History of The South Sydney Rabbitohs - The 1960s and 1970s Glory Years

The 1960s and 1970s Glory Years

After their second golden era ended in 1955, the club had to wait a decade before making another premiership decider in 1965, and premiership in 1967. The remarkable St. George era of 11 consecutive premierships was sandwiched in between two special periods in the history of South Sydney. Churchill came back to coach the Rabbitohs and built a premiership team around a tough pack of forwards including Ron Coote (who is regarded as Australia's second best ever lock, after Johnny Raper), Bob McCarthy (who scored over 100 first grade tries), Gary Stevens, Bob Moses, John O'Neill, Jim Morgan, Elwyn Walters and inspirational captain John Sattler.

Signs that a great Souths side was in the making emerged in 1965 when a then record crowd of 78,056 supporters packed the SCG to see a young Souths team coached by Bernie Purcell take on the mighty St. George in the grand final. The club had finished fourth and had then beaten Parramatta and Norths to make the Grand Final. Souths had already beaten Saints twice during the 1965 season and the huge crowd showed up expecting to see an end to the Dragons' decade of dominance. Souths showed great heart in going down 12-8 in one of the most memorable grand finals of all time.

In February 1966 at Redfern Oval a record crowd of 18,701 saw Souths defeat premiers St George.

Souths would win four of the next five premierships between 1967 and 1971. In the 1967 grand final Souths beat Canterbury 12-10 following a spectacular intercept try by second row forward Bob McCarthy. In 1968 Souths defeated Manly 13-9 featuring a solo length of the field try by winger Mike Cleary. Souths lost the 1969 grand final 11-2 to Balmain who devised a controversial plan of "go slow" tactics in order to successfully disrupt Souths play. Souths convincingly beat Manly in the 1970 grand final with halfback Bob Grant starring with 2 tries. Souths last grand final victory in 1971 saw them beat back a determined comeback by St. George in the second half to take out the game 16-10.

During this golden era Souths backline also had plenty of class including goal kicking legend Eric Simms, dual rugby internationals Michael Cleary and Jimmy Lisle, Paul Sait, Bob Honan, Brian James, brothers Ray and Arthur Branighan, Dennis Pittard and Bob Grant. Only Arthur Branighan didn't achieve International status of the 1970 grand final side that beat Manly 23-12. Souths was a team of plenty of courage and that was highlighted by captain John Sattler in the 1970 grand final when in the early minutes he was "king-hit" late and unexpectedly by Manly prop John Bucknall. The hit broke Sattler's jaw but he continued to play on for the full match and to inspirationally lead by example.

Goal-kicking fullback Eric Simms broke many point scoring records during this period, scoring a total of 1,841 first grade points (23 tries, 803 goals, 86 field goals) for the club by the end of his career. In 1969 Simms broke the record for the most points scored in a premiership season with 265, previously held by Dave Brown of Eastern Suburbs. Simms was such a great exponent of kicking field goals (including 5 in one game against Penrith in 1969) that in season 1971 the game's authorities eventually reduced the value of the field goal from two points to one.

International five-eighth Denis Pittard won the coveted Rothmans Medal twice in 1969 and 1971.

In 1975 Souths fielded 8 international players, a club record. They were Bob Grant, Bob Honan, Bernie Lowther, Bob McCarthy, John O'Neill, Paul Sait, Eric Simms and Gary Stevens.