2001 NRL season

2001 NRL season
Teams	14
Premiers	Newcastle (2nd title)
Minor premiers	Parramatta (4th title)
Matches played	191
Points scored	9333 (total) 48.864 (per match)
Attendance	2,682,210 (total) 14,043 (per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Andrew Johns (279) Ben Walker (279)
Top try scorer(s)	Nathan Blacklock (27)

The 2001 NRL season was the 94th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fourth run by the National Rugby League. The Newcastle Knights claimed their second premiership in five seasons, defeating minor premiers Parramatta Eels in the first ever night-time grand final.

Season summary

Early in the season NRL matches involving the Bulldogs were marred by off-field violence from the club's supporters.^[1]

The Parramatta Eels looked set to break their fifteen-year premiership drought as they compiled one of the most dominant season records in rugby league history, losing just four of their 26 regular season games with the League's best attack and defensive record. In 2001 they established the standing record for most points by a club in a season with 943, blitzing the Brisbane Broncos' previous record tally of 871 set in 1998. The Eels tally was significantly contributed to by Jason Taylor, who that year surpassed Daryl Halligan as the greatest point-scorer in the history of club competition in Australia with a tally of 2,107 points. The Warriors made the finals for the first time in their seven-year history under rookie coach Daniel Anderson, but were hammered 56-12 by the aforementioned minor premiers.

After Warren Ryan retired in 2000, the Newcastle Knights appointed former player Michael Hagan to the coaching position. Hagan proceeded to become the first coach since Phil Gould in 1988 to win a premiership in his first season as coach. Ricky Stuart would follow suit with the Roosters the following season. Tim Sheens was sacked as the coach of the North Queensland Cowboys during the season and was replaced by Murray Hurst.

Preston Campbell was a deserved winner of the Dally M medal after being an instrumental player in the Sharks' rise to fourth position on the table. Newcastle's Andrew Johns would have been clear winner but was not in contention due to missing two matches through suspension. Brian Smith was recognised as Coach of the Year whilst Braith Anasta won Rookie of the Year.

It was during the 2001 finals series that the new NRL Telstra Premiership logo was used, first seen on the field in the first qualifying final between the Sharks and the Broncos. That logo was to be used until the end of the 2006 season. Coincidentally, the Brisbane Broncos were also involved in the last match to use that logo, albeit in a modified finals version seen on the ground in the 2006 NRL Grand Final.

At the end of the season a squad of players from the NRL premiership went on the 2001 Kangaroo tour.

Every team except Penrith played at least one drawn match during the course of the season. The Bulldogs had three drawn matches, the most of any team during the season.

Teams

Auckland were renamed the New Zealand Warriors for the 2001 season.

Brisbane Broncos 14th season Ground: Suncorp Stadium Coach: Wayne Bennett Captain: Gorden Tallis	Bulldogs RLFC 67th season Ground: Sydney Showground Coach: Steve Folkes Captain: Darren Britt	Canberra Raiders 20th season Ground: Canberra Stadium Coach: Mal Meninga Captain: Simon Woolford	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 37th season Ground: Shark Park Coach: John Lang Captain: Jason Stevens
Melbourne Storm 4th season Ground Docklands Stadium Coach: Chris Anderson → Mark Murray Captain: Robbie Kearns & Rodney Howe	New Zealand Warriors 9th season Ground: Ericsson Stadium Coach: Daniel Anderson Captain: Stacey Jones & Kevin Campion	Newcastle Knights 14th season Ground: EnergyAustralia Stadium Coach: Michael Hagan Captain: Andrew Johns	North Queensland Cowboys 7th season Ground: Dairy Farmers Stadium Coach: Tim Sheens Captain: Paul Bowman
Northern Eagles 2nd season Ground: Brookvale Oval & Grahame Park Coach: Peter Sharp Captain: Geoff Toovey	Parramatta Eels 55th season Ground: Parramatta Stadium Coach: Brian Smith Captain: Nathan Cayless	Penrith Panthers 35th season Ground: CUA Stadium Coach: Royce Simmons Captain: Craig Gower	Sydney Roosters 94th season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: Graham Murray Captain: Brad Fittler
	St. George Illawarra Dragons 3rd season Ground: Kogarah Oval & WIN Stadium Coach: Andrew Farrar Captain: Craig Smith	Wests Tigers 2nd season Ground: Campbelltown Stadium & Leichhardt Oval Coach: Terry Lamb Captain: Darren Senter

Advertising

With a new CEO in David Moffat from 2000 the NRL late that year moved their account to a new advertising agency in Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney.

There was no umbrella campaign in 2001, no season launch gala ad. NRL Marketing Director, Mark Wallace insisted that the League's marketing budget remained the same as in prior years but that the focus was to be on promoting individual games and complementing the clubs' own marketing activities.^[2].

An ad was produced to promote certain key games. The scene is a deserted, eerie CBD street. The sound of a squeaky wheel gets louder until a clown rides into the middle of shot on a tricycle and turns to camera pouting and frowning. The voice over comes up: "This Easter long weekend the Dragons v Rooosters at Sydney Football Stadium. You'd be a clown to miss it".

