Brisbane Rugby League 1973 season
League Table
| Team | Played | Won | Lost | Drew | For | Against | +/- | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valleys | 21 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 393 | 267 | 126 | 31 |
| Easts | 21 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 399 | 320 | 79 | 26 |
| Norths | 21 | 12 | 8 | 1 | 399 | 289 | 110 | 25 |
| Redcliffe | 21 | 12 | 9 | 0 | 365 | 255 | 110 | 24 |
| Brothers | 21 | 10 | 10 | 1 | 385 | 354 | 31 | 21 |
| Wests | 21 | 8 | 12 | 1 | 354 | 359 | -5 | 17 |
| Souths | 21 | 8 | 12 | 1 | 309 | 401 | -92 | 17 |
| Wynnum-Manly | 21 | 3 | 17 | 1 | 247 | 606 | -359 | 7 |
Rounds
| Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Round 6 |
| Round 7 | Round 8 | Round 9 | Round 10 | Round 11 | Round 12 |
| Round 13 | Round 14 | Round 15 | Round 16 | Round 17 | Round 18 |
| Round 19 | Round 20 | Round 21 |
Finals
| Stage | Date | Teams | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minor Semi-Final | 26 August 1973 | Redcliffe vs Norths | Details |
| Major Semi-Final | 2 September 1973 | Valleys vs Easts | Details |
| Preliminary Final | 9 September 1973 | Redcliffe vs Easts | Details |
| Grand Final | 16 September 1973 | Valleys vs Redcliffe | Details |
President’s Cup
| Stage | Date | Teams | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Final | 20 May 1973 | Valleys vs Easts | Details |
Peter Scott Memorial Trophy Final
| Stage | Date | Teams | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Final | 15 July 1973 | Valleys vs Easts | Details |
The knee of doom, the Garbo of hope and the Valley of inevitability
As autumn turned to winter (well, what passes for winter in Brisbane), a few things were becoming clear in the 1973 Brisbane Rugby League premiership.
First, Valleys, premiers in 1970 and ’71 before being denied a third-straight title by a last-gasp Jeff Fyfe field goal in the ’72 Grand Final, were back and meant business. Half Ross Strudwick had joined from St George and provided a new flavour to an already powerful team. The regular forward pack of John Crilly, Russell Hughes, Hugh O’Doherty, John McCabe, Tony Perkins and Jeff Gill, with contributions from the likes of Ron Gurnett and John Abbott, was surely up there with any of the great forward combinations in BRL history – Wests in the 1920s, Brothers in the 1940s and ’50s, Norths in the ’60s.
Second, Easts, the defending premiers, were in a spot of bother. While they remained well in contention through the first half of the season, defeat to Valleys in the President’s Cup Final, then a surprising reverse against Souths in round 11 did not auger well. Captain and general inspiration Des Morris was out with a knee injury, leaving a giant hole in their premiership defence.
The jibe about Easts being a one-man team was always a bit silly, with John Lang, Allan Currie, Rod Morris, Paul Khan and, later, Wayne Lindenberg hardly what you’d call supporting cast members, but there’s no denying that Des Morris was irreplaceable.
The Tigers gradually faded away down the stretch. A crushing defeat to Valleys in the Scott Trophy Final was a warning, a 31-7 capitulation to Redcliffe in round 20 was confirmation, and Easts quickly bowed out of the finals in straight sets.
After attempting to battle his way back to fitness, Morris finally relented and booked his dodgy knee in for surgery during the finals. By this time, five-eighth Bob ‘Butch’ Pearse, centre John Atkin and fullback Howard Fullarton were also either out or in serious doubt, though one suspects Morris’s knee was the real key to Easts ultimately doomed premiership hopes.
Third, there was a new challenger. Redcliffe hadn’t really contended since Henry Holloway (now coach of Valleys), Arthur Beetson and Kevin Yow Yeh had inspired their 1965 premiership, but a new-look team were arguably the story of ’73.
New coach Barry ‘Garbo’ Muir, back in town after the ignominious end to his playing career in 1968, provided new hope to the peninsula alongside his captain and on-field general, Ron Raper who joined from Canterbury. The relationship between Muir and Raper would be a fascinating watch through the ’70s – from coach and captain, to fierce rivals after Raper embarked on his own coaching career at Wests in 1975, to Raper eventually taking over as Redcliffe coach in 1979.
Muir immediately elevated veteran prop Bevan Bleakley, who’d spent a couple of seasons on the margins of first grade and hadn’t played at all in 1972 to forward leader. Brian Winney replaced Alan Henrick at halfback and smart young hooker Dan Rogers, by all accounts an all-round dummy-half in the Hugh O’Doherty mould, excelled as the new starter.
In a season of interesting new additions – Strudwick at Valleys, Wayne Bennett at Brothers, John Sattler at Wests – perhaps the most interesting was giant New Zealand international prop Robert Orchard at the Dolphins. He was apparently enticed to Redcliffe by his cousin, a local publican, and proceeded to terrorise local defences with a combination of his size, athleticism and skill.
Despite only finishing fourth, Redcliffe were clearly coming for the leaders. That demolition of Easts in round 20 was followed by an 11-9 win over Valleys in the final round, with the Courier Mail proclaiming that “Redcliffe are now the big danger [to Valleys]” and predicting that they would win their way through to face the Diehards in the decider.
And that prediction came to pass, with Redcliffe seeing off a mediocre Norths outfit in the Minor Semi-Final, then destroying Easts 33-7 in the Preliminary Final to set up a Lang Park date with Valleys.
They put up a good fight, too, holding the Diehards to 7-7 at half-time, but the quality of the Diehards; the aura of inevitability which all the great sides possess, eventually shone through, with Marty Scanlan putting Paul Gayler over for the winning try early in the second half, and John McCabe running off ball-playing lock Jeff Gill for the sealer with just over five minutes to go.
For Valleys, it was premiership number 19, not to mention another two more cup titles which took their tally to 18 overall. For Redcliffe, it was the beginning of a sustained period of success in the mid-to-late 70s; a period which probably should’ve yielded more.
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