1998 NRL season

1998 National Rugby League
Teams	20
Premiers	Brisbane (3rd title)
Minor premiers	Brisbane (2nd title)
Matches played	253
Points scored	10131 (total) 40.043 (per match)
Attendance	2,937,741 (total) 11,612 (per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Ivan Cleary (284)
Top try scorer(s)	Darren Smith (23)

The 1998 NRL season was the 91st season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the inaugural season of the newly formed National Rugby League (NRL). After the 1997 season, in which the Australian Rugby League and Super League organisations ran separate competitions parallel to each other, they joined to create a reunited competition in the NRL. The first professional rugby league club to be based in Victoria, the Melbourne Storm was introduced into the League, and with the closure of the Hunter Mariners, Western Reds and South Queensland Crushers, twenty teams competed for the premiership, which culminated in the 1998 NRL grand final between the Brisbane Broncos and Canterbury Bulldogs.

Pre-season

See also: History of the National Rugby League

The National Rugby League was formed after an agreement was reached between the two rivaling competitions from 1997, the Australian Rugby League and the Super League. In December 1997, the two parties formed a joint board to run the new Australian rugby league club competition. The vast majority of the 22 clubs that contested in 1997 across the split competitions also contested the first season of the National Rugby League, with the exception of the Hunter Mariners, the Western Reds and South Queensland.

The National Rugby League imposed a $3M salary cap on each of the clubs.

Advertising

Super League's ad agency VCD in Sydney successfully kept the account post-reunification. The 1998 ad featured the song "Tubthumping" by Chumbawamba with its theme of rising against adversity:

I get knocked down! But I get up again; you're never gonna keep me down.

There was no visual performance of the song in the ad which returned to the standard rugby league imagery of big hits and crunching tackles to accompany the track.

Teams

The closure of the Hunter Mariners, Western Reds and South Queensland Crushers, and the introduction of the Melbourne Storm meant that a total of twenty clubs contested the 1998 Premiership. Eleven of these clubs were from Sydney, the traditional home of the competition, but an agreement between the Australian Rugby League and Super League meant that many of these clubs were in danger of being cut from the competition by the 2000 season when, it was decided, only 14 clubs would be invited to contest the premiership.

Adelaide Rams 2nd season Ground: Adelaide Oval → Hindmarsh Stadium Coach: Rod Reddy → Dean Lance Captain: Kerrod Walters	Auckland Warriors 4th season Ground: Ericsson Stadium Coach: Frank Endacott Captain: Matthew Ridge	Balmain Tigers 91st season Ground: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Wayne Pearce Captain: Darren Senter	Brisbane Broncos 11th season Ground: ANZ Stadium Coach: Wayne Bennett Captain: Allan Langer	Canberra Raiders 17th season Ground: Bruce Stadium Coach: Mal Meninga Captain: Laurie Daley
Canterbury Bulldogs 64th season Ground: Belmore Oval Coach: Steve Folkes Captain: Simon Gillies→Darren Britt	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 32nd season Ground: Shark Park Coach: John Lang Captain: Andrew Ettinghausen	Gold Coast Chargers 11th season Ground: Carrara Stadium Coach: Phil Economidis Captain: Jamie Goddard	Illawarra Steelers 17th season Ground: WIN Stadium Coach: Andrew Farrar Captain: Paul McGregor	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 52nd season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Bob Fulton Captain: Geoff Toovey
Melbourne Storm 1st season Ground: Olympic Park Stadium Coach: Chris Anderson Captain: Glenn Lazarus	Newcastle Knights 11th season Ground: Marathon Stadium Coach: Mal Reilly Captain: Paul Harragon	North Queensland Cowboys 4th season Ground: Stockland Stadium Coach: Tim Sheens Captain: Ian Roberts & John Lomax	North Sydney Bears 91st season Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Peter Louis Captain: Jason Taylor	Parramatta Eels 52nd season Ground: Parramatta Stadium Coach: Brian Smith Captain: Dean Pay
Penrith Panthers 32nd season Ground: Penrith Stadium Coach: Royce Simmons Captain: Steve Carter	Sydney City Roosters 91st season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: Phil Gould Captain: Brad Fittler	South Sydney Rabbitohs 91st season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: Steve Martin → Craig Coleman Captain: Sean Garlick	St. George Dragons 78th season Ground: Kogarah Oval Coach: David Waite Captain: Mark Coyne	Western Suburbs Magpies 91st season Ground: Campbelltown Stadium Coach: Tommy Raudonikis Captain: Paul Langmack