Records set in 2001

• Parramatta Eels scored the most points in a season by any club in history scoring 943 points in total.
• On July 5, the Melbourne Storm beat the Wests Tigers 64-0, which is the Storm's biggest ever win and Tigers biggest ever loss. The very next day the Newcastle Knights beat the Brisbane Broncos 44-0, which was set at the time, the Broncos biggest ever loss at the time.
• In round 23, Wests Tigers recorded their biggest comeback when they came from a 24-0 down after 30 minutes of play to win 36-32 against the Newcastle Knights which is the Knights worst collapse. Also equalled the second biggest ever comeback.

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Parramatta	26	20	2	4	839	406	+433	42
2	Bulldogs	26	17	3	6	617	538	+49	37
3	Newcastle	26	16	1	9	782	639	+143	33
4	Cronulla-Sutherland	26	15	2	9	594	513	+81	32
5	Brisbane	26	14	1	11	696	511	+185	29
6	Sydney	26	13	1	12	647	589	+58	27
7	St. George Illawarra	26	12	2	12	661	573	+88	26
8	New Zealand	26	12	2	12	638	629	+9	26
9	Melbourne	26	11	1	14	704	725	-21	23
10	Northern Eagles	26	11	1	14	603	750	-149	23
11	Canberra	26	9	1	16	600	623	-23	19
12	Wests Tigers	26	9	1	16	474	746	-272	19
13	North Queensland	26	6	2	18	514	771	-257	14
14	Penrith	26	7	0	19	521	847	-326	14

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

	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	Parramatta	2	2	4	4	6	6	8	9	11	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	26	26	28	30	32	34	36	38	40	42
2	Bulldogs	2	4	5	7	9	9	9	10	12	13	15	17	17	19	18	21	23	25	27	29	29	31	31	33	35	37
3	Newcastle	0	2	3	5	5	7	9	11	13	15	17	19	21	21	19	21	21	23	25	27	29	29	29	29	31	33
4	Cronulla-Sutherland	0	2	4	4	6	8	10	10	10	12	12	12	13	14	14	16	18	20	22	24	26	28	28	30	30	32
5	Brisbane	2	4	4	6	8	8	10	12	12	14	16	17	19	21	23	23	25	25	27	27	27	27	27	27	27	29
6	Sydney Roosters	2	2	4	6	6	8	8	10	12	14	14	15	15	17	19	21	21	21	21	21	21	23	25	25	27	27
7	St. George Illawarra	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	8	8	8	8	9	11	12	14	14	16	18	20	20	22	22	24	26	26	26
8	New Zealand	0	2	2	4	4	6	6	7	9	9	11	11	11	13	15	15	15	17	17	17	19	21	23	25	26	26
9	Melbourne	0	0	2	4	4	4	4	4	6	6	8	10	12	12	14	16	16	18	18	18	20	20	20	22	23	23
10	Northern Eagles	2	2	4	4	6	6	6	8	8	10	12	12	12	14	14	16	16	18	18	18	18	20	21	23	23	23
11	Canberra	2	2	2	2	4	6	6	6	8	8	8	9	9	9	11	11	13	13	13	13	13	15	15	15	17	19
12	Wests Tigers	0	2	4	4	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	9	9	9	11	11	11	13	15	17	17	19	19	19	19
13	North Queensland	0	2	2	2	2	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	7	7	7	7	9	9	9	11	11	11	12	12	12	14
14	Penrith	0	0	0	2	2	2	4	4	4	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	10	10	10	12	12	14	14

Finals series

To decide the grand finalists from the top eight finishing teams, the NRL adopts the McIntyre Final Eight System.

	Qualifying Finals					Semi Finals					Preliminary Finals					Grand Final
	1	Parramatta Eels	56
	8	NZ Warriors	12
											1W	Parramatta Eels	24
	2	Canterbury Bulldogs	22			4W	St. George Illawarra	28				Brisbane Broncos	16
	7	St. George Illawarra	23			2L	Brisbane Broncos	44									Parramatta Eels	24
																	Newcastle Knights	30
	3	Newcastle Knights	40								2W	Newcastle Knights	18
	6	Sydney Roosters	6			3W	Cronulla Sharks	52				Cronulla Sharks	10
						1L	Canterbury Bulldogs	10
	4	Cronulla Sharks	22
	5	Brisbane Broncos	6

