2006 NRL season

2006 NRL season
Teams	15
Premiers	Brisbane (6th title)
Minor premiers	Melbourne
Matches played	189
Points scored	8201 (total) 43.392 (per match)
Attendance	3,115,700 (total) 16,485 (per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Hazem El Masri (296)
Top try scorer(s)	Nathan Merritt (22)

The 2006 NRL season was the 99th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the ninth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen clubs competing for the 2006 Telstra Premiership. Throughout the 26 rounds of the regular season ten teams from New South Wales (9 of them from the Sydney basin), two from Queensland and one each from Victoria, the ACT and New Zealand competed for the minor premiership. Eight of these teams qualified for the four-week finals series, with the Brisbane Broncos eventual victors over the Melbourne Storm in the grand final.

Pre season

• Newcastle Knights coach Michael Hagan signed a three-year deal to coach the Parramatta Eels, beginning in 2007. Hagan replaced Brian Smith, who had coached the Eels since 1997 whilst Smith replaced Hagan at Newcastle in an unprecedented coach-swap. In other coaching moves, Matthew Elliott was confirmed as the coach of the Penrith Panthers, beginning in 2007.
• Penrith Panthers halfback Craig Gower was fired as captain, suspended for four games and fined $100,000 ($90,000 to be paid to an NRL programme encouraging the responsible use of alcohol by league players and $10,000 to replace a destroyed golf cart) after a string of alcohol-fueled incidents at a charity golf function.
• The Charity Shield heralded the unofficial start of the season, with the South Sydney Rabbitohs defeating St George Illawarra 14-12 in their first home game at Telstra Stadium on February 18. All NRL clubs engaged in a series of trials during the month of February.
• Wests Tigers premiership-winning captain Scott Prince announced on March 3 he had signed a four-year deal with expansion team Gold Coast Titans, beginning in 2007. Prince relinquished the captaincy of the Tigers for the 2006 season.

New Zealand Warriors salary cap breach

The New Zealand Warriors were investigated by the National Rugby League over alleged salary cap breaches committed by the team's previous administrators. The club admitted to inflating its salary cap to the tune of nearly $1 million during the 2005 season. The National Rugby League fined the Warriors $430,000 and ordered the team to start the season with a four premiership point deficit. It was the first time in 99 years of rugby league in Australia that a team has started a season on less than zero premiership points.

The Warriors appealed the decision by the NRL to deduct the four competition points but accepted the financial penalty. Prior to the beginning of the season, the National Rugby League confirmed that the points penalty would stand. The penalty would prove the decisive factor in the Warriors missing the finals for the third year in succession.

The salary cap for the 2006 season was A$3.366 million per club for their 25 highest-paid players.

Season summary

The season began on March 10 with a match between defending premiers Wests Tigers and the St George Illawarra Dragons, played at Telstra Stadium. The Melbourne Storm won 20 out of 24 regular season matches to win the minor premiership eight points clear of the Bulldogs. However in April 2010, the Storm were retroactively stripped of their minor premiership as a result of salaray cap breaches occurring over the course of the 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 seasons.

Venues

Sixteen stadiums regularly hosted National Rugby league matches, with a further six hosting at least one match in season 2006.

