Ladder

More information Team, Pld ...

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (P)	22	18	0	4	549	191	+358	36
2	Brisbane Broncos	21	17	0	4	607	263	+344	34
3	North Sydney Bears	22	15	2	5	598	325	+273	32
4	Sydney City Roosters	22	15	1	6	521	321	+200	31
5	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	21	14	2	5	399	268	+131	30
6	Canberra Raiders	21	13	1	7	538	384	+154	27
7	St. George Dragons	21	12	1	8	443	360	+83	27
8	Western Suburbs Magpies	22	12	1	9	394	434	−40	25
9	Newcastle Knights	21	10	1	10	416	388	+28	23
10	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	21	11	0	10	375	378	−3	22
11	Auckland Warriors	21	10	0	11	412	427	−15	22
12	Sydney Tigers	22	11	0	11	319	459	−140	22
13	Parramatta Eels	21	9	1	11	404	415	−11	21
14	Illawarra Steelers	22	8	0	14	403	444	−41	16
15	Penrith Panthers	21	7	1	13	363	464	−101	15
16	Western Reds	21	6	1	14	313	420	−107	13
17	North Queensland Cowboys	21	6	0	15	288	643	−355	12
18	Gold Coast Chargers	22	5	1	16	359	521	−162	11
19	South Sydney Rabbitohs	22	5	1	16	314	634	−320	11
20	South Queensland Crushers	21	3	0	18	220	496	−276	8

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Ladder progression

• Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 8.
• Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.
• Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished in last place on the ladder in that round

More information Team ...

	Team	11	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
1	Manly-Warringah	2	4	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	22	24	26	28	30	30	32	32	34	36
2	Brisbane	0	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	16	16	16	18	18	20	22	24	26	28	30	32	34
3	North Sydney	2	4	6	6	8	10	12	14	14	16	18	18	20	22	22	23	24	26	28	28	30	32
4	Sydney City	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	20	20	20	22	24	24	26	27	29	29	29	31
5	Cronulla-Sutherland	0	2	2	4	6	8	8	10	12	14	16	16	17	19	21	21	22	24	24	26	28	30
6	Canberra	0	1	1	3	3	5	7	7	9	9	11	11	13	15	15	17	19	19	21	23	25	27
7	St George	2	2	4	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	10	10	11	13	15	17	19	21	23	25	25	27
8	Western Suburbs	2	2	4	6	6	6	8	8	10	12	13	15	15	15	17	17	19	21	21	23	23	25
9	Newcastle	2	4	4	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	16	18	18	18	18	19	19	19	19	21	23	23
10	Sydney Bulldogs	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	8	10	10	10	12	12	14	16	18	20	22
11	Auckland	2	4	4	6	6	8	10	10	10	10	10	12	14	16	18	18	20	22	22	22	22	22
12	Sydney Tigers	0	2	2	4	4	6	8	10	10	10	12	14	16	16	18	18	18	18	18	20	22	22
13	Parramatta	2	2	4	4	6	6	6	8	10	12	12	14	14	14	14	16	18	19	21	21	21	21
14	Illawarra	0	0	0	2	2	2	4	6	8	8	8	10	10	10	10	10	10	12	14	14	16	16
15	Penrith	0	1	3	3	3	3	3	5	5	7	9	9	9	11	11	11	11	11	11	13	13	15
16	Western Reds	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	5	7	9	9	11	11	13	13	13
17	North Queensland	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	6	6	6	6	8	8	10	10	12	12
18	Gold Coast	0	0	2	2	4	6	6	6	6	8	8	8	8	9	9	11	11	11	11	11	11	11
19	South Sydney	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	3	5	7	7	9	11	11	11	11	11	11	11
20	South Queensland	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8

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¹ - Due to the Super League war, clubs aligned with the Super League refused to take part in round 1. As such, only 4 games were played, all between two ARL-aligned teams. Of the remaining 6 games, Super League teams Canberra, Penrith, Cronulla and the Western Reds forfeited their games to the ARL-aligned clubs South Queensland, Parramatta, Newcastle and St George respectively. The match between Canterbury and North Queensland was cancelled, and Brisbane forfeited to Auckland due to Auckland fielding a team consisting of players from the Otahuhu Leopards and Ellerslie Eagles clubs. As a result of the forfeitures, 9 teams were in the top 8 after the first round due to ties on points differential.

Chart

	Qualifying and elimination finals						Semi-finals						Preliminary finals					Grand Final
	8 Sept, Sydney Football Stadium
	1	Manly-Warringah	16
	4	Sydney City	14				15 Sept, Sydney Football Stadium
							Sydney City		16
	6 Sept, Parramatta Stadium						St. George		36				22 Sept, Sydney Football Stadium
	5	Cronulla-Sutherland	20										Manly-Warringah		24
	8	Western Suburbs	12										Cronulla-Sutherland		0			29 Sept, Sydney Football Stadium
																		Manly-Warringah		20
	7 Sept, Sydney Football Stadium												21 Sept, Sydney Football Stadium					St. George		8
	6	Canberra	14										North Sydney		12
	7	St. George	16				14 Sept, Sydney Football Stadium						St. George		29
							Brisbane		16
	7 Sept, Suncorp Stadium						Cronulla-Sutherland		22
	2	Brisbane	16
	3	North Sydney	21

Grand Final

Quick Facts ARL Grand Final (), Manly WarringahSea Eagles ...

