New South Wales Rugby League season 1991
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| New South Wales Rugby League season 1991 | |
 |
|
| Teams | 16 |
| Premiers |  Penrith (1st title) |
| Minor premiers | Penrith (1st title) |
| Matches played | 183 |
| Points scored | 6376 (average 34.842 per match) |
| Attendance | 2,413,218 (average 13,187 per match) |
| Top points scorer(s) |  Daryl Halligan (196) |
| Top try scorer(s) |  Alan McIndoe (19) |
The 1991 New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the eighty-fourth season of professional rugby league football in Australia. The number of teams fielded remained unchanged from the previous year, with sixteen clubs competing for the Winfield Cup, including five Sydney-based foundation teams, another six from Sydney, two from greater New South Wales, two from Queensland, and one from the Australian Capital Territory.
The Penrith Panthers won their first premiership in their twenty-fifth year in the First Grade competition, defeating the Canberra Raiders in the Grand Final.
Contents |
[edit] Teams
 Balmain Tigers |
 Brisbane Broncos |
 Canberra Raiders |
 Canterbury Bulldogs |
 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks |
 Eastern Suburbs Roosters |
 Gold Coast Seagulls |
 Illawarra Steelers |
 Manly Sea Eagles |
 Newcastle Knights |
 North Sydney Bears |
 Parramatta Eels |
 Penrith Panthers |
 South Sydney Rabbitohs |
 St. George Dragons |
 Western Suburbs Magpies |
[edit] Season summary
The 1991 New South Wales Rugby League season started with controversy. For the first time a draft system was in operation. It lasted just the one season before being defeated in the courts by players and coaches opposed to its limitations. The draft allowed teams to recruit players on a roster system based on where the club finished the previous year. It ran in reverse order with the wooden spooners getting first choice and the premiers last.
In 22 rounds of regular season football the eventual premiers Penrith won 17 games, drew one and lost only four. The Panthers finished on 35 premiership points and took their first minor premiership ahead of Manly and Norths (both 29 points), Canberra on 28 with Wests sneaking in on 27 points after beating Canterbury 19–14 in a play off.
Also this season the NSWRL took a match between St. George and Balmain to the Adelaide Oval and it was met with success as around 30,000 spectators turned out for the game.
[edit] Advertising
1991 again saw the NSWRL use Tina Turner's 1989 version of "The Best" in their advertising. The league's ad agency Hertz Walpole had sufficient extra footage from her 1990 visit to Sydney to add fresh images of Tina to other recent shots of the 1990 finals series and 1991 pre-season training images.
The finished 1991 ad in its full length version shows Tina performing the song in the glamorous surroundings of Boomerang, a palatial harbour-side Sydney mansion. She climbs the Sydney Harbour Bridge and a spectacular final helicopter pull-back shot shows her belting out the anthem from the apex of the bridge. In those days before public access via the commercial BridgeClimb operation this image was as fantastic notionally as it was visually.
[edit] Ladder
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Penrith |
22 | 17 | 1 | 4 | 483 | 250 | +233 | 35 |
| 2 |  Manly-Warringah |
22 | 14 | 1 | 7 | 391 | 299 | +92 | 29 |
| 3 | North Sydney |
22 | 14 | 1 | 7 | 345 | 303 | +42 | 29 |
| 4 |  Canberra |
22 | 14 | 0 | 8 | 452 | 327 | +125 | 28 |
| 5 |  Canterbury |
22 | 13 | 1 | 8 | 424 | 374 | +50 | 27 |
| 6 |  Western Suburbs |
22 | 13 | 1 | 8 | 359 | 311 | +48 | 27 |
| 7 |  Brisbane |
22 | 13 | 0 | 9 | 470 | 326 | +144 | 26 |
| 8 | Illawarra |
22 | 12 | 1 | 9 | 451 | 291 | +160 | 25 |
| 9 |  St. George |
22 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 388 | 320 | +68 | 25 |
| 10 |  Cronulla |
22 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 384 | 441 | -57 | 19 |
| 11 |  Eastern Suburbs |
22 | 9 | 1 | 12 | 337 | 487 | -150 | 19 |
| 12 |  Balmain |
22 | 8 | 1 | 13 | 351 | 412 | -61 | 17 |
| 13 |  Newcastle |
22 | 6 | 3 | 13 | 308 | 424 | -116 | 15 |
| 14 |  South Sydney |
22 | 7 | 0 | 15 | 370 | 513 | -143 | 14 |
| 15 |  Parramatta |
22 | 6 | 0 | 16 | 351 | 534 | -183 | 12 |
| 16 |  Gold Coast |
22 | 2 | 1 | 19 | 240 | 492 | -252 | 5 |
[edit] Finals
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and Time | Venue | Referee | Crowd | |||||
| Playoff | ||||||||
 Canterbury Bulldogs |
14–19 |  Western Suburbs Magpies |
27 August 1991 | Parramatta Stadium | Bill Harrigan | 17,022 | ||
| Qualifying Finals | ||||||||
 Canberra Raiders |
22–8 | Western Suburbs Magpies |
31 August 1991 | Sydney Football Stadium | Eddie Ward | 24,792 | ||
 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles |
16–28 |  North Sydney Bears |
