1972 NSWRFL season

The 1972 season's Rothmans Medal winner was Western Suburbs' halfback Tommy Raudonikis. Rugby League Week awarded their player of the year award to Eastern Suburbs' five-eighth John Ballesty.

This season, for the first time since 1966, Souths would fail to reach the grand final, and for the first time since 1948 the Grand Final did not feature either Souths or St George.

Following the grand final, several players travelled to France to represent Australia in the 1972 Rugby League World Cup.

Balmain 65th season Ground: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Leo Nosworthy Captain: Garry Leo	Canterbury-Bankstown 38th season Ground: Belmore Oval Coach: Bob Hagan Captain: Johnny Greaves	Cronulla-Sutherland 6th season Ground: Endeavour Field Coach: Tommy Bishop Captain: Cliff Watson / Ken Maddison	Eastern Suburbs 65th season Ground: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Don Furner Captain: Ron Coote
Manly-Warringah 26th season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Ron Willey Captain: Fred Jones	Newtown 65th season Ground: Henson Park Coach: Harry Bath Captain: Lionel Williamson	North Sydney 65th season Ground: North Sydney Oval Captain-coach: Merv Hicks	Parramatta 26th season Ground: Cumberland Oval Coach: Ian Walsh Captain: Bob O'Reilly
Penrith 6th season Ground: Penrith Park Coach: Bob Boland Captain: Ron Lynch	South Sydney 65th season Ground: Redfern Oval Coach: Clive Churchill Captain: John Sattler	St. George 52nd season Ground: Kogarah Oval Captain-coach: Graeme Langlands	Western Suburbs 65th season Ground: Lidcombe Oval, Pratten Park Coach: Don Parish Captain: Tom Raudonikis

Bold – Home game
X – Bye
Opponent for round listed above margin

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Manly-Warringah	22	18	1	3	460	255	+205	37
2	Eastern Suburbs	22	17	1	4	514	297	+217	35
3	St. George	22	16	2	4	398	221	+177	34
4	South Sydney	22	14	0	8	456	331	+125	28
5	Newtown	22	11	2	9	402	371	+31	24
6	Canterbury-Bankstown	22	12	0	10	382	373	+9	24
7	Western Suburbs	22	8	1	13	367	398	-31	17
8	Cronulla-Sutherland	22	8	0	14	332	378	-46	16
9	North Sydney	22	7	1	14	320	405	-85	15
10	Balmain	22	6	1	15	333	455	-122	13
11	Penrith	22	5	1	16	278	490	-212	11
12	Parramatta	22	4	2	16	317	585	-268	10

• Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 4.
• Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.
• Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished last place on the ladder in that round.

	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
1	Manly-Warringah	2	2	4	6	8	10	10	12	12	14	16	18	19	21	23	25	27	29	31	33	35	37
2	Eastern Suburbs	2	2	4	6	8	8	10	12	14	16	17	17	19	21	23	25	27	27	29	31	33	35
3	St. George	0	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	16	17	19	20	22	24	26	28	30	30	32	34	34
4	South Sydney	2	4	6	6	8	10	12	12	14	16	18	20	20	22	22	22	24	24	26	26	28	28
5	Newtown	0	2	2	4	5	7	7	7	7	7	9	11	13	13	15	17	18	18	20	22	24	24
6	Canterbury-Bankstown	2	2	2	2	4	6	8	8	10	10	12	12	12	12	14	16	16	18	18	20	22	24
7	Western Suburbs	0	1	1	3	3	5	7	9	11	13	13	13	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	17
8	Cronulla-Sutherland	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	6	6	8	8	8	10	12	14	14	14	14	16
9	North Sydney	0	2	4	4	5	5	5	7	7	9	9	11	11	13	13	13	13	15	15	15	15	15
10	Balmain	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	5	7	7	7	9	11	11	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13
11	Penrith	0	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	7	9	11	11	11
12	Parramatta	0	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	6	6	6	6	6	8	8	8	10

After twenty-five years in the competition and five Grand Final losses, Manly finally broke through to win the club's first NSWRFL premiership.^[1]

In a controversial match, the Sea-Eagles downed the Eastern Suburbs Roosters 19 to 14, thus shedding their 'bridesmaids' tag. The Roosters were highly critical of referee Keith Page after the match, claiming both of Manly's tries shouldn't have been awarded. To add to their rage, Easts crossed for two tries that were disallowed.

A dour first half saw the teams go to the break tied 4–4, before a try by hooker Fred Jones put Manly ahead. Jones appeared to drop the ball as he attempted to ground it, but was awarded a try nonetheless. For his part Jones contends that he did place the ball with downward pressure. Midway through the second half, controversy flared again when Manly centre Ray Branighan appeared to stop over the Eastern Suburbs try line after accepting what looked like a forward pass from prop Bill Hamilton. However, referee Page allowed it and the Manly fans began celebrating, knowing that at 19–4 their first premiership victory was assured. Although Easts fought back with two late tries to John Ballesty and Bill Mullins and brought the score to 19–14, time ran out for the Roosters and Manly had won their first ever premiership in first grade.

In the end, it was Manly's part-time goal kicker Ray Branighan who proved the difference, kicking six goals from eight attempts.

Manly-Warringah 19 (Tries: Fred Jones, Ray Branighan. Goals: Ray Branighan 6. Field Goal: Bob Fulton)

Eastern Suburbs 14 (Tries: John Ballesty, Bill Mullins. Goals: Allan McKean 4)

Man of the Match: Dennis Ward (Manly).

Referee: Keith Page

Attendance: 54,537

The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 22.

Top 5 point scorers Points Player Tries Goals Field Goals 202 Allan McKean 7 90 1 166 Eric Simms 2 79 2 151 Barry Andrews 3 71 0 147 Graeme Langlands 7 63 0 134 Peter Inskip 3 62 1 Top 5 try scorers Tries Player 18 John Bradstock 17 Bob Fulton 16 Bill Mullins 15 Mark Harris 15 Glen Capelin

Top 5 goal scorers Goals Player 90 Allan McKean 79 Eric Simms 71 Barry Andrews 64 Tony Ford 63 Graeme Langlands

• Rugby League Tables – Season 1972 The World of Rugby League
• Results:1971-80 at rabbitohs.com.au
• 1972 J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup at rleague.com^{[dead link]}
• NSWRFL season 1972 at rugbyleagueproject.com