2003 NRL season









































2003 National Rugby League
Teams 15
Premiers
Penrith colours.svg Penrith (2nd title)
Minor premiers
Penrith colours.svg Penrith (2nd title)
Matches played 189
Points scored 8993
Attendance 2965141
Top points scorer(s)
Canterbury colours.svg Hazem El Masri (294)
Top try-scorer(s)
Penrith colours.svg Rhys Wesser (25)

The 2003 NRL premiership was the 96th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the sixth run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen teams competed, with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles returning in place of their failed joint-venture club, the Northern Eagles. Ultimately, the Penrith Panthers defeated reigning champions, the Sydney Roosters in the 2003 NRL grand final, claiming their first premiership since 1991.




Contents






  • 1 Season summary


    • 1.1 Teams


    • 1.2 Records and statistics


    • 1.3 Advertising




  • 2 Ladder


    • 2.1 Ladder progression




  • 3 Finals series


    • 3.1 Finals Chart


    • 3.2 Grand final




  • 4 Sources and footnotes


  • 5 External links





Season summary


Season 2003 brought in the new "golden point" extra time rule, where after 80 minutes, if the game was drawn, then 10 minutes of extra time was played until one team scored the winning point(s). The salary cap for the 2003 season was A$3.25 million per club for their 25 highest-paid players.[1]


The first round of the Premiership improved on the previous year's in terms of attendance and television ratings.[2] The major story this season was the resurgence of the Penrith Panthers, who defied the critics and naysayers to win their second premiership in their illustrious history since joining the competition in 1967. Coached by John Lang and captained by Craig Gower, the Panthers were the surprise minor premiers, dominating the competition despite consistent disparagement from many sources, and would continue their outstanding form in the finals, beating the Broncos, Warriors and finally the Roosters in the grand final.


The Dally M Medal ceremony was cancelled by the NRL after negotiations with the players' union, the Rugby League Professionals Association, stalled. All votes for the award were destroyed. It was later revealed that with one round of the regular season to play, Craig Gower was leading both Brad Fittler and Clinton Schifcofske by one point in the overall points tally. However, with the ceremony officially cancelled more than a week out from the awards, no points were allocated in the final round of the season.[3]


At the end of the season, Chris Anderson would lose his job at Cronulla-Sutherland, while Peter Sharp was dismissed as the Sea Eagles coach.


Also at the end of the season, a squad of players from the NRL premiership went on the 2003 Kangaroo tour.



Teams


The lineup of fifteen teams for the 2003 premiership remained unchanged from the previous season, except that the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles rejoined the competition since their merger with North Sydney Bears in 1999, taking the place of the failed Northern Eagles. This ended North Sydney's representation in the League.





















































Brisbane Broncos
16th season
Ground: Suncorp Stadium
Coach: Wayne Bennett
Captain: Gorden Tallis


Bulldogs
Canterbury Bulldogs home jersey 1997.svg

69th season
Ground: Sydney Showground & Telstra Stadium
Coach: Steve Folkes
Captain: Steve Price


Canberra Raiders
22nd season
Ground: Canberra Stadium
Coach: Matthew Elliott
Captain: Simon Woolford


Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
37th season
Ground: Toyota Stadium
Coach: Chris Anderson
Captain: Brett Kimmorley


Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
54th season
Ground: Brookvale Oval
Coach: Peter Sharp
Captain: Steve Menzies


Melbourne Storm
6th season
Ground Olympic Park Stadium
Coach: Craig Bellamy
Captain: Stephen Kearney


Newcastle Knights
Newcastle Knights home jersey 2001.svg

16th season
Ground: EnergyAustralia Stadium
Coach: Michael Hagan
Captain: Andrew Johns


New Zealand Warriors
New Zealand home jersey 2003.svg

9th season
Ground: Ericsson Stadium
Coach: Daniel Anderson
Captain: Stacey Jones


North Queensland Cowboys
9th season
Ground: Dairy Farmers Stadium
Coach: Graham Murray
Captain: Paul Bowman


