1997 Illawarra Steelers season

Illawarra Steelers

1997 season
CEO	Bob Millward
Head coach	Andrew Farrar
Captain	Paul McGregor
NRL	6th (out of 12)
← 1996 1998 →

The 1997 Illawarra Steelers season was the clubs sixteenth in its history. The side made its second appearance in the play-offs, the first ending with the infamous 1992 semi-finals 4-0 loss to the St. George Dragons. Whilst making the finals, the season ultimately ended up as a disappointment, losing in the first week to the Gold Coast Chargers. Many expected them to win this match easily as they had beaten their opponents comfortably 28-6 the week before.

Optus Cup

Season Summary

The Steelers lost many players before the start of this season, including veterans Neil Pinccinelli, David Riolo, Brendan O'Meara and Darren Fritz, leaving a massive hole to fill by many inexperienced juniors. They gained only halfback/hooker Will Robinson from Souths. The beginning of the season looked promising for the Steelers with 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss from the first six games, sitting third on the ladder. They failed to win any of their next seven games, which included 2 draws. The middle of season didn't suggest a good outcome for the end of the season. To their credit however, they won the next four out of five games and the final two games of the season when they knew a finals berth was on the line. A 25-14 at Parramatta Stadium loss to the hands of the Gold Coast Chargers in the first week of the finals spelt disaster on a season which could have produced so much more during this year without some formidable sides who were competing in the rival Telstra Super League tournament.

Draw and Results

Reeves; Wishart, Timmins, McGregor (c), Clifford; Barrett, Air; Bradstreet, Callaway, Smith, Bristow, Mackay, Rodwell. Cram, Tunbridge, David, Hart.

Reeves; Wishart, Timmins, McGregor (c), Clifford; Barrett, Air; Bradstreet, Callaway, Smith, Bristow, Mackay, Rodwell. Tunbridge, Cram, David, J.Cross.

Reeves; Wishart, Timmins, McGregor (c), Clifford; Barrett, Air; Bradstreet, Callaway, Smith, Bristow, Mackay, Rodwell. Tunbridge, Cram, David, J.Cross.

Reeves; Wishart, Timmins, McGregor (c), Clifford; Barrett, Robinson; Bradstreet, Callaway, Smith, Cram, Mackay, Rodwell. Tunbridge, J.Cross, Bristow, Hauville.

It was a day of draws for the Steelers and the Bears. All three grades were drawn (U-20s: 12-all, Reserves: 18-all, Firsts: 18-all). After capitulating in the second half, the Steelers saw themselves down 18-14, losing their 14-4 lead at half-time. Brendon Hauville scored in the final minutes, in what seemed to be a get-out-jail move by the substitute, who had come on for winger and regular goal-kicker Rod Wishart. What should have been a last-minute victory for the Steelers instead became a fruitless event when Shaun Timmins missed the conversion from in front of the uprights. It was just not their day for defeating the Bears.

Reeves; Hauville, Timmins, McGregor (c), Clifford; Barrett, Air; Bradstreet, Robinson, Smith, Cram, Mackay, J.Cross. Bristow, Tunbridge, David, Hart.

Reeves; Hauville, Timmins, McGregor (c), Clifford; Barrett, Air; Bradstreet, Robinson, Smith, Cram, Mackay, J.Cross. Bristow, Tunbridge, David, Hart.

Reeves; Hauville, Timmins, McGregor (c), Clifford; Barrett, Air; Bradstreet, Robinson, Smith, Cram, Mackay, J.Cross. Bristow, David, Tunbridge, Seru.

Reeves; Seru, Timmins, McGregor (c), Clifford; Barrett, Air; Cram, Robinson, Smith, Bradstreet, Mackay, J.Cross. Bristow, David, Rodwell, Tunbridge.

Reeves; Seru, Rodwell, Timmins, Clifford; Barrett, Air; Smith, Robinson, Bradstreet, Bristow, Mackay, J.Cross (c). Cram, David, Cox, Purcell.

A gripping twelve try game. By the end of the match these two clubs equalled the premiership record for the highest score for a drawn game at 34-all. Manly started great and finished strong. The Steelers were up 34-22 with six minutes remaining. However, they only had eleven men on the field and the Sea Eagles ran them home. Five-Eighth Trent Barrett was sent off in the 66th minute for a high tackle on Steve Menzies and David Cox was sin binned in the 69th minute. Manly stayed at the top of the table with 15 points and the Steelers were sitting fifth with ten by the end of the round. Barrett received a two-match ban for the tackle.

Reeves; Seru, Timmins, Rodwell, Clifford; Purcell, Air; Bradstreet, Robinson, Smith, David, Bristow, J.Cross (c). Cram, Cox, Hart, Hooper.

