Teams

The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous season, with sixteen clubs contesting the premiership, including five inner Sydney-based foundation teams, another six from greater Sydney, two from greater New South Wales, two from Queensland, and one from the Australian Capital Territory.

Balmain Tigers 87th season Ground: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Wayne Pearce Captain: Ben Elias	Brisbane Broncos 7th season Ground: ANZ Stadium Coach: Wayne Bennett Captain: Allan Langer	Canberra Raiders 13th season Ground: Bruce Stadium Coach: Tim Sheens Captain: Mal Meninga	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 60th season Ground: Belmore Oval Coach: Chris Anderson Captain: Terry Lamb
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 28th season Ground: Endeavour Park Coach: John Lang Captain: Dan Stains	Eastern Suburbs Roosters 87th season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: Mark Murray → Arthur Beetson Captain: Craig Salvatori	Gold Coast Seagulls 7th season Ground: Seagulls Stadium Coach: John Harvey Captain: Craig Coleman	Illawarra Steelers 13th season Ground: Wollongong Stadium Coach: Graham Murray Captain: John Cross
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 48th season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Bob Fulton Captain: Geoff Toovey	Newcastle Knights 7th season Ground: Marathon Stadium Coach: David Waite Captain: Mark Sargent	North Sydney Bears 87th season Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Peter Louis Captain: Jason Taylor	Parramatta Eels 48th season Ground: Parramatta Stadium Coach: Ron Hilditch Captain: Paul Dunn
Penrith Panthers 28th season Ground: Penrith Stadium Coach: Phil Gould → Royce Simmons Captain: John Cartwright	South Sydney Rabbitohs 87th season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: Ken Shine Captain: Dean Schifilliti	St. George Dragons 74th season Ground: Kogarah Oval Coach: Brian Smith Captain: Mark Coyne	Western Suburbs Magpies 87th season Ground: Campbelltown Stadium Coach: Wayne Ellis Captain: Paul Langmack → Jim Serdaris

Advertising

In 1994 the League and its advertising agency Hertz Walpole returned to the original 1989 recording of "The Best" by Tina Turner to underscore the season launch ad. Footage had been shot of Turner's performance at the 1993 grand final and a studio bluescreen shoot also took place during that visit ensuring a store of images that could be used in flexible adaptations for the final two years of Turner's association with the competition and the Winfield Cup.

The 1994 advertisement used the performance and superimposed studio footage of Turner into crowd and stadium scenes that replicated the Sydney Football Stadium. The closing scenes of the commercial made it appear that Turner was singing the song high up in the Sydney Football Stadium's stands in front of its identifiable stretched-sail roofing.

Ladder

More information Team, Pld ...

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	22	18	0	4	537	340	+197	36
2	North Sydney Bears	22	17	1	4	517	291	+226	35
3	Canberra Raiders (P)	22	17	0	5	677	298	+379	34
4	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	22	16	1	5	605	311	+294	33
5	Brisbane Broncos	22	13	1	8	544	316	+228	27
6	Illawarra Steelers	22	11	3	8	484	387	+97	25
7	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	22	12	0	10	432	401	+31	24
8	Penrith Panthers	22	10	2	10	404	448	-44	22
9	South Sydney Rabbitohs	22	9	1	12	401	569	-168	19
10	Newcastle Knights	22	9	0	13	427	458	-31	18
11	St. George Dragons	22	9	0	13	386	497	-111	18
12	Parramatta Eels	22	7	1	14	350	474	-124	15
13	Western Suburbs Magpies	22	6	2	14	439	650	-211	14
14	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	22	6	1	15	344	513	-169	13
15	Gold Coast Seagulls	22	5	1	16	363	618	-255	11
16	Balmain Tigers	22	4	0	18	303	642	-339	8

Close

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.

More information Team ...