1 September 1991 | Sydney Football Stadium | Bill Harrigan | 32,878 | ||
| Semi Finals | ||||||||
| Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles |
26–34 | Canberra Raiders |
7 September 1991 | Sydney Football Stadium | Bill Harrigan | 34,707 | ||
 Penrith Panthers |
16–14 | North Sydney Bears |
8 September 1991 | Sydney Football Stadium | Eddie Ward | 38,635 | ||
| Preliminary Final | ||||||||
| North Sydney Bears |
14–30 | Canberra Raiders |
15 September 1991 | Sydney Football Stadium | Bill Harrigan | 39,665 | ||
| Grand Final | ||||||||
| Penrith Panthers |
19–12 | Canberra Raiders |
22 September 1991 | Sydney Football Stadium | Bill Harrigan | 41,815 | ||
[edit] Grand Final
| Canberra Raiders | Position | Penrith Panthers |
|---|---|---|
| Gary Belcher | FB | Greg Barwick |
| Paul Martin | WG | Graham Mackay |
| Mal Meninga (c) | CE | Brad Fittler |
| Mark Bell | CE | Col Bentley |
| Matthew Wood | WG | Paul Smith |
| Laurie Daley | FE | Steve Carter |
| Ricky Stuart | HB | Greg Alexander (c) |
| Brent Todd | PR | Paul Clarke |
| Steve Walters | HK | Royce Simmons |
| Glenn Lazarus | PR | Paul Dunn |
| David Barnhill | SR | Mark Geyer |
| Gary Coyne | SR | Barry Walker |
| Bradley Clyde | LK | Col van der Voort |
| Darren Fritz | Bench | John Cartwright |
| Michael Twigg | Bench | Brad Izzard |
| Scott Gale | Bench | |
| Tim Sheens | Coach | Phil Gould |
The Sydney Football stadium was packed to capacity for the 1991 grand final which featured a tribute to the original 'Gladiators', Norm Provan and Arthur Summons on the Winfield Cup trophy's 10th anniversary as well as a rendition of the national anthem by Anthony Warlow.
Ahead 6–0 after an early try by Royce Simmons, Penrith slipped to 12–6 by half-time. Canberra's first try was scored by Matthew Wood following a chip-kick by Ricky Stuart. Their second was scored after the international trio of Bradley Clyde, Mal Meninga and Laurie Daley combined. The half-time score replicated the position of the two teams at the same point in the previous year's decider.
Early in the second half Penrith winger Paul Smith crossed in the south-western corner but the try was disallowed by referee Bill Harrigan after touch judge Martin Weekes ran onto the field and reported that Canberra's Mark Bell had been taken out with a swinging arm. Penrith's Mark Geyer over-reacted to the ruling and was despatched by Harrigan to the sin bin for ten minutes.
Geyer made amends when he finally returned to the field to a score-line that hadn't changed in his absence, with Canberra still leading 12–6. He linked up in a move with Greg Alexander, Greg Barwick and Brad Fittler for Brad Izzard to score. Alexander's conversion equalised the score at 12–12.
With six minutes to play Alexander broke the deadlock with a perfectly timed 37m field goal that travelled over the black dot.
Shortly thereafter Canberra's Scot Gale, who had come on to replace Ricky Stuart, took a line drop out and kicked short. The ball bounced freakishly to chest height and seemed to hang in the air until Mark Geyer came thundering toward it at full speed. He took the ball, saw Royce Simmons out wide in support and got the ball to him to score. Alexander's sideline conversion established a seven point lead and Canberra were out of time.
Penrith coach Phil Gould, who went on to become the most successful New South Wales State of Origin coach, has rated Penrith's second half in this game as an example of a perfect half of football.[1]. After failing to follow their first half game plan and squandering an early lead, after the break the Panthers played to a formula of taking the ball up for full sets of six tackles, with Alexander then expertly kicking for the corners and the whole side pinning Canberra down at their own end with committed defence.
It was a fairytale farewell for Royce Simmons in his final game. He had been the backbone of the club for more than a decade of mostly pitiful returns, had been dropped during the 1990 and 1991 seasons and had lost the captaincy to Greg Alexander. Ultimately though he was chaired off the field as a two-try, Grand Final hero.
Penrith 19 (Tries: Simmons 2, Izzard; Goals: Alexander 3; Field Goal: Alexander)
Canberra 12 (Tries: Wood 2; Goals: Meninga 1, Wood 1)
Clive Churchill Medal: Bradley Clyde (Canberra)
[edit] World Club Challenge
Having won the premiership, the Panthers traveled to England to face the British Champions, Wigan RLFC in the 1991 World Club Challenge on the 9th of October at Anfield Stadium, Liverpool. Penrith were defeated 4 to 21 in front of 20,152 spectators.
[edit] References
- Chesterton, Ray (1996) Good as Gould Ironbark Press, Sydney
- Rugby League Tables - Season 1991 The World of Rugby League
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Chesterton Good As Gould p192
