2005 NRL season

2005 National Rugby League
Teams 15
Premiers Wests Tigers (1st title)
Minor premiers Parramatta (5th title)
Matches played 189
Points scored 8861
Attendance 3276675
Top points scorer(s) Brett Hodgson (308)
Player of the year Johnathan Thurston (Dally M Medal)
Top try-scorer(s) Matthew Bowen (21)

The 2005 NRL season was the 98th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the eighth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of clubs remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen teams contesting the 2005 Telstra Premiership, which culminated in a grand final between the Wests Tigers and the North Queensland Cowboys.

Season summary

In 2005 the NRL's salary cap was $3.25 million for the 25 highest-paid players in a club.[1]

The season was statistically the closest season ever, with just sixteen points separating the Parramatta Eels (1st) and Newcastle Knights (15th). It was also notable in that the previous four premiers failed to qualify for the finals (Bulldogs, Penrith Panthers, Sydney Roosters and Newcastle Knights).

In the middle of 2005 the NRL reached a broadcasting rights agreement with Foxsports and Channel 9 worth $500 million over six years, representing a 65% increase in direct television income.[2]

The Knights recorded their worst ever start to a season (13 straight losses) and were consigned to last place for the entire season. They did however win 8 of their last 11 games thanks to the return of superstar Andrew Johns. The Knights also defeated five of the top eight teams during the season, four of which were at home. They also recorded their then equal worst ever defeat - a 50-0 thrashing by the Parramatta Eels in round 14. During this match, an EnergyAustralia Stadium attendant ran onto the field, trying to tackle Parramatta's Daniel Wagon before he scored in the 78th minute. It should also be noted that minor premiers the Parramatta Eels lost to each of the bottom four teams (Bulldogs, Rabbitohs, Raiders and Knights in rounds 8, 2, 19 and 20 respectively) during the course of the season.

It was announced that the Gold Coast Titans were to be admitted into the NRL as the sixteenth team, scheduled to begin playing in the 2007 season. The Titans would recruit John Cartwright as their inaugural coach and Preston Campbell was their first signing.

Johnathan Thurston won the 2005 Dally M Medal by a single point from Newcastle's Andrew Johns, despite Johns missing over a third of the season with a broken jaw.

The two clubs that had players sent off won their matches (unlike in 2004) but the dismissal of John Hopoate made rugby league headlines. Hopoate was sent off in his team's win over the Cronulla Sharks and consequently received a 17-match ban. The Sea Eagles then terminated his contract.

The Wests Tigers became the first ever joint venture club to win the premiership, having formed in 2000 as a union between the Balmain Tigers and Western Suburbs Magpies, both foundation members of the original New South Wales Rugby Football League.

Teams

Brisbane Broncos
18th season
Ground: Suncorp Stadium
Coach: Wayne Bennett
Captain: Darren Lockyer		 Bulldogs RLFC
71st season
Ground: Sydney Showground & Telstra Stadium
Coach: Steve Folkes
Captain: Andrew Ryan		 Canberra Raiders
24th season
Ground: Canberra Stadium
Coach: Matthew Elliott
Captain: Simon Woolford		 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
39th season
Ground: Toyota Stadium
Coach: Stuart Raper
Captain: Brett Kimmorley
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
56th season
Ground: Brookvale Oval
Coach: Des Hasler
Captain: Michael Monaghan		 Melbourne Storm
8th season
Ground Olympic Park Stadium
Coach: Craig Bellamy
Captain: Robbie Kearns		 Newcastle Knights
18th season
Ground: EnergyAustralia Stadium
Coach: Michael Hagan
Captain: Andrew Johns		 New Zealand Warriors
11th season
Ground: Ericsson Stadium
Coach: Tony Kemp
Captain: Steve Price
North Queensland Cowboys
11th season
Ground: Dairy Farmers Stadium
Coach: Graham Murray
Captain: Travis Norton		 Parramatta Eels
59th season
Ground: Parramatta Stadium
Coach: Brian Smith
Captain: Nathan Cayless		 Penrith Panthers
39th season
Ground: CUA Stadium
Coach: John Lang
Captain: Craig Gower		 South Sydney Rabbitohs
96th season
Ground: Aussie Stadium
Coach: Shaun McRae
Captain: Bryan Fletcher→Peter Cusack
Sydney Roosters
98th season
Ground: Aussie Stadium
Coach: Ricky Stuart
Captain: Luke Ricketson		 St. George Illawarra Dragons
7th season
Ground: OKI Jubilee Stadium & WIN Stadium
Coach: Nathan Brown
Captain: Trent Barrett		 Wests Tigers
6th season
Ground: Campbelltown Stadium & Leichhardt Oval
Coach: Tim Sheens
Captain: Mark O'Neill→Scott Prince

Advertising

In 2005 the NRL and their advertising agency MJW Hakuhodo for the third year running stayed with the Hoodoo Gurus' "That's My Team" soundtrack[3] and developed three different musical executions.

