1996 ARL season
The 1996 ARL premiership was the 89th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the second to be administered by the Australian Rugby League. Twenty teams contested the premiership, including five Sydney-based foundation teams, another six from Sydney, two from greater New South Wales, four from Queensland, and one each from New Zealand, the Australian Capital Territory and Western Australia. Ultimately two Sydney clubs, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and St. George Dragons contested the grand final.
Regular season
With the Super League war in full effect off the field, those clubs affiliated with the breakaway competition refused to participate in five games of Round 1, all forfeited to ARL-aligned clubs and only four of the ten scheduled games took place. Of the two games between two Super League clubs, Canterbury versus North Queensland was cancelled, whilst Auckland flew a team consisting of players from the Otahuhu Leopards and Ellerslie Eagles clubs to Brisbane and were thus declared winners over the Broncos by forfeit.Following up on their performance in the 1995 season up to the grand final, Manly-Warringah dominated the season with their defence, which conceded only 34 tries in 25 matches, the best record of any team since the six-tackle rule was introduced in 1971. Indeed, the Sea Eagles only conceded 191 points during the minor round, an average of only 8.7 points per game, while scoring 549 points at 24.9 points per game. Their 1995 rivals Canberra were hit by injuries which wiped out the seasons of key players including captain Ricky Stuart, Bradley Clyde and Jason Croker, and suspensions to Kiwi props John Lomax and Quentin Pongia.
Super League-aligned Canterbury were also hit by the loss of key players Jim Dymock, Dean Pay, Jason Smith and Jarrod McCracken to ARL-loyal Parramatta. Sydney City started the season in good form, but fell off after winning their first ten games, whilst Brisbane dominated early but as had become their custom, lost ground mid-season during the Origin period. North Sydney, with a powerful forward pack and skillful goal-kicking half Jason Taylor feeding a superb set of outside backs, were expected to make the Grand Final, but as had become their habit in the 1990s they lost the preliminary final, this time to St. George.
The 20-team competition in 1995 and 1996 caused frequent jackpots in FootyTAB's "Pick The Margins" and after three successive rounds without a single winner, on 8 July 1996 after a last-minute Sydney City penalty goal, one punter received an all-time record for any form of sports betting in Australia: $2,006,217.
This year Canterbury-Bankstown back Terry Lamb set new record for most first-grade premiership games at 350 before retiring at the end of the season.
North Sydney's Jason Taylor won the official player of the year award, the Rothmans Medal, while the Dally M Medal was awarded to Brisbane's Allan Langer.
At the end of the season, ARL chief executive John Quayle resigned and was replaced by Balmain president Neil Whittaker.
Teams
The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous season except for the re-branding of the Gold Coast team from the "Seagulls" to the "Chargers" as the ARL took control of the club.| Auckland Warriors 2nd season Ground: Ericsson Stadium Coach: John Monie Captain: Greg Alexander | Brisbane Broncos 9th season Ground: ANZ Stadium Coach: Wayne Bennett Captain: Allan Langer | Canberra Raiders 15th season Ground: Bruce Stadium Coach: Tim Sheens Captain: Ricky Stuart → Laurie Daley | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 30th season Ground: Endeavour Park Coach: John Lang Captain: Andrew Ettinghausen | Gold Coast Chargers 9th season Ground: Seagulls Stadium Coach: Phil Economidis Captain: Dave Watson |
| Illawarra Steelers 15th season Ground: Wollongong Stadium Coach: Allan McMahon Captain: John Cross → Paul McGregor | Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 50th season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Bob Fulton Captain: Geoff Toovey | Newcastle Knights 9th season Ground: Marathon Stadium Coach: Malcolm Reilly Captain: Paul Harragon | North Queensland Cowboys 2nd season Ground: Stockland Stadium Coach: Graham Lowe Captain: Dean Schifilliti | North Sydney Bears 89th season Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Peter Louis Captain: Jason Taylor |
| Parramatta Eels 50th season Ground: Parramatta Stadium Coach: Ron Hilditch Captain: Gary Freeman → Jarrod McCracken | Penrith Panthers 30th season Ground: Penrith Stadium Coach: Royce Simmons Captain: Steve Carter | Sydney Bulldogs 62nd season Ground: Parramatta Stadium Coach: Chris Anderson Captain: Simon Gillies | Sydney City Roosters 89th season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: Phil Gould Captain: Sean Garlick | Sydney Tigers 89th season Ground: Parramatta Stadium Coach: Wayne Pearce Captain: Paul Sironen |
| South Queensland Crushers 2nd season Ground: Suncorp Stadium Coach: Bob Lindner Captain: Trevor Gillmeister | South Sydney Rabbitohs 89th season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: Ken Shine Captain: Craig Field → Craig Salvatori | St. George Dragons 76th season Ground: Kogarah Oval Coach: David Waite Captain: Mark Coyne | Western Reds 2nd season Ground: WACA Ground Coach: Peter Mulholland Captain: Mark Geyer | Western Suburbs Magpies 89th season Ground: Campbelltown Stadium Coach: Tommy Raudonikis Captain: Paul Langmack |
Ladder
Finals
- Although Brisbane's home ground during the 1996 ARL season was ANZ Stadium this game was played at Suncorp.
