1997 ARL Grand Final
Sunday, 28 September 1997 · Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales
1997 ARL Grand Final result: Newcastle def. Manly-Warringah, 22-16, at Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, New South Wales on Sunday, 28 September 1997.
Result
| Team | Score | |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | Newcastle | 22 |
| Runner-up | Manly-Warringah | 16 |
Attendance: 42,482
NRL 1997-arl — full season ladder & finals series
| Pos | Club | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Diff | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles | 22 | 15 | 2 | 5 | 521 | 366 | +155 | 32 |
| 2 | Newcastle Knights | 22 | 14 | 1 | 7 | 512 | 320 | +192 | 29 |
| 3 | Parramatta Eels | 22 | 14 | 1 | 7 | 431 | 359 | +72 | 29 |
| 4 | North Sydney Bears | 22 | 13 | 1 | 8 | 529 | 341 | +188 | 27 |
| 5 | Sydney City Roosters | 22 | 13 | 1 | 8 | 487 | 366 | +121 | 27 |
| 6 | Illawarra Steelers | 22 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 423 | 376 | +47 | 23 |
| 7 | Gold Coast Chargers | 22 | 10 | 1 | 11 | 438 | 466 | -28 | 21 |
| 8 | Balmain Tigers | 22 | 10 | 0 | 12 | 339 | 340 | -1 | 20 |
| 9 | Western Suburbs Magpies | 22 | 10 | 0 | 12 | 355 | 424 | -69 | 20 |
| 10 | St George Dragons | 22 | 9 | 1 | 12 | 331 | 392 | -61 | 19 |
| 11 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | 22 | 4 | 1 | 17 | 323 | 630 | -307 | 9 |
| 12 | South Queensland Crushers | 22 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 321 | 630 | -309 | 8 |
Qualified for the finals series — ARL top 7 (1997 split-season finals) that season.
Finals series
Minor Qualifying Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 Sep 1997 | Gold Coast Chargers 25–14 Illawarra Steelers | Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta, NSW | 8,197 |
| 6 Sep 1997 | Sydney Roosters 33–21 North Sydney Bears | Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, NSW | 11,332 |
| 7 Sep 1997 | Newcastle Knights 28–20 Parramatta Eels | Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, NSW | 17,849 |
Major Qualifying Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Sep 1997 | Sydney Roosters 32–10 Gold Coast Chargers | Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta, NSW | 10,466 |
| 13 Sep 1997 | North Sydney Bears 24–14 Parramatta Eels | Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, NSW | 17,025 |
| 14 Sep 1997 | Manly-Warringah 27–12 Newcastle Knights | Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, NSW | 26,531 |
Preliminary Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Sep 1997 | Newcastle Knights 17–12 North Sydney Bears | Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, NSW | 22,540 |
| 21 Sep 1997 | Manly-Warringah 17–16 Sydney Roosters | Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, NSW | 30,794 |
Grand Final
| Date | Result | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28 Sep 1997 | Newcastle Knights 22–16 Manly-Warringah | Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney, NSW |
Match officials
| Referee | David Manson |
Scorers
| Newcastle | Tries: Robbie O'Davis — minute unconfirmed; Robbie O'Davis 34'; Darren Albert — minute unconfirmed (final minute/dying seconds) Goals: Andrew Johns (5/UNCONFIRMED) |
| Manly-Warringah | Tries: John Hopoate — minute unconfirmed; Craig Innes — minute unconfirmed; Shannon Nevin — minute unconfirmed Goals: Shannon Nevin (2/UNCONFIRMED) |
Teams
| Newcastle | Manly-Warringah | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robbie O'Davis | Fullback | Shannon Nevin | 1 |
| 2 | Darren Albert | Wing | Danny Moore | 2 |
| 3 | Adam MacDougall | Centre | Craig Innes | 3 |
| 4 | Owen Craigie | Centre | Terry Hill | 4 |
| 5 | Mark Hughes | Wing | John Hopoate | 5 |
| 6 | Matthew Johns | Five-eighth | Geoff Toovey (c) | 6 |
| 7 | Andrew Johns | Halfback | Craig Field | 7 |
| 8 | Tony Butterfield | Front Row | David Gillespie | 17 |
| 9 | Bill Peden | Hooker | Anthony Colella | 15 |
| 10 | Paul Harragon (c) | Front Row | Mark Carroll | 10 |
| 11 | Wayne Richards | Second Row | Steve Menzies | 11 |
| 12 | Adam Muir | Second Row | Daniel Gartner | 12 |
| 13 | Marc Glanville | Lock | Nik Kosef | 13 |
| Substitutes | ||||
| 15 | Troy Fletcher | Scott Fulton | 14 | |
| 16 | Scott Conley | Neil Tierney | 8 | |
| 19 | Steve Crowe | Andrew Hunter | 16 | |
| 18 | Lee Jackson | Cliff Lyons | 9 | |
| Malcolm Reilly | Coach | Bob Fulton | ||
Clive Churchill Medal
Robbie O'Davis (Newcastle).
Match context
The 1997 ARL Grand Final was the climactic match of Australian rugby league's most turbulent season, played amid the full fury of the Super League War. In 1997 the code split completely in two: twelve ARL-loyalist clubs, including new Queensland expansion sides the Gold Coast Chargers and South Queensland Crushers, contested the ARL's Optus Cup, while ten rebel clubs backed by News Corporation, featuring new franchises the Perth Reds, Adelaide Rams and Hunter Mariners, ran a rival Super League competition in parallel, an unprecedented situation with two fully separate top-flight seasons, ladders and finals series operating simultaneously. Against this fractured backdrop, Newcastle entered the ARL decider as underdogs against minor premiers and reigning premiers Manly-Warringah, who had finished the regular season on top of the table. Manly raced to a 16-8 halftime lead behind tries from Shannon Nevin, Craig Innes and John Hopoate, and appeared to be cruising toward back-to-back titles. But Newcastle, driven by captain Paul Harragon, halfback Andrew Johns, who kicked 5 goals, and a rampaging Robbie O'Davis, who scored twice, clawed their way back into the contest in a tense second half. With the scores locked and time almost up, winger Darren Albert crashed over in the corner with just seconds remaining on the clock, sealing a famous 22-16 comeback victory. It was the Knights' first premiership and one of the most celebrated triumphs in the sport's history, resonating deeply in a city then reeling from the announced closure of the BHP steelworks, its largest employer. Fullback Robbie O'Davis was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal as player of the match. Although the rival Super League competition crowned Brisbane Broncos as premiers the same month, rugby league historians generally regard Newcastle's ARL triumph as the more historically significant of the two 1997 premierships, since the ARL retained lineage as the sport's recognised governing body and the two warring competitions were reunified the following year into the National Rugby League under a joint ARL-News Corp venture. The 1997 ARL Grand Final therefore stands as a singular entry in the sport's history: the only top-flight decider contested while an entirely separate rival grand final was being run elsewhere in the same country and season.
Sources
Data last verified: 11 August 2026.
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