The 1997 Australian Rugby League season was the 90th season of professional
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
football in Australia, and the third season run by the
Australian Rugby League. While several clubs had left the League to compete in the
1997 Super League season, twelve ARL-loyal teams – eight from across
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, two from greater
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
and two from
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
– competed for the
Optus Cup Trophy. The top seven teams then played a series of knock-out finals which culminated in a September grand final played in Sydney between the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and the Newcastle Knights. The fairytale came true for thousands of Novocastrians when the Newcastle club won their first ever premiership, staging a comeback from 8–16 to shatter Manly's hopes.
Pre season
The season is most notable for being run parallel to the rival
Super League competition. This was the only season when the two competitions actually ran, notwithstanding that 1995 and 1996 had been disrupted by the
Super League war.
ARL chairman
Ken Arthurson resigned in February 1997 in an effort to enable re-unification negotiations held during the season to succeed. It would not be 'til after the season's end in December that the boards of every ARL club would gather at the SCG in an unprecedented meeting to consider the proposed peace deal following five months of secret negotiations between
Ian Frykberg
Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...
and
Neil Whittaker
Neil Whittaker (born 10 September 1956) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s for Balmain in the NSWRL competition. Whittaker was also the chief executive officer of the National Rugby L ...
.
Regular season
In 1997 the official player of the year award, the
Provan-Summons Medal
The Dally M Awards are the official annual player awards for the National Rugby League competition. As well as honouring the player of the year, who received the Dally M Medal, awards are also given to the premier player in each position, the be ...
was won by
Brad Fittler. This award was replaced by the Dally M Medal from the following year. The
Illawarra Steelers
The Illawarra Steelers are an Australian rugby league football club based in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales. The club competed in Australia's top-level rugby league competition from 1982 until 1998. On the 13th of December 1980, the ...
'
Scott Cram
Scott Cram (born 30 January 1977) is a former Scotland international rugby league footballer who played as a forward in the 1990s and 2000s. A Scotland international representative forward, he played his club football in Australasia's National ...
was named the 1997 season's rookie of the year.
The winners in all grades were:
* Newcastle Knights (Senior Grade)
* Parramatta Eels (Reserve Grade)
* Balmain Tigers (Under-20s Grade)
Teams
The eight ARL teams that had aligned themselves with
Super League
The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...
were absent from this year's ARL premiership, instead spending the year competing in the new
Telstra Cup competition. The Balmain Tigers changed their name back from the Sydney Tigers this season.
Ladder
*(MP) - Minor Premiers
*(P) - Premiers
Finals
Sydney City and
North Sydney played out a bizarre Qualifying Final with the Roosters winning 33–21. The Roosters fought back from 14–2 down with 10 minutes to go to get it back to 14–14, then both sides kicked a field goal to send it to extra time at 15–15. The Roosters went on to play
Gold Coast
Gold Coast may refer to:
Places Africa
* Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana:
** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642)
** Dutch G ...
who were in their first ever finals campaign with the Roosters winning 32–10 to book a Preliminary Final showdown with
Manly. A peculiarity of the finals system saw
Manly and
Newcastle face off in what later realised to be a pointless game where both the winner and loser progressed to a Grand Final qualifier the following week. The Roosters had another fight back when they came from 16–6 down to get it back to 16–16, but it was a Sea Eagles field goal that proved the difference to book themselves a third straight Grand Final berth with a 17–16 win.
Newcastle reached the 1997 grand final after defeating
Parramatta in week one of the finals series. At one stage,
Parramatta lead the match 18–0 before a comeback gave Newcastle a 28–20 victory.
Newcastle then lost the following week to
Manly 27–12 before setting up a preliminary final clash with
North Sydney.
With the score 12–8 in favor of Newcastle with under 10 minutes to play
Jason Taylor set up
Michael Buettner
Michael Buettner (born 30 October 1973 in Fairfield, New South Wales) is an Australian rugby league official and former professional footballer of the 1990s and 2000s. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin representa ...
for a try which made the score 12–12. Normally a very reliable kicker and one of the most accurate in the competition, Taylor had already missed two previous conversions in the match but if he was to kick this goal it could send North Sydney through to their first grade final since 1943. Taylor ended up missing the goal. With the scores locked at 12–12, Newcastle player
Matthew Johns kicked a field goal with 2 minutes to play to make it 13–12. With only seconds remaining Norths frantically threw the ball around and lost it, the ball was swooped up by Newcastle's
Owen Craigie
Owen may refer to:
Origin: The name Owen is of Irish and Welsh origin.
