2001 NRL season

2001 National Rugby League
Teams	14
Premiers	Newcastle (2nd title)
Minor premiers	Parramatta (4th title)
Matches played	191
Points scored	9333 (total) 48.864 (per match)
Attendance	2,682,210 (total) 14,043 (per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Andrew Johns (279) Ben Walker (279)
Top try scorer(s)	Nathan Blacklock (27)

The 2001 NRL season was the 94th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fourth run by the National Rugby League. Also called the 2001 Telstra Premiership (due to sponsorship from Telstra Corporation) it was contested by thirteen Australian-based clubs plus one New Zealand-based club. The Newcastle Knights claimed their second premiership in five seasons, defeating minor premiers Parramatta Eels in the NRL's first ever night-time grand final.

Season summary

Early in the season NRL matches involving the Bulldogs were marred by off-field violence from the club's supporters.^[1]

The Parramatta Eels looked set to break their fifteen-year premiership drought as they compiled one of the most dominant season records in rugby league history, losing just four of their 26 regular season games with the League's best attack and defensive record. In 2001 they established the standing record for most points by a club in a season with 943, blitzing the Brisbane Broncos' previous record tally of 871 set in 1998. The Eels tally was significantly contributed to by Jason Taylor, who that year surpassed Daryl Halligan's mark of 2,034 to become the greatest point-scorer in the history of club competition in Australia.^[2]

The Warriors made the finals for the first time in their seven-year history under rookie coach Daniel Anderson, but were hammered 56-12 by the aforementioned minor premiers.

After Warren Ryan retired in 2000, the Newcastle Knights appointed former player Michael Hagan to the coaching position. Hagan proceeded to become the first coach since Phil Gould in 1988 to win a premiership in his first season as coach. Ricky Stuart would follow suit with the Roosters the following season. Tim Sheens was sacked as the coach of the North Queensland Cowboys during the season and was replaced by Murray Hurst. Mal Meninga resigned as Canberra coach following the club's disappointing season and in turn was replaced by Matthew Elliott.

Preston Campbell was a deserved winner of the Dally M medal after being an instrumental player in the Sharks' rise to fourth position on the table. Newcastle's Andrew Johns would have been clear winner but was not in contention due to missing two matches through suspension. Brian Smith was recognised as Coach of the Year whilst Braith Anasta won Rookie of the Year.

It was during the 2001 finals series that the new NRL Telstra Premiership logo was used, first seen on the field in the first qualifying final between the Sharks and the Broncos. That logo was to be used until the end of the 2006 season. Coincidentally, the Brisbane Broncos were also involved in the last match to use that logo, albeit in a modified finals version seen on the ground in the 2006 NRL Grand Final.

At the end of the season a squad of players from the NRL premiership went on the 2001 Kangaroo tour.

Every team except Penrith played at least one drawn match during the course of the season. The Bulldogs had three drawn matches, the most of any team during the season.

Teams

Auckland were renamed the New Zealand Warriors for the 2001 season.

Brisbane Broncos 14th season Ground: Suncorp Stadium Coach: Wayne Bennett Captain: Gorden Tallis	Bulldogs RLFC 67th season Ground: Sydney Showground Coach: Steve Folkes Captain: Darren Britt	Canberra Raiders 20th season Ground: Canberra Stadium Coach: Mal Meninga Captain: Simon Woolford	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 37th season Ground: Shark Park Coach: John Lang Captain: Jason Stevens
Melbourne Storm 4th season Ground Docklands Stadium Coach: Chris Anderson → Mark Murray Captain: Robbie Kearns & Rodney Howe	New Zealand Warriors 9th season Ground: Ericsson Stadium Coach: Daniel Anderson Captain: Stacey Jones & Kevin Campion	Newcastle Knights 14th season Ground: EnergyAustralia Stadium Coach: Michael Hagan Captain: Andrew Johns	North Queensland Cowboys 7th season Ground: Dairy Farmers Stadium Coach: Tim Sheens → Murray Hurst Captain: Paul Bowman
Northern Eagles 2nd season Ground: Brookvale Oval & Grahame Park Coach: Peter Sharp Captain: Geoff Toovey	Parramatta Eels 55th season Ground: Parramatta Stadium Coach: Brian Smith Captain: Nathan Cayless	Penrith Panthers 35th season Ground: CUA Stadium Coach: Royce Simmons Captain: Craig Gower	Sydney Roosters 94th season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: Graham Murray Captain: Brad Fittler
	St. George Illawarra Dragons 3rd season Ground: Kogarah Oval & WIN Stadium Coach: Andrew Farrar Captain: Craig Smith	Wests Tigers 2nd season Ground: Campbelltown Stadium & Leichhardt Oval Coach: Terry Lamb Captain: Darren Senter