	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
1	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	2	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	20	20	22	24	26	28	30	30	32	34	36
2	North Sydney Bears	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	14	14	15	17	19	21	23	25	27	29	31	33	33	35
3	Canberra Raiders	0	2	4	4	6	8	10	12	12	14	16	16	18	18	20	22	24	26	28	30	32	34
4	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	0	1	3	5	5	7	7	9	11	13	15	17	19	21	23	23	25	27	29	31	33	33
5	Brisbane Broncos	1	1	1	3	5	5	7	9	9	11	11	13	13	15	15	17	19	21	23	23	25	27
6	Illawarra Steelers	0	1	3	4	4	4	4	6	8	9	11	11	13	15	17	19	19	21	23	23	23	25
7	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	2	4	4	6	8	8	8	8	10	12	12	14	14	16	18	18	18	18	20	20	22	24
8	Penrith Panthers	1	3	5	5	5	7	9	9	11	12	12	14	14	14	14	16	18	18	18	20	22	22
9	South Sydney Rabbitohs	0	0	0	1	3	3	5	7	9	11	13	15	17	17	17	19	19	19	19	19	19	19
10	Newcastle Knights	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	8	8	10	10	12	14	16	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18
11	St. George Dragons	2	2	4	6	8	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	12	12	14	14	14	14	16	16	18	18
12	Parramatta Eels	1	1	1	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	5	5	7	7	7	7	9	9	9	11	13	15
13	Western Suburbs Magpies	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	6	8	8	10	10	10	12	12	12	14	14	14
14	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	0	0	0	0	2	4	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	9	9	11	11	11	11	13
15	Gold Coast Seagulls	1	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	5	5	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	9	11	11	11	11
16	Balmain Tigers	0	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	8	8	8

Close

Chart

	Qualifying final					Major semi-final					Preliminary final					Grand final
						1	Canterbury	19								Canterbury		12
							Canberra	18								Canberra		36
	2	North Sydney	12								Canberra		22
	3	Canberra	26			Minor semi-final					North Sydney		9
						North Sydney		15
	4	Manly	4			Brisbane		14
	5	Brisbane	16

Grand final

The Canberra Raiders were confident in the lead up, despite their one-point loss to the Bulldogs in the major semi-final, and everything played into their hands from the whistle. Canterbury veteran prop Martin Bella dropped the ball from the kick-off and before too long Canberra had posted two tries.

Canberra legend Mal Meninga was given a champion's farewell as his "Green Machine" swamped the Bulldogs.^[3] Canberra's Paul Osborne also enjoyed a fairytale day. On the outer for most of the year, Osborne won a reprieve, playing at Prop after team-mate John Lomax was suspended for a high tackle in the preliminary final against North Sydney. Osborne, playing in his 135th and last career game before retirement, rose to the occasion by setting up the first two Raiders tries in the opening sixteen minutes.

Meninga's 166th and final match for the Raiders ended perfectly when he scored the last try of the day after intercepting a pass from Jason Smith. Meninga then outlasted the cover defence, running almost 40 metres and palming off his opposite Centre Jarrod McCracken to score the try beside the posts, sending the 42,234 strong crowd at the Sydney Football Stadium into raptures. Despite being a goal kicker for most of his career, Meninga declined to take what would have been an easy conversion of his own try, instead leaving the kick to regular team kicker, Clive Churchill Medallist David Furner.

The Canberra Raiders had claimed their third premiership, amassing the highest score in a grand final since Eastern Suburbs defeated St. George 38-0 in 1975. It was the highest-scoring grand final since 1951 when South Sydney defeated Manly 42-14 (though tries then were worth only three points).

Canberra Raiders 36
Tries: Nagas 2, Furner, Daley, Nadruku, Croker, Meninga
Goals: Furner 4/7

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 12
Tries: Williams, Hetherington
Goals: Halligan 2/2

• Clive Churchill Medallist: David Furner
• Referee: Greg McCallum
• Attendance: 42,234 at the Sydney Football Stadium^[4]