1970 NSWRFL Grand Final
Saturday, 19 September 1970 · Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, New South Wales
1970 NSWRFL Grand Final result: South Sydney def. Manly-Warringah, 23-12, at Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, New South Wales on Saturday, 19 September 1970.
Sourcing caveat: In 1970 a try was worth 3 points, a goal 2 points, and a field goal 2 points (the 1-point field-goal rule was not introduced until 1971); the scoring breakdown above reconciles exactly to 23-12 under these rules (Souths: 3 tries x 3 = 9, plus Eric Simms 3/5 goals = 6, plus his 4 field goals x 2 = 8, totalling 23 — Simms' 4 field goals remain the most ever kicked in a Grand Final; Manly: 0 tries, plus Bob Batty 4/6 goals = 8, plus Bob Fulton's 2 field goals x 2 = 4, totalling 12). Rugby League Project's own try-scorer table only credits Bob Grant and omits Ray Branighan entirely (summing to only 20, not 23); Wikipedia's narrative text explicitly confirms "tries from Grant (2) and R Branighan," which is what makes the arithmetic reconcile, and is followed here. John Bucknall, whose off-the-ball punch broke John Sattler's jaw, was not sin-binned or sent off for the incident; he left the field injured in the 35th minute after what sources describe as "retaliatory attention from the Rabbitohs pack." Exact try-scoring minutes could not be confirmed.
Result
| Team | Score | |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | South Sydney | 23 |
| Runner-up | Manly-Warringah | 12 |
Attendance: 53,241
NRL 1970 — full season ladder & finals series
| Pos | Club | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Diff | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Sydney | 22 | 17 | 1 | 4 | 479 | 273 | +206 | 35 |
| 2 | Manly-Warringah | 22 | 16 | 1 | 5 | 422 | 285 | +137 | 33 |
| 3 | St. George | 22 | 15 | 0 | 7 | 408 | 329 | +79 | 30 |
| 4 | Canterbury-Bankstown | 22 | 14 | 0 | 8 | 308 | 269 | +39 | 28 |
| 5 | Eastern Suburbs | 22 | 13 | 0 | 9 | 386 | 320 | +66 | 26 |
| 6 | Balmain | 22 | 12 | 1 | 9 | 380 | 347 | +33 | 25 |
| 7 | Cronulla-Sutherland | 22 | 9 | 0 | 13 | 374 | 335 | +39 | 18 |
| 7 | Newtown | 22 | 9 | 0 | 13 | 345 | 409 | -64 | 18 |
| 9 | North Sydney | 22 | 7 | 1 | 14 | 332 | 435 | -103 | 15 |
| 9 | Penrith | 22 | 7 | 1 | 14 | 292 | 406 | -114 | 15 |
| 11 | Western Suburbs | 22 | 6 | 1 | 15 | 329 | 403 | -74 | 13 |
| 12 | Parramatta | 22 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 240 | 484 | -244 | 8 |
Qualified for the finals series — top 4 that season.
Finals series
Minor Semi-Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 29 Aug 1970 | St. George 12–7 Canterbury-Bankstown | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, NSW | 40,083 |
Major Semi-Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Sep 1970 | South Sydney Rabbitohs 22–15 Manly-Warringah | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, NSW | 40,211 |
Preliminary Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Sep 1970 | Manly-Warringah 15–6 St. George | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, NSW | 43,147 |
Grand Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 Sep 1970 | South Sydney Rabbitohs 23–12 Manly-Warringah | Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, NSW |
Match officials
| Referee | Don Lancashire |
Scorers
| South Sydney | Tries: Bob Grant — minute unconfirmed; Bob Grant — minute unconfirmed; Ray Branighan — minute unconfirmed Goals: Eric Simms (3/5) Drop goals: Eric Simms — 4 field goals (worth 2 points each in 1970, an all-time Grand Final record) |
| Manly-Warringah | Goals: Bob Batty (4/6) Drop goals: Bob Fulton — 2 field goals (worth 2 points each in 1970), one reportedly taken from dummy-half |
Teams
| South Sydney | Manly-Warringah | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eric Simms | Fullback | Bob Batty | 1 |
| 2 | Michael Cleary | Wing | Derek Moritz | 2 |
| 3 | Paul Sait | Centre | Bob Fulton | 3 |
| 4 | Arthur Branighan | Centre | Alec Tennant | 4 |
| 5 | Ray Branighan | Wing | John McDonald (c) | 5 |
| 6 | Denis Pittard | Five-eighth | Ian Martin | 6 |
| 7 | Bob Grant | Halfback | Ed Whiley | 7 |
| 8 | Ron Coote | Lock | Rob Cameron | 8 |
| 9 | Bob McCarthy | Second Row | John Morgan | 9 |
| 10 | Gary Stevens | Second Row | Lindsay Drake | 10 |
| 11 | John Sattler (c) | Prop | John Bucknall | 11 |
| 12 | Elwyn Walters | Hooker | Fred Jones | 12 |
| 13 | John O'Neill | Prop | Bill Hamilton | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Bob Honan | Allan Thomson — came on for John Bucknall in the 35th minute | 16 | |
| Clive Churchill | Coach | Ron Willey | ||
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
The 1970 decider gave rugby league one of its most enduring images of courage and confirmed South Sydney as the dominant club of the era. Contesting their fourth consecutive Grand Final, the Rabbitohs arrived as minor premiers seeking to atone for their upset loss to Balmain in the 1969 decider, while Manly-Warringah were chasing the club's first premiership. The match turned on an incident only minutes after kick-off, when Souths captain John Sattler had his jaw badly broken by an off-the-ball punch from Manly second-rower John Bucknall. Refusing to leave the field, Sattler played out the entire match, reportedly telling teammates at half-time that 'the next bloke who tries to cut me out of the play is in trouble.' Galvanised, the Rabbitohs led 12-6 at the break. Halfback Bob Grant crossed for two tries and Ray Branighan added another, while Eric Simms produced a masterclass of tactical kicking, landing three goals and four field goals, field goals then worth two points apiece, a haul that still stands as the most field goals ever kicked in a Grand Final. For Manly, fullback Bob Batty kicked four goals and Bob Fulton snapped two field goals, one remarkably taken from dummy-half, but the Sea Eagles never crossed for a try against a ferocious Souths defence. South Sydney ran out 23-12 winners before 53,241 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Grant was hailed man of the match in press coverage for his two tries and aggressive defence, though the day belonged to Sattler, who was chaired from the field by teammates, accepted the trophy and delivered his victory speech before finally going to hospital, where the severity of the fracture was confirmed. The win was South Sydney's third premiership in four seasons, following 1967 and 1968, and cemented the club's great side of the era, Sattler, Simms, Ron Coote, Bob McCarthy and company, coached by the legendary Clive Churchill, as one of the finest in Australian rugby league history. For Manly it was a fifth Grand Final defeat without a title, a drought that would finally break two years later. Sattler's broken-jaw heroics have since been canonised as perhaps the code's defining act of toughness.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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