1994 NSWRL season

1994 New South Wales Rugby League
Teams	16
Premiers	Canberra (3rd title)
Minor premiers	Canterbury-Bankstown (6th title)
Matches played	182
Points scored	7416 (total) 40.747 (per match)
Attendance	2,732,389 (total) 15,013 (per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Daryl Halligan (270)
Top try scorer(s)	Steve Renouf (23)

The 1994 NSWRL season (known as the 1994 Winfield Cup Premiership due to sponsorship from Winfield) was the eighty-seventh season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Sixteen clubs competed for the J J Giltinan Shield during the season, which culminated in a grand final match for the Winfield Cup trophy between the Canberra Raiders and the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.^[1]

Season summary

On the first of June, the previous season's premiers, the Broncos played in the 1994 World Club Challenge match in Brisbane against British champions Wigan. Wigan defeated the Broncos 20 to 14 at ANZ Stadium in front of 54,220 spectators. On 14 July the North Sydney Bears were fined $87,000 for breaching the salary cap.^[2] In total, twenty-two regular season rounds were played from March till August, resulting in a top five of Canterbury-Bankstown, North Sydney, Canberra, Manly-Warringah and Brisbane who went on to battle it out in the finals. The 1994 season's Rothmans Medallist was North Sydney forward David Fairleigh. The Dally M Award went to Manly-Warringah's five-eighth, Cliff Lyons who was also named as Rugby League Week's player of the year. 1994 was the last premiership season to be administered by the New South Wales Rugby League. At the end of the season control of the Winfield Cup would be passed on to the Australian Rugby League and re-branded as such, as part of the move to become a more national competition. This season was also the last in the Premiership for future Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame inductee and coach, Mal Meninga. At the end of the 1994 season a squad of players from the NSWRL Premiership went on the 1994 Kangaroo tour.

Teams

The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous season, with sixteen clubs contesting the premiership, including five inner Sydney-based foundation teams, another six from greater Sydney, two from greater New South Wales, two from Queensland, and one from the Australian Capital Territory.

Balmain Tigers 87th season Ground: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Wayne Pearce Captain: Ben Elias	Brisbane Broncos 7th season Ground: ANZ Stadium Coach: Wayne Bennett Captain: Allan Langer	Canberra Raiders 13th season Ground: Bruce Stadium Coach: Tim Sheens Captain: Mal Meninga	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 60th season Ground: Belmore Oval Coach: Chris Anderson Captain: Terry Lamb
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 28th season Ground: Endeavour Park Coach: John Lang Captain: Dan Stains	Eastern Suburbs Roosters 87th season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: Mark Murray → Arthur Beetson Captain: Craig Salvatori	Gold Coast Seagulls 7th season Ground: Seagulls Stadium Coach: John Harvey Captain: Craig Coleman	Illawarra Steelers 13th season Ground: Wollongong Stadium Coach: Graham Murray Captain: John Cross
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 48th season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Bob Fulton Captain: Geoff Toovey	Newcastle Knights 7th season Ground: Marathon Stadium Coach: David Waite Captain: Mark Sargent	North Sydney Bears 87th season Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Peter Louis Captain: Jason Taylor	Parramatta Eels 48th season Ground: Parramatta Stadium Coach: Ron Hilditch Captain: Paul Dunn
Penrith Panthers 28th season Ground: Penrith Stadium Coach: Phil Gould → Royce Simmons Captain: John Cartwright	South Sydney Rabbitohs 87th season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: Ken Shine Captain: Dean Schifilliti	St. George Dragons 74th season Ground: Kogarah Oval Coach: Brian Smith Captain: Mark Coyne	Western Suburbs Magpies 87th season Ground: Campbelltown Stadium Coach: Wayne Ellis Captain: Paul Langmack → Jim Serdaris

Advertising

In 1994 the League and its advertising agency Hertz Walpole returned to the original 1989 recording of "The Best" by Tina Turner to underscore the season launch ad. Footage had been shot of Turner's performance at the 1993 Grand Final and a studio bluescreen shoot also took place during that visit ensuring a store of images that could be used in flexible adaptations for the final two years of Turner's association with the competition and the Winfield Cup.