The supporters stayed away from Saturday night's wind and rain. Everything about the night was miserable for the five-thousand Steelers fans that bothered to show up. Only one try was scored in stark contrast to the entertaining twelve-try feast of the previous week against the Manly Sea Eagles at the same venue. Both fullbacks, Brendon Reeves (Illawarra) and Andrew Leeds (Wests), were sin binned during the game.

Seru; Wishart, Rodwell, McGregor (c), Clifford; Timmins, Robinson; Cram, J.Cross, Smith, Bristow, Bradstreet, Hart. Reeves, Cox, David, M.Cross.

Another sloppy night of rugby league for the second week in a row from the Steelers. Brendan Hurst's late field goal leaves Illawarra's chances in the competition diminishing, dropping to seventh on ten points with Wests and St. George waiting eagerly below them, also with ten points. Forwards Maea David and Craig Smith both faced the judiciary, with Smith escaping suspension, but David coping a six-week ban for a careless high tackle. Barrett served out the final week of his two-week ban, with everyone's eyes keenly fixed on the round 12 clash with Souths.

Reeves; Seru, Rodwell, Timmins, Clifford; Barrett, Robinson; Cram, J.Cross (c), Bradstreet, Bristow, Hart, Mackay. Cox, Tunbridge, Lamey, Leikvoll.

Illawarra's thrilling third draw of the campaign, and a high scoring one at that (28-all). Another ten-tries put on by the players, giving the crowd of less than five-thousand their money's worth. Steelers supports certainly couldn't help but feel if they had of gotten over the line in at least two of these three games their season might have shaped up differently. After this game, Illawarra was sitting in eighth place, outside of play-off's contention for the first time this season.

Ladder

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	File:Manly colours.svg Manly	22	15	2	5	521	366	+155	32
2	Newcastle	22	14	1	7	512	320	+192	29
3	Parramatta	22	14	1	7	431	359	+72	29
4	North Sydney	22	13	1	8	529	341	+188	27
5	Sydney City	22	13	1	8	487	366	+121	27
6	Illawarra	22	10	3	9	423	376	+47	23
7	File:Gold Coast colours.svg Gold Coast	22	10	1	11	438	466	-28	21
8	Balmain	22	10	0	12	339	340	-1	20
9	Western Suburbs	22	10	0	12	355	424	-69	20
10	St. George	22	9	1	12	331	392	-61	19
11	South Sydney	22	4	1	17	323	630	-307	9
12	South Queensland	22	4	0	18	321	630	-309	8

Home Crowd Averages

Round	Opposition	Venue	Crowd
Round 1	South Sydney Rabbitohs	WIN Stadium, Wollongong	7,697
Round 3	St. George Dragons	WIN Stadium, Wollongong	8,661
Round 5	South Queensland Crushers	WIN Stadium, Wollongong	6,144
Round 7	Parramatta Eels	WIN Stadium, Wollongong	11,992
Round 9	Manly Sea Eagles	WIN Stadium, Wollongong	9,835
Round 10	Western Suburbs Magpies	WIN Stadium, Wollongong	5,546
Round 13	Balmain Tigers	WIN Stadium, Wollongong	8,184
Round 15	North Sydney Bears	WIN Stadium, Wollongong	7,219
Round 17	Sydney City Roosters	WIN Stadium, Wollongong	8,241
Round 19	Newcastle Knights	WIN Stadium, Wollongong	10,038
Round 22	Gold Coast Chargers	WIN Stadium, Wollongong	12,089

Player Movements

Gains

Player	Previous Club
Will Robinson	South Sydney Rabbitohs

Losses

Player	Joined Club
Paul Carige	Parramatta Eels
Darrien Doherty	Hunter Mariners
Darren Fritz	North Sydney Bears
Brendan O'Meara	South Sydney Rabbitohs
Neil Pinccinelli	Hunter Mariners
Wayne Richards	Newcastle Knights
David Riolo	Parramatta Eels
Craig Simon	South Sydney
Josh White	London Broncos

Squad

No. Position Player Glen Air – HB Trent Barrett – FE Darren Bradstreet – SR Adam Bristow – LK Jonathon Britten – WG Dean Callaway – HK Wayne Clifford – WG David Cox – PR Scott Cram – PR John Cross – LK Michael Cross – SR Maea David – PR Andrew Hart – PR Brendon Hauville – WG Jason Hooper – CE

No. Position Player Terry Lamey – SR Chris Leikvoll – PR Brad Mackay – LK Paul McGregor – CE (captain) Dean Moon – WG Andrew Purcell – HK Brendon Reeves – FB Will Robinson – HB Brett Rodwell – CE Fili Seru – WG Craig Simon – CE Craig Smith – PR Shaun Timmins – CE Brendon Tunbridge – SR Rod Wishart – WG

References

External Links