Michael Withers
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Michael Withers
Michael Withers (born 16 May 1976) is a former Ireland international rugby league footballer who played as a and in the 1990s and 2000s. He played club football in Australia for the Balmain Tigers in the National Rugby League, and in England with the Wigan Warriors and the Bradford Bulls in the Super League. Background Withers was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Playing career Australia While attending John Paul II Senior High School in Marayong, New South Wales, Withers was selected for the Australian Schoolboys team in 1994. In the same year Withers won the Australian Dally M ''Junior Player of the Year''. England Withers played for Bradford Bulls at centre in the 1999 Super League Grand Final which was lost to St Helens R.F.C. Withers qualified for Great Britain through his Irish grandparents and he played for Ireland in the 2000 World Cup. He played for the Bradford Bulls at and scored 3 tries in their 2001 Super League Grand Final victory against the Wi ...
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Balmain Tigers
The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995–96) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and one of the most successful in the history of the premiership, with eleven titles. In 1999 they formed a joint venture club with the Western Suburbs Magpies club to form the Wests Tigers for competition in the National Rugby League (NRL). They no longer field any senior teams in the lower divisions. At the time of the joint venture only South Sydney Rabbitohs and the St George Dragons had won more titles than the Tigers. The club's home grounds are at present Leichhardt Oval, in Lilyfield, and T.G Milner Sportsground, in Marsfield. History Foundation club In 1908 Australia's first season of rugby league began in Sydney and the Balmain club was one of nine foundation clubs. One of the club's founders was future Premier of New South Wales, John Storey. Their home ground ...
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Harry Sunderland Trophy
The Harry Sunderland Trophy is awarded annually to the man of the match in the Super League Grand Final. Named after Harry Sunderland, who was an Australian rugby league football administrator in both Australia and the United Kingdom, the Trophy was first awarded in the Rugby Football League Championship Final of the 1964–65 season following Sunderland's death. After the 1972–73 season the play-off system was dropped as the League went to two divisions. The Trophy's use was continued in the Rugby League Premiership and Super League Premiership finals until Super League III, when a play-off system was re-introduced to determine the Champions through the Grand Final. The trophy's winner is determined by the Rugby League Writers' Association and presented on the field immediately following the conclusion of the match. In 2011, Rob Burrow of Leeds Rhinos became the first player to achieve the unanimous votes of all 37 judges when winning the award. Recipients † = denotes a ...
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2004 Super League Grand Final
The 2004 Super League Grand Final was the 7th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding game of Super League IX. It was held on Saturday 16 October 2004, at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was played between Leeds Rhinos, who finished top of the league after the 28 weekly rounds, and Bradford Bulls, who finished second after the weekly rounds. Background Route to the Final Leeds Rhinos Leeds finished top of the table to qualify for a home match in the semi-finals. The play-off structure matched them against the team finishing second - Bradford. Bradford won the semi-final meaning Leeds had to win the elimination final against Wigan to qualify for the grand final. In the elimination final they raced past Wigan 40–12 to set up a rematch against Bradford. Bradford Bulls By finishing second in the table Bradford qualified for the semi-finals but had to play the league leaders, Leeds, away with the winners going straight through to the grand final. In the game ...
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2004 World Club Challenge
The 2004 World Club Challenge was held on Friday, 13 February 2004, at the Alfred McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield, England. The game was contested by Bradford Bulls and the Penrith Panthers. Background Bradford Bulls Penrith Panthers Match Summary Teams External links2004 World Club Challenge at superleague.co.ukBBC Report
{{2004 in rugby league World Club Challenge Bradford Bulls matches
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Penrith Panthers
The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penrith are the current reigning NRL Premiers, having won the title four times. Penrith were admitted to the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) competition in 1967. Penrith struggled for almost twenty years before finally reaching their first finals series. The club achieved its first Grand Final appearance in 1990 but were beaten by the Canberra Raiders 18–14. The following year, Penrith met Canberra again in the 1991 Grand Final, this time winning the game 19–12. Penrith won the NRL premiership again in 2003. Their most recent premiership achievement was over the Parramatta Eels in the 2022 Grand Final with a 28–12 victory. After losing the 2020 Grand Final to the Melbourne Storm, Penrith became the second club to retain the premie ...
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Super League VIII
Tetley's Super League VIII was the official name for the year 2003's Super League championship season, the 109th season of top-level professional rugby league held in Britain, and the eighth championship run by Super League. The season culminated in a replay of the 2001 Grand Final between Bradford Bulls and Wigan Warriors, and again Bradford won, claiming the 2003 premiership, their second in three years. Rule changes * The knock-on rule was modified so that if in the referee's judgement a player did not play at the ball, a knock-on would not be given. * Super League coaches voted 12-0 for new interchange and substitution rules for the 2003 season. The number of interchanges, which now included blood bins, increased from 6 to 12 using a pool of 4 substitutes. This change aimed to retain the element of wearing down a team's opponents during the game - which was considered part of the character of the sport. Stuart Cummings, the Rugby Football League The Rugby Football ...
