National Rugby League season 2006
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| 2006 National Rugby League season | |
|---|---|
| Image:NRLlogo.gif Logo of the NRL | |
| Teams | 15 |
| Premiers | Image:Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane (6th title) |
| Minor Premiers | Image:Melbourne colours.svg Melbourne (1st title) |
| Matches played | 189 |
| Points scored | 8201 (average 43.392 per match) |
| Attendance | 3,115,701 (average 16,485 per match) |
| Top points scorer(s) | Image:Canterbury colours.svg Hazem El Masri (296 points) |
| Top try scorer(s) | Image:South Sydney colours.svg Nathan Merritt (22 tries) |
The year 2006 saw the ninth National Rugby League premiership, the 99th season of professional rugby league in Australia. The season began on March 10 with a match between defending premiers Wests Tigers and the St George Illawarra Dragons, played at Telstra Stadium. The same venue hosted the Grand Final at the close of the season between the Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm on October 1.
There were 15 teams that participated throughout the 26 rounds of the regular season which included ten teams from New South Wales (9 of them from the Sydney basin), two from Queensland and one each from Victoria, the ACT and New Zealand. After the regular season concluded, eight of these teams qualified for the four-week finals series, with the Brisbane Broncos victors in the Grand Final.
Contents |
[edit] Pre season
- Newcastle Knights coach Michael Hagan signed a three-year deal to coach the Parramatta Eels, beginning in 2007. Hagan will replace Brian Smith, who has coached the Eels since 1997. In other coaching moves, Matthew Elliott was confirmed as the coach of the Penrith Panthers, beginning in 2007, whilst Brian Smith replaces Hagan at Newcastle in an unprecedented coach-swap.
- Penrith Panthers halfback Craig Gower was stripped of the captaincy and fined $100,000 ($70,000 of which was suspended) after unprofessional behaviour at a charity golf function.
- The Charity Shield heralded the unofficial start of the season, with the South Sydney Rabbitohs defeating St George Illawarra 14-12 in their first home game at Telstra Stadium on February 18. All NRL clubs engaged in a series of trials during the month of February.
- Wests Tigers premiership-winning captain Scott Prince announced on March 3 he had signed a four-year deal with expansion team Gold Coast Titans, beginning in 2007. Prince relinquished the captaincy of the Tigers for the 2006 season.
[edit] Season advertising
In 2006 the NRL and their advertising agency MJW Hakuhodo stayed with the Hoodoo Gurus' "That's My Team" soundtrack for a fourth year producing a treatment aimed to appeal to the fundamental hope of all players and fans: that it would be ‘their team’ who would win the Grand Final.
Capitalising on the enthusiasm generated by the Wests Tigers triumph of 2005 in only their sixth season, the campaign line and song chorus was changed to ‘That’s My Dream’.
All 15 NRL captains featured heavily in the television and outdoor ads holding aloft the Telstra trophy. Eight young real life fans also featured in the TV commercial reflecting the origins of the game from backyard football scenes to Sydney beaches. Each was a fan of one of eight clubs who had not till then won the Telstra Premiership trophy and four different broadcast versions of the ad told the stories of their love of the game and each's dream of their own team's victory.
[edit] New Zealand Warriors salary cap breach
The New Zealand Warriors were investigated by the National Rugby League over alleged salary cap breaches committed by the team's previous administrators. The club admitted to inflating its salary cap to the tune of nearly $1 million during the 2005 season. As punishment, the National Rugby League fined the Warriors club $430,000 and stripped the team of four competition points prior to the beginning of the season. It was the first time in 99 years of rugby league in Australia that a team has started a season on less than zero premiership points.
The Warriors appealed the decision by the NRL to strip the four competition points but accepted the financial penalty. Prior to the beginning of the season, the National Rugby League confirmed that the points penalty would stand. The penalty would prove the decisive factor in the Warriors missing the finals for the third year in succession.
[edit] Ladder
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | B | F | A | PD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Image:Melbourne colours.svg Melbourne | 24 | 20 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 605 | 404 | +201 | 44 |
| 2 | Image:Canterbury colours.svg Bulldogs | 24 | 16 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 608 | 468 | +140 | 36 |
| 3 | Image:Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane | 24 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 497 | 392 | +105 | 32 |
| 4 | Image:Newcastle colours.svg Newcastle | 24 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 608 | 538 | +70 | 32 |
| 5 | Image:Manly colours.svg Manly | 24 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 534 | 493 | +41 | 32 |
| 6 | Image:St. George Illawarra colours.svg St George Illawarra | 24 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 519 | 481 | +38 | 32 |
| 7 | Image:Canberra colours.svg Canberra | 24 | 13 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 525 | 573 | -48 | 30 |
| 8 | Image:Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta | 24 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 506 | 483 | +23 | 28 |
| 9 | Image:North Queensland colours.svg North Queensland | 24 | 11 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 450 | 463 | -13 | 26 |
| 10 | Image:New Zealand colours.svg New Zealand | 24 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 552 | 463 | +89 | 24 |
| 11 | Image:Wests Tigers colours.svg Wests Tigers | 24 | 10 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 490 | 565 | -75 | 24 |
| 12 | Image:Penrith colours.svg Penrith | 24 | 10 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 510 | 587 | -77 | 24 |
| 13 | Image:Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla | 24 | 9 | 0 | 15 | 2 | 515 | 544 | -29 | 22 |
| 14 | Image:Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Sydney | 24 | 8 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 528 | 650 | -122 | 20 |
| 15 | Image:South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney | 24 | 3 | 0 | 21 | 2 | 429 | 772 | -343 | 10 |
- New Zealand Warriors were stripped of four competition points due to breaches of the National Rugby League salary cap.
