ARL 1996 Optus Cup

Stats

Premiers: Manly
Runners Up: St George
Minor Premiers: Manly
Wooden Spoon: South Queensland
Top Tryscorer: Noa Nadruku (21)
Top Pointscorer: Jason Taylor (238)

No. Of Teams: 20
No. Of Games: 223
No. Of Players: 621
No. Of Tries: 1,462
No. Of Goals: 1,337 / 1,903 (70.26%)
No. Of F.Goals: 25

Total Attendance: 2,743,516
Average Crowd: 12,303
Average Crowd (Reg. Season): 11,452
Highest Crowd: 40,985
Highest Crowd (Reg. Season): 37,981
Lowest Crowd: 1,500

Mean Scoreline: 27-12
Median Scoreline: 24-12
Highest Scoreline: 66-10
Lowest Scoreline: 2-6
Highest Team Score: Canberra (66-10)
Average PPG: 48.56

On March 11, Justice James Burchett handed down a decision on the court battle between the ARL and Super League, ruling in favour of the former. A key component of that decision was that News Limited, Super League and all breakaway clubs (Auckland, Brisbane, Canberra, Canterbury, Cronulla, North QLD, Penrith and the Western Reds) were not permitted to 'promote, participate in, advertise, televise, broadcast or transmit in any way, either on free-to-air or pay-TV, any match not authorised by the ARL' until the end of 1999. News Ltd was also required to, within 48 hours, send written notice to players and coaches to return to the clubs they were contracted with on the 28th of March, 1995 and be available to play, notwithstanding injury or illness. Any who refused were not allowed to be paid. The victory was so heavily in favour of the ARL that News Ltd was even forced to hand over any Super League promotional merchandise to the ARL. Two days later, News Ltd was granted a stay on some of the orders, pending appeal. Crucially, the individual players and coaches aligned with Super League were no longer required to play in the ARL comp, but the clubs themselves were still required to participate. It ended all hopes of them starting a breakaway competition in 1996, and paved the way for Super League-aligned players to effectively strike until appeals were heard.

Ladder

		Home							Away							Overall
Team		P	W	L	D	F	A	PD	P	W	L	D	F	A	PD	P	W	L	D	F	A	Pts	PD	FPG	APG
1.	Manly	11	11	-	-	361	88	273	11	7	4	-	188	103	85	22	18	4	-	549	191	36	+358	24.95	8.68
2.	Brisbane	11	8	3	-	330	133	197	11	9	2	-	277	130	147	* 22	17	5	-	607	263	34	+344	27.59	11.95
3.	North Sydney	11	9	1	1	346	119	227	11	6	4	1	252	206	46	22	15	5	2	598	325	32	+273	27.18	14.77
4.	Sydney City	11	8	2	1	276	150	126	11	7	4	-	245	171	74	22	15	6	1	521	321	31	+200	23.68	14.59
5.	Cronulla	11	10	1	-	212	93	119	11	4	5	2	187	175	12	* 22	14	6	2	399	268	30	+131	18.14	12.18
6.	Canberra	11	8	3	-	310	128	182	11	5	5	1	228	256	-28	* 22	13	8	1	538	384	27	+154	24.45	17.45
7.	St George	11	7	3	1	229	162	67	11	6	5	-	214	198	16	* 22	13	8	1	443	360	27	+83	20.14	16.36
8.	Western Suburbs	11	8	2	1	225	182	43	11	4	7	-	169	252	-83	22	12	9	1	394	434	25	-40	17.91	19.73
9.	Newcastle	11	7	3	1	227	142	85	11	4	7	-	189	246	-57	* 22	11	10	1	416	388	23	+28	18.91	17.64
10.	Canterbury	11	7	4	-	227	184	43	10	4	6	-	148	194	-46	21	11	10	-	375	378	22	-3	17.86	18.00
11.	Auckland	11	7	4	-	248	174	74	11	4	7	-	164	253	-89	* 22	11	11	-	412	427	22	-15	18.73	19.41
12.	Sydney Tigers	11	6	5	-	181	238	-57	11	5	6	-	138	221	-83	22	11	11	-	319	459	22	-140	14.50	20.86
13.	Parramatta	11	7	4	-	214	161	53	11	3	7	1	190	254	-64	* 22	10	11	1	404	415	21	-11	18.36	18.86
14.	Illawarra	11	6	5	-	239	176	63	11	2	9	-	164	268	-104	22	8	14	-	403	444	16	-41	18.32	20.18
15.	Penrith	11	4	6	1	246	242	4	11	3	8	-	117	222	-105	* 22	7	14	1	363	464	15	-101	16.50	21.09
16.	Western Reds	11	4	6	1	186	188	-2	11	2	9	-	127	232	-105	* 22	6	15	1	313	420	13	-107	14.23	19.09
17.	North Qld	10	4	6	-	118	211	-93	11	2	9	-	170	432	-262	21	6	15	-	288	643	12	-355	13.71	30.62
18.	Gold Coast	11	2	9	-	172	233	-61	11	3	7	1	187	288	-101	22	5	16	1	359	521	11	-162	16.32	23.68
19.	Souths	11	3	8	-	204	274	-70	11	2	8	1	110	360	-250	22	5	16	1	314	634	11	-320	14.27	28.82
20.	South Queensland	11	2	9	-	118	288	-170	11	2	9	-	102	208	-106	* 22	4	18	-	220	496	8	-276	10.00	22.55

