2002 NRL season

2002 National Rugby League
Teams	15
Premiers	Sydney (12th title)
Minor premiers	New Zealand (1st title)
Matches played	189
Points scored	9083 (total) 48.058 (per match)
Attendance	2,656,198 (total) 14,054 (per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Hazem El Masri (254)
Top try scorer(s)	Nigel Vagana (23)

The 2002 NRL season was the 95th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fifth to be run by the National Rugby League. The season was affected by the competition-leading Bulldogs' salary cap breach finding, which saw them relegated to the bottom of the NRL ladder. As a result the New Zealand Warriors won their first minor premiership and made it to the grand final for the first time, playing against foundation club the Sydney Roosters who won the match and collected their first premiership in 27 years.

Pre-season

In February, 2002, the National Rugby League's Director of Legal and Business Affairs, David Gallop, was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the NRL, succeeding David Moffett.

The legendary Broncos and Maroons halfback, Allan Langer, returned from England to play his final season of professional football with the Brisbane club. In doing so he became the NRL's oldest player for the 2002 season at 36 years and 60 days.

The return of South Sydney

See also: South Sydney Rabbitohs history § The troubled 1990s and exclusion

Following the club's departure from the NRL after the 1999 season, there was a continuing push from both fans and the wider rugby league community to reinstate the South Sydney Rabbitohs into the NRL competition. After two unsuccessful years of lobbying, South Sydney finally received a court ruling in their favour in 2001. On 15 March 2002, the Rabbitohs opened the NRL season with a home match against long-time rivals, the Sydney Roosters, losing badly, 40-6.

It turned out to be a tough year for the Rabbitohs, winning only 5 matches from 24 played.

Regular season

In 2002, as in 2001, the NRL's advertising was handled by Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney. As in the previous season, there was no big budget season launch advertising campaign. The NRL focussed on stretching its marketing spending throughout the season with newspaper ads promoting individual rounds and clubs, and with simple TV ads to promote key games.

The Bulldogs won 17 games in a row and had an unbeaten run of 18 games, the most in the club's history. However they were deducted 37 premiership points for a gross salary cap breaches, the most points deducted in premiership history. That left the club with just four competition points attained from the two byes earlier in the season. Four more competition points followed since the salary cap scandal, all from wins in the last two rounds of the season.

The New Zealand Warriors won the club's first Minor Premiership in its 8-year history and also made it to their first Grand Final. The Warriors were not in first place almost during the entire season, only taking top spot on the ladder at the conclusion of Round 26.

John Hopoate ran 3,976 metres with the ball in 2002, more than any other player in the competition.

At the end of the season NRL referees' coach Peter Louis resigned from his position.

Bulldogs salary cap breach

See also: Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs salary cap breach

In mid-2002, the Bulldogs were found guilty of serious and systemic breaches of the salary cap. NRL Chief Executive David Gallop described the violation as "exceptional in both its size and its deliberate and ongoing nature". The club received a $500,000 fine, and was stripped of 37 of its 41 competition points accumulated up to Round 23. The latter action was particularly harmful, as the club were poised to take the Minor Premiership and had won 17 consecutive matches (the second highest in Australian club rugby league history at the time). The deduction of the 37 competition points meant that the Bulldogs would win the wooden spoon, as the South Sydney Rabbitohs had already accumulated 12 competition points by the end of Round 24.

The deduction of the Bulldogs' points also enabled the Canberra Raiders to make the finals with a points differential of -170, the poorest such record of any finalist in the competition's history, and the Raiders only won one game outside of Canberra for the entire season. It also enabled the New Zealand Warriors to secure their first minor premiership in the club's history.

Ladder

The Warriors received A$100,000 prize money for finishing the regular season as minor premiers.

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	New Zealand Warriors	24	17	0	7	2	688	454	+234	38
2	Newcastle Knights	24	17	0	7	2	724	498	+226	38
3	Brisbane Broncos	24	16	1	7	2	672	425	+247	37
4	Sydney Roosters (P)	24	15	1	8	2	621	405	+216	35
5	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	24	15	0	9	2	653	597	+56	34
6	Parramatta Eels	24	10	2	12	2	531	440	+91	26
7	St George Illawarra Dragons	24	9	3	12	2	632	546	+86	25
8	Canberra Raiders	24	10	1	13	2	471	641	-170	25
9	Northern Eagles	24	10	0	14	2	503	740	-237	24
10	Melbourne Storm	24	9	1	14	2	556	586	-30	23
11	16x16px North Queensland Cowboys	24	8	0	16	2	496	803	-307	20
12	Penrith Panthers	24	7	0	17	2	546	654	-108	18
13	Wests Tigers	24	7	0	17	2	498	642	-144	18
14	South Sydney Rabbitohs	24	5	0	19	2	385	817	-432	14
15	Bulldogs	24	20	1	3	2	707	435	+272	81

¹The Bulldogs were deducted 37 premiership points due to gross salary cap breaches.

