2003 NRL season

2003 National Rugby League
Teams	15
Premiers	Penrith (2nd title)
Minor premiers	Penrith (2nd title)
Matches played	189
Points scored	8993 (total) 47.582 (per match)
Attendance	2,965,141 (total) 15,689 (per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Hazem El Masri (294)
Top try scorer(s)	Rhys Wesser (25)

The 2003 NRL premiership was the 96th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the sixth run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen teams competed, with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles returning in place of their failed joint-venture club, the Northern Eagles. Ultimately, the Penrith Panthers defeated reigning champions, the Sydney Roosters in the 2003 NRL grand final, claiming their first premiership since 1991.

Season summary

Season 2003 brought in the new "golden point" extra time rule, where after 80 minutes, if the game was drawn, then 10 minutes of extra time was played until one team scored the winning point(s). The salary cap for the 2003 season was A$3.25 million per club for their 25 highest-paid players.^[1]

The first round of the Premiership improved on the previous year's in terms of attendance and television ratings.^[2] The major story this season was the resurgence of the Penrith Panthers, who defied the critics and naysayers to win their second premiership in their illustrious history since joining the competition in 1967. Coached by John Lang and captained by Craig Gower, the Panthers were the surprise minor premiers, dominating the competition despite consistent disparagement from many sources, and would continue their outstanding form in the finals, beating the Broncos, Warriors and finally the Roosters in the grand final.

The Dally M Medal ceremony was cancelled by the NRL after negotiations with the players' union, the Rugby League Professionals Association, stalled. All votes for the award were destroyed. It was later revealed that with one round of the regular season to play, Craig Gower was leading both Brad Fittler and Clinton Schifcofske by one point in the overall points tally. However, with the ceremony officially cancelled more than a week out from the awards, no points were allocated in the final round of the season.^[3]

At the end of the season, Chris Anderson would lose his job at Cronulla-Sutherland, while Peter Sharp was dismissed as the Sea Eagles coach.

Also at the end of the season, a squad of players from the NRL premiership went on the 2003 Kangaroo tour.

Teams

The lineup of fifteen teams for the 2003 premiership remained unchanged from the previous season, except that the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles rejoined the competition since their merger with North Sydney Bears in 1999, taking the place of the failed Northern Eagles. This ended North Sydney's representation in the League.

Brisbane Broncos 16th season Ground: Suncorp Stadium Coach: Wayne Bennett Captain: Gorden Tallis			Bulldogs 69th season Ground: Sydney Showground & Telstra Stadium Coach: Steve Folkes Captain: Steve Price			Canberra Raiders 22nd season Ground: Canberra Stadium Coach: Matthew Elliott Captain: Simon Woolford			Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 37th season Ground: Toyota Stadium Coach: Chris Anderson Captain: Brett Kimmorley
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 54th season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Peter Sharp Captain: Steve Menzies			Melbourne Storm 6th season Ground Olympic Park Stadium Coach: Craig Bellamy Captain: Stephen Kearney			Newcastle Knights 16th season Ground: EnergyAustralia Stadium Coach: Michael Hagan Captain: Andrew Johns			New Zealand Warriors 9th season Ground: Ericsson Stadium Coach: Daniel Anderson Captain: Stacey Jones
North Queensland Cowboys 9th season Ground: Dairy Farmers Stadium Coach: Graham Murray Captain: Paul Bowman			Parramatta Eels 57th season Ground: Parramatta Stadium Coach: Brian Smith Captain: Nathan Cayless			Penrith Panthers 37th season Ground: CUA Stadium Coach: John Lang Captain: Craig Gower			South Sydney Rabbitohs 94th season Ground: Aussie Stadium Coach: Paul Langmack Captain: Bryan Fletcher
Sydney Roosters 96th season Ground: Aussie Stadium Coach: Ricky Stuart Captain: Brad Fittler				St. George Illawarra Dragons 5th season Ground: Kogarah Oval & WIN Stadium Coach: Nathan Brown Captain: Trent Barrett				Wests Tigers 4th season Ground: Campbelltown Stadium & Leichhardt Oval Coach: Tim Sheens Captain: Darren Senter

