1995 ARL season
The 1995 ARL premiership was the 88th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the first to be run by the Australian Rugby League following the hand-over of the Premiership's administration by the New South Wales Rugby League. For the first time since 1988, the Premiership expanded again, with the addition of two new clubs from Queensland:
- North [Queensland Cowboys], based in Townsville
- South Queensland Crushers, based in Brisbane.
- Western Reds , based in Perth
- Auckland Warriors, based in Auckland
The 1995 season also saw the first major consequences of the Super League war, with the ARL's refusal to select almost all players from the eight clubs who had aligned with News Ltd's proposed Super League for State of Origin series|State of Origin] or Test matches, including the 1995 [Rugby League World Cup].
Season summary
1995 would prove to be a year of massive change for the League. In addition to the introduction of four new teams, it was the last year of the premiership's association with Rothmans and the Winfield brand and consequently the final year that clubs competed for the Winfield Cup.There had been a cloud over the league for some time in the form of rumours and speculation about the Super League, but the ensuing dispute was more extensive than almost any commenters and analysts had predicted. The subsequent Super League war would have massive impacts on the sport in Australia and would substantially harm the league's popular support and grassroots structures.
The 1995 season was played in front of a background of legal actions which did large damage to interpersonal relations within the league, with players and managers jockeying for position. Players who had signed with the new Super League venture were forbidden by the ARL from participating in the 1995 State of Origin. Selectors from New South Wales and Queensland were limited to selecting players only from ARL-aligned clubs, plus certain defectors from Super League.
The usual twenty-two regular season rounds were played from March till August. However the large number of teams meant a resulting top eight would battle it out in the finals rather than the usual five. These were Manly, Canberra, Brisbane, Cronulla, Newcastle, Sydney Bulldogs, St. George and North Sydney. In addition to the premiership, there was also the 1995 Trans-Tasman Test series between the Australian Rugby League's and New Zealand Rugby League's national teams.
Cronulla-Sutherland's halfback Paul Green was awarded the 1995 Rothmans Medal. The Dally M Award was given to Canberra's five-eighth, Laurie Daley who was also named Rugby League Week's player of the year. Manly-Warringah's Steve Menzies became the first forward for 50 years to top the season's try-scoring list, while his teammate Matthew Ridge set a club point scoring record of 257 points to be the league's leading point scorer for the year.
By the end of the regular season, the ARL's inaugural 20-team competition had set a new record for aggregate match attendances of 3,061,338.
Advertising
1995 marked the final year of the New South Wales Rugby League's sponsorship arrangement with Rothmans and Winfield due to the federal government's blanket ban on cigarette advertising in Australia effective from 1 January 1996. It was consequently the final year of a seven-year association with Tina Turner and the end of an era in Australian sports marketing.As in 1994 the New South Wales Rugby League and its advertising agency Hertz Walpole returned to the original 1989 recording of The Best by Turner to underscore the season launch advertisement. Footage from the studio bluescreen shoot taken during Turner's 1993 Sydney visit was used in the final advertisements. The enduring images are of Turner performing the song on an elevated stage in front of the fluttering banners of the 20 clubs that would participate in 1995's expanded competition.
Teams
When the Australian Rugby League began taking bids for additional teams to begin playing in 1995, it was expected that only two teams would enter. Auckland were the first club to be accepted, with the final place being fought for by South Queensland, North Queensland and Perth. The Australian Rugby League later announced that all three clubs had been accepted, taking the number of teams from 16 in New South [Wales Rugby League season 1994|1994] to 20 in 1995, the highest it had ever been and would ever be.With the addition of the Auckland Warriors, North Queensland Cowboys, South Queensland Crushers and Western Reds the 1995 season involved an unprecedented twenty clubs, including five Sydney-based foundation teams, another six from Sydney, one from Newcastle, one from Wollongong, two from Brisbane, one from Gold Coast, one from Townsville, one from Auckland, one from Canberra and one from Perth, who all contested the premiership, making it the largest competition in terms of participation in Australia's history.
With the storm that would be the Super League war already brewing in the background, three clubs based in Sydney suburbs, in an effort to position themselves favourably as battle lines were being drawn up, re-branded themselves for the 1995 season with less geographically distinct names: the Balmain Tigers became the 'Sydney Tigers', the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs became the 'Sydney Bulldogs', and the Eastern Suburbs Roosters became the 'Sydney City Roosters'.
Ladder
- Auckland Warriors were stripped of 2 competition points due to exceeding the replacement limit in round 3.
Finals
Chart
Grand Final
Teams
Twelve Bulldogs players remained from the squad that played in the 1994 Grand Final. Initially selected in the starting line-up, winger Brett Dallas missed the decider due to a hamstring injury sustained in the preliminary final. Des Hasler and Cliff Lyons both had previous Grand Final experience for Manly, playing in the 1987 Grand Final, while Manly David Gillespie had played in the Bulldogs’ 1988 premiership win. Manly Matthew Ridge started the match under an injury cloud, having sustained a rib injury during the finals series.Entertainment
performed Advance Australia Fair before the match. The half time entertainment included a surreal commercial presentation from competition sponsor Optus Vision in which a large black television was left swinging above the turf until one side collapsed releasing a shower of balloons to fall to the ground. The mishap delayed the start of the second half of the match. Optus Vision CEO Geoff Cousins proclaiming "what happened was supposed to happen."Match details
Having finished in sixth place at the end of the regular season, the Bulldogs managed a history-making finals surge, winning three sudden death matches to make the Grand Final.The match kicked off in sunny conditions, with the forecast showers not eventuating.
An early chance to open the scoring from a penalty goal attempt was missed by Bulldogs goalkicker Daryl Halligan in the fourth minute, his kick falling short from approximately 39 metres from the posts. A few minutes later with Manly on the attack, Bulldogs captain Terry Lamb was sent to the sin bin following a professional foul. From the resulting penalty, Matthew Ridge converted his attempt at goal to give Manly a 2–0 advantage.
The Bulldogs scrambled in defence and were able to keep out Manly while down to 12-men. Following Lamb's return they were able to level the scores following a penalty against Manly John Hopoate. Following an error by Terry Hill that gave the Bulldogs field position, Bulldogs forward Jim Dymock sparked an attack with his around-the-corner pass to Simon Gillies not ruled forward by the match officials, Gillies offloaded to Steve Price to score the first try of the Grand Final. Manly were able to cut the margin ten minutes from the break when Ridge converted a penalty goal attempt from 36 metres.
It had been a frentic and chaotic first half contest dominated by defence, with the Bulldogs ahead at half-time 6–4.
It was an erratic ten minutes to start the second half, with both teams guilty of handling errors. Then the biggest controversy of the match unfolded. The Bulldogs extended their lead to 10–4 when Glen Hughes scored a try from what appeared to be the seventh tackle in attack. Dymock and Lamb engineering the play for Dean Pay to bounce a looping pass to Hughes to score the try.
Chasing the match, further Manly errors gave the Bulldogs field position, with Lamb slotting a field goal in the 69th minute. They were denied a try a couple of minutes later when Matthew Ryan reached to ground the ball over the line, only for the referee to rule a knock-on. They wouldn't be denied a final try through Rod Silva in the final minutes, the fullback running in support of John Timu to score, again with a suspicion of a forward pass.
The Bulldogs had scored 11 unanswered points in the second half to secure the club's seventh premiership title and their first of the decade. The Bulldogs won despite losing the scrum count 3–5 and the penalty count 9–10. Manly's 22–3 season win–loss record remains the best not to have secured the premiership. Coach Chris Anderson stating "we got away to a good start in the second half, but Manly can pull a try out of anything and I wasn't certain we'd won until Silva put the ball down over the line with a few minutes left." Manly stalwart Cliff Lyons dubbed the match "our worst performance of the year by far."
At game's end Lamb enjoyed the rare honour of celebrating as a retiring victorious skipper, although he surprisingly returned for the 1996 season. Lamb meanwhile had given his premiership winners' medal to injured winger Brett Dallas during the victory lap.
The performance of Eddie Ward, refereeing his NSWRL/ARL first grand final, was subject to some post match controversy. Rugby League Week commented:
Despite the controversy, most pundits agreed that the better team ended up winning.
Scoreboard
Other match
won the reserve grade Grand Final 22–10 against Cronulla. The Knights opened the scoring in the 13th minute through John Carlaw, before halfback Brett Kimmorley scored two tries in the second half, including a 90 metre intercept try. The win was the club's first premiership in any competition.Title and the Sydney Bulldogs name
After a Grand Final appearance the previous season in which they lost to the Canberra Raiders, the Bulldogs rebranded from the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs to the Sydney Bulldogs in 1995. This short-lived rebrand saw the club capture its seventh title in its first season under the new name, before it was altered to Canterbury Bulldogs in 1997 by Super League, changed again to Bulldogs RLFC in the 2000s and eventually reverted back to its original name in 2010.Player statistics
The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 22.Top 5 point scorers
| Points | Player | Tries | Goals | Field Goals |
| 239 | Matthew Ridge | 10 | 99 | 1 |
| 192 | David Furner | 10 | 76 | 0 |
| 190 | Daryl Halligan | 12 | 71 | 0 |
| 186 | Julian O'Neill | 8 | 76 | 2 |
| 184 | Mat Rogers | 13 | 66 | 0 |
Top 5 try scorers
| Tries | Player |
| 21 | Steve Menzies |
| 20 | John Hopoate |
| 19 | Sean Hoppe |
| 16 | Jamie Ainscough |
| 15 | Jason Croker |
| 15 | Steve Renouf |
Top 5 goal scorers
| Goals | Player |
| 99 | Matthew Ridge |
| 83 | Jason Taylor |
| 78 | Andrew Johns |
| 76 | David Furner |
| 76 | Julian O'Neill |