| | | St George Dragons Rugby League History
Since
1921 - Our Proud History
1994-1995 |
|
 |
1994:
STEELERS
POST BIG WIN OVER SAINTS
|
Season
snapshot
Despite a series of impressive wins
in 1994, Illawarra fell short of a semi-final berth, finishing
just outside of contention in 6th place.
St George struggled in 1994. After starting with five
wins from six, Saints then lost seven of their next eight
matches eventually finishing 11th on the competition ladder.
|
WIN
Stadium, 1 May 1994: The
Illawarra Steelers have recorded a big win over the
St George Dragons by 24-0. A crowd
of 13,303 was on hand to see their home team score four unanswered
tries.
The Steelers had a series of big
wins in 1994. Besides the Dragons, Illawarra also claimed the
scalps of Easts (34-8), Brisbane (26-4), Parramatta (32-10), Gold
Coast (30-14), Wests (40-18) and Cronulla (42-18).
HEAD-BUTTER TALLIS LET OFF TO PLAY ORIGIN
Sydney,
Tues 14 June 1994: Tearaway St George forward, Gorden Tallis
was found guilty of head butting but has been let off with
a caution. Judiciary chairman, Vince Bruce, QC took the
young forward's previous clean record into account but warned
Tallis, "Don't come back again".
|
MARK
COYNE SCORES MATCH WINNER FOR QUEENSLAND
Sydney Football Stadium, 23 May 1994:
St George centre and Queensland Maroons winger, Mark
Coyne has scored the match winning try for Queensland
in the 1994 State of Origin against the New South Wales
Blues. With one minute to go and trailing 12-10, the Maroons
began deep in their own half. The ball went through 10
sets of hands before Coyne took the final pass to score.
poste
script: Series was won by NSW, 2-1.
|
The decision
enables Tallis to play in the State of Origin decider.
Tallis was sent off by referee, Greg McCallum
after the St George second rower was seen to have made a 'deliberate
lunging action' with his head against Newcastle centre, Jamie
Ainscough as the pair struggled on the ground. The defence
claimed that Ainscough deliberately struck the side of Tallis'
head and that his actions were 'defensive, not retaliatory'. Tallis
was reported to be 'very happy with the decision'.
ST GEORGE SUFFER RECORD LOSS 61-0
Brookvale Oval, 3 July 1994: Nothing could
prepare Dragons supporters for what was to happen on a Sunday
afternoon in July. In front of 22,380 people, the Manly Sea Eagles
scored no less than 10 tries to nil to slaughter the St George
Dragons 61-0.
This was the biggest ever loss suffered by the proud
club and has surpassed the previous record of 55 - 7 (11 tries
to 1) against Newtown on 26 August, 1944.
This was the low point in a miserable year for the
Dragons.
RUMOURS OF A SAINTS - EASTS MERGER
With
the season over, rumours starting circulating that St George and
Eastern Suburbs administrators were entering into talks which
would see the clubs merge into one.
Rumours suggested that the St George name, colours
and jersey would disappear.
Saints fans were outraged by this and lobby groups
were formed.
BRAD MACKAY QUITS
ST GEORGE
Click
on the pic (above) for full and larger image (313 Kb) |
It
has been confirmed that local lad, Brad Mackay will be
joining new club, Perth's Western Reds in 1995 as their captain.
The follows reports of a rift between coach Brian Smith
and the international utility player.
Mackay has for some time been touted as a possible captain for
the Dragons but was overlooked for the job in 1994.
Brad joins the other former Dragon, Mick Potter who is
coming out of retirement to also join the Reds.
Brad
Mackay could play lock, centre or five eighth and it was this
versatility which saw him gain representative selection.
Between 1987 - 1994, Brad played
108 games (9 replacements) for the Dragons scoring 22 tries and
14 goals (114 points).
