1999 NRL Grand Final

Background

The 1999 NRL season was the 92nd season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the second to be run by the National Rugby League. With the exclusion of the Adelaide Rams and Gold Coast Chargers, and the merger of the St. George Dragons and Illawarra Steelers, seventeen teams competed for the NRL Premiership during the 1999 season, which culminated in the first grand final to be played at Stadium Australia.

Melbourne Storm

The 1999 Melbourne Storm season was the second in the club's history. Coached by Chris Anderson and captained by Glenn Lazarus, they competed in the NRL's 1999 Telstra Premiership, finishing the regular season in 3rd (out of 17).

St. George Illawarra Dragons

The 1999 St. George Illawarra Dragons season was the first in the newly formed joint-venture club's history. Coached by David Waite and Andrew Farrar, and captained by Paul McGregor, they competed in the NRL's 1999 Telstra Premiership, finishing the regular season in 6th place (out of 17).

Teams

Match details

St. George Illawarra were up 14–0 at half time, with a converted try and penalty goal to Craig Fitzgibbon, and a converted try to Nathan Blacklock. However, an Anthony Mundine knock-on over the try line early in the second half proved to be a major turning point in the match, with Melbourne running in tries through Tony Martin and Ben Roarty and winger Craig Smith kicking two penalty goals. An unconverted try to Dragons captain Paul McGregor couldn't stem Melbourne's momentum, with Craig Smith kicking the Storm to within four points of the Dragons at 18–14.

In the 77th minute the Storm forced the Dragons to a goal line dropout. Melbourne's halfback Brett Kimmorley then bombed to Craig Smith's wing. Dragons Jamie Ainscough, anticipating a Melbourne try, caught Smith in a head-high tackle over the try-line, resulting in Smith being knocked unconscious and, in the process of falling to the ground, Smith knocking on. Referee Bill Harrigan requested video referee Chris Ward adjudicate on the decision. The Melbourne Storm were granted a penalty try, drawing them level with the Dragons. Being a penalty try, the subsequent conversion was taken from directly in front of the posts. Matt Geyer was successful in the conversion and the Storm, for the first time in the match, pulled ahead of the Dragons and took out their first grand final 20–18.

The Melbourne side thus became the quickest expansion team to win a premiership, eclipsing the Canterbury side who won the 1938 premiership in just their fourth season. It was the last game of champion prop and captain Glenn Lazarus, who retired after a remarkable fifth grand final victory (having won premierships with the Canberra Raiders in 1989 and 1990 and with the Brisbane Broncos in 1992 and 1993).

For traditional St. George fans the loss was hard to take. The club were unsuccessful in their four previous visits to the grand final (1985, 1992, 1993 and 1996) and had not won a premiership since 1979. It would not be until 2010 that they would return to another Grand Final, in which it would win its first premiership as a joint-venture.

The grand final attracted a television viewership of over 600,000 in Melbourne, a traditional Australian Rules football stronghold.{{cite news | access-date = 2009-10-06}}

Melbourne's 14-point comeback set the record for the largest successful comeback in Grand Final history, until it was surpassed by Penrith's comeback in the 2023 NRL Grand Final.

Scoreboard

Martin Roarty Smith Smith (3/4) Geyer (1/1) Fitzgibbon Blacklock McGregor Bartrim (2/3) Fitzgibbon (1/1)

References

References

1. "25 in 25: Ranking all the grand finals of the NRL era – cliffhangers, controversy and classics".
2. The consequences of a later, similar, head-high tackle would eventually cost Ainscough his career (see [https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/sep/22/wigan-tooth-removed-from-arm Gleeson, Martin, "On this Day: 26 August 2002: Wigan player has tooth removed – from arm", ''The Guardian.com'', 22 August 2009]).
3. Prichard, Greg. (19 September 2012). "Ward given keys to make right call". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
4. "1999 NRL Grand Final". Shawn Dollin, Andrew Ferguson and Bill Bates.
5. Crawford, Adrian. (4 October 2010). "Dragons romp to sweet 16th". ABC News.
6. Read, Brent. (4 October 2010). "Wayne Bennett's Dragons blow away critics to end 31-year drought". [[The Australian]].
7. (2000). "Rugby League 2000". Harper Sports.
8. "1999 NRL Grand Final".