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2006 NRL Grand Final
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2006 NRL Grand Final
The 2006 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding match of the NRL's 2006 Telstra Premiership season. It was played between the first-placed Melbourne Storm and the third-placed Brisbane Broncos clubs on the night of Sunday, 1 October. The 2006 grand final was the first ever to feature teams which were both from cities outside the borders of New South Wales, in this case the capitals of Queensland and Victoria, yet was played at the traditional venue of Sydney's Telstra Stadium. It was the first time the two sides had met in a grand final. They had played each other twice during the 2006 regular season, with Melbourne winning both times. The Melbourne side went into the grand final as heavy favorites, having won the minor premiership (although this was later discounted when salary cap breaches at the club were exposed in 2010). Both teams were looking to keep their perfect grand final records intact: Brisbane with 5/5 and the Melbourne side with 1/1 heading into the game.
The 2006 NRL season was the 99th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the ninth run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen clubs competed for the 2006 Telstra Premiership over the 26 rounds of the regular season. Eight of these teams qualified for the four-week finals series.
The 2006 Brisbane Broncos season was the nineteenth in the club's history. Coached by Wayne Bennett and captained by Darren Lockyer, they finished the regular season in third place before going on to reach their sixth grand final.
The 2006 Melbourne Storm season was the 9th in the club's history. Coached by Craig Bellamy and captained by Cameron Smith, they won a record 20 out of 24 regular season games to finish in first place and win the minor premiership, eight points clear of the second-placed Canterbury. The Melbourne club then reached their second grand final as favorites.
Matt Geyer was the only remaining Melbourne Storm player from their 1999 premiership winning team and the only person at the club with grand final experience. Scott Hill (who had missed the 1999 grand final with injury) was playing his 200th and final game in the NRL. By contrast, around half of the Brisbane Broncos players had premiership rings, most of them from the club's 1998 and 2000 grand final wins, while Justin Hodges was the only player in the Broncos squad that had won elsewhere, being part of the Sydney Roosters' 2002 premiership team. It was to be the last rugby league match for Broncos veteran Shane Webcke before retirement.
A crowd of 79,609 people turned out, with Hoodoo Gurus and INXS performing before the match.
Referee Paul Simpkins was chosen to officiate his first NRL grand final, with Bill Harrigan the video referee.
The first points of the match came from a penalty in the ninth minute. Brisbane's Shaun Berrigan, playing at hooker, tried to burrow over Melbourne's try-line from dummy half but was ruled to have had the ball taken from his arms by Billy Slater in a two-man tackle. The resulting penalty kick by captain Darren Lockyer in front of the posts was a gift two points for the Brisbane side to take an early 2-0 lead. Three minutes later, Melbourne halfback Cooper Cronk kicked a 40/20 coming out of his side's territory. Following the subsequent scrum in an attacking position, the Melbourne side raided Brisbane's line and got the first try of the match. Scott Hill did well to evade a few attempted tackles and shoot a remarkable pass around the back of a Brisbane defender and into the arms of winger Steve Turner who dived over out wide. Cameron Smith missed the conversion, leaving the score at 4-2. Brisbane then got a scrum of their own close to Melbourne's line after Turner knocked on trying to take a Lockyer bomb. Lockyer, moving across-field fed the ball back inside to Justin Hodges who went over untouched to put the ball down near the posts, affording the Brisbane captain another easy kick. No more points were scored in the first half and Brisbane went into the break with an 8-4 lead. Darren Lockyer was limping around in the dressing room but went on to play through the rest of the game.
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2006 NRL Grand Final
The 2006 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding match of the NRL's 2006 Telstra Premiership season. It was played between the first-placed Melbourne Storm and the third-placed Brisbane Broncos clubs on the night of Sunday, 1 October. The 2006 grand final was the first ever to feature teams which were both from cities outside the borders of New South Wales, in this case the capitals of Queensland and Victoria, yet was played at the traditional venue of Sydney's Telstra Stadium. It was the first time the two sides had met in a grand final. They had played each other twice during the 2006 regular season, with Melbourne winning both times. The Melbourne side went into the grand final as heavy favorites, having won the minor premiership (although this was later discounted when salary cap breaches at the club were exposed in 2010). Both teams were looking to keep their perfect grand final records intact: Brisbane with 5/5 and the Melbourne side with 1/1 heading into the game.
The 2006 NRL season was the 99th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the ninth run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen clubs competed for the 2006 Telstra Premiership over the 26 rounds of the regular season. Eight of these teams qualified for the four-week finals series.
The 2006 Brisbane Broncos season was the nineteenth in the club's history. Coached by Wayne Bennett and captained by Darren Lockyer, they finished the regular season in third place before going on to reach their sixth grand final.
The 2006 Melbourne Storm season was the 9th in the club's history. Coached by Craig Bellamy and captained by Cameron Smith, they won a record 20 out of 24 regular season games to finish in first place and win the minor premiership, eight points clear of the second-placed Canterbury. The Melbourne club then reached their second grand final as favorites.
Matt Geyer was the only remaining Melbourne Storm player from their 1999 premiership winning team and the only person at the club with grand final experience. Scott Hill (who had missed the 1999 grand final with injury) was playing his 200th and final game in the NRL. By contrast, around half of the Brisbane Broncos players had premiership rings, most of them from the club's 1998 and 2000 grand final wins, while Justin Hodges was the only player in the Broncos squad that had won elsewhere, being part of the Sydney Roosters' 2002 premiership team. It was to be the last rugby league match for Broncos veteran Shane Webcke before retirement.
A crowd of 79,609 people turned out, with Hoodoo Gurus and INXS performing before the match.
Referee Paul Simpkins was chosen to officiate his first NRL grand final, with Bill Harrigan the video referee.
The first points of the match came from a penalty in the ninth minute. Brisbane's Shaun Berrigan, playing at hooker, tried to burrow over Melbourne's try-line from dummy half but was ruled to have had the ball taken from his arms by Billy Slater in a two-man tackle. The resulting penalty kick by captain Darren Lockyer in front of the posts was a gift two points for the Brisbane side to take an early 2-0 lead. Three minutes later, Melbourne halfback Cooper Cronk kicked a 40/20 coming out of his side's territory. Following the subsequent scrum in an attacking position, the Melbourne side raided Brisbane's line and got the first try of the match. Scott Hill did well to evade a few attempted tackles and shoot a remarkable pass around the back of a Brisbane defender and into the arms of winger Steve Turner who dived over out wide. Cameron Smith missed the conversion, leaving the score at 4-2. Brisbane then got a scrum of their own close to Melbourne's line after Turner knocked on trying to take a Lockyer bomb. Lockyer, moving across-field fed the ball back inside to Justin Hodges who went over untouched to put the ball down near the posts, affording the Brisbane captain another easy kick. No more points were scored in the first half and Brisbane went into the break with an 8-4 lead. Darren Lockyer was limping around in the dressing room but went on to play through the rest of the game.
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