The 1994 advertisement used the performance and superimposed studio footage of Turner into crowd and stadium scenes that replicated the Sydney Football Stadium. The closing scenes of the commercial made it appear that Turner was singing the song high up in the Sydney Football Stadium's stands in front of its identifiable stretched-sail roofing.

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	22	18	0	4	537	340	+197	36
2	North Sydney Bears	22	17	1	4	517	291	+226	35
3	Canberra Raiders (P)	22	17	0	5	677	298	+379	34
4	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	22	16	1	5	605	311	+294	33
5	Brisbane Broncos	22	13	1	8	544	316	+228	27
6	Illawarra Steelers	22	11	3	8	484	387	+97	25
7	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	22	12	0	10	432	401	+31	24
8	Penrith Panthers	22	10	2	10	404	448	-44	22
9	South Sydney Rabbitohs	22	9	1	12	401	569	-168	19
10	Newcastle Knights	22	9	0	13	427	458	-31	18
11	St. George Dragons	22	9	0	13	386	497	-111	18
12	Parramatta Eels	22	7	1	14	350	474	-124	15
13	Western Suburbs Magpies	22	6	2	14	439	650	-211	14
14	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	22	6	1	15	344	513	-169	13
15	Gold Coast Seagulls	22	5	1	16	363	618	-255	11
16	Balmain Tigers	22	4	0	18	303	642	-339	8

Ladder progression

• Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 5.
• Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.
• Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished 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
1	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	2	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	20	20	22	24	26	28	30	30	32	34	36
2	North Sydney Bears	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	14	14	15	17	19	21	23	25	27	29	31	33	33	35
3	Canberra Raiders	0	2	4	4	6	8	10	12	12	14	16	16	18	18	20	22	24	26	28	30	32	34
4	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	0	1	3	5	5	7	7	9	11	13	15	17	19	21	23	23	25	27	29	31	33	33
5	Brisbane Broncos	1	1	1	3	5	5	7	9	9	11	11	13	13	15	15	17	19	21	23	23	25	27
6	Illawarra Steelers	0	1	3	4	4	4	4	6	8	9	11	11	13	15	17	19	19	21	23	23	23	25
7	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	2	4	4	6	8	8	8	8	10	12	12	14	14	16	18	18	18	18	20	20	22	24
8	Penrith Panthers	1	3	5	5	5	7	9	9	11	12	12	14	14	14	14	16	18	18	18	20	22	22
9	South Sydney Rabbitohs	0	0	0	1	3	3	5	7	9	11	13	15	17	17	17	19	19	19	19	19	19	19
10	Newcastle Knights	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	8	8	10	10	12	14	16	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18
11	St. George Dragons	2	2	4	6	8	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	12	12	14	14	14	14	16	16	18	18
12	Parramatta Eels	1	1	1	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	5	5	7	7	7	7	9	9	9	11	13	15
13	Western Suburbs Magpies	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	6	8	8	10	10	10	12	12	12	14	14	14
14	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	0	0	0	0	2	4	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	9	9	11	11	11	11	13
15	Gold Coast Seagulls	1	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	5	5	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	9	11	11	11	11
16	Balmain Tigers	0	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	8	8	8

Finals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Qualifying Finals
North Sydney Bears	12-26	Canberra Raiders	3 September 1994	Sydney Football Stadium	Bill Harrigan	33,641
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	4-16	Brisbane Broncos	4 September 1994	Sydney Football Stadium	Greg McCallum	34,891
Semi Finals
North Sydney Bears	15-14	Brisbane Broncos	10 September 1994	Sydney Football Stadium	Bill Harrigan	36,011
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	19-18	Canberra Raiders	11 September 1994	Sydney Football Stadium	Greg McCallum	41,865
Preliminary Final
Canberra Raiders	22-9	North Sydney Bears	18 September 1994	Sydney Football Stadium	Greg McCallum	41,941
Grand Final
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	12-36	Canberra Raiders	25 September 1994	Sydney Football Stadium	Greg McCallum	42,234

