1999 saw the second season of the National Rugby League premiership, the 92nd season of professional rugby league football in Australia. The Melbourne Storm claimed their maiden premiership in just their second season, defeating the St George Illawarra Dragons 20-18 in the first grand final played at Stadium Australia. The Dragons became the first joint-venture club to appear in the grand final.

Season summary

The 1999 National Rugby League season was historic for many reasons. The St George Illawarra Dragons played their inaugural game after forming the League's first joint venture, losing 10-20 to the Parramatta Eels. That game was the second of a double header, which was the first event to be held at Sydney's Stadium Australia, the central venue for the Olympic Games the following year. That game attracted a rugby league world record of 104,583 spectators.

During the season, the members of the Balmain Tigers and Western Suburbs Magpies voted to form another joint venture, to be named the Wests Tigers. After the conclusion of the season, the South Sydney Rabbitohs and North Sydney Bears were excluded from the premiership. The Bears would later form the game's third joint venture with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, whilst South Sydney would fight a two-year legal battle for reinclusion.

The defending premiers, Brisbane endured their worst ever start to a season, with just one win and a draw from their first ten games. Their champion halfback and captain Allan Langer retired mid-season as a result. The Newcastle Knights also lost an iconic player when 1997 premiership captain Paul Harragon retired mid-season. The Melbourne Storm's premiership victory saw their captain Glenn Lazarus become the only player to ever win grand finals for three different clubs.

Teams

Auckland Warriors			Balmain Tigers			Brisbane Broncos			Canberra Raiders
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs			Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks			Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles			Melbourne Storm
Newcastle Knights			North Sydney Bears			North Queensland Cowboys			Parramatta Eels
Penrith Panthers				Sydney City Roosters				South Sydney Rabbitohs
	St. George Illawarra Dragons						Western Suburbs Magpies

Advertising

In a move that polarised some fans, the NRL in its 1999 promotional campaign focussed on the game's grass roots supporters who perhaps had been overlooked and pained in the trauma of the Super League war. Sydney advertising agency VCD, in the third year of their four-year tenure with the NRL, produced an advertisement featuring Thomas Kenneally reading his poem, "Ode to Rugby League", which had been commissioned by the NRL. It speaks of the innocent excitement that begins each season. The ad was used at season launch and there was minimal media budget to support it throughout the year. Keneally is a long time supporter of the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Cronulla	24	18	0	6	2	586	332	+254	40
2	Parramatta	24	17	0	7	2	500	294	+206	38
3	Melbourne	24	16	0	8	2	639	392	+247	36
4	Sydney City	24	16	0	8	2	592	377	+215	36
5	Canterbury	24	15	1	8	2	520	462	+58	35
6	St. George Illawarra	24	15	0	9	2	588	416	+172	34
7	Newcastle	24	14	1	9	2	575	484	+91	33
8	Brisbane	24	13	2	9	2	510	368	+142	32
9	Canberra	24	13	1	10	2	618	439	+179	31
10	Penrith	24	11	1	12	2	492	428	+64	27
11	Auckland	24	10	0	14	2	538	498	+40	24
12	South Sydney	24	10	0	14	2	349	556	-207	24
13	Manly	24	9	1	14	2	454	623	-169	23
14	North Sydney	24	8	0	16	2	490	642	-152	20
15	Balmain	24	8	0	16	2	345	636	-291	20
16	North Queensland	24	4	1	19	2	398	588	-190	13
17	Western Suburbs	24	3	0	21	2	285	944	-659	10

Finals

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Qualifying Finals
Sydney City Roosters	8–12	Canterbury Bulldogs	3 September 1999	Sydney Football Stadium	Sean Hampstead	23,478
Melbourne Storm	10–34	St George Illawarra Dragons	4 September 1999	Olympic Park	Steve Clark	22,053
Parramatta Eels	30–16	Newcastle Knights	4 September 1999	Parramatta Stadium	Bill Harrigan	15,653
Cronulla Sharks	42–20	Brisbane Broncos	5 September 1999	Shark Park	Tim Mander	13,713
Semi Finals
St George Illawarra Dragons	28–18	Sydney City Roosters	11 September 1999	Sydney Football Stadium	Bill Harrigan	31,506
Canterbury Bulldogs	22–24	Melbourne Storm	12 September 1999	Sydney Football Stadium	Steve Clark	20,075
Preliminary Finals
Parramatta Eels	16–18	Melbourne Storm	18 September 1999	Sydney Football Stadium	Bill Harrigan	27,555
Cronulla Sharks	8–24	St George Illawarra Dragons	19 September 1999	Stadium Australia	Steve Clark	51,827
Grand Final
St George Illawarra Dragons	18–20	Melbourne Storm	26 September 1999	Stadium Australia	Bill Harrigan	107,558

Grand Final

Melbourne Storm	Position	St. George Illawarra
Robbie Ross	FB	Luke Patten
Craig Smith	WG	Jamie Ainscough
Aaron Moule	CE	Paul McGregor (c)
Tony Martin	CE	Shaun Timmins
Marcus Bai	WG	Nathan Blacklock
Matt Geyer	FE	Anthony Mundine
Brett Kimmorley	HB	Trent Barrett
Glenn Lazarus (c)	PR	Craig Smith
Richard Swain	HK	Nathan Brown
Rodney Howe	PR	Chris Leikvoll
Stephen Kearney	SR	Lance Thompson
Paul Marquet	SR	Darren Treacy
Tawera Nikau	LK	Wayne Bartrim
Matt Rua	Bench	Craig Fitzgibbon
Russell Bawden	Bench	Colin Ward
Ben Roarty	Bench	Brad Mackay
Danny Williams	Bench	Rod Wishart
Chris Anderson	Coach	David Waite Andrew Farrar

A new rugby league world record crowd of 107,558 was at Stadium Australia for the Grand Final. Pre-match entertainment featured Hugh Jackman's rendition of the national anthem.

The Dragons 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 centre Jamie Ainscough, anticipating a Melbourne try, caught Smith in a head-high tackle over the try-line, resulting in Smith knocking on. Referee Bill Harrigan requested video referee Chris Ward adjudicate on the decision. In one of the most infamous grand final incidents, 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 Storm 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 in 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1993).

For traditional St George fans the loss was hard to take. The Dragons were unsuccessful in their four previous visits to the grand final (1985, 1992, 1993 and 1996) and had not won a premiership since 1979.

Melbourne 20 (Tries: Martin, Roarty, Smith - penalty try; Goals: Smith 3/4, Geyer 1/1)

St George Illawarra 18 (Tries: Fitzgibbon, Blacklock, McGregor; Goals: Bartrim 2/3, Fitzgibbon 1/1)

Clive Churchill Medal: Brett Kimmorley

References & links

• Rugby League Tables - Notes The World of Rugby League
• 1999 NRL season at stats.rleague.com
• Premiership History and Statistics RL1908
• Interview NRL Marketing Director Mark Wallace Thomas Kenneally poem