| Club: | Illawarra Steelers |
| Season: | 1996 |
| Ceo: |  Bob Millward |
| Head Coach: | Allan McMahon |
| Captain: | John Cross |
| League: | ARL |
| League Result: | 14 (out of 20) |
| Club Try Scorer: | Rod Wishart (14) |
| Club Points Scorer: | Rod Wishart (160) |
| League2: | Reserve Grade |
| League2 Result: | 8 (of 20), Preliminary Final |
| League3: | President's Cup |
| League3 Result: | 3 (of 20), Preliminary Final |
| Highest Attendance: | 9,744 (vs. Western Suburbs Magpies, 22 March 1996, at WIN Stadium) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 4,883 (vs. South Queensland Crushers, 5 May 1996, at WIN Stadium) |
| Average Attendance: | 7,434 (Total 81,778) |
| Prevseason: | 1995 |
| Nextseason: | 1997 |
The 1996 Illawarra Steelers season was the fifteenth in the club's history. They competed in the Australian Rugby League's 1996 Optus Cup season, finishing in 14th place on the ladder, missing out on the finals for the fourth year in a row. The Reserve Grade and President's Cup teams both missed out on their respective Grand Finals by one game, whilst the junior Steelers - the S.G. Ball and Harold Matthew's sides both won their competitions.
Gains
Losses(c)
O'Meara; Wishart, Rodwell, McGregor, Seru; C.Simon, J.White; Fritz, Callaway, England, Cross (c), Richards, Timmins. Cox, Hepi, Bristow.
O'Meara; Wishart, Rodwell, McGregor, Seru; C.Simon, J.White; Fritz, Callaway, Richards, Mackay, Cross (c), Timmins. D.Walsh, Piccinelli, England, Carige.
Reserve Grade: Illawarra Steelers defeated Auckland Warriors 18-12.
O'Meara; Wishart, Rodwell, McGregor, Seru; C.Simon, J.White; Fritz, Callaway, Richards, Mackay, Timmins, Cross (c). Carige, Walsh, Doherty, Hepi.
Reserve Grade: Brisbane defeated Illawarra 24-14----
Riolo; Wishart, Timmins, McGregor, Seru; Mackay, Air; Fritz, Hepi, Walsh, Cross (c), Doherty, Rodwell. Richards, England, Cox, J.White.
Souths forward Martin Masella was sent-off after 35 minutes for an illegal use of the elbow. Steelers hooker Brad Hepi was cited for a high tackle, but later exonerated.
Reserve Grade: Illawarra defeated Souths 18-2.----
Riolo; Wishart, Timmins, Simon, Seru; Mackay, Air; Fritz, Hepi, Walsh, Doherty, Cross (c), Rodwell. Cox, Richards, O'Meara, J.White.
Gold Coast Chargers winger David Baildon was sent-off after 39 minutes for striking and was later sentenced to six weeks on the sideline. The Steelers, however, could not use the extra man advantage in the second-half to win the game. They were able to peg the score back to 16-all early in the second-half, but were unable go on with it. Two tries to the Chargers assured victory for the home team.
Reserve Grade: Illwarra defeated Gold Coast 20-10.----
Riolo; Wishart, Timmins, Simon, Seru; Mackay, Air; Fritz, Hepi, Walsh, Doherty, Cross (c), Rodwell. K.White, Richards, O'Meara, Purcell.
The Steelers coughed up a 20-6 lead at half-time with some sloppy handling and disastrous defence to give away 24 unanswered second-half points to the boys that travelled from across the Tasman.
Reserve Grade: Illawarra defeated Auckland 29-10.----
Reserve Grade: Illawarra defeated Canberra 22-16.
| width=20 abbr="Position×" | width=175 | 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 | Manly-Warringah | 22 | 18 | 0 | 4 | 549 | 191 | +358 | 36 | ||||||||||
| 2 | Brisbane | 21 | 17 | 0 | 4 | 607 | 263 | +344 | 34 | ||||||||||
| 3 | North Sydney | 22 | 15 | 2 | 5 | 598 | 325 | +273 | 32 | ||||||||||
| 4 | Sydney City | 22 | 15 | 1 | 6 | 521 | 321 | +200 | 31 | ||||||||||
| 5 | Cronulla-Sutherland | 21 | 14 | 2 | 5 | 399 | 268 | +131 | 30 | ||||||||||
| 6 | Canberra | 21 | 13 | 1 | 7 | 538 | 384 | +154 | 27 | ||||||||||
| 7 | St. George | 21 | 12 | 1 | 8 | 443 | 360 | +83 | 27 | ||||||||||
| 8 | Western Suburbs | 22 | 12 | 1 | 9 | 394 | 434 | −40 | 25 | ||||||||||
| 9 | Newcastle | 21 | 10 | 1 | 10 | 416 | 388 | +28 | 23 | ||||||||||
| 10 | Canterbury | 21 | 11 | 0 | 10 | 375 | 378 | −3 | 22 | ||||||||||
| 11 | Auckland | 21 | 10 | 0 | 11 | 412 | 427 | −15 | 22 | ||||||||||
| 12 | Balmain | 22 | 11 | 0 | 11 | 319 | 459 | −140 | 22 | ||||||||||
| 13 | Parramatta | 21 | 9 | 1 | 11 | 404 | 415 | −11 | 21 | ||||||||||
| 14 | Illawarra | 22 | 8 | 0 | 14 | 403 | 444 | −41 | 16 | ||||||||||
| 15 | Penrith | 21 | 7 | 1 | 13 | 363 | 464 | −101 | 15 | ||||||||||
| 16 | Western Reds | 21 | 6 | 1 | 14 | 313 | 420 | −107 | 13 | ||||||||||
| 17 | North Queensland | 21 | 6 | 0 | 15 | 288 | 643 | −355 | 12 | ||||||||||
| 18 | Gold Coast | 22 | 5 | 1 | 16 | 359 | 521 | −162 | 11 | ||||||||||
| 19 | South Sydney | 22 | 5 | 1 | 16 | 314 | 634 | −320 | 11 | ||||||||||
| 20 | South Queensland | 21 | 3 | 0 | 18 | 220 | 496 | −276 | 8 | ||||||||||
| Round | Opposition | Venue | Crowd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | 9,744 | |||
| Round 4 | 7,083 | |||
| Round 6 | 8,055 | |||
| Round 7 | 4,883 | |||
| Round 9 | 8,529 | |||
| Round 12 | 6,121 | |||
| Round 14 | 9,638 | |||
| Round 15 | 7,115 | |||
| Round 17 | 5,247 | |||
| Round 19 | 8,017 | |||
| Round 21 | 7,346 | |||
| Total | 81,778 | |||
| Average | 7,434 |