1996 (1996) ARL Grand Final  ()
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles St George Dragons 20 8
1 2 Total MAN 14 6 20 STG 2 6 8
Date	29 September 1996
Stadium	Sydney Football Stadium
Location	Sydney
Clive Churchill Medal	Geoff Toovey (MAN)
Referee	David Manson
Attendance	40,985
Broadcast partners
Broadcasters	Nine Network
Commentators	Ray Warren Peter Sterling

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This was the last grand final to feature two Sydney-based teams until 2003. 40,985 people were at the Sydney Football Stadium for the game, the lowest attendance since 1989. The match was refereed by Queenslander David Manson. For St. George, it was their third Grand Final appearance in the 1990s and would prove to be their last as a stand-alone club. Manly, looking for their 6th premiership, had been beaten Grand Finalists in 1995.

This would be the third and final time the two clubs would meet in a Grand Final, with St George having been victorious on both previous occasions in 1957 and 1959.

The pre-game entertainment focused on the 40th anniversary of television in Australia, as match broadcaster Channel 9 had been the first TV station in 1956. Music artists who performed in the pre-game included Glenn Shorrock, The Delltones, Ross Wilson, Christine Anu, and Kate Ceberano, who sang a video replay duet of "I Still Call Australia Home" with the late Australian entertainer Peter Allen (as Allen had died in 1992, he only appeared on the stadiums video replay screen).

Kate Ceberano also performed the Australian national anthem.

1st half
In the 5th minute, Manly centre Craig Innes won the chase and scored after a grubber kick by his skipper Geoff Toovey.^[4] Matthew Ridge converted from the sideline for 6–0. The Dragons played on after being awarded a penalty in front of the posts in the 8th minute but failed to score. At the 15-minute mark, Saints' halfback Noel Goldthorpe conceded a penalty right in front of their goal post after committing a head-high tackle on Manly's Daniel Gartner. Ridge took the kick, extending the lead to 8–0. St. George sent in forward replacements Lance Thompson and David Barnhill for Scott Gourley and Kevin Campion (head cut). For Manly, Neil Tierney came off the interchange bench to replace David Gillespie. Up until the 19th minute mark when Manly veteran five-eighth Cliff Lyons took the field, their coach Bob Fulton was using six running forwards with captain Geoff Toovey as dummy half.

The Dragons' first points came in the 37th minute when Wayne Bartrim kicked a penalty that was awarded when Manly forward Owen Cunningham stripped the ball. From the ensuing kick-off just before half-time, the game's controversial moment occurred by means of a hotly disputed try. Ridge made a spectacular short kick-off and regathered, catching the Dragons unaware. St George hooker Nathan Brown appeared to tackle Ridge, albeit one-handedly and by the collar. Ridge got up and ran when Brown was expecting him to stop and play the ball. Referee David Manson ruled that Brown did not complete the tackle. Ridge was eventually tackled just a few metres from the line. From there, dummy half Nik Kosef then passed the ball to Steve Menzies, who stormed his way through the Saints' defense of Thompson, Dean Raper, Noel Goldthorpe and Wayne Bartrim to score next to the posts, giving Ridge an easy conversion kick. The controversial ruling by referee Manson gave Manly a 14–2 half-time lead and broke the Saints' resolve. In the process of scoring, Menzies injured his groin/hamstring; and, although he returned for the second half, he was unable to run and was eventually interchanged by coach Fulton.

2nd half
In the 53rd minute, Manly's Danny Moore scored a try from a Terry Hill pass after Hill drew Saints defenders Adrian Brunker and Nick Zisti. With Ridge off the field after being concussed in a tackle, Craig Innes converted from 5 metres off the sideline for the Sea Eagles to take a 20–2 lead. Five minutes later, Dragons' winger Zisti scored a try from a Bartrim cut-out pass. Bartrim then converted from the sideline for a final scoreline of 20–8.^[5] The final 20 minutes were scoreless, with two field goal attempts from Ridge charged down by Dragons' defenders. This ensured that the Sea Eagles secured their sixth official premiership and their only one of the 1990s.

Full-Time Score

More information Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, 20–8 ...

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	20–8	St. George Dragons
Tries: Craig Innes (5') 1 Steve Menzies (40') 1 Danny Moore (54') 1 Goals: Matthew Ridge 3/3 (6', 18' pen, 40') Craig Innes 1/1 (56') Field Goals: Matthew Ridge 0/2	1st: 14 – 2 2nd: 6 – 6	Tries: Nick Zisti (61') 1 Goals: Wayne Bartrim 2/2 (39' pen, 62')

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