- 2009 NRL season
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2009 NRL season Teams 16 Premiers 
Melbourne StormMinor premiers 
St. George Illawarra (1st title)Matches played 201 Points scored 8315 (total)
41.368 (per match)Attendance 3,412,872 (total)
16,979 (per match)Top point scorer(s) 
Hazem El Masri (248)Top try scorer(s) Brett Morris (25)The 2009 NRL season was the 102nd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the twelfth run by the National Rugby League. For the third consecutive year, sixteen teams competed for the 2009 Telstra Premiership title. The season commenced with the first match played on 13 March and ended with the Grand Final, played on 4 October. The premiership was won by the Melbourne Storm in their fourth consecutive grand final appearance, however they were stripped of their Premiership on 22 April 2010 after they were found to be guilty of breaching the league's salary cap.[2][3]
The second season of the National Youth Competition also commenced in line with the Telstra Premiership.
Contents
Season summary
See also: 2009 NRL season resultsThis season the NRL introduced a second on-field referee.[4] Previously when the ball changed possession the lone on-field referee would have to change his position to stay with the defending team. He also could only observe the ruck from one direction. The two-referee system saves the referees some running back and forth to get into position as possession changes and also improves watchfulness over the ruck.
The St. George Illawarra Dragons, under new coach Wayne Bennett finished the regular season with their first minor premiership title as a joint venture club. However, the Dragons then became the first minor premiers since the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in 1993 to be eliminated from the final series in consecutive losses.
For the first time since the McIntyre Final Eight System was introduced, a game was played twice in a row in the same stadium. This happened when the Dragons and Parramatta Eels played each other in round 26 (the final regular season round) and again in the first week of finals, both at WIN Jubilee Oval at Kogarah.
The Eels went on to become the first side since the McIntyre Final Eight System was introduced (in 1999) to make the grand final from eighth position. Along the way, they defeated the top three teams – the St George Illawarra Dragons, Gold Coast Titans and Bulldogs – in their three finals series matches, to make it to their first Grand Final since 2001.
Records set in 2009
- Bulldogs winger Hazem El Masri broke the all-time highest points record of 2,176 previously set by former Newcastle Knights halfback Andrew Johns when he scored 14 points against Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in Round 1.
- St George Illawarra Dragons winger Brett Morris and his twin, Bulldogs centre Josh Morris, set the record for the most tries scored by brothers in a regular season (42). The pair record a further five tries between them in the finals series, with Brett scoring 25 to Josh's 22.
- The Brisbane Broncos suffered their worst defeat in their 22-year history losing 56–0 to the Canberra Raiders in round 21 at Canberra Stadium.[5]
- A record finals attendance (excluding grand finals) was set when the Parramatta Eels and Bulldogs preliminary final drew a crowd of 74,549 at ANZ Stadium
- Cameron Smith became the Melbourne Storm's leading point scorer, overtaking now-Sea Eagles half Matt Orford in the preliminary final against the Brisbane Broncos.
- The Melbourne Storm became the first club since the Parramatta sides of the 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1984 seasons to make four consecutive grand finals.
- The Parramatta Eels were the first team ever under the McIntyre system to finish 8th in the regular season and make it to the grand final.
Teams
The clubs in the League for 2009 remained unchanged for the third consecutive year, with sixteen participating in the regular season: ten from New South Wales, three from Queensland and one from each of Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. Of the ten from New South Wales, eight were from Sydney's metropolitan area (with St. George Illawarra being a Sydney and Wollongong joint venture). Just two foundation clubs from the 1908 New South Wales Rugby Football League season played in this competition: the Roosters and the Rabbitohs.