Grand Final
This would be the third and final time the two clubs would meet in a Grand Final with St George having been victorious on both previous occasions in 1957 and 1959.
The pre-game entertainment focused on the 40th anniversary of television in Australia as match broadcaster Channel 9 had been the first TV station in 1956. Music artists who performed in the pre-game included Glenn Shorrock, The Delltones, Ross Wilson, Christine Anu, and Kate Ceberano who sang a video replay duet of I Still Call Australia Home with late Australian entertainer Peter Allen.
Kate Ceberano also performed the Australian national anthem.
1st half
In the 5th minute, Manly centre Craig Innes won the chase and scored after a grubber kick by his skipper Geoff Toovey. Matthew Ridge converted from the sideline for 6–0. The Dragons played on after being awarded a penalty in front of the posts in the 8th minute but failed to score. At the 15-minute mark Saints' halfback Noel Goldthorpe conceded a penalty right in front of their goalpost after committing a head high tackle on Manly's Daniel Gartner. Ridge took the kick, extending the lead to 8–0. St. George sent in forward replacements Lance Thompson and David Barnhill for Scott Gourley and Kevin Campion. For Manly, Tierney came off the interchange bench to replace Gillespie. Up until the 19th minute mark when Manly veteran five-eighth Cliff Lyons took the field, their coach Bob Fulton was using six running forwards with Toovey as dummy half.
The Dragons' first points came in the 37th minute when Wayne Bartrim kicked a penalty awarded when Manly forward Cunningham stripped the ball. From the ensuing kick-off just before half-time came the game's controversial moment and a hotly disputed try. Ridge made a spectacular short kick-off and regathered, catching the Dragons unaware. St George hooker Nathan Brown appeared to tackle Ridge albeit one-handedly and by the collar. Ridge got up and ran when Brown was expecting him to stop and play the ball. Referee David Manson ruled that Brown did not complete the tackle. Ridge was eventually tackled just a few metres from the line. From dummy-half Nik Kosef then passed the ball to Steve Menzies who stormed his way through Saints' defense of Thompson, Raper, Goldthorpe and Bartrim to score next to the posts, giving Ridge an easy conversion kick. The controversial ruling by referee Manson gave Manly a 14–2 half time lead and broke Saints' resolve. In the process of scoring Menzies injured his groin/hamstring and although he returned for the second half, he was unable to run and was eventually replaced by coach Fulton.
| Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | Posit. | St. George Dragons |
| Matthew Ridge | Dean Raper | |
| Danny Moore | Nick Zisti | |
| Craig Innes | Mark Coyne | |
| Terry Hill | Mark Bell | |
| John Hopoate | Adrian Brunker | |
| Nik Kosef | Anthony Mundine | |
| Geoff Toovey | Noel Goldthorpe | |
| David Gillespie | Troy Stone | |
| Jim Serdaris | Jeff Hardy | |
| Mark Carroll | Luke Felsch | |
| Steve Menzies | Scott Gourley | |
| Daniel Gartner | Kevin Campion | |
| Owen Cunningham | Wayne Bartrim | |
| Cliff Lyons | Res. | Nathan Brown |
| Neil Tierney | Res. | Lance Thompson |
| Des Hasler | Res. | David Barnhill |
| Craig Hancock | Res. | Colin Ward |
| Bob Fulton | Coach | David Waite |
2nd half
In the 53rd minute Manly's Danny Moore scored a try from a Terry Hill pass after Hill drew Saints defenders, Adrian Brunker and Nick Zisti. With Ridge off the field after being concussed in a tackle, Innes converted from 5m off the sideline for the Sea-Eagles to take a 20–2 lead. Five minutes later Dragons' winger Zisti scored a try from a Bartrim cut-out pass. Bartrim then converted from the sideline for a final scoreline of 20–8. The final twenty minutes were scoreless with two field goal attempts from Ridge charged down by Dragons' defenders. This ensured that the Sea Eagles secured their sixth official premiership and their only one of the 1990s.