The campaign focussed on the association of "strength" with the game and the ads featured three different musical interpretations of the song all without vocals. Each was created intending to bring out the positionings of rugby league characteristice of ‘strength of body’, ‘strength of mind’ and ‘strength of character’

Outdoor supersites also featured in suburban locations in NSW and local cinema versions of the TVC ran with a call to action inviting fans to attend a game of the team local to the cinema location.[4]

Ladder

Team Pld W D L B PF PA PD Pts
1 Parramatta Eels 24 16 0 8 2 704 456 +248 36
2 St George Illawarra Dragons 24 16 0 8 2 655 510 +145 36
3 Brisbane Broncos 24 15 0 9 2 597 484 +113 34
4 Wests Tigers 24 14 0 10 2 676 575 +101 32
5 North Queensland Cowboys 24 14 0 10 2 639 563 +76 32
6 Melbourne Storm 24 13 0 11 2 640 462 +178 30
7 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 24 12 0 12 2 550 564 -14 28
8 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 24 12 0 12 2 554 632 -78 28
9 Sydney Roosters 24 11 0 13 2 488 487 +1 26
10 Penrith Panthers 24 11 0 13 2 554 554 =0 26
11 New Zealand Warriors 24 10 0 14 2 515 528 -13 24
12 Bulldogs 24 9 1 14 2 472 670 -198 23
13 South Sydney Rabbitohs 24 9 1 14 2 482 700 -218 23
14 Canberra Raiders 24 9 0 15 2 465 606 -141 22
15 Newcastle Knights 24 8 0 16 2 467 667 -200 20

Ladder progression

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

Finals series

To decide the grand finalists from the top eight finishing teams, the NRL adopts the McIntyre Final Eight System.

Home Score Away Match Information
Date and Time Venue Referee Crowd
Qualifying Finals
Wests Tigers 50 – 6 North Queensland Cowboys 9 September 2005 Telstra Stadium Paul Simpkins 26,463
Brisbane Broncos 18 – 24 Melbourne Storm 10 September 2005 Suncorp Stadium Steve Clark 25,193
St George Illawarra Dragons 28 – 22 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 10 September 2005 WIN Stadium Tony Archer 19,608
Parramatta Eels 46 – 22 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 11 September 2005 Parramatta Stadium Tim Mander 19,710
Semi Finals
Melbourne Storm 16 – 24 North Queensland Cowboys 17 September 2005 Aussie Stadium Paul Simpkins 16,810
Wests Tigers 34 – 6 Brisbane Broncos 18 September 2005 Aussie Stadium Tim Mander 36,563
Preliminary Finals
St George Illawarra Dragons 12 – 20 Wests Tigers 24 September 2005 Aussie Stadium Tim Mander 41,260
Parramatta Eels 0 – 29 North Queensland Cowboys 25 September 2005 Telstra Stadium Steve Clark 44,327

Finals Chart

  Qualifying Finals Semi Finals Preliminary Finals Grand Final
                                     
1 Parramatta 46
8 Manly 22
  1W Parramatta 0  
2 St. George Illawarra 28   4W Melbourne 16       North Queensland 29    
7 Cronulla 22   2L North Queensland 24           North Queensland 16
        Wests Tigers 30
3 Brisbane 18         2W St. George Illawarra 12    
6 Melbourne 24   3W Wests Tigers 34       Wests Tigers 20  
  1L Brisbane 6  
4 Wests Tigers 50
5 North Queensland 6

Grand final

Statistics and records

Leading try scorers

Rank Tries Player Team Matches Try Ave.
1 21 Matt Bowen North Queensland Cowboys 21 1.00
1 20 Billy Slater Melbourne Storm 25 0.80
1 20 Colin Best St George Illawarra Dragons 26 0.77
1 20 Pat Richards Wests Tigers 28 0.71
5 19 Shaun Berrigan Brisbane Broncos 23 0.83
6 18 Ty Williams North Queensland Cowboys 23 0.78
6 18 Paul Whatuira Wests Tigers 24 0.75
7 17 Amos Roberts Sydney Roosters 28 0.61
9 16 Brett Stewart Manly Sea Eagles 24 0.67
9 16 David Simmons Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 25 0.64
9 16 Matt Sing North Queensland Cowboys 25 0.64

Leading point scorers

Rank Points Player Team Matches Tries Gls Fld Goals Pts Ave.
1 308 Brett Hodgson Wests Tigers 28 15 124 - 11.00
2 214 Luke Burt Parramatta Eels 23 11 85 - 9.30
3 190 Preston Campbell Penrith Panthers 23 11 73 - 8.26
4 186 Luke Covell Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 22 9 75 - 8.45
5 180 Hazem El Masri Bulldogs 18 11 68 - 10.00
6 172 Matt Orford Melbourne Storm 26 11 63 2 6.62
7 152 Josh Hannay North Queensland Cowboys 21 7 62 - 7.24
8 147 Stacey Jones New Zealand Warriors 23 5 63 1 6.39
9 142 Clinton Schifcofske Canberra Raiders 19 6 58 2 7.47
10 140 Michael Witt Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 19 5 60 - 7.37

Sources and footnotes

  1. ↑ Solomon, David (2007). Pillars of power: Australia's institutions. Federation Press. p. 204. ISBN 978-1-86287-645-3.
  2. ↑ "NRL secures $500m rights deal". ABC News. Australia: Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2005-07-01. Archived from the original on 2010-03-09. Retrieved 2009-12-04.
  3. ↑ Pace, Daniel (2005-03-02). "Same theme, different sound for NRL ads". AAP Sports News. Australia: The Gale Group, Inc. (). Retrieved 2010-06-30.
  4. ↑ B&T magazine article 2005 Archived September 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ D'Souza, Miguel. "Grand Final History". wwos.ninemsn.com.au. AAP. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  6. ↑ Toohey, Barry (2 February 2011). "Still some bite in old Mad Dog". The Daily Telegraph. Australia: News Limited. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
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