Advertising

With a new CEO in David Moffat from 2000 the NRL late that year moved their account to a new advertising agency in Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney.

There was no umbrella campaign in 2001, no season launch gala ad. NRL Marketing Director, Mark Wallace insisted that the League's marketing budget remained the same as in prior years but that the focus was to be on promoting individual games and complementing the clubs' own marketing activities.^[3]

An ad was produced to promote certain key games. The scene is a deserted, eerie CBD street. The sound of a squeaky wheel gets louder until a clown rides into the middle of shot on a tricycle and turns to camera pouting and frowning. The voice over comes up: "This Easter long weekend the Dragons v Roosters at Sydney Football Stadium. You'd be a clown to miss it".

Regular season

Records and statistics

• Parramatta Eels scored the most points in a season by any club in history scoring 943 points in total.
• Wendell Sailor ran 4,452 metres with the ball in 2001, more than any other player in the competition.^[4]
• On July 5, the Melbourne Storm beat the Wests Tigers 64-0, which is the Storm's biggest ever win and Tigers biggest ever loss. The very next day the Newcastle Knights beat the Brisbane Broncos 44-0, which was set at the time, the Broncos biggest ever loss at the time.
• In round 23, Wests Tigers recorded their biggest comeback when they came from a 24-0 down after 30 minutes of play to win 36-32 against the Newcastle Knights which is the Knights worst collapse. Also equalled the second biggest ever comeback.

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Parramatta	26	20	2	4	839	406	+433	42
2	Bulldogs	26	17	3	6	617	538	+79	37
3	Newcastle (P)	26	16	1	9	782	639	+143	33
4	Cronulla-Sutherland	26	15	2	9	594	513	+81	32
5	Brisbane	26	14	1	11	696	511	+185	29
6	Sydney	26	13	1	12	647	589	+58	27
7	St. George Illawarra	26	12	2	12	661	573	+88	26
8	New Zealand	26	12	2	12	638	629	+9	26
9	Melbourne	26	11	1	14	704	725	-21	23
10	Northern Eagles	26	11	1	14	603	750	-149	23
11	Canberra	26	9	1	16	600	623	-23	19
12	Wests Tigers	26	9	1	16	474	746	-272	19
13	North Queensland	26	6	2	18	514	771	-257	14
14	Penrith	26	7	0	19	521	847	-326	14