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Qualifying Finals
Cronulla Sharks	22 – 6	Brisbane Broncos	7 September 2001	Shark Park	Steve Clark	15,508
Newcastle Knights	40 – 6	Sydney Roosters	8 September 2001	Marathon Stadium	Bill Harrigan	22,061
Canterbury Bulldogs	22 – 23	St. George Illawarra Dragons	8 September 2001	Sydney Showground	Paul Simpkins	17,975
Parramatta Eels	56 – 12	New Zealand Warriors	9 September 2001	Parramatta Stadium	Tim Mander	17,336
Semi Finals
Brisbane Broncos	44 – 28	St. George Illawarra Dragons	15 September 2001	Sydney Football Stadium	Paul Simpkins	19,259
Canterbury Bulldogs	10 – 52	Cronulla Sharks	16 September 2001	Sydney Football Stadium	Bill Harrigan	21,507
Preliminary Final
Newcastle Knights	18 – 10	Cronulla Sharks	22 September 2001	Sydney Football Stadium	Paul Simpkins	31,438
Parramatta Eels	24 – 16	Brisbane Broncos	23 September 2001	Stadium Australia	Bill Harrigan	34,184
Grand Final
Parramatta Eels	24 – 30	Newcastle Knights	30 September 2001	Stadium Australia	Bill Harrigan	90,414

Grand final

Parramatta Eels	Position	Newcastle Knights
Brett Hodgson	FB	Robbie O'Davis
Luke Burt	WG	Timana Tahu
Jamie Lyon	CE	Matthew Gidley
David Vaealiki	CE	Mark Hughes
Jason Moodie	WG	Adam MacDougall
Michael Buettner	FE	Sean Rudder
Jason Taylor	HB	Andrew Johns (c)
Nathan Cayless (c)	PR	Josh Perry
Brad Drew	HK	Danny Buderus
Michael Vella	PR	Matt Parsons
Nathan Hindmarsh	SR	Steve Simpson
Ian Hindmarsh	SR	Ben Kennedy
Daniel Wagon	LK	Bill Peden
PJ Marsh	INT	Daniel Abraham
Andrew Ryan	INT	Paul Marquet
Alex Chan	INT	Glenn Grief
David Solomona	INT	Clinton O'Brien
Brian Smith	Coach	Michael Hagan

First Half

The Knights were first to score with a try to Bill Peden in the 3rd minute with Andrew Johns converting to take the Knights out to a 6-0 lead. Four minutes later, the Knights scored again through Steve Simpson with Andrew Johns failing to convert, taking the score to 10-0. Johns not long after took a shot at penalty goal due to a leg pull from Brad Drew which was penalised by referee Bill Harrigan to make the score 12-0. By the 24th minute it was already to a 18-0 lead to the Knights with another try to Bill Peden and another conversion to Andrew Johns. Not long after, the Eels had their best chance of the first half with Andrew Ryan getting over the line but he was held up by Steve Simpson and failed to score with Simpson being injured in the tackle. In the following set the Eels got the ball wide left, but the pass which would have put Luke Burt in for a try in the corner was passed well behind him and he failed to catch it. In the 32nd minute, Ben Kennedy scored for the Knights with Andrew Johns converting to make it 24-0 to the Knights. The Eels had a couple of chances in the Knights half after that but failed to convert their opportunities so the score remained the same until halftime.

Second Half

The Eels were the first to score in the second half to make the score 24-6. In the 64th minute the knights wrapped up the 2001 Premiership when a wide pass from Bill Peden to Andrew Johns who put up a tremendous bomb to Timana Tahu's wing who got tangled up with Luke Burt before getting the ball down about 50 cm inside the touch in goal line. Two minutes later, Jamie Lyon scored to make it 28-12 to keep the Eels in the game. Three Minutes later, the Knights made the margin three converted tries at 30-12 from a penalty goal to Johns after an attempted short drop out by Brad Drew went out on the full. One more try to both Lyon and Hogdson in the final ten minutes got it back to a converted try (30-24) but just wasn't enough for the Eels set a remarkable Grand Final comeback as the Knights went on to clinch the 2001 Premiership from the performance in one of the best 1st halves of a Rugby League Grand Final ever.

Match summary

30	Newcastle Knights
Tries	2 Peden 1 Simpson 1 Kennedy 1 Tahu
Goals	5/6 Johns
Field Goals
24	Parramatta Eels
Tries	2 Hodgson 2 Lyon
Goals	4/4 Burt
Field Goals

Half Time: 24 – 0

Clive Churchill Medalist: Andrew Johns

Referee: Bill Harrigan

Venue: Stadium Australia, Sydney

Attendance: 90,414

Scoring timeline

3rd: Newcastle 6-0 (Peden try; Johns goal)
7th: Newcastle 12-0 (Simpson try; Johns goal)
24th: Newcastle 18-0 (Peden try; Johns goal)
31st: Newcastle 24-0 (Kennedy try; Johns goal)
57th: Newcastle 24-6 (Hodgson try; Hodgson goal)
63rd: Newcastle 28-6 (Tahu try)
65th: Newcastle 28-12 (Lyon try; Hodgson goal)
68th: Newcastle 30-12 (Johns goal)
73rd: Newcastle 30-18 (Lyon try; Hogdson goal)
79th: Newcastle 30-24 (Hodgeson try; Hodgson goal)

External links

• 2001 NRL Grand Final at sportsphotography.net

Footnotes

1. ^ Mercer, Phil (2001-04-25). "Australia's game of shame". BBC News (UK: BBC). http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_league/1296079.stm. Retrieved 2010-01-01. 
2. ^ Wallace interview B&T Magazine March2001