1990 NSWRL season

The 1990 New South Wales Rugby League season was the eighty-third season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Sixteen clubs competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup during the premiership season, which culminated in a grand final between the previous season's premiers, the Canberra Raiders and the Penrith Panthers, who were making their grand final debut.

Season summary

For the 1990 season, the salary cap was introduced in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership. Twenty-two regular season rounds were played from March till August, resulting in a top six of Canberra, Brisbane, Penrith, Manly, Balmain and Newcastle.

Parramatta's halfback Peter Sterling won the official player of the year award, the Rothmans Medal. The Dally M Medal was awarded to Manly's five-eighth Cliff Lyons. Rugby League Week gave their player of the year award to Canberra Raiders centre and captain, Mal Meninga.

The grand finals;

• Template:Leagueicon Canberra Raiders vs Template:Leagueicon Penrith Panthers (Senior Grade)
• Template:Leagueicon Canberra Raiders vs Template:Leagueicon Brisbane Broncos (Reserve Grade)
• Template:Leagueicon Canberra Raiders vs Template:Leagueicon St George Dragons (Under-21s Grade)

The winners in all grades were:

• Template:Leagueicon Canberra Raiders (Senior Grade)
• Template:Leagueicon Brisbane Broncos (Reserve Grade)
• Template:Leagueicon Canberra Raiders (Under-21s Grade)

Teams

The number of teams competing remained unchanged for the second consecutive year, with sixteen clubs contesting the premiership, including five Sydney-based foundation teams, another six from Sydney, two from greater New South Wales, two from Queensland, and one from the Australian Capital Territory

Advertising

1990 saw the NSWRL's advertising shift to a new level of sophistication, marking the first use of Tina Turner's 1989 hit "The Best". The league and its Sydney advertising agency Hertz Walpole struck gold in forging a link between the game and the song, which would become the soundtrack to a marketing success story that skyrocketed right up to a point of self-implosion in the Super League war of 1996–1997.

Tina Turner's manager Roger Davies contacted agency chief Jim Walpole in 1989 to advise that Turner's upcoming album Foreign Affair was to contain a rendition of a Mike Chapman and Holly Knight song which might possibly be of interest to Walpole's NSWRL client. The track, which had been previously released by Bonnie Tyler with modest results, would prove to be one of Turner's most successful singles. After hearing demo tracks, Walpole and the NSWRL General Manager John Quayle and his marketing staff sensed the linkage could be perfect.

Turner was brought to Australia amid much public interest for a massive film shoot where enough footage was secured for advertisements for both the 1990 and 1991 seasons.

The finished 1990 advertisement, in its full two-minute version, tells the story of Turner's touchdown at Sydney Airport and a scurry through paparazzi; she then finds herself in a warehouse training scene that's more glamour than grit where players from a number of clubs are working out on weights and climbing vertical chains. She plays touch footy on a beach, attends a lunch where she cheekily surprises Gavin Miller, whom she had met at the 1989 UK shoot, and later arrives by helicopter to a black-tie dinner with Andrew Ettingshausen and Gene Miles. Throughout are the de rigueur big hits and action shots, with Turner cheering in a replica grand final crowd, and finally congratulating the 1989 premiership captain, Mal Meninga.