Ladder
2009 NRL seasonTeam Pld W D L B PF PA PD Pts 1 St. George Illawarra24 17 0 7 2 548 329 +219 38 2 Bulldogs24 18 0 6 2 575 428 +147 38* 3 
Gold Coast24 16 0 8 2 514 467 +47 36 4 Melbourne24 14 1 9 2 505 348 +157 33 5 
Manly-Warringah24 14 0 10 2 549 439 +90 32 6 
Brisbane24 14 0 10 2 511 566 −55 32 7 
Newcastle24 13 0 11 2 508 491 +17 30 8 
Parramatta24 12 1 11 2 476 473 +3 29 9 
Wests Tigers24 12 0 12 2 558 483 +75 28 10 
South Sydney24 11 1 12 2 566 549 +17 27 11 
Penrith24 11 1 12 2 515 589 −74 27 12 
North Queensland24 11 0 13 2 558 474 +84 26 13 
Canberra24 9 0 15 2 489 510 −31 22 14 
New Zealand24 7 2 15 2 377 545 −188 20 15 
Cronulla-Sutherland24 5 0 19 2 359 568 −209 14 16 
Sydney Roosters24 5 0 19 2 382 681 −299 14 * Bulldogs stripped of 2 competition points after an interchange breach in round 2
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 
St. George Illawarra0 2 4 6 8 8 10 12 12 14 16 18 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 36 36 36 38 2 Bulldogs2 2 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 14 16 16 18 20 22 24 24 26 28 28 30 32 34 36 38 38 3 Gold Coast2 2 4 6 8 10 10 12 12 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 24 26 26 28 28 30 32 34 36 36 4 Melbourne2 2 4 4 6 6 7 9 11 13 13 15 17 19 21 21 23 25 25 27 27 29 29 29 31 33 5 Manly-Warringah0 0 0 0 2 4 4 4 6 8 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 24 24 24 26 28 30 32 6 Brisbane2 4 6 6 8 10 12 12 12 14 16 18 18 18 18 18 20 22 22 22 22 24 26 28 30 32 7 Newcastle0 2 2 4 6 8 8 10 12 14 14 16 16 16 18 20 20 22 24 24 24 24 26 28 28 30 8 Parramatta0 2 4 4 4 4 4 6 8 8 9 9 11 11 13 15 15 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 29 9 Wests Tigers2 2 4 4 4 6 8 8 10 10 10 10 10 12 12 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 26 26 28 10 South Sydney2 2 4 6 6 6 8 8 10 12 13 13 13 13 15 15 15 17 19 21 21 23 23 23 25 27 11 Penrith0 0 2 4 4 4 6 8 10 12 14 14 16 16 16 18 20 20 22 24 25 25 25 27 27 27 12 North Queensland0 2 2 2 2 4 6 6 8 10 12 14 16 16 18 18 20 22 22 22 24 24 24 24 24 26 13 Canberra0 0 0 2 4 4 4 4 6 6 8 10 12 12 12 14 16 16 16 16 18 18 20 20 22 22 14 New Zealand2 4 4 4 4 6 7 7 9 9 9 11 11 13 15 15 15 15 17 17 18 18 18 20 20 20 15 Cronulla-Sutherland2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 6 8 10 12 12 12 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 16 Sydney Roosters0 2 2 4 4 4 4 6 6 6 6 8 8 8 8 10 10 12 12 12 14 14 14 14 14 14 Finals series
See also: 2009 NRL season resultsThe NRL finals series adopts the McIntyre Final Eight System.
Four teams made a return to the 2009 finals from 2008, grand finalists Melbourne Storm, Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles along with the Brisbane Broncos and St George Illawarra Dragons. Both the Bulldogs and Parramatta Eels made a return after being absent in 2008. The Newcastle Knights made the finals for the first time since 2006 and their first since the departure of club legend Andrew Johns. The Gold Coast Titans entered their maiden finals series. It was also the first finals series since 2002 that no team was held scoreless.
Home Score Away Match Information Date and Time Venue Referees Crowd QUALIFYING FINALS 
Melbourne Storm40 – 12 
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles11 September, 7:45pm Etihad Stadium Gavin Badger
Shayne Hayne21,155 
Gold Coast Titans32 – 40 
Brisbane Broncos12 September, 6:30pm Skilled Park Ben Cummins
Ashley Klein27,227 
Bulldogs26 – 12 
Newcastle Knights12 September, 8:30pm ANZ Stadium Tony Archer
Jason Robinson21,369 
St George Illawarra Dragons12 – 25 
Parramatta Eels13 September, 4:00pm WIN Jubilee Oval Jarred Maxwell
Matt Cecchin18,174 SEMI FINALS Parramatta Eels27 – 2 Gold Coast Titans18 September, 7:45pm Sydney Football Stadium Shayne Hayne
Jared Maxwell28,524 Brisbane Broncos24 – 10 
St. George Illawarra Dragons19 September, 7:45pm Suncorp Stadium Tony Archer
Ben Cummins50,225 PRELIMINARY FINALS Bulldogs12 – 22 Parramatta Eels25 September, 7:45pm ANZ Stadium Tony Archer
Ben Cummins74,549 Melbourne Storm40 – 10 Brisbane Broncos26 September, 7:45pm Etihad Stadium Shayne Hayne
Jared Maxwell27,687 GRAND FINAL Melbourne Storm23 – 16 Parramatta Eels4 October, 5:00pm ANZ Stadium Tony Archer
Shayne Hayne82,538 Grand final
Main article: 2009 NRL Grand FinalMelbourne Storm Position Parramatta Eels Billy Slater FB Jarryd Hayne Steve Turner WG Luke Burt Will Chambers CE Krisnan Inu Greg Inglis CE Joel Reddy Dane Nielsen WG Eric Grothe Brett Finch FE Daniel Mortimer Cooper Cronk HB Jeff Robson Aiden Tolman PR Nathan Cayless (c) Cameron Smith (c) HK Matt Keating Brett White PR Fuifui Moimoi Adam Blair SR Ben Smith Ryan Hoffman SR Nathan Hindmarsh Dallas Johnson LK Todd Lowrie Ryan Hinchcliffe Bench Kevin Kingston Jeff Lima Bench Feleti Mateo Ryan Tandy Bench Joe Galuvao Scott Anderson Bench Tim Mannah Craig Bellamy Coach Daniel Anderson The Melbourne Storm were playing in their fourth consecutive Grand Final, with a team later deemed illegal due to massive over spending on the salary cap and were up against the Parramatta Eels who were playing in their first Grand Final since 2001. Parramatta were first team since the McIntyre Finals System was introduced in 1999 to make the Grand Final from 8th spot.
