1996 ARL season Information & 1996 ARL season Links at HealthHaven.com
advertise
add site
services
publishers
database
health videos
Bookmark and Share

search wiki for    ?
web dir firms image gallery news pdf wiki shop video 
about
toolbar
stats
live show
health store
more stuff
JOIN/LOGIN
Featured Results:
 1996 Race Results
1996 Race Results
pih.bc.ca
 Association - Archives (1996-2009)...
Association - Archives (1996-2009)...
4hcm.org
 Register Disclosures, October 1996
Register Disclosures, October 1996
bioinfo.com
 
1996 ARL season
Optus Cup Logo.jpg
Teams 20
Premiers Manly colours.svg Manly-Warringah (6th title)
Minor premiers Manly colours.svg Manly-Warringah (9th title)
Matches played 223
Points scored 8547 (total)
38.327 (per match)
Attendance 2,743,516 (total)
12,303 (per match)
Top points scorer(s) North Sydney colours.svg Jason Taylor (238)
Top try scorer(s) Canberra colours.svg Noa Nadruku (21)

The 1996 Australian Rugby League premiership was the 89th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the second to be run by the Australian Rugby League (ARL). Twenty teams contested during the season for the Optus Cup trophy, including five Sydney-based foundation teams, another six from Sydney, two from greater New South Wales, four from Queensland, and one each from New Zealand, the Australian Capital Territory and Western Australia.

Contents

[edit] Season summary

With the Super League war in full effect off the field, those clubs affiliated with the breakaway competition refused to participate in five games of Round 1, all forfeited to ARL-aligned clubs and only four of the ten scheduled games took place. Of the two games between two Super League clubs, Canterbury versus North Queensland was cancelled, whilst Auckland announced they would field a team from the Lion Red competition and were thus declared winners over Brisbane by forfeit.

Following up on their performance in the 1995 season up to the grand final, Manly-Warringah dominated the season with their defence, which conceded only 34 tries in 25 matches, the best record of any team since the six-tackle rule was introduced in 1971. Their 1995 rivals Canberra were hit by injuries which wiped out the seasons of key players Ricky Stuart, Bradley Clyde and Jason Croker, and suspensions to Kiwi props John Lomax and Quentin Pongia.

Super League-aligned Canterbury-Bankstown were also hit by the loss of key players Jim Dymock, Dean Pay, Jason Smith and Jarrod McCracken to ARL-loyal Parramatta. Sydney City started the season in good form, but fell off after winning their first ten games, whilst Brisbane (with Allan Langer putting in some strong performances) dominated early but lost ground mid-season. North Sydney, with a powerful forward pack and skillful half Jason Taylor feeding a superb set of outside backs, were expected to make the Grand Final but lost to St. George in the preliminary final.

The 20-team competition in 1995 and 1996 caused frequent jackpots in FootyTAB's "Pick The Margins" and after three successive rounds without a single winner, on July 8 1996 after a last-minute Sydney City penalty goal, one punter received an all-time record for any form of sports betting in Australia: $2,006,217.

for the 1996 season, North Sydney's Jason Taylor won the official player of the year award, the Rothmans Medal, while the Dally M Medal was awarded to Brisbane's Allan Langer.

[edit] Teams

The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous season except for the re-branding of the Gold Coast club from the "Seagulls" to the "Chargers".

