1994 NSWRL season explained

Year:	1994
Competition:	New South Wales Rugby League
Teams:	16
Count:	3rd
Mpcount:	6th
Matches:	182
Points:	7416
Attendance:	2,732,389
Avg Attendance:	15,013
Top Point Scorer:	Daryl Halligan (270)
Top Try Scorer:	Steve Renouf (23)
Player Of The Year:	David Fairleigh (Rothmans Medal)
Prevseason Link:	1993 NSWRL season
Prevseason Year:	1993
Nextseason Link:	1995 ARL season
Nextseason Year:	1995 (ARL)

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, including 14 from within the borders of New South Wales plus two from Queensland, 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 Weeks 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.

The grand finals:

• Canberra Raiders vs Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (Seniors Grade)
• Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks vs Newcastle Knights (Reserve Grade)
• Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks vs Eastern Suburbs Roosters (Under-21s Grade)

The winners in all grades were:

• Canberra Raiders (Seniors Grade)
• Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks (Reserve Grade)
• Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks (Under-21s Grade)

The test match

• Australia vs France

The State of Origin Series

• Queensland vs New South Wales

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.

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.

Regular season

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	F1	F2	F3	GF
Balmain Tigers	NOR −11	PAR +2	GCS +22	STG −40	EAS −30	PEN −24	BRI −22	SOU −2	NEW +4	CRO −8	MAN −42	WES −4	ILA −16	CBY −16	CAN −36	NOR −36	PAR −12	GCS −26	STG −2	EAS +7	PEN −12	BRI −35
Brisbane Broncos	PAR 0	GCS −13	STG −4	EAS +32	PEN +31	NOR −1	BAL +22	CRO +32	MAN −10	WES +30	ILA −22	CBY +2	CAN −19	SOU +30	NEW −14	PAR +30	GCS +36	STG +12	EAS +18	PEN −16	NOR +17	BAL +35	MAN +12	NOR −1
Canberra Raiders	CRO −8	SOU +30	NEW +26	CBY −5	ILA +14	WES +16	MAN +24	PAR +14	GCS −4	STG +30	EAS +34	PEN −14	BRI +19	NOR −15	BAL +36	CRO +44	SOU +40	NEW +36	CBY +30	ILA +11	WES +18	MAN +3	NOR +14	CBY −1*	NOR +13	CBY +24
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	MAN +6	CRO −1	SOU +7	CAN +5	NEW +24	ILA +10	WES +6	GCS +24	STG +18	EAS +14	PEN +20	BRI −2	NOR −11	BAL +16	PAR +16	MAN +16	CRO +2	SOU +7	CAN −30	NEW +12	ILA +10	WES +28	X	CAN +1*	X	CAN −24
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	CAN +8	CBY +1	ILA −14	WES +26	MAN +12	NEW −17	SOU −2	BRI −32	NOR +7	BAL +8	PAR −12	GCS +46	STG −14	EAS +12	PEN +32	CAN −44	CBY −2	ILA −24	WES +4	MAN −28	NEW +22	SOU +42
Eastern Suburbs Roosters	STG −6	NOR −18	PEN −10	BRI −32	BAL +30	PAR +10	GCS +18	WES 0	ILA −26	CBY −14	CAN −34	SOU −6	NEW −6	CRO −12	MAN −34	STG +20	NOR −20	PEN +22	BRI −18	BAL −7	PAR −28	GCS +2
Gold Coast Seagulls	PEN 0	BRI +13	BAL −22	PAR −2	NOR −28	STG −24	EAS −18	CBY −24	CAN +4	SOU −18	NEW +2	CRO −46	MAN −4	WES −34	ILA −16	PEN −2	BRI −36	BAL +26	PAR +12	NOR −26	STG −10	EAS −2
Illawarra Steelers	WES −6	MAN 0	CRO +14	SOU 0	CAN −14	CBY −10	NEW −23	STG +24	EAS +26	PEN 0	BRI +22	NOR −8	BAL +16	PAR +22	GCS +16	WES +22	MAN −15	CRO +24	SOU +2	CAN −11	CBY −10	NEW +6
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles	CBY −6	ILA 0	WES +58	NEW +3	CRO −12	SOU +15	CAN −24	PEN +10	BRI +10	NOR +3	BAL +42	PAR +14	GCS +4	STG +61	EAS +34	CBY −16	ILA +15	WES +14	NEW +16	CRO +28	SOU +28	CAN −3	BRI −12
Newcastle Knights	SOU +29	WES −1	CAN −26	MAN −3	CBY −24	CRO +17	ILA +23	NOR +4	BAL −4	PAR +30	GCS −2	STG +10	EAS +6	PEN +16	BRI +14	SOU −14	WES −14	CAN −36	MAN −16	CBY −12	CRO −22	ILA −6
North Sydney Bears	BAL +11	EAS +18	PAR +2	PEN +10	GCS +28	BRI +1	STG +7	NEW −4	CRO −7	MAN −3	WES 0	ILA +8	CBY +11	CAN +15	SOU +22	BAL +36	EAS +20	PAR +6	PEN +10	GCS +26	BRI −17	STG +26	CAN −14	BRI +1	CAN −13
Parramatta Eels	BRI 0	BAL −2	NOR −2	GCS +2	STG −8	EAS −10	PEN −24	CAN −14	SOU −16	NEW −30	CRO +12	MAN −14	WES +6	ILA −22	CBY −16	BRI −30	BAL +12	NOR −6	GCS −12	STG +15	EAS +28	PEN +7
Penrith Panthers	GCS 0	STG +2	EAS +10	NOR −10	BRI −31	BAL +24	PAR +24	MAN −10	WES +14	ILA 0	CBY −20	CAN +14	SOU −8	NEW −16	CRO −32	GCS +2	STG +4	EAS −22	NOR −10	BRI +16	BAL +12	PAR −7
South Sydney Rabbitohs	NEW −29	CAN −30	CBY −7	ILA 0	WES +20	MAN −15	CRO +2	BAL +2	PAR +16	GCS +18	STG +6	EAS +6	PEN +8	BRI −30	NOR −22	NEW +14	CAN −40	CBY −7	ILA −2	WES −8	MAN −28	CRO −42
St. George Dragons	EAS +6	PEN −2	BRI +4	BAL +40	PAR +8	GCS +24	NOR −7	ILA −24	CBY −18	CAN −30	SOU −6	NEW −10	CRO +14	MAN −61	WES +16	EAS −20	PEN −4	BRI −12	BAL +2	PAR −15	GCS +10	NOR −26
Western Suburbs Magpies	ILA +6	NEW +1	MAN −58	CRO −26	SOU −20	CAN −16	CBY −6	EAS 0	PEN −14	BRI −30	NOR 0	BAL +4	PAR −6	GCS +34	STG −16	ILA −22	NEW +14	MAN −14	CRO −4	SOU +8	CAN −18	CBY −28
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	F1	F2	F3	GF

