The addition of the two extra premiership teams mean't that 2 rounds of nine preliminary games were played rather 2 rounds of eight. Something appears to have gone wrong with the scheduling for the second round. Perhaps some teams withdrew when it became clear they were not competitive, and games were rescheduled.
Competing teams: (18) the 14 Sydney teams, Brisbane, NSW Country, Queensland Country, and South Island (New Zealand).
Four games are listed below for which I could find no result; perhaps they were never played. One game is listed below (Cronulla Sutherland versus Canberra) which was not scheduled. Brisbane must have played another game to get into the finals.
Round 1:
Eastern Suburbs 12 beat Western Suburbs 0.
Manly Warringah 47 beat Illawarra 20.
South Sydney 18 beat North Sydney 10.
Canberra 27 beat South Island 15.
Cronulla Sutherland 15 beat NSW Country 2.
Penrith 16 beat Parramatta 7.
Newtown 26 beat Canterbury Bankstown 5.
St George 26 beat Queensland Country 10.
Balmain 13 beat Brisbane 10.
Round 2:
Cronulla Sutherland versus Canterbury Bankstown.
Newtown versus Queensland Country.
South Island versus Brisbane.
Illawarra versus Canterbury Bankstown.
Balmain 24 beat Eastern Suburbs 11.
Western Suburbs 20 beat St George 11.
Manly Warringah 22 beat North Sydney 15.
Parramatta 41 beat NSW Country 3.
South Sydney 6 drew with Penrith 6.
Cronulla Sutherland 25 beat Canberra 11.
1 Manly Warringah 2 2 0 0 - 69 35 34
2 Cronulla Sutherland 2 2 0 0 - 40 13 27
3 Balmain 2 2 0 0 - 37 21 16
4 Penrith 2 1 1 0 - 22 13 9
5 South Sydney 2 1 1 0 - 24 16 8
6 Parramatta 2 1 0 1 - 48 19 29
7 Newtown 1 1 0 0 - 26 5 21
8 St George 2 1 0 1 - 37 30 7
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9 Eastern Suburbs 2 1 0 1 - 23 24 -1
10 Canberra 2 1 0 1 - 38 40 -2
11 Western Suburbs 2 1 0 1 - 20 23 -3
12 Brisbane 1 0 0 1 - 10 13 -3
13 South Island 1 0 0 1 - 15 27 -12
14 North Sydney 2 0 0 2 - 25 40 -15
15 Queensland Country 1 0 0 1 - 10 26 -16
16 Canterbury Bankstown 1 0 0 1 - 5 26 -21
17 Illawarra 1 0 0 1 - 20 47 -27
18 NSW Country 2 0 0 2 - 5 56 -51
Quarterfinals:
South Sydney 19 beat Balmain 2.
Manly Warringah 17 beat Penrith 14.
Newtown 7 beat Cronulla Sutherland 2.
Parramatta 25 beat Brisbane 7.
Semifinals:
Newtown 8 drew with South Sydney 8.
(Newtown advanced on penalty countback (13-8).)
Manly Warringah 24 beat Parramatta 10.
Final:
Manly Warringah 23 beat Newtown 8.
Player of the Series: Mike Eden (Manly Warringah).
Illawarra and Canberra entered teams in the Sydney Premiership, and so Illawarra and Monaro withdrew from the CRL, reducing the number of divisions to eight.
Far North Coast changed their name to Northern Rivers.
Round 1:
Central Coast 29 beat North Coast 8.
Newcastle 19 beat Northern Rivers 5.
Northern Division 20 beat Western Division 12.
Riverina 15 beat Southern Division 13.
Semifinals:
Northern Division 26 beat Newcastle 19.
Riverina 30 beat Central Coast 8.
Final:
Riverina 26 beat Northern Division 11.
1 Parramatta 26 21 0 5 - 619 242 377 42
2 Manly Warringah 26 17 0 9 - 530 411 119 34
3 North Sydney 26 16 1 9 - 399 360 39 33
4 Eastern Suburbs 26 15 2 9 - 437 304 133 32
5 Western Suburbs 26 16 0 10 - 412 349 63 32
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6 South Sydney 26 14 1 11 - 395 400 -5 29
7 Newtown 26 13 2 11 - 406 309 97 28
8 Cronulla Sutherland 26 13 1 12 - 400 336 64 27
9 Canterbury Bankstown 26 12 3 11 - 399 361 38 27
10 St George 26 11 2 13 - 408 402 6 24
11 Balmain 26 10 1 15 - 383 427 -44 21
12 Penrith 26 7 1 18 - 375 441 -66 15
13 Illawarra 26 6 0 20 - 344 572 -228 12
14 Canberra 26 4 0 22 - 269 862 -593 8
Preliminary Semifinal:
Eastern Suburbs 11 beat Western Suburbs 7.
Manly Warringah 26 beat North Sydney 3.
Semifinals:
Eastern Suburbs 12 beat North Sydney 10.
Manly Warringah 20 beat Parramatta 0.
Preliminary Final:
Parramatta 33 beat Eastern Suburbs 0.
Grand Final:
Parramatta 21 beat Manly Warringah 8.