Parramatta Eels
57th season
Ground: Parramatta Stadium
Coach: Brian Smith
Captain: Nathan Cayless


Penrith Panthers
Penrith Panthers Primary jersey 2001.svg

37th season
Ground: CUA Stadium
Coach: John Lang
Captain: Craig Gower


South Sydney Rabbitohs
94th season
Ground: Aussie Stadium
Coach: Paul Langmack
Captain: Bryan Fletcher


Sydney Roosters
96th season
Ground: Aussie Stadium
Coach: Ricky Stuart
Captain: Brad Fittler


St. George Illawarra Dragons
St. George Illawarra Dragons home jersey 1999.svg

5th season
Ground: Kogarah Oval & WIN Stadium
Coach: Nathan Brown
Captain: Trent Barrett


Wests Tigers
4th season
Ground: Campbelltown Stadium & Leichhardt Oval
Coach: Tim Sheens
Captain: Darren Senter



Records and statistics




  • Anthony Minichiello ran 4,571 metres with the ball in 2003, more than any other player in the competition.[4]


  • Nathan Brown became the youngest non-playing coach in premiership history at the age of 29.[5] Brown had retired from playing in 2001 after a neck injury in a trial game.

  • Referee Bill Harrigan's tenth grand final in 2003, the final match of his career, stands as the record for the most grand finals officiated by a referee.

  • On 23 August the Parramatta Eels beat the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 74-4, at the time the third highest winning margin for a club game in Australian rugby league history.

  • Also on 23 August, the North Queensland Cowboys beat the South Sydney Rabbitohs 60-8, the biggest win and most points in a match in Cowboys history.

  • The Brisbane Broncos set a record for their longest losing streak, from round 20 to the 4th qualifying final.

  • The Penrith Panthers became the first team to win the minor premiership and hold bottom spot on the ladder in the same season.

  • The Penrith Panthers won 8 matches in a row from 19 April - 7 June, most wins in a row in the clubs history.

  • The Bulldogs equalled their worst defeat with a 50-4 loss to the Melbourne Storm in round 22.

  • The Brisbane Broncos suffered their worst ever defeat at Suncorp Stadium, losing to the Bulldogs 40-4 in round 18. This was later eclipsed by a 56-18 loss to the New Zealand Warriors in Round 12 of season 2013. They also only recorded one victory at the Stadium in season 2003, which came two weeks earlier with a 10-8 win over the Sydney Roosters (who, at that time had not won at Suncorp since 1991, however this drought ended in 2005).



Advertising


In 2003 the NRL sacked their advertising agency of the previous two years, Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney, and took the unusual step of coming up with their own in-house creative concept. Former Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks player and then current Parramatta Eels assistant coach Alan Wilson hit upon the idea of using the Hoodoo Gurus' 1987 hit "What's My Scene?" with reworked lyrics as "That's My Team".


"and another thing, I'm discovering lately, I'm a bit crazy, for my rugby league team "


Wilson is a friend of Hoodoo Gurus singer Dave Faulkner and made the necessary arrangements which included re-uniting the band to re-record the track. Faulkner is a long-time supporter of the Sharks and the original film clip of "What's My Scene?" had included shots of band members in Wests and Cronulla-Sutherland jumpers.


The ad focuses on the grass roots supporters at all levels of the game and in its finished version includes shots of fans from the Cessnock Goannas, a proud Bulldogs supporter and a Penrith teenager with a broken leg signed by her heroes. These images are included with the usual fare of pre-season team training images, big-hits, clever passes and post-try celebrations.[6]


To produce the ad the League returned to the agency who created and produced the Tina Turner campaigns from 1989 to 1995 - Hertz Walpole Advertising by now renamed MJW Hakuhodo.



