1995 ARL season
The 1995 ARL premiership was the 88th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the first to be run by the Australian Rugby League following the hand-over of the Premiership's administration by the New South Wales Rugby League. For the first time since the 1988 NSWRL season, the Premiership expanded again, and for the first time ever outside the borders of New South Wales and Queensland, with the addition of four new clubs from North Queensland, Western Australia, South Queensland
and Auckland. This saw a total of twenty teams, the largest number in the League's history, compete during the regular season for the J J Giltinan Shield, which was followed by a series of play-off finals between the top eight teams that culminated in a grand final for the Winfield Cup between the newly re-branded Sydney Bulldogs and the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.
The 1995 season also saw the first major consequences of the Super League war, with the ARL's refusal to select for participation in State of Origin or Australia national team matches any players from the eight clubs aligned with News Ltd's proposed Super League.
Season summary
1995 would prove to be a year of massive change for the League. In addition to the introduction of four new teams, it was the last year of the premiership's association with Rothmans and the Winfield brand and consequently the final year that clubs competed for the Winfield Cup.The storm clouds that had been gathering for some time in the form of rumours and speculation about Super League were to break on 1 April 1995 with a verification that would rain on the game with more force than anyone could have expected. The subsequent Super League war would rock the sport in Australia and set it back almost a decade in terms of its loss of public support and damage to its grass roots values.
The 1995 season was played in front of a background of legal actions, breaking friendships and with clubs, players and managers all jockeying for position and self-interest. Players who had signed with the new Super League venture were forbidden by the ARL from participating in the 1995 State of Origin. Queensland and New South Wales selectors were limited to selecting players only from ARL-aligned clubs.
The usual twenty-two regular season rounds were played from March till August. However the large number of teams meant a resulting top eight would battle it out in the finals rather than the usual five. These were Manly, Canberra, Brisbane, Cronulla, Newcastle, Bulldogs, St. George and Norths.
Cronulla-Sutherland's halfback Paul Green was awarded the 1995 Rothmans Medal. The Dally M Award was given to Canberra's five-eighth, Laurie Daley who was also named Rugby League Week's player of the year. Manly-Warringah's Steve Menzies became the first forward for 50 years to top the season's try-scoring list, while his teammate Matthew Ridge set a club point scoring record of 257 points to be the league's leading point scorer for the year.
By the end of the regular season, the ARL's inaugural 20-team competition had set a new record for aggregate match attendances of 3,061,338.
Advertising
1995 marked the final year of the New South Wales Rugby League's sponsorship arrangement with Rothmans and Winfield due to the Federal Government's blanket ban on cigarette advertising in Australia effective from 1 January 1996. It was consequently the final year of a seven-year association with Tina Turner and the end of an era in Australian sports marketing.As in 1994 the New South Wales Rugby League and its advertising agency Hertz Walpole returned to the original 1989 recording of The Best by Turner to underscore the season launch advertisement. Footage from the studio bluescreen shoot taken during Turner's 1993 Sydney visit was used in the final advertisements. The enduring images are of Turner performing the song on an elevated stage in front of the fluttering banners of the 20 clubs that would participate in 1995's expanded competition.
Teams
When the Australian Rugby League began taking bids for additional teams to begin playing in 1995, it was expected that only two teams would enter. The Auckland Warriors were the first club to be accepted, with the final place being fought for by South Queensland, North Queensland and Perth. The Australian Rugby League later announced that all three clubs had been accepted, taking the number of teams from 16 in 1994 to 20 in 1995, the highest it had ever been and would ever be.With the addition of the Auckland Warriors, North Queensland Cowboys, South Queensland Crushers and Western Reds the 1995 season involved an unprecedented twenty clubs, including five Sydney-based foundation teams, another six from Sydney, two from greater New South Wales, two from Brisbane, two from greater Queensland, and one each from New Zealand, the Australian Capital Territory and Western Australia, who all contested the premiership, making it the largest competition in terms of participation in Australia's history.