A local junior, he represented NSW 10 times (1989-95) and played
11 Tests for Australia (1990 & 1992-93) making a memorable
debut against France in 1990 when he scored a hat trick of tries. |
1994
NSWRL
First Grade
Ladder
(top
5 in semis)
| Canterbury |
36 |
| Norths |
35 |
| Canberra
p |
34 |
| Manly |
33 |
| Brisbane |
27 |
| Illawarra |
25 |
| Cronulla |
24 |
| Penrith |
22 |
| Souths |
19 |
| Newcastle |
18 |
| St
George |
18 |
| Parramatta |
15 |
| Wests |
14 |
| Easts |
13 |
| Gold
Coast |
11 |
| Balmain |
8
|
p = Season Premiers
AFTER 22 ROUNDS
Minor Premiership
Won-Lost-Draw
Points For 386
(12th best attack)
71t 51g 0fg
Points Against 497
(11th best defence)
84t 79g 3fg
|
|
MP Standing
11th
(16 teams)
|
AFTER 22 ROUNDS
Minor Premiership
Won-Lost-Draw
Points For 484
(6th best attack)
85t 72g 0fg
Points Against 387
(6th best defence)
64t 64g 3fg
|
|
MP Standing
6th
(16 teams)
|
HISTORY
SPOT
CATHY FREEMAN
|
|
1995:
 SOS
- 'SAVE OUR SAINTS' STAGE PROTESTS
1995 was marked by regular appearances at games
by the 'Save Our Saints' (SOS) group.
The group was protesting against the proposal to merge St George
Dragons and the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney City) Roosters..
It became fact that throughout 1995 certain officials were holding
talks with various clubs with the view of amalgamating. On the
eve of the 'Super League War' (more below), an almost farcical
'cloak and dagger' routine developed with St George, Cronulla,
Canterbury and Illawarra being the subject of a number of possible
merger scenarios in southern Sydney as part of the News Ltd-backed
rebel competition. One such meeting saw Cronulla CEO Peter
Gow proposing a laughable blue jersey for a southern Sydney
Cronulla-St George franchise called the 'Gladiators'.
Relocation to Melbourne and Adelaide was also suggested amidst
an atmosphere of News Ltd repeatedly pushing for Saints to join
the breakaway league.
Most
of these talks broke down with the St George board eventually
siding with the Australian Rugby League (ARL).
|
ARL
TAKE OVER THE REINS
By 1995, the old NSWRL 'Sydney Comp' had evolved into
a national competition beyond New South Wales. The national
premiership was now being administered under the auspices
of the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and re-branded as
such.
|
But the merger-talks
were not over and a serious proposal from the Roosters CEO Nick
Politis to join forces was very much on the table. It had
the backing of a number of officials from both clubs including
Saints' CEO Geoff Carr. The plan was for a merger that
would see the demise of the name, jersey and colours of St George.
As soon as the news broke, 'SOS' banners became
commonplace at home games, rallying supporters together to ultimately
put a stop to the plan. On July 23, a rally with over 3,000 supporters
took place at Kogarah Oval. On August 3, SOS organisers threw
down the gauntlet to the club, threatening to call an Extraordinary
General Meeting and move against the board.
Later in August 1995, SOS staged an information night at the St
George Leagues Club auditorium.
Dragon
Army 1995. Click on pic for larger image
|
'People
power' ruled proceedings with over 1,100 angry and vocal supporters
in attendance.
“The packed crowd at the leagues club auditorium vented
their annoyance at the Saints board for its recent merger talks
with Sydney City and also expressed anger at a lack of promotion.”
- Daily
Telegraph Mirror: 23 August, 1995
The merger plans were buried one week later, and Geoff Carr was
dumped following a 6-2 vote on the board.
Interestingly,
there was very little, if any, protest from the Roosters fan base.
BRAD
MACKAY'S 'REDS' DEFEAT SAINTS
|
Season
snapshot
The Dragons finished the 1995 season in 7th position,
qualifying for the eight team semi-finals.
The Steelers had an inconsistent
year and ended their season three points outside of the
top eight in 12th position.
|
Western
Australian Cricket Association (WACA) Ground, 12 March 1995: In
their first ever first grade match, the Western Reds have defeated
St George 28-16 at the WACA ground in front of 24,932 people.
