1995 ARL season

1995 Australian Rugby League
Teams	20
Premiers	Sydney Bulldogs (7th title)
Minor premiers	Manly-Warringah (7th title)
Matches played	229
Points scored	5370
Attendance	3352927
Top points scorer(s)	Matthew Ridge (257)
Player of the year	Paul Green (Rothmans Medal)
Top try-scorer(s)	Steve Menzies (22)

The 1995 ARL premiership was the 88th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the first to be run by the Australian Rugby League following the hand-over of the Premiership's administration by the New South Wales Rugby League. For the first time since the 1988 NSWRL season, the Premiership expanded again, with the addition of four new clubs^[1] from North Queensland, Western Australia, South Queensland and Auckland. This saw a total of twenty teams, the largest number in the League's history, compete during the regular season for the J J Giltinan Shield, which was followed by a series of play-off finals between the top eight teams that culminated in a grand final for the Winfield Cup between the newly re-branded Sydney Bulldogs and the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.

The 1995 season also saw the first major consequences of the Super League war, with the ARL's refusal to select for participation in State of Origin or Australia national team matches any players from the eight clubs (which included every club that had won the premiership since 1988) aligned with News Ltd's proposed Super League.

Season summary

1995 would prove to be a year of massive change for the League. In addition to the introduction of four new teams, it was the last year of the permiership's association with Rothmans and the Winfield brand and consequently the final year that clubs competed for the Winfield Cup.

The storm clouds that had been gathering for some time in the form of rumours and speculation about Super League were to break on 1 April 1995 with a verification that would rain on the game with more force than anyone could have expected. The subsequent Super League war would rock the sport in Australia and set it back almost a decade in terms of its loss of public support and damage to its grass roots values.

The 1995 season was played in front of a background of legal actions, breaking friendships and with clubs, players and managers all jockeying for position and self-interest. Players who had signed with the new Super League venture were forbidden by the ARL from participating in the 1995 State of Origin. Queensland and New South Wales selectors were limited to selecting players only from ARL-aligned clubs.

The usual twenty-two regular season rounds were played from March till August. However the large number of teams meant a resulting top eight would battle it out in the finals rather than the usual five. These were Manly, Canberra, Brisbane, Cronulla, Newcastle, Bulldogs, St. George and Norths (who made it in due to Auckland being penalised for an interchange infringement). Cronulla-Sutherland's halfback Paul Green was awarded the 1995 Rothmans Medal. The Dally M Award was given to Canberra's five-eighth, Laurie Daley who was also named Rugby League Week's player of the year. Manly-Warringah's Steve Menzies became the first forward for 50 years to top the season's try-scoring list, while his team mate Matthew Ridge set a club point scoring record of 257 points (11 tries, 106 goals and 1 field goal) to be the leagues leading point scorer for the year.

By the end of the regular season, the ARL's inaugural 20-team competition had set a new record for aggregate match attendances of 3,061,338.^[2]

Advertising

1995 marked the final year of the New South Wales Rugby League's sponsorship arrangement with Rothmans and Winfield due to the Federal Government's blanket ban on cigarette advertising in Australia effective from 1 January 1996. It was consequently the final year of a seven-year association with Tina Turner and the end of an era in Australian sports marketing.

With a lock-up-your-daughters, kick-off your suspenders, red-blooded Tina Turner marketing blitz, the ARL had stuck it right up the other footy codes.

— Ray Martin, 1999^[3]

As in 1994 the New South Wales Rugby League and its advertising agency Hertz Walpole returned to the original 1989 recording of The Best by Turner to underscore the season launch advertisement. Footage from the studio bluescreen shoot taken during Turner's 1993 Sydney visit was used in the final advertisements. The enduring images are of Turner performing the song on an elevated stage in front of the fluttering banners of the 20 clubs that would participate in 1995's expanded competition.