Regular season

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	F1	F2	F3	F4	GF
Balmain	MAN −2	PEN −14	BRI +2	NOR +12	WES +8	PAR +17	NEW +20	CAN −14	STG +2	CBY +20	CRO −8	EAS +20	GCS +44	SOU +34	ILA +24	MAN −14	PEN +5	BRI −14	NOR +8	WES +4	PAR −4	NEW −2	NEW +8	MAN −16
Brisbane	WES 0	PAR +20	BAL −2	MAN +2	PEN −8	NEW +24	NOR −2	EAS +24	CRO +12	GCS +16	SOU +28	ILA +30	STG +4	CAN +2	CBY +18	WES +20	PAR +2	BAL +14	MAN −14	PEN −16	NEW +20	NOR +6	X	PEN −10	MAN +8	CAN −28
Canberra	STG +16	ILA +14	CBY −4	CRO −1	EAS +62	GCS +8	SOU +34	BAL +14	MAN +17	NEW +6	PAR −9	WES +4	NOR +23	BRI −2	PEN −21	STG +16	ILA 0	CBY +8	CRO +14	EAS +16	GCS +24	SOU +48	X	X	PEN −18	BRI +28	PEN +4
Canterbury	SOU +4	STG −2	CAN +4	ILA +18	CRO +8	EAS 0	GCS +22	MAN +10	PEN +22	BAL −20	NEW −2	PAR −20	WES −8	NOR −6	BRI −18	SOU +16	STG −1	CAN −8	ILA +4	CRO +26	EAS +8	GCS +6
Cronulla	GCS +30	SOU +26	STG +13	CAN +1	CBY −8	ILA −12	EAS +28	PEN +16	BRI −12	MAN −16	BAL +8	NEW −2	PAR +6	WES +6	NOR −16	GCS +28	SOU +16	STG −22	CAN −14	CBY −26	ILA −34	EAS −5
Easts	ILA −1	GCS +14	SOU −14	STG +4	CAN −62	CBY 0	CRO −28	BRI −24	NOR −30	PEN −2	MAN −34	BAL −20	NEW −18	PAR −30	WES +12	ILA −16	GCS −16	SOU +8	STG +12	CAN −16	CBY −8	CRO +5
Gold Coast	CRO −30	EAS −14	ILA −35	SOU +13	STG −20	CAN −8	CBY −22	NOR −23	WES −15	BRI −16	PEN −22	MAN −34	BAL −44	NEW −8	PAR −40	CRO −28	EAS +16	ILA −8	SOU +26	STG +8	CAN −24	CBY −6
Illawarra	EAS +1	CAN −14	GCS +35	CBY −18	SOU +2	CRO +12	STG −7	PAR −4	NEW −6	WES +12	NOR −8	BRI −30	PEN +8	MAN −18	BAL −24	EAS +16	CAN 0	GCS +8	CBY −4	SOU +6	CRO +34	STG +4
Manly	BAL +2	NEW +16	PEN −14	BRI −2	NOR −8	WES +14	PAR +14	CBY −10	CAN −17	CRO +16	EAS +34	GCS +34	SOU +6	ILA +18	STG +4	BAL +14	NEW −6	PEN −18	BRI +14	NOR +7	WES +6	PAR +16	X	BAL +16	BRI −8
Newcastle	NOR +5	MAN −16	WES +34	PEN 0	PAR −23	BRI −24	BAL −20	STG +22	ILA +6	CAN −6	CBY +2	CRO +2	EAS +18	GCS +8	SOU +5	NOR +20	MAN +6	WES +32	PEN −14	PAR 0	BRI −20	BAL +2	BAL −8
Norths	NEW −5	WES +2	PAR −1	BAL −12	MAN +8	PEN −4	BRI +2	GCS +23	EAS +30	SOU +17	ILA +8	STG −6	CAN −23	CBY +6	CRO +16	NEW −20	WES +10	PAR −2	BAL −8	MAN −7	PEN −4	BRI −6
Parramatta	PEN +9	BRI −20	NOR +1	WES −16	NEW +23	BAL −17	MAN −14	ILA +4	SOU −16	STG +10	CAN +9	CBY +20	CRO −6	EAS +30	GCS +40	PEN −12	BRI −2	NOR +2	WES +7	NEW 0	BAL +4	MAN −16
Penrith	PAR −9	BAL +14	MAN +14	NEW 0	BRI +8	NOR +4	WES +2	CRO −16	CBY −22	EAS +2	GCS +22	SOU +38	ILA −8	STG +10	CAN +21	PAR +12	BAL −5	MAN +18	NEW +14	BRI +16	NOR +4	WES −10	X	BRI +10	CAN +18	X	CAN −4
Souths	CBY −4	CRO −26	EAS +14	GCS −13	ILA −2	STG −23	CAN −34	WES −8	PAR +16	NOR −17	BRI −28	PEN −38	MAN −6	BAL −34	NEW −5	CBY −16	CRO −16	EAS −8	GCS −26	ILA −6	STG −22	CAN −48
St. George	CAN −16	CBY +2	CRO −13	EAS −4	GCS +20	SOU +23	ILA +7	NEW −22	BAL −2	PAR −10	WES −6	NOR +6	BRI −4	PEN −10	MAN −4	CAN −16	CBY +1	CRO +22	EAS −12	GCS −8	SOU +22	ILA −4
Wests	BRI 0	NOR −2	NEW −34	PAR +16	BAL −8	MAN −14	PEN −2	SOU +8	GCS +15	ILA −12	STG +6	CAN −4	CBY +8	CRO −6	EAS −12	BRI −20	NOR −10	NEW −32	PAR −7	BAL −4	MAN −6	PEN +10
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	F1	F2	F3	F4	GF

Bold – Home game
X – Bye
Opponent for round listed above margin

Ladder

South Sydney went from minor premiers in 1989 to wooden spooners in 1990, becoming the third club to suffer this ignominy after Canterbury from 1942 to 1943 and Western Suburbs from 1952 to 1953 – however, the Rabbitohs’ decline of sixteen and a half wins is easily the most severe in league history. It would mark the beginning of a 22-year barren wilderness for the Rabbitohs spanning 1990-2011 (which included two seasons excluded from the competition in 2000–01), during which they would only record a solitary finals appearance in 2007. Canberra won their first and to date only minor premiership.

