The 1987 NSWRL season was the 80th season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Thirteen clubs competed for the New South Wales Rugby League premiership's J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup during the season, which culminated in the grand final between the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and the Canberra Raiders who were the first club ever from outside Sydney to appear in a premiership decider. This season, NSWRL teams also competed for the 1987 National Panasonic Cup.
Season summary This was to be the last season that the moniker "New South Wales Rugby League" would be actually correct, as the following season two teams from Queensland would be introduced, heralding a new era of interstate club participation in the Winfield Cup premiership (although the name would not be changed to the Australian Rugby League until 1995). This would also ultimately lead to the decline of the historic Brisbane Rugby League premiership of Queensland.
Twenty-six regular season rounds were played from February through to August, resulting in a top five of Manly, Easts, Canberra, Balmain and Souths who battled it out in the finals.
Parramatta's captain and halfback Peter Sterling made a clean sweep of the 1987 season's major awards, winning the Rothmans Medal and Dally M Award as well as being named Rugby League Week's player of the year.
Western Suburbs moved their homeground to Campbelltown's Orana Park for the season, moving away from their home at Lidcombe Oval.
1987 would be the last year in which the NSWRL used the Sydney Cricket Ground for regular weekly matches, including all finals and the grand final. From 1988 league headquarters would move next door to the SCG to the new 40,000 seat, A$68 million Sydney Football Stadium.
Teams The lineup of clubs remained unchanged from the previous year, with thirteen contesting the premiership, including five Sydney-based foundation teams, another six from Sydney, one from greater New South Wales and one from the Australian Capital Territory, though technically the ACT club, while known as the Canberra Raiders, actually played their home games at the Seiffert Oval in Queanbeyan which is located on the NSW side of the ACT/NSW state border to the south of the city. BalmainTigers 80th seasonGround: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Bill AndersonCaptain: Wayne PearceCanberraRaiders 6th seasonGround: Seiffert Oval Coach: Don Furner & Wayne BennettCaptain: Dean LanceCanterbury-BankstownBulldogs 53rd seasonGround: Belmore Oval Coach: Warren RyanCaptain: Steve MortimerCronulla-SutherlandSharks 21st seasonGround: Caltex Field Coach: Jack GibsonCaptain: David HatchEastern SuburbsRoosters 80th seasonGround: Henson Park Coach: Arthur BeetsonCaptain: Hugh McGahanIllawarraSteelers 6th seasonGround: Wollongong Stadium Coach: Brian SmithCaptain: Perry HaddockManly-WarringahSea Eagles 41st seasonGround: Brookvale Oval Coach: Bob FultonCaptain: Paul VautinNorth SydneyBears 80th seasonGround: North Sydney Oval Coach: Frank StantonCaptain: Mark GrahamParramattaEels 41st seasonGround: Parramatta Stadium Coach: John MonieCaptain: Peter SterlingPenrithPanthers 21st seasonGround: Penrith Stadium Coach: Tim SheensCaptain: Royce SimmonsSouth SydneyRabbitohs 80th seasonGround: Redfern Oval Coach: George PigginsCaptain: Mario FenechSt. GeorgeDragons 67th seasonGround: Sydney Cricket Ground Coach: Roy MastersCaptain: Craig YoungWestern SuburbsMagpies 80th seasonGround: Orana Park Coach Steve GhosnCaptain: Ian Schubert
