Newtown 15–5 Eastern Suburbs Roosters — Preliminary Final, 1981 NRL Finals Series
19 Sep 1981 · Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, NSW · Attendance: 25,243
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
Preliminary Final, 1981 NRL finals series: Newtown 15–5 Eastern Suburbs Roosters, at Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, NSW on 19 Sep 1981.
Sourcing caveat: Newtown's confirmed named scorers total 13 of the recorded 15 points (2 points short, plausibly an extra successful goal not captured). Easts' single try-scorer is uncertain: one extraction pass credited Steve McFarlane, a re-check credited Jeff Masterman — recorded as Masterman per the later, more careful pass, with the ambiguity noted rather than silently resolved.
Scorers
| Newtown | Tries: Ray Blacklock; John Ferguson; Phil Gould Goals: Paul Morris (2/2) |
| Eastern Suburbs Roosters | Tries: Jeff Masterman Goals: Ron Giteau (1/1) |
Team sheets
| Newtown | Eastern Suburbs Roosters | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phil Sigsworth | Fullback | Kerry Boustead | 1 |
| 2 | John Ferguson | Wing | Terry Fahey | 2 |
| 3 | Brian Hetherington | Centre | Ron Giteau | 3 |
| 4 | Mick Ryan | Centre | Noel Cleal | 4 |
| 5 | Ray Blacklock | Wing | Steve McFarlane | 5 |
| 6 | Paul Morris | Five-Eighth | Robert Laurie | 6 |
| 7 | Tom Raudonikis (c) | Halfback | Kevin Hastings | 7 |
| 8 | Graeme O'Grady | Prop | Ian Barkley | 8 |
| 9 | Mick Pitman | Hooker | Des O'Reilly | 9 |
| 10 | Phil Gould | Prop | Paul McCabe | 10 |
| 11 | Steve Blyth | Second Row | Royce Ayliffe (c) | 11 |
| 12 | Barry Jensen | Second Row | Jeff Masterman | 12 |
| 13 | Craig Ellis | Lock | John Harvey | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 14 | Ken Wilson | Marty Gurr | 14 | |
| 15 | Jim Walters | Dave Brown | 16 | |
| 17 | Col Murphy | Gary Warnecke | 19 | |
| 20 | Shane McKellar | |||
| Warren Ryan | Coach | Bob Fulton | ||
Match officials
| Referee | Greg Hartley |
Match report
Halftime 5-5.