1988 NSWRL season

1988 was the year of the Australian Bicentenary celebrations, and on 4 March, the season opened with the first game of rugby league played at the newly built Sydney Football Stadium.^[1] The St. George Dragons defeated the Eastern Suburbs Roosters 24–14. Easts and South Sydney would use the SFS as their home venue from 1988. This saw the end of both the Sydney Sports Ground (which closed due to the building of the SFS) and Redfern Oval as regular venues.

The brand new Brisbane Broncos club, featuring Australian Kangaroos captain Wally Lewis and starting their first ever season of football, played their first match against the previous season's premiers the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and won 44–10.

Eventual grand finalists the Balmain Tigers had a dreadful start to the season with six wins and five losses by the end of the first full round. But their plight was rescued by a masterstroke from their chief executive Keith Barnes. The Great Britain side was touring Australia that season and in strict secrecy Barnes negotiated to have the English captain and centre Ellery Hanley – judged the best player in the English competition the previous season and an undoubted world-class player – to join the Tigers. Barnes got to the NSWRL to register Hanley at 4:55 pm on 30 June, just five minutes inside the deadline for signing players for that season.

The 1988 season's Rothmans Medallist was Cronulla-Sutherland's Barry Russell.^[2] The Dally M Award went to Russell's teammate Gavin Miller, and Rugby League Week gave its player of the year award to Balmian's hooker, Ben Elias.

Twenty-two regular season rounds were played in total from March till August, with Cronulla-Sutherland winning their first ever minor premiership since joining the competition in 1967. Penrith and Balmain finished on equal points in fifth place and played each other for the place in the top five, alongside Cronulla, Canterbury, Canberra and Manly.

The grand finals;

•   Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs vs   Balmain Tigers (Senior Grade)
•   Eastern Suburbs vs   Manly Sea Eagles (Reserve Grade)
•   Under 21s team vs   Under 21s (Under 21s Grade)

The Tests;

•   Australia vs   Great Britain
•   Australia vs   Rest of the World

The State of Origin;

•   Queensland vs   New South Wales

This season saw the premiership's first expansion since 1982 with the addition of three newly created teams: the Brisbane Broncos, the Gold Coast-Tweed Giants and the Newcastle Knights.^[3] This brought the League another step closer to becoming a national competition as a total of sixteen teams, the largest number in the tournament's history, contested 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.

Balmain Tigers   81st season Ground: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Warren Ryan Captain: Wayne Pearce	Brisbane Broncos   1st season Ground: Lang Park Coach: Wayne Bennett Captain: Wally Lewis	Canberra Raiders   7th season Ground: Seiffert Oval Coach: Tim Sheens Captain: Dean Lance	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs   54th season Ground: Belmore Oval Coach: Phil Gould Captain: Peter Tunks
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks   22nd season Ground: Caltex Field Coach: Allan Fitzgibbon Captain: David Hatch	Eastern Suburbs Roosters   81st season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: Arthur Beetson Captain: Hugh McGahan	Gold Coast-Tweed Giants   1st season Ground: Seagulls Stadium Coach: Bob McCarthy Captain: Billy Johnstone	Illawarra Steelers   7th season Ground: Wollongong Stadium Coach: Terry Fearnley Captain: Perry Haddock → Paul Upfield
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles   42nd season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Bob Fulton Captain: Paul Vautin	Newcastle Knights   1st season Ground: Newcastle ISC Coach: Allan McMahon Captain: Sam Stewart	North Sydney Bears   81st season Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Frank Stanton Captain: Mark Graham	Parramatta Eels   42nd season Ground: Parramatta Stadium Coach: John Monie Captain: Peter Sterling
Penrith Panthers   22nd season Ground: Penrith Stadium Coach: Ron Willey Captain: Royce Simmons	South Sydney Rabbitohs   81st season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: George Piggins Captain: Mario Fenech	St. George Dragons   68th season Ground: Belmore Sports Ground Coach: Ted Glossop Captain: Craig Young	Western Suburbs Magpies   81st season Ground: Orana Park Coach: Laurie Freier → John Bailey Captain: Ian Schubert

1988 saw the NSWRL move their advertising account from John Singleton Advertising to Hertz Walpole Advertising. There was initially however no shift in the prior campaign direction. For the second year running a visual and vocal performance by Australian rock journeyman John "Swanee" Swan was used. Swanee recorded a purpose-written jingle entitled "The Greatest Game of All" and a rock-clip style ad was shot on a stage setting with smoke, lights and fireworks. The performance footage was interspersed with game action.

Five years later Swan's younger brother Jimmy Barnes would also feature in an NSWRL season advertisement performing alongside Tina Turner.

