Manly-Warringah 32–8 Eastern Suburbs Roosters — Major Semi-Final, 1972 NRL Finals Series
2 Sep 1972 · Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, NSW · Attendance: 43,695
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Major Semi-Final, 1972 NRL finals series: Manly-Warringah 32–8 Eastern Suburbs Roosters, at Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, NSW on 2 Sep 1972.
Sourcing caveat: This match's scoresheet could not be fully reconciled despite repeated, targeted re-extraction attempts. Manly's named scorers (2 tries + 6/9 goals + a further 1/1 goal = 20) fall 12 points short of the recorded 32; Eastern Suburbs' single named goal (2 points) falls 6 short of the recorded 8. No second source (Wikipedia has no finals-match scorer detail for this era) was available to fill the gap. This is very likely additional unlisted tries on both sides consistent with a high-scoring 32-8 result, but no such scorers are named by the source, so none are invented here.
Scorers
| Manly-Warringah | Tries: Bob Fulton (2) Goals: Ray Branighan (6/9); Graham Eadie (1/1) |
| Eastern Suburbs Roosters | Goals: Allan McKean (1/4) |
Team sheets
| Manly-Warringah | Eastern Suburbs Roosters | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Graham Eadie | Fullback | Allan McKean | 1 |
| 2 | Ken Irvine | Wing | Peter Flanders | 2 |
| 3 | Ray Branighan | Centre | Harry Cameron | 3 |
| 4 | Bob Fulton | Centre | Mark Harris | 4 |
| 5 | Max Brown | Wing | Bill Mullins | 5 |
| 6 | Ian Martin | Five-Eighth | John Ballesty | 6 |
| 7 | Dennis Ward | Halfback | Kevin Junee | 7 |
| 8 | Malcolm Reilly | Lock | Ron Coote (c) | 8 |
| 9 | Terry Randall | Second Row | John Quayle | 9 |
| 10 | Allan Thomson | Second Row | John Armstrong | 10 |
| 11 | John O'Neill | Prop | Arthur Beetson | 11 |
| 12 | Fred Jones (c) | Hooker | Peter Moscatt | 12 |
| 13 | Bill Hamilton | Prop | Jim Morgan | 13 |
| Ron Willey | Coach | Don Furner | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Keith Page |
Match report
2 Sep 1972, SCG. Halftime: Manly 10-8 Eastern Suburbs.