1909 Eastern Suburbs season

The 1909 season was the second in which the Eastern Suburbs DRLFC competed in the New South Wales Rugby Football League competition. They finished the regular season in 4th (of 8) position, before being knocked out in the semi-final by Balmain.

1909 Eastern Suburbs season
← 1908 1910 →

Players

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No. Position Player

1 Harry 'Jersey' Flegg PR (c) 3 Dave Brown CE 5 Dan Frawley WG 7 Lou Jones PR 8 Bob Mable PR 9 Larry 'Jersey' O'Malley PR 10 Sid 'Sandy' Pearce HK 11 Albert Rosenfeld FE 13 Johnno Stuntz WG 14 Percy McNamara CE 15 Horrie Miller WG 17 Harold Kelley FE 20 George Green PR 23 Percy White PR 25 Mick Frawley PR 26 Bill King FB

No. Position Player

27 Ted Briscoe PR 28 Tom Bruce HB 29 Eddie Griffiths PR 30 Arthur Lawes SR 31 Arthur 'Wicker' Surridge PR 32 Wally Webb PR 33 T.Oates SR 34 E. Russell SR 35 Arthur Hennessy PR 36 George 'Babe' Hooker SR 37 L. Brown SR 38 F. Foran SR 39 Les Abbott WG 40 F. Denholm PR 41 Sid Kaufman LK 42 William Lenton PR

Season

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Round Opponent Result Score Date Venue Crowd
Premiership 1 Glebe Dirty Reds Won 38 - 5 24 April Wentworth -
Premiership 2 Western Suburbs Magpies Won 10 - 2 1 May Agricultural 400
Premiership 3 North Sydney Bears Won 26 - 16 15 May Agricultural
Premiership 4 South Sydney Rabbitohs Lost 10 - 22 22 May Agricultural 1500
  • Premiership round 5, Saturday 29 May 1909.

Eastern Suburbs 18 defeated Newcastle Rebels 16 at the Newcastle Sports Ground.

Described this way "As an exhibition the game was all that could have been desired It was fast, open, exciting and even."

Premiership 6 Newtown Jets Won 28-5 19 June Agricultural 800
Premiership 7 Balmain Tigers Lost 3 - 11 26 June Birchgrove 1500
Premiership 8 South Sydney Rabbitohs Lost 5 - 16 10 July Wentworth 2500
  • Premiership round 9, Saturday 17 July 1909.

Balmain 24 (Apploney 2, Moore 2, Halloway, Regent Tries; Fitzpatrick 3 Goals) defeated Eastern Suburbs 15 (M. Frawley, Kelley, Webb Tries; Surridge 2, King Goals) at the Agricultural Society's Ground.

This was reported to be a particularly rough affair, Easts lost a player early in the match through injury, and two more players were severely concussed, Four were sent off for fighting, and a fifth, Easts captain Larry O'Malley was sent off for kicking.

Round Opponent Result Score Date Venue Crowd
Pemiership 10 North Sydney Bears Lost 14 - 24 7 August Agricultural 3000

Ladder

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Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1   South Sydney 10 9 0 1 210 41 +169 18
2   Balmain 10 8 0 2 130 62 +68 16
3   Newcastle 10 5 0 5 144 93 +51 10
4   Eastern Suburbs 10 5 0 5 167 141 +26 10
5   Glebe 10 4 0 6 62 159 -97 8
6   Newtown 10 3 1 6 73 107 -34 7
7   North Sydney 10 2 2 6 104 157 -53 6
8   Western Suburbs 10 2 1 7 42 172 -130 5

Semi-final

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  • Premiership Semi-final, Saturday 14 August 1909.

Balmain 15 (Walker 2, Edwards, Graves, Regent tries) defeated Eastern Suburbs 8 (Lenton, Surridge tries; King goal) at the Wentworth Park Ground in front of around 3,000 spectators.

Balmain were never in any danger of defeat, both Easts tries came late in the match with Balmain already leading by 15 points.

The lineups were-

Eastern Suburbs: Bill KingWilliam Lenton • Sid Kaufman • Percy McNamara • Les Abott • Harry FleggTom BruceMick Frawley • F. Denholm • Arthur SurridgeArthur Hennessy (c) • Harold KelleySid Pearce

 Balmain: F. Wooley • W. Smith • A. Walker • A. Latta • A Fitzpatrick • Arthur Halloway • L. Edwards • F. Woodward • B. Graves • J. Regent (c) • F. Ward • T. McFadyen • J. Appoloney

Point analysis

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Offence

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The lowdown: Eastern Suburbs completed the following score options in the 1908 season:

  • 37 tries
  • 32 goals
  • 0 field goals

The result:

Eastern Suburbs scored a total of 167 points in 1909.

The verdict:

  • Eastern Suburbs try scoring ability dropped by 26% on their previous season.
  • Eastern Suburbs goal scoring ability dropped by 3% on their previous season.
  • Eastern Suburbs field goal kicking ability dropped by 100% on their previous season.
  • Eastern Suburbs overall point scoring ability dropped by 16.8% on their previous season.
  • Eastern Suburbs total point score dropped by 8.74% on their previous season.

Defence

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The lowdown:

Eastern Suburbs conceded the following score options in the 1909 season:

  • 38 tries
  • 21 goals
  • 0 field goals

The result:

Eastern Suburbs conceded a total of 141 points in 1909.

The verdict:

  • Eastern Suburbs try scoring defence dropped by 26.3% on their previous season.
  • Eastern Suburbs goal kicking defence dropped by 28.5% on their previous season.
  • Eastern Suburbs field goal defence was maintained on their previous season.
  • Eastern Suburbs overall defense dropped by 27.1% on their previous season.
  • Eastern Suburbs total points against defensive effort dropped by 34% on their previous season.

Season summary

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Notes

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  1. Many of Eastern Suburbs leading players (particularly those who had gone away on the previous year's Kangaroo tour) had taken up contracts with English rugby league clubs . Missing much of the backend of the season. Excerpts from English rugby league club Warrington Wolves's 1909/10 yearbook show that Dan Frawley, Johno Stuntz and Larry O'Malley all played with that club in the 1909/10 English season. It also reveals that they had telegrammed Dally Messenger attempting to sign both he and Sid Pearce. Another Eastern Suburbs player, Albert Rosenfeld, signed with Huddlesfied where he became one of English rugby league greatest try scorers.
  2. Dally Messenger took no part in 1909 Eastern Suburbs season.

References

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  • Rugby League Tables and Statistics
  • Ian Heads, True Blue - the true story of the NSW Rugby League, ISBN 1 875471 138,
Preceded by Season
1909
Succeeded by