Super League (Australia) season 1997
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- This article details the Super League half of 1997's split club competition. For the Australian Rugby League half, see Australian Rugby League season 1997. For more information on the Super League franchise, see Super League (Australia)
| Super League (Australia) season 1997 | |
| Teams | 10 |
| Premiers |  Brisbane (3rd title) |
| Minor premiers | Brisbane (2nd title) |
| Matches played | 96 |
| Points scored | 4035 (average 42.031 per match) |
| Attendance | 1,251,777 (average 13,039 per match) |
| Top points scorer(s) |  Ryan Girdler (197) |
| Top try scorer(s) |  Matthew Ryan (17) |
The 1997 Australian Super League premiership (known as the Telstra Cup for sponsorship purposes) was contested by ten clubs. It was the 90th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the only top grade competition to be run by the News Limited-controlled Super League.
Compared to the rival Australian Rugby League competition being run at the same time, there were just three teams based in Sydney. A further team from greater New South Wales, two teams from Queensland, one from the Australian Capital Territory, one from South Australia, one from Western Australia and one from New Zealand made up the premiership.
Contents |
[edit] Background
Super League was a rugby league competition that was held in Australia in 1997. It was created by News Corporation after an unsuccessful attempt to purchase the pay television rights to Australian rugby league games. After two years of legal battles the competition was played for a single season in 1997 before merging with the rival Australian Rugby League competition in 1998 to form the National Rugby League.
[edit] Teams
 Adelaide Rams |
 Auckland Warriors |
 Brisbane Broncos |
 Canberra Raiders |
 Canterbury Bulldogs |
 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks |
 Hunter Mariners |
 North Queensland Cowboys |
 Perth Reds |
 Penrith Panthers |
[edit] Season Summary
The Telstra Cup premiership was held over eighteen rounds. The season was dominated by the minor premiers, the Brisbane Broncos, who won 14 of their 18 matches, losing only to the Penrith Panthers, the Hunter Mariners and eventual runners-up, the Cronulla Sharks. The Grand Final was played at Brisbane's ANZ Stadium in front of 58,000 people; the ground record for that venue. The Broncos defeated the Sharks 26-8 to win their third premiership. The Auckland Warriors had teams in both the reserve grade and two age-group Grand Finals but lost all three.
The winners in all grades were:
- First Grade: Brisbane Broncos
- Reserve Grade: Canterbury Bulldogs
- Under-19s: Penrith Panthers
- Under-17s: Brisbane Broncos
[edit] Advertising
Teaser ads had been created by Mojo Sydney in 1996 around the theme of "Superleague: It's Coming". They featured Super League players performing superhuman feats. One notable execution included Canberra's Bradley Clyde inside a rodeo corral being stormed by a runaway bull with the suggestion that he is about to singlehandedly bring the bull to ground.
By season launch in 1997 Foxtel's ad agency Young and Rubicam Sydney had the Super League account and created a space-themed ad with players running through outer-space and the tag-line "Super League: It's out of this world".
By mid season the account had moved again and Sydney agency VCD produced much of the game promotional and club fixture print ads that ran in newspapers throughout the season. This commenced VCD's association with Super League that would continue with the ARL post the re-unification.
[edit] Ladder
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brisbane |
18 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 481 | 283 | +198 | 29 |
| 2 |  Cronulla |
18 | 12 | 0 | 6 | 403 | 230 | +173 | 24 |
| 3 |  Canberra |
18 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 436 | 337 | +99 | 22 |
| 4 | Canterbury |
18 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 453 | 447 | +6 | 20 |
| 5 | Penrith |
18 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 431 | 462 | -31 | 18 |
| 6 |  Hunter |
18 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 350 | 363 | -13 | 14 |
| 7 |  Auckland |
18 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 332 | 406 | -74 | 14 |
| 8 |  Perth |
18 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 321 | 456 | -135 | 14 |
| 9 |  Adelaide |
18 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 303 | 402 | -99 | 13 |
| 10 |  North Queensland |
18 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 328 | 452 | -124 | 12 |
[edit] Finals
Minor premiers the Brisbane Broncos only played two finals games (including the grand final), both against the Cronulla Sharks winning both convincingly.