Auckland Warriors
New Zealand home jersey 1995.svg
2nd season
Ground: Ericsson Stadium
Coach: John Monie
Captain: Greg Alexander
Brisbane Broncos
Brisbane Broncos home jersey 1992.svg
9th season
Ground: ANZ Stadium
Coach: Wayne Bennett
Captain: Allan Langer
Canberra Raiders
15th season
Ground: Bruce Stadium
Coach: Tim Sheens
Captain: Ricky Stuart
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
Cronulla home jersey 1970.svg
30th season
Ground: Endeavour Park
Coach: John Lang
Captain: Andrew Ettinghausen
Gold Coast Chargers
Gold Coast Chargers home jersey 1996.svg
9th season
Ground: Seagulls Stadium
Coach: Phil Economidis
Captain:
Illawarra Steelers
Illawarra Steelers home jersey 1982.svg
15th season
Ground: Wollongong Stadium
Coach: Allan McMahon
Captain:
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Manly Sea Eagles home jersey 1989.svg
50th season
Ground: Brookvale Oval
Coach: Bob Fulton
Captain: Geoff Toovey
Newcastle Knights
Newcastle Knights home jersey 1988.svg
9th season
Ground: Marathon Stadium
Coach: Malcolm "Mal" Reilly
Captain: Paul Harragon
North Queensland Cowboys
North Queensland Cowboys home jersey 1995.svg
2nd season
Ground: Stockland Stadium
Coach: Graham Lowe
Captain: Dean Schifilliti
North Sydney Bears
North Sydney Bears home jersey 1992.svg
89th season
Ground: North Sydney Oval
Coach: Peter Louis
Captain: Jason Taylor
Parramatta Eels
Parramatta Eels home jersey 1995.svg
50th season
Ground: Parramatta Stadium
Coach: Ron Hilditch
Captain:
Penrith Panthers
30th season
Ground: Penrith Stadium
Coach: Royce Simmons
Captain: Steve Carter
Sydney Bulldogs
Canterbury home jersey 1966.svg
62nd season
Ground: Parramatta Stadium
Coach: Chris Anderson
Captain: Simon Gillies
Sydney City Roosters
Eastern Suburbs home jersey 1953.svg
89th season
Ground: Sydney Football Stadium
Coach: Phil Gould
Captain: Sean Garlick
Sydney Tigers
Balmain home jersey 1963.svg
89th season
Ground: Parramatta Stadium
Coach: Wayne Pearce
Captain:
South Queensland Crushers
South Queensland Crushers home jersey 1995.svg
2nd season
Ground: Suncorp Stadium
Coach: Bob Lindner
Captain: Trevor Gillmeister
South Sydney Rabbitohs
South Sydney home jersey 1980.svg
89th season
Ground: Sydney Football Stadium
Coach: Ken Shine
Captain: Craig FieldCraig Salvatori
St. George Dragons
St. George home jersey 1945.svg
76th season
Ground: Kogarah Oval
Coach: David Waite
Captain: Mark Coyne
Western Reds
Western Reds home jersey 1996.svg
2nd season
Ground: WACA Ground
Coach: Peter Mulholland
Captain:
Western Suburbs Magpies
Western Suburbs home jersey 1977.svg
89th season
Ground: Campbelltown Stadium
Coach: Tommy Raudonikis
Captain:

[edit] Ladder

Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1 Manly colours.svg Manly 22 18 0 4 549 191 +358 36
2 Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane 21 17 0 4 607 263 +344 34
3 North Sydney colours.svg North Sydney 22 15 2 5 598 325 +273 32
4 Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Sydney City 22 15 1 6 521 321 +200 31
5 Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla 21 14 2 5 399 268 +131 30
6 Canberra colours.svg Canberra 21 13 1 7 538 384 +154 27
7 St. George colours.svg St. George 21 12 1 8 443 360 +83 27
8 Western Suburbs colours.svg Western Suburbs 22 12 1 9 394 434 -40 25
9 Newcastle colours.svg Newcastle 21 10 1 10 416 388 +28 23
10 Canterbury colours.svg Canterbury 21 11 0 10 375 378 -3 22
11 Auckland colours.svg Auckland 21 10 0 11 412 427 -15 22
12 Balmain colours.svg Balmain 22 11 0 11 319 459 -140 22
13 Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta 21 9 1 11 404 415 -11 21
14 Illawarra colours.svg Illawarra 22 8 0 14 403 444 -41 16
15 Penrith colours.svg Penrith 21 7 1 13 363 464 -101 15
16 Western Reds colours.svg Western Reds 21 6 1 14 313 420 -107 13
17 North Queensland colours.svg North Queensland 21 6 0 15 288 643 -355 12
18 Gold Coast colours.svg Gold Coast 22 5 1 16 359 521 -162 11
19 South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney 22 5 1 16 314 634 -320 11
20 South Queensland colours.svg South Queensland 21 3 0 18 220 496 -276 8

[edit] Finals

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Crowd
Qualifying Finals
Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla Sharks 20-12 Western Suburbs colours.svg Western Suburbs Magpies 6 September 1996 Parramatta Stadium David Manson 22,433
Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane Broncos 16-21 North Sydney colours.svg North Sydney Bears 7 September 1996 Suncorp Stadium Eddie Ward 25,983
Canberra colours.svg Canberra Raiders 14-16 St. George colours.svg St. George Dragons 7 September 1996 Sydney Football Stadium Kevin Jeffes 28,185
Manly colours.svg Manly Sea Eagles 16-14 Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Sydney City Roosters 8 September 1996 Sydney Football Stadium Paul McBlane 31,327
Semi Finals
Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane Broncos 16-22 Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla Sharks 14 September 1996 Sydney Football Stadium Kelvin Jeffes 27,665
Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Sydney City Roosters 16-36 St. George colours.svg St. George Dragons 15 September 1996 Sydney Football Stadium David Manson 37,858
Preliminary Finals
North Sydney colours.svg North Sydney Bears 12-29 St. George colours.svg St. George Dragons 21 September 1996 Sydney Football Stadium Kelvin Jeffes 37,779
Manly colours.svg Manly Sea Eagles 24-0 Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla Sharks 22 September 1996 Sydney Football Stadium David Manson 40,525
Grand Final
Manly colours.svg Manly Sea Eagles 20-8 St. George colours.svg St. George Dragons 29 September 1996 Sydney Football Stadium David Manson 40,985

