| 2006 (2006) NRL Grand Final | |||||||||||||
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| Date | 1 October 2006 | ||||||||||||
| Stadium | Telstra Stadium | ||||||||||||
| Location | Sydney, New South Wales | ||||||||||||
| Clive Churchill Medal | Shaun Berrigan (BRI) | ||||||||||||
| National anthem | Jade MacRae | ||||||||||||
| Referee | Paul Simpkins | ||||||||||||
| Attendance | 79,609 | ||||||||||||
| Broadcast partners | |||||||||||||
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The2006 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding match of theNRL's2006 Telstra Premiership season. It was played between the first-placedMelbourne Storm and the third-placedBrisbane Broncos clubs on the night of Sunday, 1 October. The 2006grand final was the first ever to feature teams which were both from cities outside the borders ofNew South Wales, in this case the capitals ofQueensland andVictoria, yet was played at the traditional venue ofSydney'sTelstra Stadium.[1] 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 theminor premiership (although this was later discounted whensalary cap breaches at the club were exposed in 2010). Both teams were looking to keep their perfectgrand final records intact: Brisbane with 5/5 and the Melbourne side with 1/1 heading into the game.[2]
The2006 NRL season was the 99th season of professionalrugby league football in Australia and the ninth run by theNational 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 2006Brisbane Broncos season was the nineteenth in the club's history. Coached byWayne Bennett and captained byDarren Lockyer, they finished the regular season in third place before going on to reach their sixthgrand final.
The 2006Melbourne Storm season was the 9th in the club's history. Coached byCraig Bellamy and captained byCameron Smith, they won a record 20 out of 24 regular season games to finish in first place and win theminor premiership, eight points clear of the second-placed Canterbury. The Melbourne club then reached their secondgrand final as favorites.
Matt Geyer was the only remaining Melbourne Storm player from their1999 premiership winning team and the only person at the club withgrand final experience. Scott Hill (who had missed the 1999 grand final with injury) was playing his 200th and final game in the NRL.[3] By contrast, around half of theBrisbane Broncos players had premiership rings, most of them from the club's1998 and2000 grand final wins, whileJustin Hodges was the only player in the Broncos squad that had won elsewhere, being part of theSydney Roosters'2002 premiership team.[4][5] It was to be the last rugby league match for Broncos veteranShane Webcke before retirement.
| Melbourne Storm | Position | Brisbane Broncos | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Number | Number | Name | |
| Billy Slater | 1 | 1 | Justin Hodges | |
| Matt Geyer | 2 | 2 | Darius Boyd | |
| Matt King | 3 | 3 | Brent Tate | |
| Greg Inglis | 4 | 4 | David Stagg | |
| Steve Turner | 5 | 5 | Karmichael Hunt | |
| Scott Hill | 6 | 6 | Darren Lockyer (c) | |
| Cooper Cronk | 7 | 7 | Shane Perry | |
| Antonio Kaufusi | 8 | 8 | Shane Webcke | |
| Cameron Smith (c) | 9 | 9 | Shaun Berrigan | |
| Brett White | 10 | 10 | Petero Civoniceva | |
| David Kidwell | 11 | 11 | Sam Thaiday | |
| Ryan Hoffman | 12 | 12 | Brad Thorn | |
| Dallas Johnson | 13 | 13 | Tonie Carroll | |
| Adam Blair | 14 | 14 | Corey Parker | |
| Jeremy Smith | 15 | 15 | Dane Carlaw | |
| Ben Cross | 16 | 16 | Ben Hannant | |
| Nathan Friend | 17 | 17 | Casey McGuire | |
| Craig Bellamy | Coach | Wayne Bennett | ||
A crowd of 79,609 people turned out, withHoodoo Gurus andINXS[7] performing before the match.
RefereePaul Simpkins was chosen to officiate his first NRL grand final, withBill Harrigan the video referee.
The first points of the match came from apenalty in the ninth minute. Brisbane'sShaun Berrigan, playing at hooker, tried to burrow over Melbourne's try-line fromdummy half but was ruled to have had theball taken from his arms byBilly Slater in a two-man tackle.[8] The resulting penalty kick by captainDarren Lockyer in front of the posts was a gift two points for the Brisbane side to take an early 2-0 lead.[9] Three minutes later, Melbourne halfbackCooper Cronk kicked a40/20 coming out of his side's territory. Following the subsequentscrum in an attacking position, the Melbourne side raided Brisbane's line and got the firsttry 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 wingerSteve Turner who dived over out wide.[10]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 Lockyerbomb.[11] Lockyer, moving across-field fed the ball back inside toJustin 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.[12] Darren Lockyer was limping around in the dressing room but went on to play through the rest of the game.