Stadium name	City	Host club(s)	Capacity
Suncorp Stadium	Milton, Brisbane, Qld	Brisbane Broncos	52,500
Canberra Stadium	Bruce, Canberra, ACT	Canberra Raiders	25,000
Olympic Park Stadium	Melbourne, Vic	Melbourne Storm	18,500
EnergyAustralia Stadium	Newcastle, NSW	Newcastle Knights	26,200
Aussie Stadium	Moore Park, Sydney, NSW	Sydney Roosters	41,159
Brookvale Oval	Brookvale, Sydney, NSW	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	22,000
Campbelltown Stadium	Campbelltown, Sydney, NSW	Wests Tigers	20,000
Leichhardt Oval	Leichhardt, Sydney, NSW	Wests Tigers	20,000
Oki Jubilee Stadium	Kogarah, Sydney, NSW	St George Illawarra Dragons	20,541
Parramatta Stadium	Parramatta, Sydney, NSW	Parramatta Eels	20,500
CUA Stadium	Penrith, Sydney, NSW	Penrith Panthers	21,000
Telstra Stadium	Homebush, Sydney, NSW	Bulldogs South Sydney Rabbitohs Wests Tigers	83,500
Toyota Park	Cronulla, Sydney, NSW	Cronulla Sharks	21,500
Dairy Farmers Stadium	Kirwan, Townsville, Qld	North Queensland Cowboys	25,000
Mt Smart Stadium	Penrose, Auckland, New Zealand	New Zealand Warriors	25,000
WIN Stadium	Wollongong, NSW	St George Illawarra Dragons	20,000
Hindmarsh Stadium	Hindmarsh, Adelaide, SA		15,500
Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium	Gosford, Central Coast, NSW		20,059
Jade Stadium	Christchurch, New Zealand		36,500
Carrara Stadium	Carrara, Gold Coast, Qld		22,000
Waikato Stadium	Hamilton, New Zealand		26,350
Sydney Cricket Ground	Moore Park, Sydney, NSW		43,562

Advertising

In 2006 the NRL and their advertising agency MJW Hakuhodo stayed with the Hoodoo Gurus' "That's My Team" soundtrack for a fourth year, producing a treatment aimed to appeal to the fundamental hope of all players and fans: that it would be ‘their team’ who would win the Grand Final.

Capitalising on the enthusiasm generated by the Wests Tigers triumph of 2005 in only their sixth season, the campaign line and song chorus was changed to ‘That’s My Dream’.

All fifteen NRL club captains featured heavily in the television and outdoor ads holding aloft the Telstra trophy. Eight young real life fans also featured in the TV commercial reflecting the origins of the game from backyard football scenes to Sydney beaches. Each was a fan of one of eight clubs who had not till then won the Telstra Premiership trophy and four different broadcast versions of the ad told the stories of their love of the game and each's dream of their own team's victory.

Dally M Awards

Main article: 2006 Dally M Awards

The Dally M Awards were introduced in 1980 by News Limited. The most prestigious of these awards is the Dally M Medal which is awarded to the Player Of The Year. The other prestigious award is the Provans Summons Medal which is the seasons best player as voted by the public. As well as honouring the player of the year the awards night also recognises the premier player in each position, the best coach, the best captain, representative player of the year and the most outstanding rookie of the season. The awards night and Player of the Year medal are named in honour of former Australian rugby league great Herbert Henry "Dally" Messenger.

Prestigious Awards

	Award	Player	Club
	Player of the Year	Cameron Smith	Melbourne Storm
	Provans Summons Medal	Nathan Hindmarsh	Parramatta Eels
	Rookie of the Year	Jarryd Hayne	Parramatta Eels
	Captain of the Year	Ben Kennedy	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
	Rep Player of the Year	Darren Lockyer	Brisbane Broncos
	Coach of the Year	Craig Bellamy	Melbourne Storm

Team of the Year

	Award	Player	Club
	Best Fullback	Clinton Schifcofske	Canberra Raiders
	Best Winger	Brian Carney	Newcastle Knights
	Best Centre	Mark Gasnier	St George Illawarra Dragons
	Best Five-Eighth	Darren Lockyer	Brisbane Broncos
	Best Halfback	Cooper Cronk	Melbourne Storm
	Best Lock	Ben Kennedy	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
	Best Second-Rower	Nathan Hindmarsh	Parramatta Eels
	Best Prop	Roy Asotasi	Bulldogs
	Best Hooker	Cameron Smith	Melbourne Storm

Records set in 2006

• The Brisbane Broncos set a club record for their biggest comeback win is 18 points when they came from 18-0 down at halftime to win 30-28 against Canberra Raiders in round 8.
• The Melbourne Storm set a club record for their longest winning streak with 11 games from round 12 to round 23.¹
• New Zealand Warriors set a club record for their biggest ever win with a 66-0 win over South Sydney Rabbitohs in round 16. This game was also Souths' biggest ever loss.
• The Newcastle Knights and Canberra Raiders set the record for the highest ever scoring game scoring 102 points with Newcastle winning the match 70-32 in round 2, this game beating the St George Dragons vs. Bulldogs game in 1935 of 97 points with St. George winning the match 91-6.
• The Cronulla Sharks set a then-club record for their longest losing streak with 10 matches from round 17 to round 26.
• Nathan Merritt became the first player to top the try scoring chart from the wooden spoon winning side. Coincidentally, in the AFL competition that year, the top goal scorer was Carlton full-forward Brendan Fevola, whose side also won the wooden spoon.