Its meanings range from noble, youthful, and well-born.
Gender: Owen is historically the masculine form of the name. Popular feminine variations include Eowyn and Owena. ...
and he raced away to score a try and won the game.
Grand Final
The fairytale came true for thousands of Novocastrians when the Knights won their first ever premiership, staging a comeback from 8–16 to shatter Manly's hopes.
1st half
The long-running duel between opposing front rowers Mark Carroll and Paul Harragon erupted once again in the 2nd minute when Carroll reacted to a Harragon shot on Geoff Toovey. Newcastle applied pressure early when they regained possession inside Manly's 20m and shortly after that Andrew Johns took a
penalty
Penalty or The Penalty may refer to:
Sports
* Penalty (golf)
* Penalty (gridiron football)
* Penalty (ice hockey)
* Penalty (rugby)
* Penalty (rugby union)
* Penalty kick (association football)
* Penalty shoot-out (association football)
* Penalty ...
attempt, but Manly's defence and luck stood firm and the score stayed nil-all. Manlyscored first after rookie hooker Anthony Colella won a scrum against the feed. John Hopoate exploited a weakness in Newcastle's right side defence and got between Darren Albert and Mark Hughes to score. Nevin's sideline conversion gave the Sea Eagles a 6–0 lead. In 13th minute Manly suffered a blow when Toovey was steamrolled. He left the
field
Field may refer to:
Expanses of open ground
* Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes
* Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport
* Battlefield
* Lawn, an area of mowed grass
* Meadow, a grass ...
concussed for Cliff Lyons to come on.
Johns went within inches of scoring for Newcastle in the 24th minute when his blindside break on the last tackle was stopped by a desperate Hopoate. Manly responded with a thrilling
try
Try or TRY may refer to:
Music Albums
* ''Try!'', an album by the John Mayer Trio
* ''Try'' (Bebo Norman album) (2014) Songs
* "Try" (Blue Rodeo song) (1987)
* "Try" (Colbie Caillat song) (2014)
* "Try" (Nelly Furtado song) (2004)
* " Try (Ju ...
in the 25th minute. The movement started 55 metres out – Hopoate making the initial break down the left-hand side with Lyons backing up to enable Craig Innes to crash over for a Manly 10–0 lead. Newcastle's first points came through a Johns' penalty goal. Then in the 34th minute they scored their first ever
Grand Final
Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...
try after a clever kick from Matthew Johns was taken by Hopoate who was bundled into touch. From the scrum win, Robbie O'Davis got outside Terry Hill to score. Andrew Johns' conversion brought Newcastle within two points. Manly hit back in the 38th minute after some magical work from Lyons. He swept onto the
ball
A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used f ...
which had been dropped by Harragon and spun around to find Shannon Nevin on the inside. The Newcastle forwards couldn't get across to cover the overlap and Nevin then converted his own try for a 16–8 half-time scoreline.
2nd half
Early in the second half there was more concern for Toovey after he was stomped on by Adam MacDougall. Manly then almost put Newcastle away in the 51st minute when Steven Menzies powered through close to the line only to be stopped by Troy Fletcher scrambling well to effect a try- and match-saving tackle for the Knights. Andrew Johns booted a penalty goal in the 57th minute to claw Newcastle back to within a converted try. In the 61st minute Adam Muir dropped a pass from Andrew Johns a metre from Manly's line but it was a sign that the Knights were back in the game. Manly on the other hand, began to play conservatively to their own ultimate cost. They received a penalty after another Harragon high tackle and elected to kick at goal 32 metres out with a swirling breeze. Nevin missed and Darren Albert returned the kick with a 40-metre run. Manly applied pressure for the next ten minutes but came away empty handed. Colella and then Nik Kosef both dropped balls inside Newcastle's 30m line while trying to off-load. A 69th minute last tackle raid ten metres out by Manly also fell short when a field-goal might have sealed the game. Having withstood the pressure, Newcastle then lifted. Following a long break by Fletcher, Andrew Johns received the ball from his brother. He stood in a tackle, handed to O'Davis, who spun and planted the ball on the line. Johns' conversion levelled the scores 16–16 with five minutes remaining.