Regular season

Rounds 5 and 7: Brisbane Broncos set a new record for their biggest win, firstly 58-4 against North Queensland Cowboys, then 60-6 against North Sydney Bears, both games being played at Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre.
Round 8: 1997 ARL premiers, the Newcastle Knights played the 1997 Super League premiers, the Brisbane Broncos and Brisbane won 26-6 in Newcastle before a crowd of 27,119, cementing their position at the top of the ladder.
Round 12: The record for the biggest comeback in premiership history was re-set by the North Queensland Cowboys who trailed 26–0 at half-time and came back to beat the Penrith Panthers 36–28.
Round 24: Ivan Cleary's tally of 284 points set a new individual record for most points scored in a season in Australian club rugby league history; it has since been beaten.

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Brisbane (P)	24	18	1	5	688	310	+378	37
2	Newcastle	24	18	1	5	562	381	+181	37
3	Melbourne	24	17	1	6	546	372	+174	35
4	Parramatta	24	17	1	6	468	349	+119	35
5	North Sydney	24	17	0	7	663	367	+296	34
6	Sydney City	24	16	0	8	680	383	+297	32
7	Canberra	24	15	0	9	564	429	+135	30
8	St. George	24	13	1	10	486	490	-4	27
9	Canterbury	24	13	0	11	489	411	+78	26
10	Manly-Warringah	24	13	0	11	503	473	+30	26
11	Cronulla-Sutherland	24	12	1	11	438	387	+51	25
12	Illawarra	24	11	1	12	476	539	-63	23
13	Balmain	24	9	1	14	381	463	-82	19
14	Penrith	24	8	2	14	525	580	-55	18
15	Auckland	24	9	0	15	417	518	-101	18
16	File:North Queensland colours.svg North Queensland	24	9	0	15	361	556	-195	18
17	Adelaide	24	7	0	17	393	615	-222	14
18	South Sydney	24	5	0	19	339	560	-221	10
19	Gold Coast	24	4	0	20	289	654	-365	8
20	Western Suburbs	24	4	0	20	371	802	-431	8

Ladder progression

• Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 10.
• 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	23	24
1	Brisbane Broncos	2	4	6	8	10	10	12	14	14	14	16	16	16	18	20	22	24	26	28	29	31	33	35	37
2	Newcastle Knights	2	4	6	8	10	10	12	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	24	26	27	29	31	31	31	33	35	37
3	Melbourne Storm	2	4	6	8	8	10	12	14	14	16	17	19	21	23	25	25	25	27	27	29	31	33	33	35
4	Parramatta Eels	2	4	4	6	8	8	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	24	24	26	28	28	30	32	34	35
5	North Sydney Bears	0	2	4	4	6	8	8	10	12	12	14	14	16	18	18	20	22	22	24	26	28	30	32	34
6	Sydney City Roosters	2	2	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	16	16	18	20	20	22	24	24	26	26	26	28	30	32
7	Canberra Raiders	0	0	2	2	4	4	6	8	10	12	12	14	16	16	18	18	20	20	22	24	26	28	30	30
8	St. George Dragons	2	2	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	20	22	22	22	22	24	24	26	26	26	26	27
9	Canterbury Bulldogs	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	8	10	10	10	12	12	12	14	14	16	18	18	18	20	22	24	26
10	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	0	2	2	2	2	4	6	6	6	6	8	8	8	8	10	12	14	14	16	18	20	22	24	26
11	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	0	2	2	2	4	4	6	8	10	10	12	14	14	14	16	18	18	18	19	21	23	23	23	25
12	Illawarra Steelers	0	2	2	2	2	4	6	6	8	8	9	11	13	13	15	17	19	19	19	19	21	21	23	23
13	Balmain Tigers	2	2	4	6	8	10	10	10	10	10	12	12	12	14	16	16	16	18	18	19	19	19	19	19
14	Penrith Panthers	0	2	2	4	4	4	4	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	9	11	12	14	14	14	16	18
15	Auckland Warriors	0	0	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	6	8	8	10	10	12	14	14	14	16	16	18	18	18	18
16	File:North Queensland colours.svg North Queensland Cowboys	2	4	6	8	8	10	10	10	10	10	10	12	14	14	14	14	16	16	18	18	18	18	18	18
17	Adelaide Rams	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	6	6	6	8	10	12	12	14	14	14	14	14
18	South Sydney Rabbitohs	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	6	6	6	6	8	8	10	10	10
19	Gold Coast Chargers	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	6	6	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	8
20	Western Suburbs Magpies	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8