¹ The Melbourne Storm's playing record for 2006-2010 may be expunged due to gross long-term salary cap breaches.

Ladder

Main article: 2006 NRL Season Results

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	F	A	PD	Pts
1	Melbourne	24	20	0	4	2	605	404	+201	44
2	Bulldogs	24	16	0	8	2	608	468	+140	36
3	Brisbane	24	14	0	10	2	497	392	+105	32
4	Newcastle	24	14	0	10	2	608	538	+70	32
5	Manly-Warringah	24	14	0	10	2	534	493	+41	32
6	St. George Illawarra	24	14	0	10	2	519	481	+38	32
7	Canberra	24	13	0	11	2	525	573	-48	30
8	Parramatta	24	12	0	12	2	506	483	+23	28
9	North Queensland	24	11	0	13	2	450	463	-13	26
10	New Zealand	24	12	0	12	2	552	463	+89	241
11	Wests Tigers	24	10	0	14	2	490	565	-75	24
12	Penrith	24	10	0	14	2	510	587	-77	24
13	Cronulla-Sutherland	24	9	0	15	2	515	544	-29	22
14	Sydney Roosters	24	8	0	16	2	528	650	-122	20
15	South Sydney	24	3	0	21	2	429	772	-343	10

¹The New Zealand Warriors were deducted 4 competition points due to gross salary cap breaches.

Ladder progression

• Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 8.
• Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.
• Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished in last place on the ladder in that round
• Underlined numbers indicate that the team had a bye during that round.

	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	4	4	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	16	18	20	22	24	26	28	30	32	34	36	38	40	40	42	44
2	Bulldogs	0	2	2	4	6	8	8	10	12	14	16	16	18	18	20	20	24	24	26	28	30	32	34	34	34	36
3	Brisbane	0	2	4	4	6	8	10	12	12	14	16	18	20	20	20	22	22	24	26	26	26	26	26	28	30	32
4	Newcastle	2	4	6	6	8	8	8	10	12	14	16	16	16	18	18	18	20	20	20	22	24	26	26	28	30	32
5	Manly-Warringah	0	0	2	4	6	6	8	10	10	10	12	14	16	18	18	18	18	20	22	24	24	26	28	30	32	32
6	St. George Illawarra	0	0	2	4	4	6	8	8	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	26	26	26	26	26	26	28	30	32
7	Canberra	2	2	2	4	4	6	8	8	10	10	10	12	14	16	16	18	18	18	20	22	22	24	26	28	28	30
8	Parramatta	0	2	2	2	2	4	6	6	6	6	6	8	8	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	26	28	28	28
9	North Queensland	2	4	6	8	10	12	12	12	14	14	16	16	16	16	16	16	18	20	20	22	22	22	22	22	24	26
10	New Zealand	-4	-4	-2	0	0	0	2	2	4	4	6	6	6	8	10	12	14	14	14	16	16	18	20	22	24	24
11	Wests Tigers	2	2	2	4	4	6	6	8	10	10	10	12	14	14	16	16	16	18	18	18	20	20	20	20	22	24
12	Penrith	2	4	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	10	12	12	12	12	14	16	16	18	20	20	22	22	22	24	24	24
13	Cronulla-Sutherland	2	2	2	4	4	4	6	8	10	12	12	14	16	18	20	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22
14	Sydney Roosters	2	2	4	4	6	6	6	8	8	10	12	12	12	12	12	12	14	14	16	16	18	18	20	20	20	20
15	South Sydney	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	6	8	10	10	10	10

Finals

The Melbourne Storm went into the finals for the first time as Minor Premiers. They had a week off after their first finals win against the Parramatta Eels 12-6 to prepare for a Preliminary Final encounter, again the St. George Illawarra Dragons which was won by the Storm 24-10, earning them a spot in the Grand Final against the Brisbane Broncos. The Broncos had surprised everyone in the previous two months. After a slight hiccup in the Qualifying Final, going down against St. George Illawarra Dragons 20-4, they came back in the next two weeks, beating the Newcastle Knights 50-6 in the Semi Final and coming from 20-6 down at halftime to win 37-20 against the Bulldogs in the Preliminary Final.

