NRL season 2008



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National Rugby League season 2008
Teams	16
Premiers	Manly Warringah (7th title)
Minor premiers	Melbourne (3rd title)
Matches played	201
Points scored	8470 (average 42.139 per match)
Attendance	3,199,275 (average 15,917 per match)
Top points scorer(s)	Luke Covell (206)
Top try scorer(s)	Brett Stewart (22)

The 2008 National Rugby League premiership (known as the Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the one hundred and first season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia, and the eleventh run by the National Rugby League. The first matches of the season were played on 14 March 2008 with the season ending in the Grand Final to be played on 5 October 2008.

The lineup of clubs remained unchanged from the previous year, with sixteen teams contesting the premiership. 2008 also marks the launch of the National Youth Competition, an under 20 competition that is running parallel to the senior competition under the sponsorship name, the Toyota Cup.

History

Rugby league was first introduced into Australia in 1907, with a meeting in Sydney on 8 August 1908 effectively forming a new breakaway league from the New South Wales Rugby Union. The new body was known as the New South Wales Rugby Football League, and became the first professional sporting code in Australia. In the following months, eight Sydney-based teams were formed and signed up to play in the New South Wales Rugby Football League's premiership, with another club joining a week into competition.

The New South Wales Rugby League continued to run the competition up until and including 1994 when it passed on responsibility to the Australian Rugby League, the national authority for rugby league in Australia. In 1997 a rival Super League competition run by News Limited was started and signed up several existing teams from the Australian Rugby League. After both bodies lost a lot of money that year, a truce was signed and a new competition was formed for the 1998 season, under the brand name "National Rugby League."

The National Rugby League, on behalf of the numerous rugby league bodies in Australia, has decided to hold a number of celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the sport in the country. This will include the opening match of the 2008 season being held between the remaining two "foundation clubs" from 1908, the Sydney Roosters and the South Sydney Rabbitohs. As well as this, a special rivalries round will take place which will coincide with the 100th anniversary of the first round of competition in the New South Wales Rugby League, whereby teams will face opponents that entered the competition in similar time frames, such as the Brisbane Broncos and Gold Coast Titans, Parramatta Eels and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, North Queensland Cowboys and New Zealand Warriors, Bulldogs and St George Illawarra Dragons, Penrith Panthers and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, Sydney Roosters and Newcastle Knights, Wests Tigers and South Sydney Rabbitohs, and the Melbourne Storm and Canberra Raiders.

Several events will also take place to celebrate the 100th anniversary of landmark moments in rugby league in Australia. These events began in August 2007 with a re-enactment of the meeting which led to the formation of the New South Wales Rugby League, essentially the beginning of rugby league in Australia. In January and February 2008, several of the foundation clubs, the Newtown Jets, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Balmain Tigers, Sydney Roosters, North Sydney Bears and Western Suburbs Magpies, will host special functions at the places they were officially formed.

Season summary

Schedule

Further information: 2008 NRL season results

The 2008 season is set to be one week longer than the 2007 competition, allowing an extra bye on top of the existing one allocated to each club. In addition, the scheduling of the earlier representative fixtures has been changed, including the removal of Monday Night Football on weekends prior to the City vs Country match and the ANZAC Test. The City vs Country fixture is also being pushed back to Friday night where it had been prior to the 2007 season. Many of these initiatives were announced mid-way through the 2007 season by the Chief Executive Officer of the National Rugby League, David Gallop, in an attempt to help reduce player fatigue after several complaints of player injuries caused by the short turnaround between some matches.

2008 also saw a change in how the draw is devised, with teams nominating their preferred home opponents in order of preference. The NRL consulted these requests when structuring the season's fixtures. This change is intended to maximise attendances by allowing local derbies and other high-interest matches to be played twice a year. It is a departure from previous methods, which focused on trying to produce an equally difficult playing schedule for each club.^[1] The draw was released on October 19, 2007.

On the back of increasing public pressure, the National Rugby League decided to move the Grand Final back from the later timeslot of 7:00pm to the new time of 5:00pm. The Grand Final had traditionally been held on a Sunday afternoon up until 2000, after which it was relocated to the evening in order to accommodate the Channel 9's wish of making the event more suitable for primetime television. Whilst the late night scheduling was not considered as much an issue for New South Wales audiences because of the Labour Day public holiday the following day, it was argued by many Queenslanders that such a time was unsuitable for families on the eve of a weekday. Many individuals in the general public and the media pushed for a full return back to a 3:00pm kickoff time where it had been for many decades, whilst Channel 9 continued to insist on 7:00pm. As a comprimise, the National Rugby League decided for a comprimise "twilight" match starting at 5:00pm. This will be the first time since the 2000 season that the Grand Final will be played in daylight hours, largely due to a change in the starting day of Daylight Savings Time in New South Wales, ACT and Victoria in 2008.^[2]

Teams

Of the sixteen teams participating in the regular season, ten are from New South Wales, three from Queensland and one from each of Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. Of the ten from New South Wales, eight and a half (St. George Illawarra are both from Sydney and Wollongong) are from Sydney's metropolitan area. Just two foundation clubs from New South Wales Rugby League season 1908 are playing in this competition: the Sydney Roosters (formerly known as Eastern Suburbs) and the South Sydney Rabbitohs. The Melbourne Storm are the defending premiers.