Bold – Home game
X – Bye

•  – Extra time game

Opponent for round listed above margin

Ladder

width=20 abbr="Position×"		width=230	Team	width=20 abbr="Played"	Pld	width=20 abbr="Won"	W	width=20 abbr="Drawn"	D	width=20 abbr="Lost"	L	width=20 abbr="Points for"	PF	width=20 abbr="Points against"	PA	width=20 abbr="Points difference"	PD	width=20 abbr="Points"	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.

width=20 abbr="Position"		width=225	Team	width=20 abbr="Round 1"	1	width=20 abbr="Round 2"	2	width=20 abbr="Round 3"	3	width=20 abbr="Round 4"	4	width=20 abbr="Round 5"	5	width=20 abbr="Round 6"	6	width=20 abbr="Round 7"	7	width=20 abbr="Round 8"	8	width=20 abbr="Round 9"	9	width=20 abbr="Round 10"	10	width=20 abbr="Round 11"	11	width=20 abbr="Round 12"	12	width=20 abbr="Round 13"	13	width=20 abbr="Round 14"	14	width=20 abbr="Round 15"	15	width=20 abbr="Round 16"	16	width=20 abbr="Round 17"	17	width=20 abbr="Round 18"	18	width=20 abbr="Round 19"	19	width=20 abbr="Round 20"	20	width=20 abbr="Round 21"	21	width=20 abbr="Round 22"	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
width=17%	Date and Time	width=17%	Venue	width=11%	Referee	width=7%	Crowd
Qualifying Finals
align=left	North Sydney Bears	12-26	align=left	Canberra Raiders	3 September 1994	Sydney Football Stadium	Bill Harrigan	33,641
align=left	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	4-16	align=left	Brisbane Broncos	4 September 1994	Sydney Football Stadium	Greg McCallum	34,891
Semi-finals
align=left	North Sydney Bears	15-14	align=left	Brisbane Broncos	10 September 1994	Sydney Football Stadium	Bill Harrigan	36,011
align=left	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	19-18	align=left	Canberra Raiders	11 September 1994	Sydney Football Stadium	Greg McCallum	41,865
Preliminary final
align=left	Canberra Raiders	22-9	align=left	North Sydney Bears	18 September 1994	Sydney Football Stadium	Greg McCallum	41,941
Grand final
align=left	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	12-36	align=left	Canberra Raiders	25 September 1994	Sydney Football Stadium	Greg McCallum	42,234

Grand final

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Position	Canberra Raiders
Scott Wilson		Brett Mullins
	WG	2. Ken Nagas
		3. Mal Meninga (c)
	CE	4. Ruben Wiki
		5. Noa Nadruku
6. Terry Lamb (c)		6. Laurie Daley
	HB
		8. Quentin Pongia
		9. Steve Walters
		46. Paul Osborne
	SR	11. Jason Croker
		12. David Furner
		13. Bradley Clyde
	Reserve	42. Brett Hetherington
	Reserve	43. David Westley
	Reserve
	Reserve
	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 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 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]

Player statistics

The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 22.Top 5 point scorers

width=50	Points	width=200	Player	width=30	Tries	width=30	Goals	width=30	Field goals
259	Daryl Halligan	12	105	1
234	Matthew Ridge	5	106	2
205	Jason Taylor	6	88	5
170	David Furner	5	75	0
162	Andrew Johns	7	65	4

Top 5 try scorers

width=50	Tries	width=200	Player
22	Steve Renouf
20	Brett Mullins
19	Jason Croker
18	Andrew Ettingshausen
18	Paul Smith

Top 5 goal scorers

width=50	Goals	width=200	Player
106	Matthew Ridge
105	Daryl Halligan
88	Jason Taylor
75	David Furner
65	Andrew Johns

See also

• 1994 State of Origin series

External links

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

Notes and References

1. http://www.rleague.com//db/year/1994/j_j_giltinan_shield_and_winfield_cup/index.php 1994 J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup
2. News: AAP . Melbourne Storm salary cap quotes . The Roar . Australia . The Roar Sports Opinion . 22 April 2010 . 22 April 2010.
3. News: NRL Finals in the 1990s . https://archive.today/20121206023313/http://www.sportal.com.au/league-ford-ute-display/nrl-finals-in-the-1990s-97342 . dead . 6 December 2012 . 30 June 2012 . sportal.com.au .
4. Web site: D'Souza . Miguel . Grand Final History . https://web.archive.org/web/20140819082626/http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/league/2009-grand-final/grandFinal_History.swf . dead . 19 August 2014 . wwos.ninemsn.com.au . . 8 September 2013 .