- New South Wales Rugby League season 1994
Infobox rugby league season
year = 1994
competition = New South Wales Rugby League
imagesize = 125px
caption =
teams = 16
premiers =
count = 3rd
minor premiers =
mpcount = 6th
matches = 182
points = 7416
attendance = 2732389
top points scorer = (270)
top try scorer = (23)The1994 New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the eighty-seventh season of professionalrugby league football in Australia. Sixteen clubs competed for theJ J Giltinan Shield and theWinfield Cup during the season, which culminated in agrand final between the Canberra Raiders and the Canterbury Bulldogs.eason summary
This was the last season to be administered by the
New South Wales Rugby League . For the following year, control of the Winfield Cup premiership would be passed on to theAustralian Rugby League and re-branded as such.Tewnty-two regular season rounds were played from March till August, resulting in a top five of Canterbury, Norths, Canberra, Manly and Brisbane who went on to battle it out in the finals.
On the first of June, the previous season's premiers, the Broncos played in the
1994 World Club Challenge match against British champions Wigan in Brisbane. Wigan defeated the Broncos 20 to 14 atANZ Stadium in front of 54,220 spectators. With theSuper League war looming, this was to be the last WCC match untilSuper League (Australia) season 1997 , and the last time the British and Australian champions faced off until the year 2000.The 1994
Rothmans Medal list was North Sydney forwardDavid Fairleigh . TheDally M Award went to Manly-Warringah's five-eighth,Cliff Lyons who was also named player of the year by "Rugby League Week ".Teams
The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous season, with sixteen clubs contesting th premiership, including five
Sydney -based foundation teams, another six from Sydney, two from greaterNew South Wales , two fromQueensland , and one from theAustralian Capital Territory . However this season, with the storm of theSuper League war brewing in the background, the Eastern Sububs Roosters changed their name to the Sydney City Roosters.Grand Final
The Canberra Raiders were confident in the lead up and everything played into their hands from the whistle. Canterbury veteran prop
Martin Bella dropped the ball from the kick-off and before too long Canberra had posted two tries.Canberra legend
Mal Meninga was given a champion's farewell as his "Green Machine" swamped the Bulldogs. Canberra's Paul Osborne also enjoyed a fairytale day. On the outer for most of the year, Osborne won a reprieve as prop after team-mate John Lomax was suspended for a high tackle in the final against Norths. Osborne rose to the occasion, setting up the first two Raiders tries in the opening sixteen minutes.Meninga's 166th and final match for the Raiders ended perfectly when he scored the last try of the day after intercepting a pass from Jason Smith. Meninga outlasted the cover defence, running almost 40 metres and palming off his opposite centre
Jarrod McCracken to score the try and send the crowd into raptures.The
Canberra Raiders had claimed their third premiership in what was at the time the highest-scoring grand final in history.Canberra 36 (Tries: Nagas 2, Furner, Daley, Nadruku, Croker, Meninga. Goals: Furner 4)
defeated
Canterbury Bulldogs 12 (Tries: Williams, Hetherington. Goals: Halligan 2 )
Clive Churchill Medal list:David Furner References
* [http://www.stats.rleague.com/rl/seas/1994.html Rugby League Tables - Season 1994] "The World of Rugby League"
* [http://www.rleague.com//db/year/1994/j_j_giltinan_shield_and_winfield_cup/index.php 1994 J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup]
* [http://rugbyleagueproject.com/competitions/NSWRL_1994.html NSWRL season 1994 at rugbyleagueproject.com]
* [http://www.rabbitohs.com.au/The-Club/Tradition/Results---1991-2000.html Results: 1991-2000 at rabbitohs.com.au]ee also
*
New South Wales Rugby League premiership
*Winfield Cup
*Brisbane Broncos 1994
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