National Rugby League season 2006
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| 2006 National Rugby League season | |
|---|---|
 Logo of the NRL |
|
| Teams | 15 |
| Premiers |  Brisbane (6th title) |
| Minor Premiers |  Melbourne (1st title) |
| Matches played | 189 |
| Points scored | 8201 (average 43.392 per match) |
| Attendance | 3,115,701 (average 16,485 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) |  Hazem El Masri (296 points) |
The 2006 National Rugby League season was the ninth annual National Rugby League season, the premier rugby league competition in Australia, which also involves one team from New Zealand. The season began on March 10, 2006 with a match between defending premiers Wests Tigers and the St George Illawarra Dragons, played at Telstra Stadium. The same venue hosted the Grand Final between the Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm on October 1, 2006.
There were 15 teams that participated throughout the 26 rounds of the regular season which included ten teams from New South Wales (9 of them from Sydney), two from Queensland and one from each of Victoria, the ACT and New Zealand. After the regular season concluded, eight of these teams qualified for the four-week finals series, with the Brisbane Broncos victors in the Grand Final.
Contents |
[edit] Pre Season
- Newcastle Knights coach Michael Hagan signed a three-year deal to coach the Parramatta Eels, beginning in 2007. Hagan will replace Brian Smith, who has coached the Eels since 1997. In other coaching moves, Matthew Elliott was confirmed as the coach of the Penrith Panthers, beginning in 2007, whilst Brian Smith replaces Hagan at Newcastle in an unprecedented coach-swap.
- Penrith Panthers halfback Craig Gower was stripped of the captaincy and fined $100,000 ($70,000 of which was suspended) after unprofessional behaviour at a charity golf function.
- The Charity Shield heralded the unofficial start of the season, with the South Sydney Rabbitohs defeating St George Illawarra 14-12 in their first home game at Telstra Stadium on February 18. All NRL clubs engaged in a series of trials during the month of February.
- Wests Tigers premiership-winning captain Scott Prince announced on March 3 he had signed a four-year deal with expansion team Gold Coast Titans, beginning in 2007. Prince relinquished the captaincy of the Tigers for the 2006 season.
[edit] New Zealand Warriors Salary Cap Breach
The New Zealand Warriors were investigated by the National Rugby League over alleged salary cap breaches committed by the team's previous administrators. The club admitted to inflating its salary cap to the tune of nearly $1 million during the 2005 season. As punishment, the National Rugby League fined the Warriors club $430,000 and stripped the team of four competition points prior to the beginning of the season. It was the first time in 97 years of rugby league in Australia that a team has started a season on less than zero premiership points.
The Warriors appealed the decision by the NRL to strip the four competition points but accepted the financial penalty. Prior to the beginning of the season, the National Rugby League confirmed that the points penalty would stand. The penalty would prove the decisive factor in the Warriors missing the finals for the third year in succession.
[edit] Regular Season Results
[edit] Ladder
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | B | PF | PA | PD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Melbourne |
24 | 20 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 605 | 404 | +201 | 44 |
| 2 | Bulldogs |
24 | 16 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 608 | 468 | +140 | 36 |
| 3 | Brisbane |
24 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 497 | 392 | +105 | 32 |
| 4 |  Newcastle |
24 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 608 | 538 | +70 | 32 |
| 5 |  Manly |
24 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 534 | 493 | +41 | 32 |
| 6 |  St George Illawarra |
24 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 519 | 481 | +38 | 32 |
| 7 |  Canberra |
24 | 13 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 525 | 573 | -48 | 30 |
| 8 |  Parramatta |
24 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 506 | 483 | +23 | 28 |
| 9 |  North Queensland |
24 | 11 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 450 | 463 | -13 | 26 |
| 10 |  New Zealand |
24 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 552 | 463 | +89 | 24 |
| 11 |  Wests Tigers |
24 | 10 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 490 | 565 | -75 | 24 |
| 12 |  Penrith |
24 | 10 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 510 | 587 | -77 | 24 |
| 13 |  Cronulla |
24 | 9 | 0 | 15 | 2 | 515 | 544 | -279 | 22 |
| 14 |  Sydney |
24 | 8 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 528 | 650 | -122 | 20 |
| 15 |  South Sydney |
24 | 3 | 0 | 21 | 2 | 429 | 772 | -343 | 10 |
- New Zealand Warriors were stripped of four competition points due to breaches of the National Rugby League salary cap.