The
Perth team, with ex-Saints, Brad Mackay as captain and
Mick Potter (brought out of retirement) at fullback scored
five tries to three to secure victory.
Another
ex-Dragon, 'Lord Ted' Ted Goodwin, now living in Perth,
was a 'Reds' administrator and played a big part in getting a
Perth team into the competition.
|
NEW
20 TEAM COMP, 8 TEAM SEMIS
For the first time, the season opened with
10 matches of football. Surprisingly, the Australian Rugby
League, under the leadership of Ken Arthurson,
had issued invitations to Auckland (Warriors), Perth (Western
Reds), South Queensland (Crushers) and North Queensland
(Cowboys) thus creating a competition with 20 teams. The
competition was now spread wide and the premiership no
longer resembled the once local Sydney-based competition.
With so many teams, it was decided to introduce an eight
team semi final system.
|
APRIL
FOOLS DAY 1995: THE 'SUPER LEAGUE WAR' BEGINS
Brisbane, 1st April 1995: The outbreak of
hostilities between the ARL and the News LTD backed Super League
began today when John Ribot resigned from his post with
the Brisbane Broncos to take up the new appointment of Super League
CEO.
Later
known as the 'Super League War', the conflict would cause crippling
damage to the game's image as both sides fought over players,
teams, sponsorships and broadcast rights.
Following a number of well documented and costly dramas off the
field, St George rejected offers to join Super League.
Illawarra also had their share of controversy with coach Graham
Murray being sacked for organising meetings between Illawarra
players and Super League officials. A local club, Wests Illawarra,
were reported in the Illawarra Mercury as being a potential
Illawarra Super League club. Illawarra also rejected the breakaway
league and remained loyal to the ARL.
DRAGONS
DEFEAT STEELERS AT HOME
Kogarah, 6 May 1995:
St George and Illawarra met only once in 1995, St George coming
away with a 34-8 win. Saints scored six tries to one in front
of 4,525 people.
ILLAWARRA
END SEASON ON HIGH NOTE
WIN
Stadium, 27 August 1995: Illawarra missed out on a shot at
the finals but completed the year with a big win over Wests by
46-6. Other highlights included victories over Brisbane by 34-18
(round 12), Parramatta by 52-12 (round 16) and Newcastle by 28-6
(round 18).
Graeme Bradley in the 1995 semi-finals
|
SAINTS
MAKE PLAYOFFS
Sydney
Football Stadium, 2nd September 1995: St George have gone
down to eventual premiers Canterbury in the elimination Quarter
Final. Both teams scored one try each with Canterbury kicking
two extra penalty goals.
The
referee was Kelvin Jeffes.
Fulltime score: 12-8.
Crowd: 26,835. |
1995
ARL
First Grade
Ladder
(top
8 in semis)
| Manly |
40 |
| Canberra |
40 |
| Brisbane |
34 |
| Cronulla |
32 |
| Newcastle |
30 |
| Canterbury
p |
28 |
| St
George |
26 |
| Norths |
24 |
| Easts |
24 |
| Auckland |
24 |
| WesternReds |
22 |
| Illawarra |
21 |
| Wests |
20 |
| Penrith |
18 |
| Balmain |
14 |
| South
Qld |
13 |
| Gold
Coast |
9
|
| Souths |
9
|
| Parramatta |
6
|
| North
Qld |
4
|
p = Season Premiers
AFTER 22 ROUNDS
Minor Premiership
Won-Lost-Draw
Points For 583
(4th best attack)
Points Against 382
(7th best defence)
|
|
MP Standing
7th
(20 teams)
|
FINALS
Points For 8
Points Against 12
|
|
Final Standing
7th
|
|
TOTALS
23 matches
|
|
Points For 591
102t 90g 3fg
Points Against 394
66t 63g 4fg
|
AFTER 22 ROUNDS
Minor Premiership
Won-Lost-Draw
Points For 519
(8th best attack)
90t 79g 1fg
Points Against 431
(10th best defence)
77t 61g 1fg
|
|
MP Standing
12th
(20 teams)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Seasons
In Review
