Orana Park first played host to top level Rugby League in the 1983 NSWRFL season, when the moribund Newtown Jets played half of their home games at Orana Park (with a view to a permanent move for the 1984 season). A bumper crowd of 10,686 turned out for the Round 1 clash, to see reigning 1982 premiers, the Parramatta Eels decimate the Jets 54–14. Bluebags officials, led by John Singleton and partnered by pre-eminent local solicitor John Marsden, were determined to move the ailing Club full-time to Campbelltown to claim the burgeoning junior league in the Campbelltown LGA, and to expand their thin supporter base. However, before the deal could be made, Newtown were excluded from the 1984 season for financial reasons. Orana Park/ Campbelltown Stadium would be the site of the Newtown club's last top-level Rugby League competition match, a 9–6 victory over the Canberra Raiders on Saturday 27 August 1983. The club continued efforts to be re-instated for the 1985 season, fully based in Campbelltown. Based upon Newtown's dire financial position, the Campbelltown side of the merger withdrew its support for entry into the NSWRL Premiership of 1985, consigning the Jets to premiership oblivion. The Jets would be successfully resurrected in the NSWRL Metropolitan Cup (Second tier competition) in 1991.