1971 NSWRFL season

• 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	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	16	18	18	20	22	24	24	26	28	30	32	34	36	38
2	South Sydney	2	4	6	8	10	12	12	14	16	18	20	20	22	24	26	28	28	28	28	30	32	34
3	St. George	0	2	4	4	6	8	8	8	10	12	14	16	18	19	21	23	23	25	27	29	29	31
4	Parramatta	0	2	4	4	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	16	16	18	20	20	20	22	22	22	22	24
5	Balmain	2	2	4	6	6	6	6	8	10	10	12	12	12	14	16	16	16	16	18	20	22	22
6	Canterbury-Bankstown	0	0	0	0	2	2	4	4	4	6	8	10	12	12	14	16	18	18	20	22	22	22
7	Cronulla-Sutherland	2	4	4	4	4	4	6	8	8	8	8	10	10	10	12	12	14	16	16	16	18	20
8	Penrith	0	0	2	4	4	6	6	6	6	8	8	10	12	14	14	14	16	18	20	20	20	20
9	Eastern Suburbs	2	2	2	2	4	6	8	10	10	10	10	12	12	13	13	15	15	15	15	17	19	19
10	Newtown	0	0	0	2	4	4	6	7	9	9	11	11	11	11	11	11	13	13	15	15	15	15
11	North Sydney	0	2	2	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	7	7	7	9	11
12	Western Suburbs	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	6	8	8	8	8	8	8

Against a battle-hardened South Sydney side with a larger pack, the young Dragons went into the Grand Final as clear underdogs. Only Smith, Madison and Langlands for St. George had Grand Final experience of the level enjoyed by the entire Rabbitoh pack. Many of the Rabbitohs were playing in their fourth or fifth successive Grand Final.

The first half was a gruelling affair, with the sole point coming from an Eric Simms field goal. McCarthy crossed the Dragons’ try-line in the sixth minute but was called back on a forward pass ruling by referee Holman. Simms attempted a long-range field goal in the eighth minute which was unsuccessful, and Grant took another vain field goal shot minutes later. Souths dominated possession and field-position in the first fifteen minutes and were just held at bay by the rugged defence of the Dragons, especially from their centre, Clapham. Pittard made a 75 metres (82 yd) break at the fourteen-minute mark and was brought down 3 metres (3.28 yd) from the Dragons’ line by a desperate diving tackle from Smith. In the fifteenth minute Simms took another field goal attempt from dead in front and was successful. Souths attack was free-flowing, and they kept the play alive with late offloads whilst St. George adopted a more structured play of one-off running or moving the ball across the backline. In the twentieth minute Beath was stopped in the Souths' corner by a classy Coote cover tackle.

Langlands missed two penalty goal attempts in the first half, one mid-way through the period and another shortly before the break. Only Beath and Smith regularly broke through Souths' defences. At the interval Souths were in front by the unlikely scoreline of 1–0.

When play resumed Souths continued with their adventurous style of keeping the ball alive, they broke through poor Dragon defence and Branighan scored in the corner. Simms hit the post with the conversion attempt. Cox had replaced Bowen for St. George at half-time. Sattler tested out Cox early in the half with niggle and surreptitious fouls and appeared to eye-gouge Langlands in the 55th minute. The match began to turn spiteful at that point when Beath was penalised for using his knees on McCarthy. Coote scored the second try after a break by Sait, Simms converted and then added a penalty goal a few minutes later. At this stage Souths held an 11–0 lead and looked to be racing away with the match as St. George failed to complete tackles allowing the Rabbitohs to continually off-load.

The Dragons then rallied and fought back with a try to Barry Beath after a brave blind-side fifth tackle move by Billy Smith which was followed by a magnificent sideline conversion from Langlands. Smith was proving to be the Dragons’ only attacking spark until he was collared by Piggins and Sattler in a cynical head high tackle at the 65th minute. With the penalty that ensued Langlands took play to the other end of the field and Ted Walton scored for St. George. Langlands again converted from out wide. With the score at 11–10 and only twelve minutes remaining, Saints looked to be getting on top of their more fancied rivals. However a match-winning try two minutes from full-time by Bob McCarthy running freely off Ron Coote, showed the experience of the Rabbitohs, who took their fourth title in a five-year period.

McCarthy and Coote had starred for Souths and continually threatened to split the Dragons' defence. Souths hooker George Piggins who had been called into the side to replace regular season rake Elwyn Walters, was hailed as a hero, playing himself to a standstill in what was ultimately a closely fought encounter.

The victory was to be South Sydney's last for a period of 43 years, with the club not to win another Premiership until 2014.

South Sydney 16 (Tries: Branighan, Coote, McCarthy. Goals: Simms 3. Field Goal: Simms.)

St. George 10 (Tries: Beath, Walton. Goals: Langlands 2.)