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and Time | Venue | Referee | Crowd | |||||
| Preliminary Semi Finals | ||||||||
 Cronulla Sharks |
22–18 |  Canberra Raiders |
30 August 1997 | Endeavour Field | Bill Harrigan | 17,137 | ||
 Canterbury Bulldogs |
14–15 |  Penrith Panthers |
1 September 1997 | Belmore Oval | Graham Annesley | 10,492 | ||
| Major Qualifying Finals | ||||||||
 Brisbane Broncos |
34–2 | Cronulla Sharks |
6 September 1997 | Stockland Stadium | Bill Harrigan | 26,256 | ||
| Canberra Raiders |
32–12 | Penrith Panthers |
8 September 1997 | Bruce Stadium | Graham Annesley | 10,153 | ||
| Preliminary Final | ||||||||
| Cronulla Sharks |
10–4 | Canberra Raiders |
13 September 1997 | Endeavour Field | Bill Harrigan | 17,638 | ||
| Grand Final | ||||||||
| Brisbane Broncos |
26–8 | Cronulla Sharks |
20 September 1997 | ANZ Stadium | Bill Harrigan | 58,912 | ||
[edit] Grand Final
| Brisbane Broncos | Position | Cronulla Sharks |
|---|---|---|
| Darren Lockyer | FB | David Peachey |
| Michael De Vere | WG | Mat Rogers |
| Steve Renouf | CE | Andrew Ettingshausen (c) |
| Anthony Mundine | CE | Russell Richardson |
| Wendell Sailor | WG | Geoff Bell |
| Kevin Walters | FE | Mitch Healey |
| Allan Langer (c) | HB | Paul Green |
| Brad Thorn | PR | Danny Lee |
| Andrew Gee | HK | Dean Triester |
| Shane Webcke | PR | Jason Stevens |
| Gorden Tallis | SR | Craig Greenhill |
| Peter Ryan | SR | Chris McKenna |
| Darren Smith | LK | Tawera Nikau |
| Tonie Carroll | Bench | Adam Dykes |
| John Plath | Bench | Sean Ryan |
| Michael Hancock | Bench | Les Davidson |
| Ben Walker | Bench | Nathan Long |
| Wayne Bennett | Coach | John Lang |
Despite rain, a record crowd in Queensland rugby league history was at ANZ Stadium for the first ever night grand final and the only Australian top level grand final to be played outside Sydney. The match crowned a week of grand final festivities, including a ball, street parade and massive game-night fireworks display, of the sort the Broncos' management had wanted the ARL to bring to Brisbane before the code's big schism in 1995. Jon Stevens and Olivia Newton-John also performed in the pre-match entertainment.
The talented Brisbane side, featuring young up-and-coming stars in Darren Lockyer, Gorden Tallis and Shane Webcke overwhelmed a game Cronulla side 26–8. Steve Renouf, became only the third man to score three tries in a grand final. The win kept the Broncos' 100% record intact in Grand Finals making it three from three, while the Sharks had yet to make a grand final victory with zero from three.
Brisbane 26 (Tries: Renouf 3, Hancock; Goals: Lockyer 5/6)
Cronulla 8 (Tries: Richardson; Goals: Rogers 2/2)
[edit] National Rugby League
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. On September 23, 1997 the ARL announced that it was forming a new company to control the competition in 1998 and invited Super League clubs to participate. On October 7 Rupert Murdoch announced that he was confident that there would be a single competition in 1998 and in the following months the National Rugby League, jointly owned by the ARL and News Limited, was formed.
[edit] See also
- 1997 World Club Challenge
- Brisbane Broncos 1997
- Super League Tri-series
- Super League (Australia)
- Super League War
[edit] References
- Super League (Australia) season 1997 at rl1908.com
- Rugby League Tables - Notes The World of Rugby League
- Rugby League Tables - Season 1997 (SL) The World of Rugby League
- Premiership History and Statistics RL1908