[edit] Finals
The 2006 NRL Final Series used the McIntyre Final Eight System for the eighth successive season. All games were shown live to air on the Nine Network in New South Wales, Queensland, Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory. Games involving the Melbourne Storm were shown live in Victoria.
[edit] Grand Final
The season culminated on October 1, 2006, with the 3rd placed Brisbane Broncos facing the minor premiers Melbourne Storm the Grand Final in front of 79,609 people at Sydney's Telstra Stadium. INXS performed before the match, which Brisbane won 15-8.
The victory was Brisbane's sixth premiership in their 19 seasons of First Grade, breaking their longest premiership drought since their 1988 inception. Brisbane suffered 11 losses during the season, the most ever by a premiership winning team.
The victory enabled the Broncos to maintain their 100% win record in Grand Finals and retiring Brisbane prop-forward Shane Webcke to leave the playing field with a premiership in his final season, a fine reward for his commitment to the game during his career.
This was also the first grand final not to feature a NSW-based club.
Brisbane 15 (Tries: Hodges, Tate; Goals: Lockyer 2/2, Parker 1/2; Field Goals: Lockyer)
Melbourne 8 (Tries: Turner, King; Goals: Smith 0/1, Geyer 0/1)
Clive Churchill Medal: Shaun Berrigan (Brisbane)
[edit] Dally M Awards
The Dally M Awards were introduced in 1980 by News Limited. The most prestigious of these awards is the Dally M Medal which is awarded to the Player Of The Year. The other prestigious award is the Provans Summons Medal which is the seasons best player as voted by the public. As well as honouring the player of the year the awards night also recognises the premier player in each position, the best coach, the best captain, representative player of the year and the most outstanding rookie of the season. The awards night and Player of the Year medal are named in honour of former Australian rugby league great Herbert Henry "Dally" Messenger.
Prestigious Awards
| Award | Player | Club | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Player of the Year | Cameron Smith | Melbourne Storm | |
| Provans Summons Medal | Nathan Hindmarsh | Parramatta Eels | |
| Rookie of the Year | Jarryd Hayne | Parramatta Eels | |
| Captain of the Year | Ben Kennedy | Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | |
| Rep Player of the Year | Darren Lockyer | Brisbane Broncos | |
| Coach of the Year | Craig Bellamy | Melbourne Storm |
Team of the Year
| Award | Player | Club | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best Fullback | Clinton Schifcofske | Canberra Raiders | |
| Best Winger | Brian Carney | Newcastle Knights | |
| Best Centre | Mark Gasnier | St George Illawarra Dragons | |
| Best Five-Eighth | Darren Lockyer | Brisbane Broncos | |
| Best Halfback | Cooper Cronk | Melbourne Storm | |
| Best Lock | Ben Kennedy | Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | |
| Best Second-Rower | Nathan Hindmarsh | Parramatta Eels | |
| Best Prop | Roy Asotasi | Canterbury Bulldogs | |
| Best Hooker | Cameron Smith | Melbourne Storm |
[edit] Venues
Sixteen stadiums regularly hosted National Rugby league matches, with a further six hosting at at least one match in season 2006.
[edit] See also
- National Rugby League
- Brisbane Broncos 2006
- Bulldogs 2006
- 2006 Rugby League State of Origin series
- 2006 Rugby League Tri-Nations
- Rugby league in 2006
- 2006 Australian football code crowds
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ During the 2006 season, many of the stadiums were known by different names to their traditional ones, as some were sponsored by various organisations. For example, Aussie Stadium was also formerly known as the "Sydney Football Stadium", likewise, Mt Smart Stadium was known as 'Ericsson Stadium' for the majority of the season, until the naming rights expired.
- ^ This includes both seated and standing spots.
[edit] External links
- NRL official website
- LeagueUnlimited
- Rugby League Tables and Statistics 2006
- Sports Australia League
- ABC 2006 NRL season
- NRL 2006 Draw
- Massey Ratings for NRL