First Half: Melbourne's Ryan Hoffman broke the Eels' line to scored the first try of the game in the fifth minute to make the score 6–0. Parramatta was looking shaky in the first half, and Melbourne capitalised with a try to Adam Blair in the 24th minute, set up by a Cooper Cronk line-break, to make the score 10–0.
Second Half: Parramatta scored early in the second half, with Eric Grothe, Jr., scoring in the 45th minute to bring the scoreline to 10–6. Melbourne responded quickly, with tries to Greg Inglis off a bomb kick in the 49th minute and Billy Slater from a line break in the 56th minute, to open a handy 22–6 lead heading into the final quarter of the game. Parramatta attacked through the final quarter of the game, then broke through for two tries: one to Joel Reddy off a bomb kick in the 70th minute, then a barnstorming run from Fuifui Moimoi off an off-load in the 72nd minute; only the former of these tries was converted, bringing the score to 22–16. In the 76th minute, with Melbourne attacking from their own half, Billy Slater dropped the ball as he tried to play it, but referee Tony Archer ruled that Parramatta's Fuifui Moimoi had held Slater down in the tackle, and awarded a penalty to the Storm; Greg Inglis scored a field goal in the ensuing set-of-six, extending the margin to 23–16 in the 78th minute. Melbourne would hold on to win by that score.[6]
Match Summary
4 October 2009, 5:15pm
23
Melbourne StormTries 1 Hoffman (5')
1 Blair (24')
1 Inglis (49')
1 Slater (55')Goals 3/4 C Smith (7', 50', 57') Field Goals 1 Inglis (77') 16
Parramatta EelsTries 1 Grothe (45')
1 Reddy (70')
1 Moimoi (72')Goals 2/3 Burt (46', 70') Field Goals Half Time: Storm 10 – 0
Clive Churchill Medallist: Billy Slater
Referees: Tony Archer, Shayne Hayne
Venue: ANZ Stadium, Sydney
Attendance: 82,538
Timeline
5th: Storm 6 – 0 (Try: Hoffman, Goal: C Smith)
24th: Stom 10 – 0 (Try: Blair)
45th: Storm 10 – 6 (Try: Grothe, Goal: Burt)
49th: Storm 16 – 6 (Try: Inglis, Goal: C Smith)
55th: Storm 22 – 6 (Try: Slater, Goal: C Smith)
70th: Storm 22 – 12 (Try: Reddy, Goal: Burt)
72nd: Storm 22 – 16 (Try: Moimoi)
77th: Storm 23 – 16 (Field Goal: Inglis)2009 Club and Player records
The following figures were collected from the completion of round 26 of the regular season and therefore do not represent any figures associated with the finals series or any representative matches for this year.