[edit] Grand Final

Manly-Warringah
Manly Sea Eagles home jersey 1989.svg
Position St. George
St. George home jersey 1945.svg
Matthew Ridge FB Dean Raper
Danny Moore WG Nick Zisti
Craig Innes CE Mark Coyne (c)
Terry Hill CE Mark Bell
John Hopoate WG Adrian Brunker
Nik Kosef FE Anthony Mundine
Geoff Toovey (c) HB Noel Goldthorpe
David Gillespie PR Troy Stone
Jim Serdaris HK Jeff Hardy
Mark Carroll PR Luke Felsch
Steve Menzies SR Scott Gourley
Daniel Gartner SR Kevin Campion
Owen Cunningham LK Wayne Bartrim
Craig Hancock Reserve Nathan Brown
Des Hasler Reserve Lance Thompson
Cliff Lyons Reserve David Barnhill
Neil Tierney Reserve Colin Ward
Bob Fulton Coach David Waite

This was the last grand final to feature two Sydney-based teams until 2003. In the 5th minute, Manly centre Craig Innes won the chase and scored after a grubber kick by his skipper Geoff Toovey.[1] Matthew Ridge converted from the sideline for 6-0. The Dragons played on after being awarded a penalty in front of the posts in the 8th minute but failed to score.

At the 15 minute mark Saints' halfback Noel Goldthorpe conceded a penalty right in front of their goalpost after committing a head high tackle on Manly's Daniel Gartner. Ridge took the kick, extending the lead to 8–0. St. George sent in forward replacements Lance Thompson and David Barnhill for Scott Gourley and Kevin Campion (head cut). For Manly, Tierney came off the interchange bench to replace Gillespie. Up until the 19th minute mark when Manly veteran five-eighth Cliff Lyons took the field, their coach Bob Fulton was using six running forwards with Toovey as dummy half.

The Dragons' first points came in the 37th minute when Wayne Bartrim kicked a penalty awarded when Manly forward Cunningham stripped the ball. From the ensuing kick-off just before half-time came the game's controversial moment and a hotly disputed try. Ridge made a spectacular short kick-off and regathered, catching the Dragons unaware. St George hooker Nathan Brown appeared to tackle Ridge albeit one-handedly and by the collar. Ridge got up and ran when Brown was expecting him to stop and play the ball. Referee David Manson ruled that Brown did not complete the tackle. Nik Kosef then passed the ball to Steve Menzies who stormed his way through Saints' Thompson, Raper, Goldthorpe and Bartrim to score before Ridge converted for another 2 points. The controversial ruling by referee Manson gave Manly a 14–2 half time lead and broke Saints' resolve.

In the 53rd minute Manly's Danny Moore scored a try from a Terry Hill pass after Hill drew Saints defenders, Adrian Brunker and Nick Zisti. Innes converted from 5m off the sideline for the Sea-Eagles to take a 20-2 lead. Five minutes later Dragons' winger Zisti scored a try from a Bartrim cut-out pass. Bartrim then converted from the sideline for a scoreline of 20–8.

The final twenty minutes were scoreless with two field goal attempts from Ridge charged down by Dragons' defenders.

20

Manly Sea Eagles home jersey 1989.svg

Manly Sea Eagles

Tries Innes, Menzies, Moore
Goals Ridge 3/3, Innes 1/1
Field Goals

8

St. George home jersey 1945.svg

St. George Dragons

Tries Zisti
Goals Bartrim 2/2
Field Goals

Clive Churchill Medal: Geoff Toovey (Manly)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Jessup, Peter (2001-06-30). "Final line-break for Innes". nzherald.co.nz (APN Holdings NZ Limited). http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=197615. Retrieved 2009-12-08. 



Product Results (view all...)

search wiki for    ?
web dir firms image gallery news pdf wiki shop video 



↑ top of page ↑about thumbshots