Records and statistics

• Anthony Minichiello ran 4,571 metres with the ball in 2003, more than any other player in the competition.^[4]
• Nathan Brown became the youngest non-playing coach in premiership history at the age of 29.^[5] Brown had retired from playing in 2001 after a neck injury in a trial game.
• Referee Bill Harrigan's tenth grand final in 2003, the final match of his career, stands as the record for the most grand finals officiated by a referee.
• On 23 August the Parramatta Eels beat the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 74-4, at the time the third highest winning margin for a club game in Australian rugby league history.
• Also on 23 August, the North Queensland Cowboys beat the South Sydney Rabbitohs 60-8, the biggest win and most points in a match in Cowboys history.
• The Brisbane Broncos set a record for their longest losing streak, from round 20 to the 4th qualifying final.
• The Penrith Panthers became the first team to win the minor premiership and hold bottom spot on the ladder in the same season.
• The Penrith Panthers won 8 matches in a row from 19 April - 7 June, most wins in a row in the clubs history.
• The Bulldogs equalled their worst defeat with a 50-4 loss to the Melbourne Storm in round 22.
• The Brisbane Broncos suffered their worst ever defeat at Suncorp Stadium, losing to the Bulldogs 40-4 in round 18. This was later eclipsed by a 56-18 loss to the New Zealand Warriors in Round 12 of season 2013. They also only recorded one victory at the Stadium in season 2003, which came two weeks earlier with a 10-8 win over the Sydney Roosters (who, at that time had not won at Suncorp since 1991, however this drought ended in 2005).

Advertising

In 2003 the NRL sacked their advertising agency of the previous two years, Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney, and took the unusual step of coming up with their own in-house creative concept. Former Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks player and then current Parramatta Eels assistant coach Alan Wilson hit upon the idea of using the Hoodoo Gurus' 1987 hit "What's My Scene?" with reworked lyrics as "That's My Team".

"and another thing, I'm discovering lately, I'm a bit crazy, for my rugby league team "

Wilson is a friend of Hoodoo Gurus singer Dave Faulkner and made the necessary arrangements which included re-uniting the band to re-record the track. Faulkner is a long-time supporter of the Sharks and the original film clip of "What's My Scene?" had included shots of band members in Wests and Cronulla-Sutherland jumpers.

The ad focuses on the grass roots supporters at all levels of the game and in its finished version includes shots of fans from the Cessnock Goannas, a proud Bulldogs supporter and a Penrith teenager with a broken leg signed by her heroes. These images are included with the usual fare of pre-season team training images, big-hits, clever passes and post-try celebrations.^[6]

To produce the ad the League returned to the agency who created and produced the Tina Turner campaigns from 1989 to 1995 - Hertz Walpole Advertising by now renamed MJW Hakuhodo.

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Penrith (P)	24	18	0	6	2	659	527	+132	40
2	Sydney	24	17	0	7	2	680	445	+235	38
3	Bulldogs	24	16	0	8	2	702	419	+283	36
4	Canberra	24	16	0	8	2	620	463	+157	36
5	Melbourne	24	15	0	9	2	564	486	+78	34
6	New Zealand	24	15	0	9	2	545	510	+35	34
7	Newcastle	24	14	0	10	2	632	635	-3	32
8	Brisbane	24	12	0	12	2	497	464	+33	28
9	Parramatta	24	11	0	13	2	570	582	-12	26
10	St George Illawarra	24	11	0	13	2	548	593	-45	26
11	North Queensland	24	10	0	14	2	606	629	-23	24
12	Cronulla-Sutherland	24	8	0	16	2	497	704	-207	20
13	Wests Tigers	24	7	0	17	2	470	598	-128	18
14	Manly-Warringah	24	7	0	17	2	470	791	-321	18
15	South Sydney	24	3	0	21	2	457	758	-301	10

Ladder progression

• Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 8.
• Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.
• Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished in last place on the ladder in that round
• Underlined numbers indicate that the team had a bye during that round.