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

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Cronulla	22	16	2	4	507	330	+177	34
2	Canterbury (P)	22	16	0	6	412	268	+144	32
3	Canberra	22	15	0	7	596	346	+250	30
4	Manly	22	15	0	7	538	347	+191	30
5	Penrith	22	15	0	7	394	258	+136	30
6	Balmain	22	15	0	7	402	341	+61	30
7	Brisbane	22	14	0	8	474	368	+106	28
8	South Sydney	22	12	2	8	425	383	+42	24
9	North Sydney	22	9	2	11	366	424	−58	20
10	St. George	22	9	0	13	352	493	−141	18
11	Parramatta	22	8	0	14	359	412	−53	16
12	Eastern Suburbs	22	6	3	13	387	443	−56	15
13	Illawarra	22	6	1	15	353	510	−157	13
14	Newcastle	22	5	1	16	270	460	−190	11
15	Gold Coast-Tweed	22	4	2	16	238	484	−246	10
16	Western Suburbs	22	4	1	17	287	493	−206	9

• South Sydney were stripped of 2 competition points due to an illegal replacement in one game.

• 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	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	0	0	2	3	3	5	7	9	11	11	13	14	16	18	20	22	24	26	28	30	32	34
2	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	2	4	6	8	8	10	12	14	14	14	16	18	20	20	22	24	24	26	28	30	32	32
3	Canberra Raiders	2	4	6	6	8	10	12	12	14	14	16	16	16	18	20	22	24	26	26	26	28	30
4	Manly Warringah Sea Eagles	0	2	4	6	6	8	8	8	10	12	12	14	16	18	20	20	22	24	26	28	28	30
5	Penrith Panthers	2	2	4	6	8	10	12	12	12	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	24	26	28	30	30	30
6	Balmain Tigers	2	2	2	4	6	6	8	10	10	12	12	14	16	16	18	20	22	24	26	26	28	30
7	Brisbane Broncos	2	4	6	8	10	12	12	12	14	14	14	16	18	18	18	20	22	24	26	26	28	28
8	South Sydney Rabbitohs	2	4	4	6	8	10	10	12	12	12	12	14	15	17	17	17	19	19	21	21	22	24
9	North Sydney Bears	0	0	0	0	2	4	6	7	9	11	13	13	14	16	16	16	16	16	16	18	20	20
10	St. George Dragons	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	6	8	10	12	12	12	12	12	12	14	16	18	18	18
11	Parramatta Eels	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	6	8	8	10	10	10	12	12	12	12	12	12	14	14	16
12	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	0	0	0	1	3	3	3	4	4	6	8	8	10	10	11	13	13	13	13	15	15	15
13	Illawarra Steelers	0	1	3	3	5	5	7	9	9	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	13
14	Newcastle Knights	0	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	6	6	7	7	7	7	9	9	9	9	9	9	11
15	Gold Coast-Tweed Giants	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	3	3	3	3	5	7	7	9	9	9	9	10	10
16	Western Suburbs Magpies	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	7	7	7	7	9	9

Balmain had staged a gripping charge for the final five, winning nine of their last eleven games including five in a row to leave them in equal fifth spot with the Penrith Panthers at the regular season's end. They then won four sudden death finals to make it to the Grand final.

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Playoff
Penrith Panthers	8–28	Balmain Tigers	16 August 1988	Parramatta Stadium	Mick Stone	14,206
Qualifying Finals
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	6–19	Balmain Tigers	20 August 1988	Sydney Football Stadium	Mick Stone	25,327
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	19–18	Canberra Raiders	21 August 1988	Sydney Football Stadium	Graham Annesley	19,259
Semi-finals
Canberra Raiders	6–14	Balmain Tigers	27 August 1988	Sydney Football Stadium	Mick Stone	28,879
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	8–26	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	28 August 1988	Sydney Football Stadium	Graham Annesley	31,684
Preliminary final
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	2–9	Balmain Tigers	4 September 1988	Sydney Football Stadium	Mick Stone	34,848
Grand final
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	24–12	Balmain Tigers	11 September 1988	Sydney Football Stadium	Mick Stone	40,000

	Qualifying final					Major semi-final					Preliminary final					Grand final
						1	Cronulla-Sutherland	8								2	Canterbury	24
						2	Canterbury	26								5	Balmain	12
	2	Canterbury	19								1	Cronulla-Sutherland	2
	3	Canberra	18			Minor semi-final					5	Balmain	9
						3	Canberra	6
	4	Manly	6			5	Balmain	14
	5	Balmain	19

This was the first grand final not to be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Following Balmain's extraordinary late season run in winning thirteen of fifteen games, the stage was set for a grand final of great appeal. 1980s master coach Warren Ryan of Balmain was up against the club he had coached for four years to three grand finals and two premierships, as well as being matched against the man who had replaced him at Canterbury – Phil Gould. It was master against pupil. At just 30 years of age, Gould was vying not only to become the youngest coach to win a grand final but the first since Balmain's Leo Nosworthy in 1969 to steer a team to premiership victory in his first season coaching the top-grade.

The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs faced the Balmain Tigers on 11 September 1988 in the first grand final played at the Sydney Football Stadium and the last game for Steve Mortimer. The match was played early so that Channel Ten could broadcast the 1988 Seoul Olympics. The Australian national anthem was performed by Glenn Shorrock.

