Twenty-two regular season rounds were played from March until August, resulting in a top five of Manly, Cronulla, St. George, Newtown and Canterbury who went on to battle it out in the finals.

Ian Heads wrote in the Sunday Telegraph the next day that It was a grand final as tough and dirty as any bar-room brawl.

[4] The first half was not how the game's administrators would have wished to show-case rugby league, every tackle was loaded with menace and meant to damage.

In the opening minute, Cronulla hooker Ron "Rocky" Turner set his sights on Reilly as the Englishman got an early kick away to take advantage of a strong breeze blowing towards the Bradman Stand (Paddington End).

Knowing he probably wouldn't last the first half he then returned to the field and created mayhem despite the injections he received failing to work properly.

The first came from a brilliant Fred Jones flick pass [6] which saw Fulton split Eric Archer and Steve Rogers just twenty-five metres from the line.

Fulton raced for the Brewongle Stand corner and managed to put the ball down before being bundled into touch by Rogers and replacement fullback Rick Bourke.

It will, however, go down in Sharks folklore that a Tommy Bishop flick pass in the dying moments failed to go to hand with the Manly line wide open.

As expected, the Manly defence reacted to snuff out the set play, leaving a gap that Bishop's pass managed to pinpoint.

However, in the heat of the moment, Sharks second-rower Ken Maddison also played for the old move, ran the wrong line and the ball went to ground – and with it went the premiership.