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2003 Super League Grand Final
The 2003 Super League Grand Final was the 6th official Grand Final conclusive and premiership-deciding match of Super League VIII. Held on Saturday 18 October 2003 at Old Trafford, Manchester, the game was played between Bradford Bulls and Wigan Warriors. The match was refereed Karl Kirkpatrick and watched by a crowd of 65,537, with Bradford winning 25 - 12. Background Route to the Final Bradford Bulls Bradford finished top of the table so qualified straight to the play-off semi-final. They were drawn at home to Leeds Rhinos and won 30–14 to qualify for the grand final. Wigan Warriors Wigan finished third in the table so had to play their way through three rounds of play-off matches. In the elimination play-off they beat Warrington 25–12, the semi-final saw them beat St Helens 40–24 and then in the elimination final they beat Leeds Rhinos 23–22 to set up the final against Bradford. Match details World Club Challenge Having won the championship, the Bradford Bull ...
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2002 Super League Grand Final
The 2002 Super League Grand Final was the Fifth official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding game of Super League VII. Held on Saturday 19 October 2002 at Old Trafford, Manchester, the game was played between St. Helens and Bradford Bulls. Refereed by Russell Smith, the match was seen by a crowd of 61,138 and was won by St Helens 19 - 18. Background Route to the Final St Helens St Helens, by finishing top of the table automatically qualified for the play-off semi-final where they were drawn at home to Bradford. A surprising loss saw Saints have to go the long route to the grand final by playing bitter rivals Wigan Warriors in the elimination semi-final; a match they won 24–8 to set up another game against Bradford. Bradford Bulls Bradford as the team finishing second in the season also qualified for the play-off semi-final where they had to travel to St Helens. A close fought game saw Bradford win 28–26 to go straight through to the grand final. Match ...
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2002 World Club Challenge
The 2002 World Club Challenge was held on Friday, 1 February 2002, at the Alfred McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield, England. The game was contested by Bradford Bulls and Newcastle Knights. Background Bradford Bulls The 2001 Super League Grand Final was held on Saturday 13 October 2001, at Old Trafford, Manchester, UK. The game was contested by Bradford Bulls and Wigan Warriors. Newcastle Knights The 2001 NRL grand final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2001 NRL season. It was contested by the Newcastle Knights (who had finished the regular season in 3rd place), and the Parramatta Eels (who had finished the regular season in 1st place), after both sides eliminated the rest of the top eight during the finals. The attendance of 90,414 was the third highest ever seen at a rugby league match in Australia. Match summary Teams External links2002 World Club Challenge at news.bbc.co.uk
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Newcastle Knights
The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top tier competition in 1988, 79 years after the previous Newcastle based team, the Newcastle Rebels had departed the Sydney competition with the formation of a separate league competition based in the Newcastle region. The club has won two premierships over its history (1997 and 2001) and is one of only two clubs (the other being the Wests Tigers) that has never lost a grand final in which it has participated. It has also produced such players as Paul Harragon, Robbie O'Davis, Danny Buderus and rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns. The team's home ground is McDonald Jones Stadium. History A Newcastle rugby league team had been assembled from players in the Newcastle Rugby League to compete in various competitions f ...
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2001 NRL Season
The 2001 NRL season was the 94th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fourth run by the National Rugby League. Also called the 2001 Telstra Premiership (due to sponsorship from Telstra Corporation) it was contested by thirteen Australia-based clubs plus one New Zealand-based club. The Newcastle Knights claimed their second premiership in five seasons, defeating minor premiers Parramatta Eels in the NRL's first ever night-time grand final. Season summary Early in the season NRL matches involving the Bulldogs were marred by off-field violence from the club's supporters. The Parramatta Eels looked set to break their fifteen-year premiership drought as they compiled one of the most dominant season records in rugby league history, losing just four of their 26 regular season games with the League's best attack and defensive record. In 2001 they established the standing record for most points by a club in a season with 943, blitzing the Brisbane Broncos' pr ...
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Super League VI
Tetley's Super League VI was the official name for the year 2001's Super League championship season, the 107th season of top-level professional rugby league football in Britain, and the sixth championship run by the Super League. The season began on the first weekend in March and culminated after twenty-eight rounds in a six-game playoff series, involving the top 5 teams. Rule changes * 20 metre restarts should be allowed to happen quickly and not be delayed by referees. * The first and second halves will now end the moment that the hooter sounds, in the past referees could use their discretion to let play continue if they felt the siren had sounded in during play. Refereeing focus The play-the-ball was to be more strictly refereed: * Penalising those teams that attempt to delay or interfere with the tackled player. Following a pre-season meeting with coaches the RFL's director of rugby, Greg McCallum, identified the following delaying tactics that would be monitored for: ** "Flo ...
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