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Qualifying Finals
Newcastle Knights	25–18	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	8 September 2006 8:00pm	Energy Australia Stadium	Sean Hampstead	23,752
Brisbane Broncos	4–20	St George Illawarra Dragons	9 September 2006 6:30pm	Suncorp Stadium	Paul Simpkins	50,387
Bulldogs	30–12	Canberra Raiders	9 September 2006 8:30pm	Telstra Stadium	Shayne Hayne	14,628
Melbourne Storm	12–6	Parramatta Eels	10 September 2006 4:00pm	Olympic Park	Steve Clark	15,690
Semi Finals
St George Illawarra Dragons	28–0	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	15 September 2006 7:45pm	Sydney Football Stadium	Paul Simpkins	30,907
Newcastle Knights	6–50	Brisbane Broncos	16 September 2006 7:45pm	Sydney Football Stadium	Steve Clark	22,081
Preliminary Finals
Bulldogs	20–37	Brisbane Broncos	22 September 2006 7:45pm	Sydney Football Stadium	Paul Simpkins	29,511
Melbourne Storm	24–10	St George Illawarra Dragons	23 September 2006 7:45pm	Telstra Stadium	Steve Clark	40,901
Grand Final
Melbourne Storm	8–15	Brisbane Broncos	1 October 2006 7:05pm	Telstra Stadium	Paul Simpkins	79,609

Grand Final

Main article: 2006 NRL Grand Final

Broncos	Position	Storm
Justin Hodges	FB	Billy Slater
Darius Boyd	WG	Matt Geyer
Brent Tate	CE	Matt King
David Stagg	CE	Greg Inglis
Karmichael Hunt	WG	Steve Turner
Darren Lockyer (c)	FE	Scott Hill
Shane Perry	HB	Cooper Cronk
Shane Webcke	PR	Antonio Kaufusi
Shaun Berrigan	HK	Cameron Smith (c)
Petero Civoniceva	PR	Brett White
Sam Thaiday	SR	David Kidwell
Brad Thorn	SR	Ryan Hoffman
Tonie Carroll	LK	Dallas Johnson
Casey McGuire	Bench	Nathan Friend
Dane Carlaw	Bench	Jeremy Smith
Corey Parker	Bench	Ben Cross
Ben Hannant	Bench	Adam Blair

15	Brisbane Broncos
Tries	1 Hodges 1 Tate
Goals	2/2 Lockyer 1/2: Parker
Field Goals	1: Lockyer
8	Melbourne Storm
Tries	1 Turner 1 King
Goals	0/1 Smith 0/1: Geyer
Field Goals

Clive Churchill Medallist: Shaun Berrigan

Half Time: 8 – 4

Referee: Paul Simpkins

Venue: Telstra Stadium, Sydney

Attendance: 79,609

Scoring Timeline

10th Minute: Brisbane 2-0 (Lockyer goal)
14th Minute: Melbourne 4-2 (Turner try)
19th Minute: Brisbane 8-4 (Hodges try; Lockyer goal)
45th Minute: Tied 8-8 (King try)
60th Minute: Brisbane 10-8 (Parker goal)
62nd Minute: Brisbane 14-8 (Tate try)
72nd Minute: Brisbane 15-8 (Lockyer field goal)

See also

• 2006 State of Origin series
• 2006 Rugby League Tri-Nations
• Rugby league in 2006
• 2006 Australian football code crowds

External links

• 2006 NRL season at stats.rleague.com
• 2006 NRL season at rugbyleagueproject.com
• 2006 NRL season at abc.net.au
• 2006 NRL season at nrl.com
• Key features of the 2006 Telstra Premiership - article at menofleague.com