Playoffs/Finals

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Qualif Final

Sep 6

22,433

Qualif Final

25,983

Qualif Final

28,185

Qualif Final

31,327

Semi Final

27,665

Semi Final

37,858

Prelim Final

37,779

Prelim Final

40,525

Grand Final

40,985

Team Stats

Team Name	Position	W	L	D	Pts For	Pts Ag.	Coach(es)	Captain(s)	Top Tryscorer(s)			Top Pointscorer(s)			Home Venue(s)	Home Crowd Avg	Extra Info
Auckland Warriors	11th	11	11	0	412	427	Monie	Kearney, Alexander	10	-	Kirwan	120	-	Ngamu	Ericsson	20,126
Brisbane Broncos	2nd	17	5	0	607	263	Bennett	Langer, Walters	19	-	Renouf	146	-	Carne	ANZ	23,712	Semi Final
Canberra Raiders	6th	13	8	1	538	384	Sheens	Stuart, Daley, Lomax	21	-	Nadruku	144	-	Furner	Bruce	10,440	Qualifying Final
Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs	10th	11	10	0	375	378	Anderson	Gillies, Britt	9	-	Silva	146	-	Halligan	Belmore	7,544
Cronulla Sutherland Sharks	5th	14	6	2	399	268	Lang	Healey, Lee, Ettingshausen	13	-	Ettingshausen	150	-	Rogers	Shark Park	10,515	Prelim Final
Gold Coast Chargers	18th	5	16	1	359	521	Economidis	Hurst, Goddard, Watson	8	-	Oudenryn	107	-	Hurst	Carrara	7,126
Illawarra Steelers	14th	8	14	0	403	444	Farrar, McMahon	Cross, Piccinelli, McGregor	14	-	Wishart	160	-	Wishart	Steelers	7,434
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles	1st	18	4	0	549	191	Fulton	Toovey, Ridge	20	-	Menzies	165	-	Ridge	Brookvale	12,519	Premiers
Newcastle Knights	9th	11	10	1	416	388	Reilly	Harragon, Johns	9	-	Grogan, Beauchamp	142	-	Johns	Marathon	17,475
North Queensland Cowboys	17th	6	15	0	288	643	Lowe	Vowles	8	-	Tassell, Loomans	49	-	Howarth	Stockland	19,366
North Sydney Bears	3rd	15	5	2	598	325	Louis	Taylor	15	-	Ikin	238	-	Taylor	North Sydney	10,963	Prelim Final
Parramatta Eels	13th	10	11	1	404	415	Hilditch	Freeman, Pay, McCracken, Johnston	8	-	Mahon, Lawler	136	-	Lawler	Parramatta	11,113
Penrith Panthers	15th	7	14	1	363	464	Simmons	Carter, Cartwright	9	-	Beckett	162	-	Girdler	Penrith	5,351
St George Dragons	7th	13	8	1	443	360	Waite	Coyne, Barnhill	11	-	Brunker, Bell	176	-	Bartrim	Kogarah	11,167	Runners Up
South Queensland Crushers	20th	4	18	0	220	496	Lindner	Gillmeister	5	-	Weston	26	-	Mackay	Suncorp	13,016	Wooden Spoon
South Sydney Rabbitohs	19th	5	16	1	314	634	Shine	Field, Salvatori	9	-	Mellor	72	-	Field	SFS (8), Redfern (3)	5,031
Sydney City Roosters	4th	15	6	1	521	321	Gould	Garlick, Fittler, Iro	15	-	Junee	182	-	Cleary	SFS	17,060	Semi Final
Sydney Tigers	12th	11	11	0	319	459	Pearce	Stains, Sironen	8	-	Kennedy	82	-	Herron	Parramatta	5,703
Western Reds	16th	6	15	1	313	420	Mulholland	Boyd, O'Neill, Rodwell, Howe, Geyer	9	-	Rodwell	125	-	O'Neill	WACA	8,262
Western Suburbs Magpies	8th	12	9	1	394	434	Raudonikis	Coleman, Langmack	9	-	Willis	129	-	Leeds	Campbelltown	6,964	Qualifying Final

ARL 1996 Optus Cup

Stats

Ladder

Playoffs/Finals

Team Stats

See also: