2003 NRL season

2003 National Rugby League
Teams 15
Premiers Penrith (2nd title)
Minor premiers Penrith (2nd title)
Matches played 189
Points scored 8993
Attendance 2965141
Top points 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

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

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
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
New Zealand Warriors 17 16 Canberra Raiders 20 September 2003 Aussie Stadium Tim Mander 31,616
Bulldogs 30 0 Melbourne Storm 21 September 2003 Aussie Stadium Bill Harrigan 19,367
Preliminary Finals
Sydney Roosters 28 18 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 Bulldogs 22         2W Sydney 28    
6 New Zealand 48   3W Melbourne 0       Bulldogs 18  
  1L Bulldogs 30  
4 Canberra 18
5 Melbourne 30

Grand final

Sunday, 5 October
Penrith Panthers 18 - 6 Sydney Roosters
Tries:
Luke Rooney (2)
Luke Priddis
Goals:
Preston Campbell (2/2)
Ryan Girdler (1/1)
Report Tries:
Shannon Hegarty
Brad Fittler>
Goals:
Craig Fitzgibbon (1/1)
Telstra Stadium, Sydney
Attendance: 81,166[7]
Referee/s: Bill Harrigan
Man of the Match: Luke Priddis

Sources and footnotes

  1. "NRL salary cap guide | | ONE SPORT". tvnz.co.nz. 2006-02-22. Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  2. Masters, Roy (2003-03-17). "The circus is back in town". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Digital. Retrieved 2009-12-12.
  3. Pace, Daniel (7 September 2003). "Freddie sympathises with Gower but backs players' stance". Australian Associated Press. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
  4. Proszenko, Adrian (6 May 2012). "Gallen set to smash record". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
  5. Henderson, Philip; Fitzgibbon, Liam (1 April 2008). "Bennett, Furner set for new Roles". The Age. Archived from the original on 2 April 2008. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  6. B&T magazine article 2003 Archived 26 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. D'Souza, Miguel. "Grand Final History". wwos.ninemsn.com.au. AAP. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
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