Finals series

The biggest surprise of the season was when the Melbourne Storm finished 3rd after the regular season in their first ever year, only to be knocked out by the Brisbane Broncos in the Semi Final. The Canterbury Bulldogs became the lowest placed team ever to make the Grand Final, after finishing 9th after the regular season. The Bulldogs did it tough though, coming from 16 points down twice in as many weeks. They came from 16-0 down to win 28-16 against the Newcastle Knights in the Semi Final, then 18-2 down with 11 minutes to go to make it 18-18 after regulation time, then going on to win 32-20 in extra time against the Parramatta Eels in the Preliminary Final.

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Qualifying Finals
Canberra Raiders	17–4	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	28 August 1998	Bruce Stadium	Bill Harrigan	15,953
St. George Dragons	12–20	Canterbury Bulldogs	29 August 1998	Jubilee Oval	Steve Clark	16,833
Parramatta Eels	25–12	North Sydney Bears	29 August 1998	Parramatta Stadium	Kelvin Jeffes	16,033
Melbourne Storm	12–26	Sydney City Roosters	30 August 1998	Olympic Park	Paul McBlane	18,247
Semi Finals
North Sydney Bears	2–23	Canterbury Bulldogs	4 September 1998	North Sydney Oval	Bill Harrigan	18,718
Melbourne Storm	24–10	Canberra Raiders	5 September 1998	Olympic Park	Steve Clark	12,592
Newcastle Knights	15–26	Sydney City Roosters	5 September 1998	Marathon Stadium	Kelvin Jeffes	26,482
Brisbane Broncos	10–15	Parramatta Eels	6 September 1998	ANZ Stadium	Paul McBlane	21,172
Preliminary Finals
Newcastle Knights	16–28	Canterbury Bulldogs	12 September 1998	Sydney Football Stadium	Steve Clark	24,449
Brisbane Broncos	30–6	Melbourne Storm	13 September 1998	Sydney Football Stadium	Bill Harrigan	20,354
Finals
Sydney City Roosters	18–46	Brisbane Broncos	19 September 1998	ANZ Stadium	Steve Clark	28,374
Parramatta Eels	20–32	Canterbury Bulldogs	20 September 1998	Sydney Football Stadium	Bill Harrigan	36,841

Grand final

Main article: 1998 NRL grand final

27 September

Brisbane Broncos	38 - 12	Canterbury Bulldogs
7 Tries: Michael De Vere, Kevin Campion, Tonie Carroll, Wendell Sailor, Gorden Tallis, Phil Lee, Darren Smith 5 Goals: Darren Lockyer (5/7)		2 Tries: Tony Grimaldi, Willie Talau 2 Goals: Darryl Halligan (2/3)

Sydney Football Stadium Attendance: 40,857 Referee/s: Bill Harrigan Man of the Match: Gorden Tallis

Post season

Brisbane's consistent dominance over other teams at this period of time contributed to the National Rugby League's plans to cut the number of teams down to 14 in order to ensure competitiveness and the long-term financial success of the game.

Despite the inclusion of "national" in the new competition's name, both the Gold Coast and Adelaide clubs folded at the end of the 1998 season. A new Gold Coast side re-entered the competition nine years later in 2007.

1998 was the last season for the seventy-eight-year-old St. George Dragons and seventeen-year-old Illawarra Steelers clubs, which merged to form the NRL's first joint-venture team at the conclusion of the season, the St George Illawarra Dragons, for inclusion in the 1999 Premiership.

References

• Rugby League Tables - Notes The World of Rugby League
• Rugby League Tables - Season 1998 The World of Rugby League
• Premiership History and Statistics RL1908
• 1998 - Broncos Take Inaugural NRL Competition RL1908