Teams

When the Australian Rugby League began taking bids for additional teams to begin playing in 1995, it was expected that only two teams would enter. The Auckland Warriors were the first club to be accepted, with the final place being fought for by South Queensland, North Queensland and Perth. The Australian Rugby League later announced that all three clubs had been accepted, taking the number of teams from 16 in 1994 to 20 in 1995, the highest it had ever been and would ever be.

With the addition of the Auckland Warriors, North Queensland Cowboys, South Queensland Crushers and Western Reds the 1995 season involved an unprecedented twenty clubs,^[4] including five Sydney-based foundation teams, another six from Sydney, two from greater New South Wales, two from Brisbane, two from greater Queensland, and one each from New Zealand, the Australian Capital Territory and Western Australia, who all contested the premiership, making it the largest competition in terms of participation in Australia's history.

We haven't brought these teams into the Winfield Cup just to see them dropped after one season

— Australian Rugby League boss, Ken Arthurson, 1995^[5]

With the storm that would be the Super League war already brewing in the background, three clubs based in Sydney suburbs, in an effort to position themselves favourably as battle lines were being drawn up, re-branded themselves for the 1995 season with less geographically distinct names: the Balmain Tigers became the 'Sydney Tigers', the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs became the 'Sydney Bulldogs', and the Eastern Suburbs Roosters became the 'Sydney City Roosters'.

Auckland Warriors 1st season Ground: Ericsson Stadium Coach: John Monie Captain: Dean Bell	Brisbane Broncos 8th season Ground: ANZ Stadium Coach: Wayne Bennett Captain: Allan Langer	Canberra Raiders 14th season Ground: Bruce Stadium Coach: Tim Sheens Captain: Ricky Stuart	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 29th season Ground: Endeavour Park Coach: John Lang Captain: Andrew Ettinghausen	Gold Coast Seagulls 8th season Ground: Seagulls Stadium Coach: John Harvey Captain: Craig Coleman
Illawarra Steelers 14th season Ground: Wollongong Stadium Coach: Graham Murray→Allan Fitzgibbon Captain: John Cross	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 49th season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Bob Fulton Captain: Geoff Toovey	Newcastle Knights 8th season Ground: Marathon Stadium Coach: Malcolm "Mal" Reilly Captain: Mark Sargent → Paul Harragon	North Queensland Cowboys 1st season Ground: Stockland Stadium Coach: Grant Bell Captain: various	North Sydney Bears 88th season Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Peter Louis Captain: Jason Taylor
Parramatta Eels 49th season Ground: Parramatta Stadium Coach: Ron Hilditch Captain: Paul Dunn	Penrith Panthers 29th season Ground: Penrith Stadium Coach: Royce Simmons Captain: John Cartwright	Sydney Bulldogs 61st season Ground: Parramatta Stadium Coach: Chris Anderson Captain: Terry Lamb	Sydney City Roosters 88th season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: Phil Gould Captain: Sean Garlick	Sydney Tigers 88th season Ground: Parramatta Stadium Coach: Wayne Pearce Captain: Paul Sironen
South Queensland Crushers 1st season Ground: Suncorp Stadium Coach: Bill Gardner → Bob Lindner Captain: Mario Fenech → Trevor Gillmeister	South Sydney Rabbitohs 88th season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: Ken Shine Captain: Lee Jackson → Craig Field	St. George Dragons 75th season Ground: Kogarah Oval Coach: Brian Smith Captain: Mark Coyne	Western Reds 1st season Ground: WACA Ground Coach: Peter Mulholland Captain: Brad Mackay	Western Suburbs Magpies 88th season Ground: Campbelltown Stadium Coach: Tommy Raudonikis Captain: Paul Langmack

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	22	20	0	2	687	248	+439	40
2	Canberra Raiders	22	20	0	2	634	255	+379	40
3	Brisbane Broncos	22	17	0	5	600	364	+236	34
4	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	22	16	0	6	516	287	+229	32
5	Newcastle Knights	22	15	0	7	549	396	+153	30
6	Sydney Bulldogs (P)	22	14	0	8	468	352	+116	28
7	St. George Dragons	22	13	0	9	583	382	+201	26
8	North Sydney Bears	22	11	2	9	542	331	+211	24
9	Sydney City Roosters	22	12	0	10	466	406	+60	24
10	Auckland Warriors	22	13	0	9	544	493	+51	24
11	Western Reds	22	11	0	11	361	549	-188	22
12	Illawarra Steelers	22	10	1	11	519	431	+88	21
13	Western Suburbs Magpies	22	10	0	12	459	534	-75	20
14	Penrith Panthers	22	9	0	13	481	484	-3	18
15	Sydney Tigers	22	7	0	15	309	591	-282	14
16	South Queensland Crushers	22	6	1	15	303	502	-199	13
17	Gold Coast Seagulls	22	4	1	17	350	628	-278	9
18	South Sydney Rabbitohs	22	4	1	17	319	686	-367	9
19	Parramatta Eels	22	3	0	19	310	690	-380	6
20	North Queensland Cowboys	22	2	0	20	269	660	-391	4

• Auckland Warriors were stripped of 2 competition points due to exceeding the replacement limit in round 3.

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

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

Finals

A new finals system involving eight teams instead of the previous five was introduced for the expanded 1995 competition.^[6] The final eight was to be made of four clubs who would ultimately prove loyal to the Australian Rugby League (Manly-Warringah, St. George, North Sydney and Newcastle) and four clubs who would join Super League's rebel ranks (Sydney Bulldogs, Canberra, Brisbane and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks). The Grand Final was played out by a team from each faction, being the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and the Sydney Bulldogs.

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Quarter Finals
Newcastle Knights	20-10	North Sydney Bears	1 September 1995	Parramatta Stadium	David Manson	14,174
Canberra Raiders	14-8	Brisbane Broncos	2 September 1995	Suncorp Stadium	Kelvin Jeffes	40,187
Sydney Bulldogs	12-8	St. George Dragons	2 September 1995	Sydney Football Stadium	Eddie Ward	26,835
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	24-20	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	3 September 1995	Sydney Football Stadium	Paul McBlane	32,795
Semi Finals
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	18-19	Newcastle Knights	9 September 1995	Sydney Football Stadium	Eddie Ward	26,061
Brisbane Broncos	10-24	Sydney Bulldogs	10 September 1995	Sydney Football Stadium	David Manson	34,087
Preliminary Finals
Canberra Raiders	6-25	Sydney Bulldogs	16 September 1995	Sydney Football Stadium	Eddie Ward	36,894
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	12-4	Newcastle Knights	17 September 1995	Sydney Football Stadium	David Manson	38,874
Grand Final
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	4-17	Sydney Bulldogs	24 September 1995	Sydney Football Stadium	Eddie Ward	41,127

Grand Final

Having finished in sixth place at the end of the regular season, the Bulldogs managed a history-making finals surge, winning three sudden death matches to make the grand final. Canterbury were ahead at half-time 6-4. They lost the scrum count 3-5 and the penalty count 9-10. Manly's 22-3 season win/loss record was the best not to have secured the premiership.

At game's end Lamb enjoyed the rare honour of celebrating as a retiring victorious skipper, although he surprisingly returned for the 1996 season.

The performance of Eddie Ward, refereeing his first grand final, was subject to some post match controversy.^[7][8][9] Rugby League Week commented: "Two of Canterbury's three tries appeared to have resulted from borderline passes, another came on the seventh tackle, and a fourth - which in fact was a fair try - was disallowed"^[10]

Sydney Bulldogs 17 (Tries: Price, Hughes, Silva. Goals: Halligan 2/5. Field Goal: Lamb.)

Manly-Warringah 4 (Goals: Ridge 2/2.)

Clive Churchill Medallist: Jim Dymock^[11]

See also

• 1995 State of Origin series
• Super League war

References

External links

• Rugby League Tables - Season 1995 The World of Rugby League
• Australian Rugby League season 1995 at rleague.com
• ARL season 1995 at rugbyleagueproject.com
• Results: 1991-2000 at rabbitohs.com.au