After five minutes Peter Tunks was sent to the sin bin for ten minutes for treading on Ben Elias. The first points of the match were scored shortly after from Terry Lamb's successful penalty kick. Another penalty kick from Lamb put the Bulldogs in front 4 nil. However Balmain grabbed the first try an Elias put up a bomb and was first to the ball ahead of Bulldog Jason Alchin. Conlon's conversion from in front gave the Tigers the lead for first time at 6–4.^[4]

A highly controversial tackle by Terry Lamb put Balmain's in form British import Ellery Hanley out of the game before the 30-minute mark had been reached.^[5] Hanley staggered off, heavily concussed, with the score at 6–4. Under the rules of the time, Hanley was allowed 10 minutes to recover in the head bin. If he could not return he would need to be replaced. He returned just before half-time and stood, out-of-sorts, on the wing. The Bulldogs then ran in a 70-metre try from broken play and went to the break with a lead of 10–8.

Hanley did not return after half-time and the Bulldogs started to dominate. A great Canterbury team try to Michael Hagan sealed the match. Bruce McGuire scored Balmain's second try late in the match although the outcome was already clear. The match ended on a sentimental note when Gould called the Bulldogs' representative star, former captain and 271-game veteran, Steve Mortimer to the sideline. He was less than fully fit and had his arm heavily padded to protect the wrist he had broken early in the season. However Mortimer had been named as a fresh reserve as tribute to his previous club contributions and the match ended with him moving to dummy half and taking the ball up for the last time.

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 24
Tries: Nissen, Hagan, Gillespie, Lamb
Goals: Lamb 4

Balmain Tigers 12
Tries: Elias, McGuire
Goals: Conlon 2

Clive Churchill Medal: Paul Dunn (Canterbury)^[6]

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

Top 5 point scorers Points Player Tries Goals Field goals 210   Gary Belcher 10 85 0 196   Michael O'Connor 17 64 0 164   Ricky Walford 15 52 0 161   Alan Wilson 7 66 1 155   David Smith 7 63 1 Top 5 try scorers Tries Player 19   John Ferguson 17   Andrew Ettingshausen 17   Michael O'Connor 15   Wally Lewis 15   Ricky Walford

Top 5 goal scorers Goals Player 85   Gary Belcher 66   Alan Wilson 66   Mark Ellison 64   Michael O'Connor 64   Ross Conlon

The 1988 Great Britain Lions tour of Australasia was a tour by the Great Britain national rugby league team, nicknamed the 'Lions', of Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand which took place between May and July of 1988. The tour undertaken by the Great Britain team included a test match against Papua New Guinea, a three-test series against Australia for The Ashes, and a single test against New Zealand, all interspersed with matches against local club and representative teams.

The British team was coached by two-time premiership winner with Manly-Warringah, Mal Reilly, who had toured as a player in 1970. The team captain was Ellery Hanley who was making his second Lions tour as a player.

Taking place following the conclusion of England's 1987–88 Rugby Football League season and during Australia's 1988 Winfield Cup premiership season, the tour led to friction between the Great Britain team's management and the Australian Rugby League over match scheduling and promotion. The Lions finished the tour with ten wins and six losses. Unfortunately for the Lions, three of their losses came in the Test matches, two against Australia and one against New Zealand. One of their losses was a 30–0 thumping by reigning Premiers Manly-Warringah only 4 days before the 1st Ashes test.

Game	Date	Result	Venue	Attendance
1	27 May	Great Britain Lions def.   North Queensland 66–16	Cairns Showgrounds, Cairns	4,181
2	1 June	Great Britain Lions def.   Newcastle Knights 24–12	Marathon Stadium, Newcastle	8,970
3	5 June	Northern Division def.   Great Britain Lions 36–12	Scully Park, Tamworth	4,000
4	7 June	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles def.   Great Britain Lions 30–0	Brookvale Oval, Sydney	21,131
5	11 June	Australia def.   Great Britain 17–6	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	24,480
6	16 June	Great Britain Lions def.   Combined Brisbane 28–14	Lang Park, Brisbane	1,810
7	17 June	Great Britain Lions def.   Central Queensland 64–8	Browne Park, Rockhampton	4,418
8	22 June	Great Britain Lions def.   Toowoomba / S-E Queensland 14–0	Athletic Oval, Toowoomba	3,874
9	25 June	Great Britain Lions def.   Wide Bay 28–12	Albert Park, Gympie	2,310
10	26 June	Australia def.   Great Britain 34–14	Lang Park, Brisbane	27,130
11	3 July	Great Britain Lions def.   Western Division 28–26	Wade Park, Orange	3,520
12	5 July	President's XIII def.   Great Britain Lions 24–16	Seiffert Oval, Queanbeyan	6,037
13	9 July	Great Britain def.   Australia 26–12	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	15,944

• Rugby League Tables – Season 1988 The World of Rugby League.
• 1988 J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup at rleague.com^{[dead link]}
• Results:1981–90 at rabbitohs.com.au
• NSWRL season 1988 at rugbyleagueproject.com