Ladder




















































































































































































































Team
Pld
W
D
L
B
PF
PA
PD
Pts
1
Penrith colours.svgPenrith (P)
24 18 0 6 2 659 527 +132
40
2
Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Sydney
24 17 0 7 2 680 445 +235
38
3
Canterbury colours.svg Bulldogs
24 16 0 8 2 702 419 +283
36
4
Canberra colours.svg Canberra
24 16 0 8 2 620 463 +157
36
5
Melbourne colours.svg Melbourne
24 15 0 9 2 564 486 +78
34
6
New Zealand colours.svg New Zealand
24 15 0 9 2 545 510 +35
34
7
Newcastle colours.svg Newcastle
24 14 0 10 2 632 635 -3
32
8
Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane
24 12 0 12 2 497 464 +33
28
9
Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta
24 11 0 13 2 570 582 -12
26
10
St. George colours.svg St George Illawarra
24 11 0 13 2 548 593 -45
26
11
North Queensland colours.svg North Queensland
24 10 0 14 2 606 629 -23
24
12
Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla-Sutherland
24 8 0 16 2 497 704 -207
20
13
Wests Tigers colours.svg Wests Tigers
24 7 0 17 2 470 598 -128
18
14
Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg Manly-Warringah
24 7 0 17 2 470 791 -321
18
15
South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney
24 3 0 21 2 457 758 -301
10


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
Penrith Panthers square flag icon with 2017 colours.svgPenrith
0 0 2 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 20 22 24 26 28 30 30 30 32 34 36 38 40
2
Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Sydney Roosters
2 4 4 6 8 10 10 12 12 14 16 18 18 20 20 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 36 38
3
Canterbury colours.svg Bulldogs
2 4 4 6 6 6 6 8 10 12 12 12 14 16 18 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 34 36
4
Canberra colours.svg Canberra
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 16 16 18 20 22 22 22 24 24 26 28 30 30 32 32 34 36 36
5
Melbourne colours.svg Melbourne
2 4 6 6 8 8 8 10 12 12 14 14 14 16 16 18 20 22 22 24 26 26 28 30 32 34
6
New Zealand colours.svg New Zealand
0 2 4 6 8 10 10 10 12 14 14 14 16 16 18 20 20 22 24 26 26 28 28 30 32 34
7
Newcastle colours.svg Newcastle
2 2 2 4 6 8 10 10 12 12 12 14 16 18 18 20 20 22 22 22 24 26 28 28 30 32
8
Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane
2 4 6 8 8 8 10 12 14 16 18 18 20 22 24 26 26 26 28 28 28 28 28 28 28 28
9
Parramatta colours.svg Parramatta
0 0 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 6 6 8 10 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 22 24 26 26
10
St. George colours.svg St. George Illawarra
0 2 2 4 4 6 8 10 10 10 12 12 14 14 16 18 20 20 22 22 24 24 24 24 24 26
11
North Queensland colours.svg North Queensland
0 2 4 4 4 4 6 8 8 10 12 14 14 14 14 14 16 16 16 16 18 18 20 22 24 24
12
Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla-Sutherland
0 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 6 8 10 10 10 12 12 14 14 14 14 14 16 16 18 18 20 20
13
Wests Tigers colours.svg Wests Tigers
2 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 6 6 6 8 8 8 10 10 12 14 14 16 16 16 18 18 18 18
14
Manly Sea Eagles colours.svg Manly-Warringah
2 2 2 2 4 6 8 8 8 10 10 12 14 14 16 16 16 16 16 18 18 18 18 18 18 18
15
South Sydney colours.svg South Sydney
0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 8 8 8 8
10




Finals series


























































































Home
Score
Away
Match Information
Date and Time
Venue
Referee
Crowd

Qualifying Finals

Canberra colours.svg Canberra Raiders
18 – 30

Melbourne colours.svg Melbourne Storm
12 September 2003

Canberra Stadium

Tim Mander
14,094

Canterbury colours.svg Bulldogs
22 – 48

New Zealand colours.svg New Zealand Warriors
13 September 2003

Sydney Showground

Bill Harrigan
18,312

Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Sydney Roosters
36 – 8

Newcastle colours.svg Newcastle Knights
13 September 2003

Aussie Stadium

Sean Hampstead
23,853

Penrith colours.svg Penrith Panthers
28 – 18

Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane Broncos
14 September 2003