Top 5 point scorers
Pts Player Try Gls FG 234 Hazem El Masri14 89 0 228 Jamie Soward12 87 6 202 
Johnathan Thurston11 79 0 180 Luke Burt13 63 2 172 
Scott Prince7 72 0 Top 5 try scorers
Try Player 22 Brett Morris21 
Taniela Tuiaki20 Josh Morris19 
Nathan Merritt19 Bryson GoodwinMost points in a match by an individual
Pts Player Try Gls FG Opponent Score Venue Round 24 Luke Burt2 8/8 0 Newcastle Knights 40–8 Parramatta Stadium Round 22 24 Luke Burt2 8/8 0 Penrith Panthers 48–6 Parramatta Stadium Round 25 24 Benji Marshall2 8/10 0 Cronulla Sharks 56–10 Toyota Stadium Round 23 24 Joseph Tomane3 6/9 0 Brisbane Broncos 48–4 Olympic Park Stadium Round 13 Most tries in a match by an individual
Tries Player Opponent Score Venue Round 4 Israel FolauGold Coast Titans 32–18 Suncorp Stadium Round 10 4 
Phil GrahamBrisbane Broncos 56–0 Canberra Stadium Round 21 4 
Joel MoonPenrith Panthers 32–32 CUA Stadium Round 21 4 Brett MorrisNorth Queensland 20–24 Dairy Farmers Stadium Round 9 4 Billy SlaterManly Sea Eagles 40–12 Etihad Stadium Qualifying Final Largest winning margin
Score Victor Opponent Venue Round 56 – 0
(56 pts) Canberra RaidersBrisbane Broncos Canberra Stadium Round 21 56 – 10
(46 pts) Wests TigersCronulla Sharks Toyota Stadium Round 23 48 – 4
(44 pts) Melbourne StormBrisbane Broncos Olympic Park Round 13 Most points in a match
Points Victor Opponent Score Venue Round 82 Brisbane BroncosPenrith Panthers 58–24 Suncorp Stadium Round 23 74 Wests TigersSouth Sydney Rabbitohs 54–20 ANZ Stadium Round 17 72 
Penrith PanthersParramatta Eels 38–34 CUA Stadium Round 17 Fewest points in a match
Points Victor Opponent Score Venue Round 13 New Zealand WarriorsNewcastle Knights 13–0 Mt Smart Stadium Round 14 14 New Zealand WarriorsWest Tigers 14–0 Mt Smart Stadium Round 12 14 Brisbane BroncosSt. George Illawarra Dragons 12–2 WIN Stadium Round 24 16 St. George Illawarra DragonsCronulla Sharks 10–6 WIN Jubilee Oval Round 3 Most points scored in a match by an individual team
Pts Team Opponent Score Venue Round 58 Brisbane BroncosPenrith Panthers 58–24 Suncorp Stadium Round 23 56 Wests TigersCronulla Sharks 56–10 Toyota Stadium Round 23 56 Canberra RaidersBrisbane Broncos 56–0 Canberra Stadium Round 21 54 Wests TigersSouth Sydney Rabbitohs 54–20 ANZ Stadium Round 17 52 South Sydney RabbitohsSydney Roosters 52–12 Sydney Football Stadium Round 1 Attendance
2009's regular season attendance figures were the highest recorded in Australian rugby league history, with a total of 3,081,849. This figure bettered the previous record set by the 1995 Winfield Cup's regular season (3,061,338 in a 20 team competition) and also beat the Telstra Premiership's previous best of 3,024,149 set in 2007.[7]
The 2009 season also saw the second highest average crowd figure of a regular season, with a crowd average of 16,051, behind the best of 16,466 set in the 2005 NRL season.
The 20 highest regular season match attendances:
See also
- 2009 NRL season results
- 2009 NYC season
- 2009 Dally M Awards
- 2009 in rugby league
References
- ^ Stuart Honeysett and Brent Read (23 April 2010) Shocking end to the Melbourne Storm era The Australian
- ^ "Melbourne Storm breach NRL Salary Cap". National Rugby League. 22 April 2010. http://www.nrl.com/news/news/newsarticle/tabid/10874/newsid/58359/melbourne-storm-breach-nrl-salary-cap/default.aspx. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
- ^ McDonald, Margie (22 April 2010). "Melbourne Storm stripped of two rugby league titles over salary cap fraud". The Australian. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/melbourne-storm-stripped-of-two-rugby-league-titles-over-salary-cap-fraud/story-e6frg7mf-1225857048724. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
- ^ Nicolussi, Christian (29 January 2009). "NRL coaches briefed on dual refereee system, content with concept". Fox Sports News {(Australia). http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,24978466-23214,00.html. Retrieved 16 July 2009.
- ^ Magnay, Jaquelin (5 September 2009). "Dragons finish on top with a gallop". The Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/news/lhqnews/dragons-finish-on-top-with-a-gallop/2009/09/05/1252001252030.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1. Retrieved 7 September 2009.
- ^ "Storm beat Eels 23-16 in NRL grand final". NRL.com. 4 October 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-10-07. http://www.nrl.com/telstrapremiership/scores/tabid/10240/roundid/833/fixtureid/5801/infotabid/4/default.aspx. Retrieved 24 April 2010.
- ^ 2009 sees largest crowd figures in history.
External links
- NRL.com – Official site of the NRL, National Rugby League
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