The match is ultimately best remembered for its classic grandstand finish, when Darren Albert's try broke the 16–16 deadlock seven seconds from full-time. The effervescent Andrew Johns unexpectedly went down a narrow blind-side before slipping a pass to Albert who raced over to score prompting scenes of euphoria from the Knights fans and players who had won their inaugural title.
Ray Warren
Raymond Warren OAM (born 11 June 1943) is a retired Australian sports commentator, known for his coverage of televised professional rugby league matches on the Nine Network. He is known as the "Voice of Rugby League", and called 99 State of O ...
proclaiming "Newcastle have won the Grand Final"!
Newcastle Knights 22
Tries: O'Davis 2, Albert
Goals: Johns 5/6
Manly Sea Eagles 16
Tries: Hopoate, Innes, Nevin
Goals: Nevin 2/4
Clive Churchill Medal:
Robbie O'Davis
Seventy per cent of the winning squad were Newcastle juniors. The win was a huge morale boost to the blue-collar Newcastle district in the same year that the area's biggest employer, the
BHP
BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...
steelworks had announced its closure.
Post game
A
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...
style match between the Newcastle Knights and
Brisbane Broncos, the
1997 Super League season's premiers was mooted, but did not eventuate.
Newcastle only had to wait
another four years for its next premiership, whilst Manly had to wait until
2007
File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
for another shot at the title, which was unsuccessful. Manly's next premiership would however come
the year after.
Player statistics
The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 22.
Top 5 point scorers
Top 5 try scorers
Top 5 goal scorers
Post season
With twenty-two teams playing in two competitions in 1997 crowd attendances and corporate sponsorships were spread very thinly, and many teams found themselves in financial difficulty by the end of the season. Despite having the financial backing of
Optus, the
Australian Rugby League decided that it was not in the best interests of the game to run two competitions and undertook moves to approach
News Limited
News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of the American News Corp. One of Australia's largest media conglomerates, News Corp Australia employs more than 8,000 staff nationwide and approximately 3,0 ...
and invite the traditional clubs back into the main competition. As a consequence of the negotiations that followed, on 23 September 1997 the
ARL
ARL may refer to:
Military
* US Navy hull classification symbol for repair ship
* Admiralty Research Laboratory, UK
* United States Army Research Laboratory
* ARL 44, a WWII French tank
Organizations
* Aero Research Limited, a UK adhesives compan ...
announced that it was forming a new competition in partnership with News Limited. The NRL was formed from the ARL and Super League competitions.
It was announced that the
1998 season would have 20 teams competing, 19 of the ARL and Super League teams and the
Melbourne Storm, who were owned by News Limited. Some of the clubs on both sides of the war were shut down. News decided to close the
Hunter Mariners
The Hunter Mariners were an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Hunter Region's largest city, Newcastle. Hunter was formed in mid-1995 and was later disbanded at the end of 1997. The club was formed because of the Super Leag ...
and the financially ruined
Western/Perth Reds, who were $10million in debt at the end of 1997, while the ARL decided to close down the
South Queensland Crushers, who were also in financial trouble. Additionally, at the end of the following season
News Limited
News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of the American News Corp. One of Australia's largest media conglomerates, News Corp Australia employs more than 8,000 staff nationwide and approximately 3,0 ...
would decide to close down the
Adelaide Rams
The Adelaide Rams were an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The team was formed in 1995 for the planned rebel Super League competition. The Rams lasted two seasons, the first in the Super Le ...
and the ARL would close down the
Gold Coast Chargers
The Gold Coast Chargers were a professional rugby league club which played in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership from New South Wales Rugby League season 1988, 1988 to New South Wales Rugby League season 1994, 1994, the Australian Ru ...
, even though they were one of the few clubs to make a profit during the
Super League war.
See also
*
1997 State of Origin series
The 1997 State of Origin series was the 16th year that the annual best-of-three series of interstate rugby league football matches between the Queensland and New South Wales representative teams was contested entirely under 'state of origin' selec ...
References
External links
Rugby League Tables – Notes''The World of Rugby League''
''The World of Rugby League''
''RL1908''
{{1997 in rugby league
National Rugby League seasons
ARL season