For the first time since the 1988 introduction of teams outside of New South Wales, an under-20 competition running incorporates sides fielded by each of the sixteen premiership clubs. The National Youth Competition, known as the Toyota Cup for sponsorship purposes is solely for under-20 players.

The home jerseys of the 16 teams for the 2008 season are shown below.

Team Jerseys

Brisbane Broncos	Bulldogs	Canberra Raiders	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
Gold Coast Titans	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Melbourne Storm	Newcastle Knights
New Zealand Warriors	North Queensland Cowboys	Parramatta Eels	Penrith Panthers
South Sydney Rabbitohs	Sydney Roosters	St. George Illawarra Dragons	Wests Tigers

Records set in 2008

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (October 2008)

• Gold Coast Titans winger Jordan Atkins matched the standing record for most tries in a first grade debut set by Canterbury Bankstown's Tony Nash in season 1942 when he scored four tries in round 1 of 2008.
• Brisbane set a new club home attendance record when 50,612 spectators attended their Round 3 match against the North Queensland Cowboys at Suncorp Stadium.
• The Bulldogs set a club home crowd record when 36,526 spectators attended their Round 4 clash against the Sydney Roosters. The match marked Roosters forward Willie Mason's first match against his old club, and also set a record for the highest attended club match in Sydney during a premiership season (excluding finals).
• Ruben Wiki became only the 10th player in history to play 300 first grade games, and is the first New Zealander to pass this milestone.
• The South Sydney Rabbitohs equalled the 2nd biggest comeback in NRL history in Round 16 against the North Queensland Cowboys. After trailing 28-4 after fifty minutes, the Rabbitohs won the match 29-28.
• Melbourne Storm became the first club to win three minor premierships in a row since the founding of the NRL.
• The New Zealand Warriors became the first eighth-placed club to win on the first week of the finals since the McIntyre Final 8 System was introduced in season 1999. They progressed to the preliminary final, the furthest stage that any 8th-placed team has progressed.
• The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles' Grand Final defeat of defending premiers Melbourne Storm, 40-0, is the greatest winning margin in a Grand Final, eclipsing the record set in 1975. The last team to be kept scoreless in a Grand Final was Cronulla in 1978 in the Grand Final replay against Manly.

Sponsorship

For the eighth straight season the National Rugby League's naming rights sponsor Telstra maintains its position, with the competition again known as the Telstra Premiership. Telstra has signed a 6 year deal worth 120 million dollars with the nrl In addition to the Telstra Premiership logo appearing over the right upper chest on each team's playing jersey, the "Centenary of Rugby League in Australia" logo is displayed just above to commemorate the competition's centenary.

Following their successful sponsorship of "Friday Night Football" in 2007, the Foster's Group has decided to change the specific brand sponsorship from their Carlton Draught product to now represent Victoria Bitter. Harvey Norman continued its sponsorship of the State of Origin series while AAMI also continued its association with the annual City vs Country Origin clash. Additionally, Bundaberg Rum maintained naming rights to both the ANZAC Test and Monday Night Football.

Throughout the season, various charities and other non-profit organisations received exposure on Sunday Football through Rugby League's One Community Program.

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Melbourne	24	17	0	7	2	584	282	+302	38
2	Manly	24	17	0	7	2	645	355	+290	38
3	Cronulla	24	17	0	7	2	451	384	+67	38
4	Sydney	24	15	0	9	2	511	446	+65	34
5	Brisbane	24	14	1	9	2	560	452	+108	33
6	Canberra	24	13	0	11	2	640	527	+113	30
7	St. George Illawarra	24	13	0	11	2	489	378	+111	30
8	New Zealand	24	13	0	11	2	502	567	-65	30
9	Newcastle	24	12	0	12	2	516	486	+30	28
10	Wests Tigers	24	11	0	13	2	528	560	-32	26
11	Parramatta	24	11	0	13	2	501	547	-46	26
12	Penrith	24	10	1	13	2	504	611	-107	25
13	Gold Coast	24	10	0	14	2	476	586	-110	24
14	South Sydney	24	8	0	16	2	453	666	-213	20
15	North Queensland	24	5	0	19	2	474	638	-164	14
16	Bulldogs	24	5	0	19	2	433	782	-349	14

For the first time since the 1999 season, the team finishing in 8th spot won more games than it had lost. It should be also noted that on that occasion, 17 teams were in the competition.

Ladder Progression

Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 8.