[edit] Finals
The 2006 NRL Final Series will once again use the McIntyre Final Eight System, for the eighth successive season. All games will be shown live to air on the Nine Network in New South Wales, Queensland, Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory. Games involving the Melbourne Storm were shown live in Victoria.
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date and Time | Venue | Referee | Crowd | |||||
| Qualifying Finals | ||||||||
 Newcastle Knights |
25-18 |  Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles |
8 September 2006 8:00pm | Energy Australia Stadium | S. Hampstead | 23,752 | ||
 Brisbane Broncos |
4-20 |  St George Illawarra Dragons |
9 September 2006 6:30pm | Suncorp Stadium | P. Simpkins | 50,387 | ||
 Bulldogs |
30-12 |  Canberra Raiders |
9 September 2006 8:30pm | Telstra Stadium | S. Hayne | 14,628 | ||
 Melbourne Storm |
12-6 |  Parramatta Eels |
10 September 2006 4:00pm | Olympic Park | S. Clark | 15,690 | ||
| Semi Finals | ||||||||
| St George Illawarra Dragons |
28-0 | Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles |
15 September 2006 7:45pm | Aussie Stadium | P. Simpkins | 30,907 | ||
| Newcastle Knights |
6-50 | Brisbane Broncos |
16 September 2006 7:45pm | Aussie Stadium | S. Clark | 22,081 | ||
| Preliminary Finals | ||||||||
| Bulldogs |
20-37 | Brisbane Broncos |
22 September 2006 7:45pm | Aussie Stadium | P. Simpkins | 29,511 | ||
| Melbourne Storm |
24-10 | St George Illawarra Dragons |
23 September 2006 7:45pm | Telstra Stadium | S. Clark | 40,901 | ||
| Grand Final | ||||||||
| Melbourne Storm |
8-15 | Brisbane Broncos |
1 October 2006 7:05pm | Telstra Stadium | P. Simpkins | 79,609 | ||
[edit] Grand Final
The season culminated on the October 1, 2006, with the 3rd placed Brisbane Broncos defeating the minor premiers Melbourne Storm 15-8 in the Grand Final in front of 79,609 people at Sydney's Telstra Stadium. The victory was Brisbane's sixth premiership in their 19 seasons of First Grade, breaking their longest premiership drought since their 1988 inception. Brisbane suffered 11 losses during the season, the most ever by a premiership winning team.
The win enabled retiring Brisbane prop-forward Shane Webcke to leave the playing field with a premiership in his final season, a fine reward for his commitment to the game during his career.
[edit] Gallery
 Canberra defeated Wests 20-18 in golden point extra time in Round 19 |
 2006 NRL Grand Final |
[edit] Venues
Sixteen stadiums regularly hosted National Rugby league matches, with a further six hosting at at least one match in season 2006.
[edit] See also
- National Rugby League
- Brisbane Broncos 2006
- Rugby league in 2006
- 2006 Australian football code crowds
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ During the 2006 season, many of the stadiums were known by different names to their traditional ones, as some were sponsored by various organisations. For example, Aussie Stadium was also formerly known as the "Sydney Football Stadium", likewise, Mt Smart Stadium was known as 'Ericsson Stadium' for the majority of the season, until the naming rights expired.
- ^ This includes both seated and standing spots.
[edit] External links
- NRL official website
- LeagueUnlimited
- Rugby League Tables and Statistics 2006
- Sports Australia League
- ABC 2006 NRL season
- NRL 2006 Draw
- Massey Ratings for NRL