Penrith Football Stadium

Steve Clark
18,534

Semi Finals

New Zealand colours.svg New Zealand Warriors
17 – 16

Canberra colours.svg Canberra Raiders
20 September 2003

Aussie Stadium

Tim Mander
31,616

Canterbury colours.svg Bulldogs
30 – 0

Melbourne colours.svg Melbourne Storm
21 September 2003

Aussie Stadium

Bill Harrigan
19,367

Preliminary Finals

Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Sydney Roosters
28 – 18

Canterbury colours.svg Bulldogs
27 September 2003

Aussie Stadium

Bill Harrigan
41,123

Penrith colours.svg Penrith Panthers
28 – 20

New Zealand colours.svg New Zealand Warriors
28 September 2003

Telstra Stadium

Tim Mander
43,174


Finals Chart
























































































































































 
Qualifying Finals

Semi Finals

Preliminary Finals

Grand Final
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

1

Penrith colours.svgPenrith

28

8

Brisbane colours.svg Brisbane
18

 
1W

Penrith colours.svgPenrith

28
 

2

Eastern Suburbs colours.svgSydney

36

 
4W

New Zealand colours.svgNew Zealand

17
 
 
 

New Zealand colours.svg New Zealand
20
 
 

7

Newcastle colours.svg Newcastle
8

 
2L

Canberra colours.svg Canberra
16
 
 
 
 
 

Penrith colours.svgPenrith

18

 
 
 
 

Eastern Suburbs colours.svg Sydney
6

3

Canterbury colours.svg Bulldogs
22

 
 
 
 
2W

Eastern Suburbs colours.svgSydney

28
 
 

6

New Zealand colours.svgNew Zealand

48

 
3W

Melbourne colours.svg Melbourne
0
 
 
 

Canterbury colours.svg Bulldogs
18
 

 
1L

Canterbury colours.svgBulldogs

30
 

4

Canberra colours.svg Canberra
18

5

Melbourne colours.svgMelbourne

30


Grand final





Sunday, 5 October














Penrith Panthers
18 - 6

Sydney Roosters

Tries:
Luke Rooney (2)
Luke Priddis
Goals:
Preston Campbell (2/2)
Ryan Girdler (1/1)

Report

Tries:
Shannon Hegarty

Goals:
Craig Fitzgibbon (1/1)



Telstra Stadium, Sydney
Attendance: 81,166[7]
Referee: Bill Harrigan
Man of the Match: Luke Priddis





Sources and footnotes





  1. ^ "NRL salary cap guide | | ONE SPORT". tvnz.co.nz. 2006-02-22. Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 18 August 2012..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}


  2. ^ Masters, Roy (2003-03-17). "The circus is back in town". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Digital. Retrieved 2009-12-12.


  3. ^ Pace, Daniel (7 September 2003). "Freddie sympathises with Gower but backs players' stance". Australian Associated Press. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
    [dead link]



  4. ^ Proszenko, Adrian (6 May 2012). "Gallen set to smash record". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 7 May 2012.


  5. ^ Henderson, Philip; Fitzgibbon, Liam (1 April 2008). "Bennett, Furner set for new Roles". The Age. Archived from the original on 2 April 2008. Retrieved 28 June 2010.


  6. ^ B&T magazine article 2003 Archived 26 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine.


  7. ^ D'Souza, Miguel. "Grand Final History". wwos.ninemsn.com.au. AAP. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2013.




External links



  • NRL official website

  • 2003 NRL "That's My Team" Season Advertisement


  • 2003 NRL Grand Final at sportsphotography.net











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