Eight minutes into the second half, a high tackle by Justin Hodges on Cameron Smith close to Brisbane's line resulted in a minor scuffle and a penalty to the Melbourne side.[13] Melbourne captain Smith decided to take the tap and attack Brisbane's line and a close-range try toMatt King resulted. The scores were then level at 8-all, with the kick to come.[14] Smith, also Melbourne's first-choice goal-kicker, was having a problem with his kicking leg so the task fell ontoMatt Geyer whose conversion attempt went wide. Ten minutes later a penalty was awarded to the Broncos after a high shot from Billy Slater on Shaun Berrigan andCorey Parker's kick was successful, giving his side a two-point lead at 10-8.[15] Following the restart kick from Melbourne, Brisbane were working the ball out of their own half and on the fifth tackle scored a brilliant grand final try. Fromdummy half Berrigan ran then passed back inside to Lockyer who gave a short ball on to Parker who did likewise forCasey McGuire. Before being tackled McGuire tossed the ball blindly back over his head and it was picked up by Lockyer who spun out of a tackle then passed it toTonie Carroll. Without losing momentum, Carroll passed the ball on to a flyingBrent Tate who raced to the corner for the try.[16] The conversion attempt from near the sideline was missed by Parker so the Brisbane side led by six with seventeen minutes of play remaining. A couple of minutes later Melbourne appeared to have scored their third try when a bomb by Cronk was leapt for but unsuccessfully taken by both a Brisbane and a Melbourne player. On its way down the ball was snatched from the air by King who looked to have put it down for his second try but the video referee ruled that the ball had gone forward off the Storm so it was disallowed.[17] In the seventy-third minute, after a strong run by propShane Webcke (the oldest player on the field) put him in good field position, Lockyer snapped away a successfulfield goal. This gave Brisbane a 7-point buffer.[18] A frustrated Melbourne side were unable to score in the remaining minutes as Brisbane ground their way towards full-time, the score 15-8 at the final siren.
Brisbane'sShaun Berrigan, playing in his new role ashooker, received theClive Churchill Medal for man-of-the-match.[19] Hisdummy half raids and effective defence were seen as instrumental in his team's victory.
Brisbane's victory was the club's sixth premiership in their 19 seasons and it broke what was at the time their longest premiership drought (five years). They suffered 11 losses during the season (including those to non-finals teams the Cowboys (twice), Wests Tigers and the wooden spooners, South Sydney), the most ever by a premiership-winning team. The win also enabled Brisbane to maintain their 100% victory record in grand finals, making it six from six. This also madeWayne Bennett the most successful Australian rugby league club coach of all time in terms of premierships won. In addition the grand final victory provided the perfect farewell for retiring Broncos prop-forwardShane Webcke, who left the playing field with a grand final victory in his final match.[20] Also departing the NRL were Casey McGuire and Scott Hill, both bound for theSuper League.
2006's grand final set a new record for the second highest ever television audience in Australia for a rugby league match since the introduction of theOzTam ratings system in 2001, behind only theprevious season's grand final.[21] Melbourne's television audience for the match was higher than Sydney's.[22]
The two teams would meet again in the2025 NRL Grand Final.
Melbourne Storm | 8 – 15 |  Brisbane Broncos |
|---|---|---|
| Tries:2 Turner  14'King 49'Goals: C Smith(0/1) Geyer(0/1) | 1st: 4–8 2nd: 4–7 Report | Tries:2 Hodges 19'Tate 62'Goals:3 Lockyer  pen 9',20'(2/2)Parker pen 60'(1/2)Field goals:1 Lockyer 73' |
Telstra Stadium,Sydney Attendance: 79,609[6] Referee:Paul Simpkins Video referee:Bill Harrigan Touch judges: Rod Lawrence, Steve Carrall Clive Churchill Medal:Shaun Berrigan (Brisbane) |
Having won the NRL grand final, the Brisbane Broncos had earned the right to play against 2006'sSuper League XI Champions,St. Helens in the following February'sWorld Club Challenge. St Helens won 18–14.