The War Years
With the introduction of the "first-past-the-post" era, where teams finishing on top of the ladder remained unchallenged, Easts had to settle for runners-up in both 1919 (Balmain) and 1921 (North Sydney). At the end of the 1923 season, both Easts and Souths finished equal first, resulting in a Grand Final between the two inner-Sydney clubs. The result was a spectacular 15-12 win by Easts in which captain Harry Caples proved the difference by scoring a late try to seal victory. The win gave the Bondi-based team their 4th premiership.
The 1930s would provide one of, if not the most successful era of the Eastern Suburbs club in its long and rich history. Finishing joint minor premiers to the more experienced Wests team in 1934, Easts came short of winning the premiership by going down to Wests 15-12.
With the presence of the legendary Dave Brown, who at this stage was setting point scoring records (that still remain unbroken to the present day), Eastern Suburbs were always going to finish on top of the premiership table. Finishing a massive eight points ahead from their next opponent, Easts progressed into the Grand Final by defeating Wests in the major semi-final 15-10. The only team capable of stopping the mighty Easts failed to do so in the Grand Final, with Souths going down to the eventual premiers 19-3 in front of 22,106 spectators.
Easts would retain the premiership in 1936, defeating Balmain 32-12 to claim their 6th premiership. Celebrating their 30th year of existence in 1937, Easts completed their second premiership treble by finishing minor premiers in a shortened season due to a Kangaroo Tour, which saw them automatically handed the premiership.
Feeling the strain of representative commitments having supplied eight players for the Kangaroo Tour, it would only be towards the back end of the 1938 season that Easts would show shades of their previous winning formula. In a not-so-easy task, Easts defeated Souths in the minor semi-final to take on the unlikely opponent of Canterbury, who three years before were torn apart by the Roosters in an 87-7 flogging. However the turn-around was evident when Canterbury took out the premiership with a 19-6 win over the tricolours.
It would only take two years for Easts to exact revenge on the Canterbury-based team. Meeting them in the 1940 Grand Final after taking out the Minor Premiership, Easts prevailed 24-14 to claim their fourth premiership in six years. The following year Easts once again were able to make the Grand Final, however a determined St. George outfit removed all hopes of further premiership glory for the tricolours with an impressive 31-14 win. Taking out their seventh Minor Premiership in 13 years, Easts headed up the 1945 Grand Final against fourth placed Balmain. With an inspirational three tries and five goals by Dick Dunn, Easts took out the premiership 22-18 and moved up to second on the list of most premierships, only three behind Souths.
Read more about this topic: History Of The Sydney Roosters
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