Ladder progression

• Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 8.
• 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	25	26
1	Parramatta	2	2	4	4	6	6	8	9	11	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	26	26	28	30	32	34	36	38	40	42
2	Bulldogs	2	4	5	7	9	9	9	10	12	13	15	17	17	19	18	21	23	25	27	29	29	31	31	33	35	37
3	Newcastle	0	2	3	5	5	7	9	11	13	15	17	19	21	21	21	21	21	23	25	27	29	29	29	29	31	33
4	Cronulla-Sutherland	0	2	4	4	6	8	10	10	10	12	12	12	13	14	14	16	18	20	22	24	26	28	28	30	30	32
5	Brisbane	2	4	4	6	8	8	10	12	12	14	16	17	19	21	23	23	25	25	27	27	27	27	27	27	27	29
6	Sydney Roosters	2	2	4	6	6	8	8	10	12	14	14	15	15	17	19	21	21	21	21	21	21	23	25	25	27	27
7	St. George Illawarra	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	8	8	8	8	9	11	12	14	14	16	18	20	20	22	22	24	26	26	26
8	New Zealand	0	2	2	4	4	6	6	7	9	9	11	11	11	13	15	15	15	17	17	17	19	21	23	25	26	26
9	Melbourne	0	0	2	4	4	4	4	4	6	6	8	10	12	12	14	16	16	18	18	18	20	20	20	22	23	23
10	Northern Eagles	2	2	4	4	6	6	6	8	8	10	12	12	12	14	14	16	16	18	18	18	18	20	21	23	23	23
11	Canberra	2	2	2	2	4	6	6	6	8	8	8	9	9	9	11	11	13	13	13	13	13	15	15	15	17	19
12	Wests Tigers	0	2	4	4	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	9	9	9	11	11	11	13	15	17	17	19	19	19	19
13	North Queensland	0	2	2	2	2	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	7	7	7	7	9	9	9	11	11	11	12	12	12	14
14	Penrith	0	0	0	2	2	2	4	4	4	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	10	10	10	12	12	14	14

Finals series

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

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Qualifying Finals
Cronulla Sharks	22 – 6	Brisbane Broncos	7 September 2001	Shark Park	Steve Clark	15,508
Newcastle Knights	40 – 6	Sydney Roosters	8 September 2001	Marathon Stadium	Bill Harrigan	22,061
Canterbury Bulldogs	22 – 23	St. George Illawarra Dragons	8 September 2001	Sydney Showground	Paul Simpkins	17,975
Parramatta Eels	56 – 12	New Zealand Warriors	9 September 2001	Parramatta Stadium	Tim Mander	17,336
Semi Finals
Brisbane Broncos	44 – 28	St. George Illawarra Dragons	15 September 2001	Sydney Football Stadium	Paul Simpkins	19,259
Canterbury Bulldogs	10 – 52	Cronulla Sharks	16 September 2001	Sydney Football Stadium	Bill Harrigan	21,507
Preliminary Finals
Newcastle Knights	18 – 10	Cronulla Sharks	22 September 2001	Sydney Football Stadium	Paul Simpkins	31,438
Parramatta Eels	24 – 16	Brisbane Broncos	23 September 2001	Stadium Australia	Bill Harrigan	34,184

Chart

	Qualifying Finals					Semi Finals					Preliminary Finals					Grand Final
	1	Parramatta	56
	8	New Zealand	12
											1W	Parramatta	24
	2	Canterbury	22			4W	St. George Illawarra	28				Brisbane	16
	7	St. George Illawarra	23			2L	Brisbane	44									Parramatta	24
																	Newcastle	30
	3	Newcastle	40								2W	Newcastle	18
	6	Sydney	6			3W	Cronulla	52				Cronulla	10
						1L	Canterbury	10
	4	Cronulla	22
	5	Brisbane	6

Grand Final

Sunday, 30 September 20:10

Newcastle Knights	30 - 24	Parramatta Eels
Tries: Bill Peden (2) Ben Kennedy Steve Simpson Timana Tahu Goals: Andrew Johns (5/7)	Report	Tries: Brett Hodgson (2) Jamie Lyon (2) Goals: Luke Burt (4/4)

Telstra Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 90,414 Referee/s: Bill Harrigan Man of the Match: Andrew Johns[5]

External links

• 2001 NRL Grand Final at sportsphotography.net

Footnotes

1. Mercer, Phil (2001-04-25). "Australia's game of shame". BBC News (UK: BBC). Retrieved 2010-01-01.
2. Aubrey, Jane (10 October 2001). "2001: Bennett's Coup - 'Operation Alfie'". wwos.ninemsn.com.au. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
3. Wallace interview B&T Magazine March2001
4. Proszenko, Adrian (6 May 2012). "Gallen set to smash record". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
5. D'Souza, Miguel. "Grand Final History". wwos.ninemsn.com.au. AAP. Retrieved 8 September 2013.