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
• Underlined numbers indicate that the team had a bye during 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	23	24	25	26
1	New Zealand	2	4	4	6	8	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	24	26	26	28	30	30	32	34	36	36	36	38
2	Newcastle	2	4	6	8	10	12	12	14	16	16	18	20	22	24	24	26	28	28	30	30	32	32	34	36	38	38
3	Brisbane	2	3	5	7	9	11	13	15	17	19	19	21	21	23	25	25	27	29	31	33	35	35	35	35	37	37
4	Sydney Roosters	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	16	18	19	21	23	23	23	25	25	27	29	31	33	35
5	Cronulla-Sutherland	2	4	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	26	28	30	32	34	34
6	Parramatta	2	2	4	4	5	7	9	11	13	15	15	17	19	19	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	22	22	24	26	26
7	St. George Illawarra	0	2	2	4	5	5	5	5	6	8	10	10	10	11	13	15	15	15	17	19	19	19	21	23	23	25
8	Canberra	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	4	5	5	7	9	11	11	11	13	13	15	15	17	19	21	21	23	23	25
9	Northern Eagles	0	2	2	4	4	6	6	8	8	10	10	10	12	12	14	16	16	18	18	18	20	22	22	22	24	24
10	Melbourne	2	2	4	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	10	10	11	13	13	15	17	19	19	19	21	23	23	23	23
11	File:North Queensland colours.svg North Queensland	0	0	0	0	2	2	4	4	6	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	10	10	12	14	14	14	16	16	18	20
12	Penrith	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	8	8	10	10	10	10	10	10	12	12	14	14	16	16	18
13	Wests Tigers	2	4	4	6	6	8	10	10	10	10	12	12	12	12	14	14	14	14	14	14	16	16	16	18	18	18
14	South Sydney	0	2	4	4	4	4	6	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	10	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	14
15	Bulldogs	0	1	3	5	7	9	11	13	15	17	19	21	23	25	27	29	31	33	35	37	39	39	41	4	6	8

Finals series

To decide the grand finalists from the top eight finishing teams, the NRL adopts the McIntyre Final Eight System.

Coincidentally, the finalists for 2002 were almost the same as the previous season, with the exception of the Bulldogs being replaced by Canberra. Had the Bulldogs not been deducted competition points, they would have become the minor premiers and completed the replication, with Canberra moving down to 9th.

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Qualifying Finals
Sydney Roosters	32 – 20	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	13 September 2002	Aussie Stadium	Paul Simpkins	25,366
Brisbane Broncos	24 – 14	Parramatta Eels	14 September 2002	ANZ Stadium	Sean Hampstead	19,115
Newcastle Knights	22 – 26	St George Illawarra Dragons	14 September 2002	Energy Australia Stadium	Bill Harrigan	21,051
New Zealand Warriors	36 – 20	Canberra Raiders	15 September 2002	Ericsson Stadium	Tim Mander	25,800
Semi Finals
St George Illawarra Dragons	24 – 40	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	21 September 2002	Aussie Stadium	Bill Harrigan	31,783
Sydney Roosters	38 – 12	Newcastle Knights	22 September 2002	Aussie Stadium	Sean Hampstead	23,816
Preliminary Finals
Brisbane Broncos	12 – 16	Sydney Roosters	28 September 2002	Aussie Stadium	Bill Harrigan	28,251
New Zealand Warriors	16 – 10	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	29 September 2002	Telstra Stadium	Tim Mander	45,782

Chart

	Qualifying Finals					Semi Finals					Preliminary Finals					Grand Final
	1	New Zealand	36
	8	Canberra	20
											1W	New Zealand	16
	2	Newcastle	22			4W	St. George Illawarra	24				Cronulla	10
	7	St. George Illawarra	26			2L	Cronulla	40									New Zealand	8
																	Sydney	30
	3	Brisbane	24								2W	Brisbane	12
	6	Parramatta	14			3W	Sydney	38				Sydney	16
						1L	Newcastle	12
	4	Sydney	32
	5	Cronulla	20

Grand final

Main article: 2002 NRL grand final

Sunday, 6 October 19:00

Sydney Roosters	30 - 8	New Zealand Warriors
Tries: Craig Fitzgibbon Chris Flannery Bryan Fletcher Shannon Hegarty Craig Wing Goals: Craig Fitzgibbon (5/5)	Report	Tries: Stacy Jones Goals: Ivan Cleary (2/2)

Telstra Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 80,130 Referee/s: Bill Harrigan Man of the Match: Craig Fitzgibbon

External links

• NRL official website
• RLeague.com 2002 NRL Draw and Results
• Blood, guts and Rooster glory - Sydney Morning Herald match report
• 2002 NRL Grand Final at sportsphotography.net