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Template:Leagueicon Canberra (P)	22	16	1	5	532	245	+287	33
2	Template:Leagueicon Brisbane	22	16	1	5	478	278	+200	33
3	Template:Leagueicon Penrith	22	15	1	6	415	286	+129	31
4	Template:Leagueicon Manly	22	15	0	7	395	255	+140	30
5	Template:Leagueicon Balmain	22	14	0	8	432	284	+148	28
6	Template:Leagueicon Newcastle	22	13	2	7	344	305	+39	28
7	Template:Leagueicon Canterbury	22	12	1	9	354	291	+63	25
8	Template:Leagueicon Parramatta	22	12	1	9	387	347	+40	25
9	Template:Leagueicon Illawarra	22	11	1	10	366	361	+5	23
10	Template:Leagueicon Cronulla	22	11	0	11	370	359	+11	22
11	Template:Leagueicon North Sydney	22	10	0	12	322	298	+24	20
12	Template:Leagueicon St. George	22	8	0	14	371	399	-28	16
13	Template:Leagueicon Western Suburbs	22	6	1	15	323	433	-110	13
14	Template:Leagueicon Eastern Suburbs	22	6	1	15	283	547	-264	13
15	Template:Leagueicon Gold Coast	22	4	0	18	233	567	-334	8
16	Template:Leagueicon South Sydney	22	2	0	20	302	652	-350	4

Ladder progression

• Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 5.
• Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.
• Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished last place on the ladder in that round.

	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
1	Template:Leagueicon Canberra	2	4	4	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	16	18	20	20	20	22	23	25	27	29	31	33
2	Template:Leagueicon Brisbane	1	3	3	5	5	7	7	9	11	13	15	17	19	21	23	25	27	29	29	29	31	33
3	Template:Leagueicon Penrith	0	2	4	5	7	9	11	11	11	13	15	17	17	19	21	23	23	25	27	29	31	31
4	Template:Leagueicon Manly	2	4	4	4	4	6	8	8	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	22	22	24	26	28	30
5	Template:Leagueicon Balmain	0	0	2	4	6	8	10	10	12	14	14	16	18	20	22	22	24	24	26	28	28	28
6	Template:Leagueicon Newcastle	2	2	4	5	5	5	5	7	9	9	11	13	15	17	19	21	23	25	25	26	26	28
7	Template:Leagueicon Canterbury Bulldogs	2	2	4	6	8	9	11	13	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	17	17	17	19	21	23	25
8	Template:Leagueicon Parramatta Eels	2	2	4	4	6	6	6	8	8	10	12	14	14	16	18	18	18	20	22	23	25	25
9	Template:Leagueicon Illawarra	2	2	4	4	6	8	8	8	8	10	10	10	12	12	12	14	15	17	17	19	21	23
10	Template:Leagueicon Cronulla	2	4	6	8	8	8	10	12	12	12	14	14	16	18	18	20	22	22	22	22	22	22
11	Template:Leagueicon North Sydney	0	2	2	2	4	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	14	16	18	18	20	20	20	20	20	20
12	Template:Leagueicon St. George	0	2	2	2	4	6	8	8	8	8	8	10	10	10	10	10	12	14	14	14	16	16
13	Template:Leagueicon Western Suburbs	1	1	1	3	3	3	3	5	7	7	9	9	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	13
14	Template:Leagueicon Eastern Suburbs	0	2	2	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	7	7	7	9	11	11	11	13
15	Template:Leagueicon Gold Coast	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	6	8	8	8
16	Template:Leagueicon South Sydney	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4

Finals

Balmain and Newcastle both finished on equal competition points in fifth position at the end of the regular season, so had to play off for the chance to advance through the finals.