	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26
1	Penrith	0	0	2	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	20	22	24	26	28	30	30	30	32	34	36	38	40
2	Sydney Roosters	2	4	4	6	8	10	10	12	12	14	16	18	18	20	20	20	22	24	26	28	30	32	34	36	36	38
3	Bulldogs	2	4	4	6	6	6	6	8	10	12	12	12	14	16	18	18	20	22	24	26	28	30	32	34	34	36
4	Canberra	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	16	16	18	20	22	22	22	24	24	26	28	30	30	32	32	34	36	36
5	Melbourne	2	4	6	6	8	8	8	10	12	12	14	14	14	16	16	18	20	22	22	24	26	26	28	30	32	34
6	New Zealand	0	2	4	6	8	10	10	10	12	14	14	14	16	16	18	20	20	22	24	26	26	28	28	30	32	34
7	Newcastle	2	2	2	4	6	8	10	10	12	12	12	14	16	18	18	20	20	22	22	22	24	26	28	28	30	32
8	Brisbane	2	4	6	8	8	8	10	12	14	16	18	18	20	22	24	26	26	26	28	28	28	28	28	28	28	28
9	Parramatta	0	0	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	6	6	8	10	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	22	24	26	26
10	St. George Illawarra	0	2	2	4	4	6	8	10	10	10	12	12	14	14	16	18	20	20	22	22	24	24	24	24	24	26
11	North Queensland	0	2	4	4	4	4	6	8	8	10	12	14	14	14	14	14	16	16	16	16	18	18	20	22	24	24
12	Cronulla-Sutherland	0	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	6	8	10	10	10	12	12	14	14	14	14	14	16	16	18	18	20	20
13	Wests Tigers	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	6	6	6	8	8	8	10	10	12	14	14	16	16	16	18	18	18	18
14	Manly-Warringah	2	2	2	2	4	6	8	8	8	10	10	12	14	14	16	16	16	16	16	18	18	18	18	18	18	18
15	South Sydney	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	8	8	8	8	10

Finals series

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Qualifying Finals
Canberra Raiders	18 – 30	Melbourne Storm	12 September 2003	Canberra Stadium	Tim Mander	14,094
Canterbury Bulldogs	22 – 48	New Zealand Warriors	13 September 2003	Sydney Showground	Bill Harrigan	18,312
Sydney Roosters	36 – 8	Newcastle Knights	13 September 2003	Aussie Stadium	Sean Hampstead	23,853
Penrith Panthers	28 – 18	Brisbane Broncos	14 September 2003	Penrith Football Stadium	Steve Clark	18,534
Semi Finals
Canberra Raiders	16 – 17	New Zealand Warriors	20 September 2003	Aussie Stadium	Tim Mander	31,616
Canterbury Bulldogs	30 – 0	Melbourne Storm	21 September 2003	Aussie Stadium	Bill Harrigan	19,367
Preliminary Finals
Sydney Roosters	28 – 18	Canterbury Bulldogs	27 September 2003	Aussie Stadium	Bill Harrigan	41,123
Penrith Panthers	28 – 20	New Zealand Warriors	28 September 2003	Telstra Stadium	Tim Mander	43,174

Finals Chart

	Qualifying Finals					Semi Finals					Preliminary Finals					Grand Final
	1	Penrith	28
	8	Brisbane	18
											1W	Penrith	28
	2	Sydney	36			4W	New Zealand	17				New Zealand	20
	7	Newcastle	8			2L	Canberra	16									Penrith	18
																	Sydney	6
	3	Canterbury	22								2W	Sydney	28
	6	New Zealand	48			3W	Melbourne	0				Canterbury	18
						1L	Canterbury	30
	4	Canberra	18
	5	Melbourne	30

Grand final

Sources and footnotes

External links

• NRL official website
• 2003 NRL "That's My Team" Season Advertisement
• 2003 NRL Grand Final at sportsphotography.net