match page states the halftime score was 7-3, not the 7-5 in this page's existing prose; and it credits South Sydney's 3 goals as a split (Wearing 2, Perc Horne 1) rather than all 3 to Wearing alone. The scoring breakdown above retains the page's existing, well-established Wearing-3-goals version, since it reconciles identically and is the version already anchored in the site's prose; the alternate RLP breakdown is documented here for future editorial review against a primary newspaper source. Squad numbers could not be confirmed as genuine on-field jersey numbers (source values did not follow simple 1-13 sequencing) and have been omitted. Exact try minutes and goal-attempt counts could not be confirmed.
Result
| Team | Score | |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | Eastern Suburbs | 15 |
| Runner-up | South Sydney | 12 |
Attendance: 15,000
NRL 1923 — full season ladder & finals series
| Pos | Club | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Diff | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eastern Suburbs | 16 | 13 | 0 | 3 | 235 | 124 | +111 | 30 |
| 2 | South Sydney | 16 | 13 | 0 | 3 | 242 | 173 | +69 | 30 |
| 3 | Balmain | 16 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 247 | 136 | +111 | 25 |
| 4 | Western Suburbs | 16 | 9 | 0 | 7 | 257 | 218 | +39 | 22 |
| 5 | North Sydney | 16 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 245 | 223 | +22 | 20 |
| 6 | Glebe | 16 | 6 | 0 | 10 | 160 | 193 | -33 | 16 |
| 7 | Newtown | 16 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 161 | 297 | -136 | 14 |
| 8 | St. George | 16 | 5 | 0 | 11 | 168 | 236 | -68 | 14 |
| 9 | University | 16 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 120 | 235 | -115 | 9 |
No finals series this season — the minor premier was awarded the premiership outright.
Finals series
Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Sep 1923 | Eastern Suburbs Roosters 15–12 South Sydney Rabbitohs | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, NSW | 15,000 |
Match officials
| Referee | Tom McMahon |
Scorers
| Eastern Suburbs | Tries: Harry Caples — minute unconfirmed; Harry Caples — minute unconfirmed; Les Steel — minute unconfirmed Goals: Arthur Oxford (3/unconfirmed) |
| South Sydney | Tries: Benny Wearing — minute unconfirmed; Benny Wearing — minute unconfirmed Goals: Benny Wearing (3/unconfirmed) |
Teams
| Eastern Suburbs | South Sydney | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | Ed Rigney | Fullback | Howard Hallett | — |
| — | Cecil Abotomey | Wing | Benny Wearing | — |
| — | George Agar | Centre | Oscar Quinlivan | — |
| — | Jack Dawson | Centre | Tom Barry | — |
| — | Les Steel | Wing | Vic Lawrence | — |
| — | Harry Caples (c) | Five-eighth | William Gillespie (c) | — |
| — | Sid Kaufmann | Halfback | Alec Johnston | — |
| — | Jack Watkins | Lock | Jack Lawrence | — |
| — | Arthur Oxford | Second Row | Alf O'Connor | — |
| — | Bill Richards | Second Row | Pat Murphy | — |
| — | Bill Ives | Prop | Dave Watson | — |
| — | Harold Holmes | Hooker | Ern Willmott | — |
| — | Tom Molloy | Prop | Perc Horne | — |
| Substitutes | ||||
| — | Edward Connerton listed as a reserve; whether he took the field is unconfirmed. Tom Fitzpatrick and Jack O'Donnell were notable absentees. | no reserve/interchange players recorded — no interchange bench existed in 1923. Alf Blair and Eddie Root were notable absentees. | — | |
| Ray Norman | Coach | William Gillespie | ||
Clive Churchill Medal
The Clive Churchill Medal was first awarded in 1986; no official best-on-ground medal existed for this Grand Final.
Match context
For the second season running, the premiership ladder refused to separate the top two, and again Sydney got a playoff final for its trouble. Eastern Suburbs had led the 1923 competition by two points entering the last round, only to fall to Balmain by a single point, while South Sydney beat North Sydney to draw level; both clubs closed the sixteen-round season with thirteen wins, three losses and 30 competition points. The deciding match was scheduled for a Wednesday afternoon, 12 September 1923, at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and around 15,000 turned out midweek to watch the two glamour attacking sides of the season settle the title. They were rewarded with a classic. Eastern Suburbs edged to a 7-5 lead by half-time, but the second half developed into a thrilling, fluctuating contest against a South Sydney side powered by their gifted winger Benny Wearing, who scored both of his team's tries and kicked three goals to account for all twelve of Souths' points. The difference, in the end, was the Eastern Suburbs captain Harry Caples, who burst through for two memorable tries to seal the match; Les Steel added the other Easts try and Arthur Oxford landed three goals for the 15-12 victory. The Rugby League News hailed it as the most brilliant game of the season, and few in the crowd disagreed. The triumph carried real historical weight for the Tricolours: it was Eastern Suburbs' first premiership in ten years, their first since the great Dally Messenger-era side completed a hat-trick of titles in 1911-13, and it salvaged in the most dramatic way a season that had appeared thrown away in the final home-and-away round. For South Sydney the defeat stung, but it proved merely a prelude: the Rabbitohs would win seven premierships between 1925 and 1932, an era of dominance this match narrowly delayed. The 1923 final also confirmed the pattern of midweek SCG playoffs whenever the ladder tied, an ad hoc arrangement the league would rely on once more, in 1924, before finally legislating a permanent finals series in 1926.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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