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Playoff
Template:Leagueicon Balmain Tigers	12-4	Template:Leagueicon Newcastle Knights	28 August 1990	Parramatta Stadium	Bill Harrigan	19,174
Qualifying Finals
Template:Leagueicon Manly Sea Eagles	16-0	Template:Leagueicon Balmain Tigers	1 September 1990	Sydney Football Stadium	Bill Harrigan	30,965
Template:Leagueicon Brisbane Broncos	16-26	Template:Leagueicon Penrith Panthers	2 September 1990	Sydney Football Stadium	Eddie Ward	24,409
Semi-finals
Template:Leagueicon Brisbane Broncos	12-4	Template:Leagueicon Manly Sea Eagles	8 September 1990	Sydney Football Stadium	Bill Harrigan	31,424
Template:Leagueicon Canberra Raiders	12-30	Template:Leagueicon Penrith Panthers	9 September 1990	Sydney Football Stadium	Greg McCallum	35,263
Preliminary final
Template:Leagueicon Canberra Raiders	32-4	Template:Leagueicon Brisbane Broncos	16 September 1990	Sydney Football Stadium	Bill Harrigan	31,628
Grand final
Template:Leagueicon Canberra Raiders	18-14	Template:Leagueicon Penrith Panthers	23 September 1990	Sydney Football Stadium	Bill Harrigan	41,535

Grand final

The 1990 season's grand final was played on the afternoon of Sunday, 23 September at the Sydney Football Stadium before a crowd of 41,535. Penrith were attempting to become the first team to win a grand final in their first attempt, but were coming up against an experienced Canberra team.

Canberra Raiders	Position	Penrith Panthers
Gary Belcher	FB	David Greene
Paul Martin	WG	Alan McIndoe
Mal Meninga (c)	CE	Brad Fittler
Laurie Daley	CE	Col Bentley
John Ferguson	WG	Paul Smith
Chris O'Sullivan	FE	Brad Izzard
Ricky Stuart	HB	Greg Alexander
Brent Todd	PR	Paul Clarke
Steve Walters	HK	Royce Simmons (c)
Glenn Lazarus	PR	Barry Walker
Nigel Gaffey	SR	Mark Geyer
Gary Coyne	SR	John Cartwright
Dean Lance	LK	Chris Mortimer
Matthew Wood	Bench	Steve Carter
Phil Carey	Bench	Joe Vitanza
Craig Bellamy	Bench
David Barnhill	Bench
Tim Sheens	Coach	Phil Gould

Extra time in the reserve grade grand final followed by the pre-match entertainment (including a performance by John Farnham) running late meant that referee Bill Harrigan blew time on for the kick-off half an hour behind schedule. This may have worked to the advantage of the more experienced Raiders and served to rattle the young Panthers. Canberra jumped to a 12-nil lead in the opening minutes after their half-back Ricky Stuart laid on tries for winger John Ferguson and Laurie Daley and the match appeared as good as over despite a strengthening of Penrith's defence as they recovered. The Panthers came back to trail 12-10 after Greg Alexander put Brad Fittler in for a try just before half-time and Paul Smith in for another seven minutes into the second half. Canberra moved to 18–10 in the second half when replacement winger Matthew Wood scored. A late try from Alexander still left Penrith trailing 18–14 at the full-time siren. Both sides finished with three tries each but the wizardry of Stuart and the kicking boot of Meninga were the difference that saw the Raiders with their second consecutive premiership.

Canberra's Ricky Stuart was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal as man of the match.

Canberra Raiders 18
Tries: Ferguson, Daley, Wood
Goals: Meninga 3/3

Penrith Panthers 14
Tries: Fittler, Smith, Alexander
Goals: Alexander 1/3

Player statistics

The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 22.

Top 5 point scorers

Points	Player	Tries	Goals	Field goals
184	Template:Leagueicon Mal Meninga	15	62	0
132	Template:Leagueicon Ricky Walford	14	38	0
130	Template:Leagueicon Dale Shearer	10	45	0
128	Template:Leagueicon Greg Alexander	9	46	0
126	Template:Leagueicon Ashley Gordon	15	33	0

Top 5 try scorers

Tries	Player
15	Template:Leagueicon Mal Meninga
15	Template:Leagueicon Willie Carne
15	Template:Leagueicon Ashley Gordon
14	Template:Leagueicon Ricky Walford
13	Template:Leagueicon Gary Belcher
13	Template:Leagueicon Alan McIndoe
13	Template:Leagueicon Ewan McGrady
13	Template:Leagueicon Andrew Ettingshausen

Top 5 goal scorers

Goals	Player
62	Template:Leagueicon Mal Meninga
47	Template:Leagueicon Terry Lamb
46	Template:Leagueicon Greg Alexander
46	Template:Leagueicon Rod Wishart
45	Template:Leagueicon Dale Shearer

External links

• 1990 Winfield Cup 2min TVC
• NSWRL season 1990 at rugbyleagueproject.com
• 1990 J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup at rleague.comTemplate:Cbignore
• NSWRL season 1990 at rugbyleagueproject.com
• Results: 1981-90 at rabbitohs.com.au
• Rugby League Tables - Season 1990 The World of Rugby League