Regular season
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 F1 F2 F3 GF Balmain TigersPAR+24CBY+3SOU+32CRO+7EAS−13CAN+8ILA+21NOR+20STG+14XPEN−6WES+4MAN−34PAR+19CBY−3SOU−4CRO−6EAS0CAN+28ILA+2NOR+14STG−4XPEN+16WES−4MAN−18SOU−3 Canberra RaidersCRO+17XILA+13NOR−2STG+8BAL−8PEN+7WES+35PAR−8MAN−8CBY−19SOU+4EAS−15CRO+26XILA+7NOR+6STG+17BAL−28PEN+18WES+18PAR−16MAN−2CBY+18SOU+24EAS+4EAS−9SOU+34EAS+8MAN−10 Canterbury-Bankstown BulldogsNOR+20BAL−3PEN+6WES+10PAR−12MAN+12XSOU−4CRO+16EAS−2CAN+19ILA−13STG−25NOR−6BAL+3PEN+10WES+16PAR+16MAN−30XSOU+2CRO+12EAS−2CAN−18ILA+12STG−2 Cronulla-Sutherland SharksCAN−17NOR+6STG+8BAL−7PEN+2WES+12PAR+2MAN+5CBY−16SOU+10XEAS−2ILA+20CAN−26NOR−10STG−4BAL+6PEN+20WES0PAR+12MAN−22CBY−12SOU−6XEAS−4ILA−20 Eastern Suburbs RoostersXILA+6NOR+1STG+42BAL+13PEN−11WES−13PAR+12MAN−8CBY+2SOU−10CRO+2CAN+15XILA+14NOR+1STG−7BAL0PEN+1WES+9PAR−30MAN+10CBY+2SOU−14CRO+4CAN−4CAN+9MAN−4CAN−8 Illawarra SteelersSOU+23EAS−6CAN−13XNOR−14STG+4BAL−21PEN−10WES+20PAR+8MAN−10CBY+13CRO−20SOU−15EAS−14CAN−7XNOR+2STG−17BAL−2PEN−2WES+10PAR−3MAN−11CBY−12CRO+20 Manly Warringah Sea EaglesSTG0PEN+24WES+11PAR+22XCBY−12SOU−10CRO−5EAS+8CAN+8ILA+10NOR+8BAL+34STG+14PEN+2WES+1PAR+8XCBY+30SOU+3CRO+22EAS−10CAN+2ILA+11NOR−2BAL+18XEAS+4XCAN+10 North Sydney BearsCBY−20CRO−6EAS−1CAN+2ILA+14XSTG+2BAL−20PEN−9WES−4PAR−7MAN−8SOU−4CBY+6CRO+10EAS−1CAN−6ILA−2XSTG+3BAL−14PEN+3WES+2PAR+17MAN+2SOU+8 Parramatta EelsBAL−24WES−16XMAN−22CBY+12SOU+13CRO−2EAS−12CAN+8ILA−8NOR+7STG+1PEN+13BAL−19WES+19XMAN−8CBY−16SOU−4CRO−12EAS+30CAN+16ILA+3NOR−17STG+18PEN+26 Penrith PanthersWES+10MAN−24CBY−6SOU−7CRO−2EAS+11CAN−7ILA+10NOR+9STG−8BAL+6XPAR−13WES−8MAN−2CBY−10SOU−2CRO−20EAS−1CAN−18ILA+2NOR−3STG0BAL−16XPAR−26 South Sydney RabbitohsILA−23STG−5BAL−32PEN+7WES+3PAR−13MAN+10CBY+4XCRO−10EAS+10CAN−4NOR+4ILA+15STG+9BAL+4PEN+2WES0PAR+4MAN−3CBY−2XCRO+6EAS+14CAN−24NOR−8BAL+3CAN−34 St. George DragonsMAN0SOU+5CRO−8EAS−42CAN−8ILA−4NOR−2XBAL−14PEN+8WES+34PAR−1CBY+25MAN−14SOU−9CRO+4EAS+7CAN−17ILA+17NOR−3XBAL+4PEN0WES+19PAR−18CBY+2 Western Suburbs MagpiesPEN−10PAR+16MAN−11CBY−10SOU−3CRO−12EAS+13CAN−35ILA−20NOR+4STG−34BAL−4XPEN+8PAR−19MAN−1CBY−16SOU0CRO0EAS−9CAN−18ILA−10NOR−2STG−19BAL+4X 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 F1 F2 F3 GFBold – Home game X – Bye Opponent for round listed above margin
Ladder Team 1 Manly (P)2418152553356+19741 2 Eastern Suburbs2415182390353+37353 Canberra2415092441325+116344 Balmain2414192469349+120335 South Sydney24131102310342-32316 Canterbury24130112353316+37307 Parramatta24120122417411+6288 Cronulla24111122390433-43279 St.George24102122394409-152610 North Sydney24110132368401-332611 Illawarra2480162372449-772012 Penrith2461172274399-1251713 Western Suburbs2452172339527-18816
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. Underlined numbers indicate that the team had a bye during that round.