Chart

	Qualifying/Elimination Final					Major/Minor Semi Final					Preliminary Final					Grand Final
						1	Canterbury	19
							Canberra	18									Canterbury	12
	2	North Sydney	12									Canberra	22				Canberra	36
	3	Canberra	26									North Sydney	9
							North Sydney	15
	4	Manly	4			Brisbane	14
	5	Brisbane	16

Grand Final

Canterbury-Bankstown	Position	Canberra
Scott Wilson	FB	Brett Mullins
Jason Williams	WG	Ken Nagas
Steven Hughes	CE	Mal Meninga (c)
Jarrod McCracken	CE	Ruben Wiki
Darryl Halligan	WG	Noa Nadruku
Terry Lamb (c)	FE	Laurie Daley
Craig Polla-Mounter	HB	Ricky Stuart
Darren Britt	PR	Quentin Pongia
Jason Hetherington	HK	Steve Walters
Martin Bella	PR	Paul Osborne
Dean Pay	SR	David Furner
Jason Smith	SR	Jason Croker
Jim Dymock	LK	Bradley Clyde
Matthew Ryan	Reserve	Brett Hetherington
Steve Price	Reserve	David Westley
Simon Gillies	Reserve
Mark Brokenshire	Reserve
Chris Anderson	Coach	Tim Sheens

The Canberra Raiders were confident in the lead up, despite their one-point loss to the Bulldogs in the Major Semi-final, and everything played into their hands from the whistle. Canterbury veteran prop Martin Bella dropped the ball from the kick-off and before too long Canberra had posted two tries.

Canberra legend Mal Meninga was given a champion's farewell as his "Green Machine" swamped the Bulldogs.^[3] Canberra's Paul Osborne also enjoyed a fairytale day. On the outer for most of the year, Osborne won a reprieve, playing at prop after team-mate John Lomax was suspended for a high tackle in the Preliminary Final against North Sydney. Osborne, playing in his 135th and last career game before retirement, rose to the occasion by setting up the first two Raiders tries in the opening sixteen minutes.

Meninga's 166th and final match for the Raiders ended perfectly when he scored the last try of the day after intercepting a pass from Jason Smith. Meninga then outlasted the cover defence, running almost 40 metres and palming off his opposite centre Jarrod McCracken to score the try beside the posts, sending the 42,234 strong crowd at the Sydney Football Stadium into raptures. Despite being a goal kicker for most of his career, Meninga declined to take what would have been an easy conversion of his own try, instead leaving the kick to regular team kicker, Clive Churchill Medallist David Furner.

The Canberra Raiders had claimed their third premiership, amassing the highest score in a Grand Final since Eastern Suburbs defeated St. George 38-0 in 1975. It was the highest-scoring Grand Final since 1951 when South Sydney defeated Manly 42-14 (though tries then were worth only three points).

Canberra Raiders 36
Tries: Nagas 2, Furner, Daley, Nadruku, Croker, Meninga
Goals: Furner 4/7

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 12
Tries: Williams, Hetherington
Goals: Halligan 2/2

• Clive Churchill Medallist: David Furner
• Referee: Greg McCallum
• Attendance: 42,234 at the Sydney Football Stadium^[4]

See also

• 1994 State of Origin series

References

1. 1994 J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup at rleague.com
2. AAP (22 April 2010). "Melbourne Storm salary cap quotes". The Roar (Australia: The Roar Sports Opinion). Retrieved 22 April 2010.
3. "NRL Finals in the 1990s". sportal.com.au. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
4. D'Souza, Miguel. "Grand Final History". wwos.ninemsn.com.au. AAP. Retrieved 8 September 2013.

• Rugby League Tables - Season 1994 The World of Rugby League
• NSWRL season 1994 at rugbyleagueproject.com
• Results: 1991-2000 at rabbitohs.com.au