| 1981 National Soccer League Squads Written by Tony Persoglia and Greg Stock |
| 1980 |
Results | Table | Top Scorers | Squads | NSL Cup | NSL Index | 1982
Club | Adelaide City | APIA Leichhardt | Blacktown City | Brisbane City | Brisbane Lions | Canberra City | Footscray JUST | Heidelberg United | Marconi | Newcastle KB United | Preston Makedonia | South Melbourne | Sydney City | Sydney Olympic | West Adelaide | Wollongong City
Sources: Australian Soccer Weekly, Soccer Action, Soccer World.
| South Melbourne 1981 Squad | ||||
| Player Details | Home-and-Away Season | Full Name | Birth Date | Position | Start | Sub | App | Gls | Red | Cls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vince Bannon | 09-Nov-1951 | Defender | 29 | 0 | 29 | 1 | ||
| Steve Blair | 28-Dec-1961 | Defender | 25 | 0 | 25 | 2 | ||
| Branko Buljevic | 06-Sep-1947 | Forward | 26 | 2 | 28 | 3 | ||
| George Campbell | 03-May-1957 | Forward | 10 | 3 | 13 | 0 | ||
| George Christopoulos | 11-Dec-1960 | Midfielder | 14 | 3 | 17 | 7 | ||
| Duncan Cummings | 20-Mar-1958 | Forward | 14 | 7 | 21 | 3 | ||
| Alan Davidson | 01-Jun-1960 | Defender | 24 | 0 | 24 | 1 | ||
| Alun Evans | 30-Sep-1949 | Forward | 27 | 0 | 27 | 14 | ||
| Peter Laumets | 03-Apr-1957 | Goalkeeper | 30 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 11 | |
| Bertie Lutton | 1950 | Defender | 9 | 5 | 14 | 0 | ||
| Socrates Nicolaidis | 15-Aug-1962 | Midfielder | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||
| Billy Rogers | 16-Jul-1949 | Midfielder | 23 | 2 | 25 | 0 | ||
| Jim Shirra | 10-Jun-1950 | Midfielder | 26 | 0 | 26 | 1 | ||
| John Stevenson | 17-Jun-1953 | Midfielder | 30 | 0 | 30 | 3 | ||
| Steve Wooddin | 16-Jan-1955 | Forward | 14 | 0 | 14 | 3 | ||
| Arthur Xanthopoulos | 23-Jul-1956 | Defender | 26 | 0 | 26 | 2 | ||
Coach: John Margaritis. 30 matches: Won 13; Drew 13; Lost 4.