	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	Melbourne	2	2	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	16	18	18	20	22	22	24	26	28	28	30	32	34	36	36	38
2	Manly	0	0	2	4	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	16	18	20	22	24	26	28	30	30	32	32	32	34	36	38
3	Cronulla	2	4	4	6	8	8	8	10	12	14	14	16	18	20	22	24	26	26	28	28	30	32	32	34	36	38
4	Sydney	2	2	4	6	8	8	8	10	12	14	16	18	18	20	22	24	26	26	26	28	30	30	30	30	32	34
5	Brisbane	2	4	6	6	8	8	10	12	12	12	14	16	16	16	18	19	21	21	23	25	27	27	27	29	31	33
6	Canberra	0	2	4	4	6	6	8	8	8	10	12	12	12	14	16	16	16	18	20	22	22	24	26	28	28	30
7	St. George Illawarra	0	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	22	22	24	24	24	26	28	30	30
8	New Zealand	0	2	2	4	6	6	6	8	10	10	10	12	12	12	12	14	16	18	20	22	22	24	26	26	28	30
9	Newcastle	2	4	4	4	4	6	8	10	10	10	12	12	14	16	16	16	16	18	18	20	22	24	24	26	28	28
10	Wests Tigers	2	4	4	4	4	6	8	8	10	12	14	14	16	16	16	16	18	18	20	20	22	24	24	24	24	26
11	Parramatta	2	2	4	4	4	4	6	8	10	10	12	12	14	16	16	18	18	18	18	20	20	22	24	26	26	26
12	Penrith	0	0	2	4	4	6	8	8	10	12	14	16	16	16	16	17	19	19	21	23	23	23	25	25	25	25
13	Gold Coast	2	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	16	16	16	18	20	20	20	20	22	22	22	22	22	24	24	24	24
14	South Sydney	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	4	4	4	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	16	16	18	18	20	20	20	20
15	North Queensland	0	0	0	2	4	6	6	6	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	10	10	10	10	10	12	12	12	14	14
16	Bulldogs	0	2	4	4	4	6	6	8	8	8	10	10	10	12	12	12	12	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	14

Finals

Further information: 2008 NRL season results#Finals

The National Rugby League again employed the McIntyre Final Eight System and for the second year running, preliminary finals were allowed to be played outside of Sydney.

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Qualifying Finals
Sydney Roosters	16–24	Brisbane Broncos	12 September 2008, 8:00pm	Sydney Football Stadium	Tony Archer	18,343
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	36–10	Canberra Raiders	13 September 2008, 6:30pm	Toyota Stadium	Jared Maxwell	18,252
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	38–6	St. George Illawarra Dragons	13 September 2008, 8:30pm	Brookvale Oval	Shayne Hayne	19,227
Melbourne Storm	15–18	New Zealand Warriors	14 September 2008, 4:00pm	Olympic Park	Jason Robinson	15,193
Semi Finals
New Zealand Warriors	30–13	Sydney Roosters	19 September 2008, 8:30pm	Mt Smart Stadium	Tony Archer	25,595
Brisbane Broncos	14–16	Melbourne Storm	20 September 2008, 7:45pm	Suncorp Stadium	Shayne Hayne	50,466
Preliminary Finals
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	0–28	Melbourne Storm	26 September 2008, 7:45pm	Sydney Football Stadium	Tony Archer	27,570
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	32–6	New Zealand Warriors	27 September 2008, 7:45pm	Sydney Football Stadium	Shayne Hayne	32,095
Grand Final
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	40–0	Melbourne Storm	5 October 2008, 5.00pm	ANZ Stadium	Tony Archer	80,388

Grand Final

For the second year in a row, the Grand Final was fought out between the Melbourne Storm and the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. The match was the first time since the 1992 and 1993 Grand Finals between the Brisbane Broncos and St. George Dragons that two teams played each other in consecutive grand finals.

The game was won by the Manly Sea Eagles, 40 points to 0, with 8 tries scored by the Sea Eagles, in a match which broke the record for points difference between the winning and losing teams in a grand final. Michael Robertson became the first player in 11 years to score a hat-trick of tries in a grand final. Prop-forward Brent Kite won the 2008 Clive Churchill Medal for the Man of the Match. Matt Ballin also became the first hooker to score the first try in a grand final since Royce Simmons in the Penrith Panthers's maiden premiership over Canberra in 1991.

5 October 2008, 5:00pm

[ 40 ] Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Tries: 3 Michael Robertson (34', 47', 51'), 1 Matt Ballin (24'), 1 Brent Kite (59'), 1 David Williams (67'), 1 Steve Menzies (72'), 1 Steven Bell (75').
Goals: 0/2 Matt Orford, 2/4 Steve Matai (48', 59'), 2/2 Jamie Lyon (74', 78').
[ 0 ] Melbourne Storm
Tries: None
Goals: None

Half time: 8 - 0

Clive Churchill Medallist: Brent Kite

Referee: Tony Archer

Venue: ANZ Stadium, Sydney

Attendance: 80,388

Main article: 2008 NRL Grand Final

Statistics

Points

Tries

Related Links

References

External links

• 2008 trial games, RubaiSport
• Rugby League Centenary Exhibit at nma.gov.au