Team12345678910111213141516171819202122232425261 Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 1 3 5 7 9 9 9 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 35 37 39 39 412 Eastern Suburbs Roosters 2 4 6 8 10 10 10 12 12 14 14 16 18 20 22 24 24 25 27 29 29 31 33 33 35 353 Canberra Raiders 2 4 6 6 8 8 10 12 12 12 12 14 14 16 18 20 22 24 24 26 28 28 28 30 32 344 Balmain Tigers 2 4 6 8 8 10 12 14 16 18 18 20 20 22 22 22 22 23 25 27 29 29 31 33 33 335 South Sydney Rabbitohs 0 0 0 2 4 4 6 8 10 10 12 12 14 16 18 20 22 23 25 25 25 27 29 31 31 316 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 2 2 4 6 6 8 10 10 12 12 14 14 14 14 16 18 20 22 22 24 26 28 28 28 30 307 Parramatta Eels 0 0 2 2 4 6 6 6 8 8 10 12 14 14 16 18 18 18 18 18 20 22 24 24 26 288 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 0 2 4 4 6 8 10 12 12 14 16 16 18 18 18 18 20 22 23 25 25 25 25 27 27 279 St. George Dragons 1 3 3 3 3 3 3 5 5 7 9 9 11 11 11 13 15 15 17 17 19 21 22 24 24 2610 North Sydney Bears 0 0 0 2 4 6 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 10 12 12 12 12 14 16 16 18 20 22 24 2611 Illawarra Steelers 2 2 2 4 4 6 6 6 8 10 10 12 12 12 12 12 14 16 16 16 16 18 18 18 18 2012 Penrith Panthers 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 6 8 8 10 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 14 14 15 15 17 1713 Western Suburbs Magpies 0 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 6 6 6 8 10 10 10 10 11 12 12 12 12 12 12 14 16
Finals HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and TimeVenueRefereeCrowd Qualifying Finals Balmain Tigers12–15 South Sydney Rabbitohs5 September 1987Sydney Cricket GroundGreg McCallum22,134 Eastern Suburbs Roosters25–16 Canberra Raiders6 September 1987Sydney Cricket GroundMick Stone15,852 Semi-finals Canberra Raiders46–12 South Sydney Rabbitohs12 September 1987Sydney Cricket GroundMick Stone24,744 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles10–6 Eastern Suburbs Roosters13 September 1987Sydney Cricket GroundGreg McCallum36,399 Preliminary final Eastern Suburbs Roosters24–32 Canberra Raiders20 September 1987Sydney Cricket GroundMick Stone26,790 Grand final Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles18–8 Canberra Raiders27 September 1987Sydney Cricket GroundMick Stone50,201
Chart
Grand final
Background Manly dominated the 1987 season with a 12-match winning sequence between May and July, with the result that Bob Fulton's elusive goal of coaching a team to grand final victory began to look a possibility. The path to glory had been four years in the making. In 1983, Fulton returned to the Sea Eagles as coach, but Manly lost to Parramatta for the second year running that, so he set about pursuing a stable of players capable of winning a premiership.
50,201 fans were on hand during an unseasonable southeastern Australian heatwave, with the temperature peaking at , to watch the last NSWRL grand final at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and the first to involve a club from outside the Sydney area.
Network 10 televised a memorable pre-match entertainment themed to commence celebrations of New South Wales' 200th birthday. The ceremony involving a symbolic building of a huge model of the Sydney Harbour Bridge by representatives of the Navy's apprentices, while singer John Williamson performed his song "True Blue". There were repeated playing of the Bicentennial jingle "making this State great." Australian soprano Julie Anthony sang Advance Australia Fair before kickoff.
Ten's commentary team for the game was Rex Mossop and Graeme Hughes with David Fordham the sideline reporter and special comments from Australian and New South Wales representatives Peter Sterling and Wayne Pearce.1987 Winfield Cup grand final highlights Ten personality Tim Webster was the grand final's Master of Ceremonies, hosting the pre-game coin toss and the post match presentation ceremonies. Balmain's outgoing coach Bill Anderson joined Fordham for the call of both the U/23's grand final (won 34–14 by St George over Souths) and the reserve grade grand final won 11–0 by Penrith over minor premier Manly.
The ABC's telecast of the game was hosted by chief caller David Morrow who was joined in the commentary booth for special comments by Easts and NZ Test captain Hugh McGahan with Warren Boland providing sideline commentary. Peter Longman did reports from the Queanbeyan League's Club in Canberra while Peter Wilkins did the reports from the Manly Leagues Club in Brookvale.1987 NSWRL Grand Final - ABC Telecast Part 11987 NSWRL Grand Final - ABC Telecast Part 2
Teams