With the storm that would be the Super League war already brewing in the background, three clubs based in Sydney suburbs, in an effort to position themselves favourably as battle lines were being drawn up, re-branded themselves for the 1995 season with less geographically distinct names: the Balmain Tigers became the 'Sydney Tigers', the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs became the 'Sydney Bulldogs', and the Eastern Suburbs Roosters became the 'Sydney City Roosters'.
| Auckland Warriors 1st season Ground: Ericsson Stadium Coach: John Monie Captain: Dean Bell | Brisbane Broncos 8th season Ground: ANZ Stadium Coach: Wayne Bennett Captain: Allan Langer | Canberra Raiders 14th season Ground: Bruce Stadium Coach: Tim Sheens Captain: Ricky Stuart | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 29th season Ground: Endeavour Park Coach: John Lang Captain: Andrew Ettinghausen | Gold Coast Seagulls 8th season Ground: Seagulls Stadium Coach: John Harvey Captain: Craig Coleman |
| Illawarra Steelers 14th season Ground: Wollongong Stadium Coach: Graham Murray→Allan Fitzgibbon Captain: John Cross | Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 49th season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Bob Fulton Captain: Geoff Toovey | Newcastle Knights 8th season Ground: Marathon Stadium Coach: Malcolm "Mal" Reilly Captain: Mark Sargent → Paul Harragon | North Queensland Cowboys 1st season Ground: Stockland Stadium Coach: Grant Bell Captain: various | North Sydney Bears 88th season Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Peter Louis Captain: Jason Taylor |
| Parramatta Eels 49th season Ground: Parramatta Stadium Coach: Ron Hilditch Captain: Paul Dunn | Penrith Panthers 29th season Ground: Penrith Stadium Coach: Royce Simmons Captain: John Cartwright | Sydney Bulldogs 61st season Ground: Parramatta Stadium Coach: Chris Anderson Captain: Terry Lamb | Sydney City Roosters 88th season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: Phil Gould Captain: Sean Garlick | Sydney Tigers 88th season Ground: Parramatta Stadium Coach: Wayne Pearce Captain: Paul Sironen |
| South Queensland Crushers 1st season Ground: Suncorp Stadium Coach: Bill Gardner → Bob Lindner Captain: Mario Fenech → Trevor Gillmeister | South Sydney Rabbitohs 88th season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: Ken Shine Captain: Lee Jackson → Craig Field | St. George Dragons 75th season Ground: Kogarah Oval Coach: Brian Smith Captain: Mark Coyne | Western Reds 1st season Ground: WACA Ground Coach: Peter Mulholland Captain: Brad Mackay | Western Suburbs Magpies 88th season Ground: Campbelltown Stadium Coach: Tommy Raudonikis Captain: Paul Langmack |
Ladder
- Auckland Warriors were stripped of 2 competition points due to exceeding the replacement limit in round 3.
Finals
Grand Final
Having finished in sixth place at the end of the regular season, the Bulldogs managed a history-making finals surge, winning three sudden death matches to make the grand final. Canterbury were ahead at half-time 6-4. They lost the scrum count 3-5 and the penalty count 9-10. Manly's 22-3 season win/loss record was the best not to have secured the premiership.At game's end Lamb enjoyed the rare honour of celebrating as a retiring victorious skipper, although he surprisingly returned for the 1996 season.
The performance of Eddie Ward, refereeing his first grand final, was subject to some post match controversy.
Rugby League Week commented: "Two of Canterbury's three tries appeared to have resulted from borderline passes, another came on the seventh tackle, and a fourth - which in fact was a fair try - was disallowed"
Sydney Bulldogs 17
Manly-Warringah 4
Clive Churchill Medallist: Jim Dymock
Player statistics
The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 22.Top 5 point scorers
| Points | Player | Tries | Goals | Field Goals |
| 239 | Matthew Ridge | 10 | 99 | 1 |
| 192 | David Furner | 10 | 76 | 0 |
| 190 | Daryl Halligan | 12 | 71 | 0 |
| 186 | Julian O'Neill | 8 | 76 | 2 |
| 184 | Mat Rogers | 13 | 66 | 0 |
Top 5 try scorers
| Tries | Player |
| 21 | Steve Menzies |
| 20 | John Hopoate |
| 19 | Sean Hoppe |
| 16 | Jamie Ainscough |
| 15 | Jason Croker |
| 15 | Steve Renouf |
Top 5 goal scorers
| Goals | Player |
| 99 | Matthew Ridge |
| 83 | Jason Taylor |
| 78 | Andrew Johns |
| 76 | David Furner |
| 76 | Julian O'Neill |