1998 Adelaide Rams season

The 1998 Adelaide Rams season was the Adelaide Rams' second and final season as a rugby league club. They competed in the first season of the National Rugby League.

1998 Adelaide Rams season
Team information
CoachRod Reddy
Dean Lance
Captain
StadiumAdelaide Oval
Hindmarsh Stadium
← 1997

The club was again coached by Rod Reddy and captained by Kerrod Walters. However, after the Rams lost nine of their first ten games, coach Reddy and the entire coaching staff were sacked by the Rams' administration. Reddy was replaced by former Perth Reds coach Dean Lance.

Results

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In June after numerous financial disagreements with the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) who at the time owned the Adelaide Oval, the club changed home grounds to the smaller, 16,000 capacity Hindmarsh Stadium, a soccer specific venue which was better suited to a rugby league field than the Adelaide Oval was. The Rams celebrated the move with a record 52–0 win over the Balmain Tigers.[1]

The club went on to win six of their last fourteen games after the arrival of Dean Lance's, enough to avoid the wooden spoon awarded to the team finishing lowest on the competition ladder. Their overall results were comparable to those of their first season, coming fourth last in the 20–team competition. Appo broke several team records in his 14 games with the Rams.

The Adelaide Rams last home game in the penultimate round of the season saw a 36–0 thrashing at the hands of the finals bound North Sydney Bears in front of 7,035 fans on 15 August 1998.[2]

Throughout the 1998 season, the Rams attempted to build a stronger supporter base in order to avoid removal from the competition in 1999 or 2000. However, with the team's lack of on-field success, plus the success of other Adelaide-based sports teams who won national championships in 1997 and/or 1998 including the Adelaide Crows (AFL), Adelaide 36ers (NBL) and Adelaide Thunderbirds (netball), saw average home attendances dropped by more than half (51.3%) from the previous years 15,330 to just 7,472 over the course of the season.[3][4]

Adelaide Rams 1998 NRL season results[5]
Round Home Scoreline Away Date Venue Crowd
1   Adelaide Rams 8 – 18   North Queensland Cowboys 13 March Adelaide Oval 11,289
2   Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 22 – 6   Adelaide Rams 22 March Brookvale Oval 6,434
3   Adelaide Rams 22 – 20   Canterbury Bulldogs 27 March Adelaide Oval 8,390
4   Penrith Panthers 54 – 12   Adelaide Rams 5 April Penrith Football Stadium 6,637
5   Adelaide Rams 8 – 16   Gold Coast Chargers 9 April Adelaide Oval 7,058
6   Sydney City Roosters 50 – 12   Adelaide Rams 17 April Sydney Football Stadium 6,200
7   Adelaide Rams 12 – 22   Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 25 April Adelaide Oval 8,472
8   Canterbury Bulldogs 30 – 4   Adelaide Rams 3 May Belmore Sports Ground 5,041
9   Adelaide Rams 18 – 24   Canberra Raiders 8 May Adelaide Oval 6,500
10   Parramatta Eels 18 – 2   Adelaide Rams 16 May Pioneer Oval 7,514
11   Adelaide Rams 35 – 18   Penrith Panthers 23 May Adelaide Oval 5,000
12   Western Suburbs Magpies 36 – 24   Adelaide Rams 31 May Campbelltown Stadium 6,392
13   Adelaide Rams 22 – 20   St George Dragons 6 June Adelaide Oval 8,506
14   Melbourne Storm 24 – 4   Adelaide Rams 13 June Olympic Park 8,293
15   Adelaide Rams 4 – 39   Illawarra Steelers 20 June Bennett Oval 5,153
16   Gold Coast Chargers 12 – 40   Adelaide Rams 27 June Carrara Stadium 3,897
17   Adelaide Rams 52 – 0   Balmain Tigers 3 July Hindmarsh Stadium 7,351
18   South Sydney Rabbitohs 18 – 34   Adelaide Rams 12 July Sydney Football Stadium 4,060
19   North Queensland Cowboys 14 – 10   Adelaide Rams 18 July Dairy Farmers Stadium 11,340
20   Adelaide Rams 22 – 20   Auckland Warriors 26 July Hindmarsh Stadium 7,445
21   Brisbane Broncos 46 – 12   Adelaide Rams 1 August ANZ Stadium 13,858
22   Adelaide Rams 10 – 32   Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 7 August Hindmarsh Stadium 7,459
23   Adelaide Rams 0 – 36   North Sydney Bears 15 August Hindmarsh Stadium 7,035
24   Newcastle Knights 34 – 20   Adelaide Rams 22 August Marathon Stadium 17,281

Ladder

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Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts
1   Brisbane Broncos (P) 24 18 1 5 688 310 +378 37
2   Newcastle Knights 24 18 1 5 562 381 +181 37
3   Melbourne Storm 24 17 1 6 546 372 +174 35
4   Parramatta Eels 24 17 1 6 468 349 +119 35
5   North Sydney Bears 24 17 0 7 663 367 +296 34
6   Sydney City Roosters 24 16 0 8 680 383 +297 32
7   Canberra Raiders 24 15 0 9 564 429 +135 30
8   St. George Dragons 24 13 1 10 486 490 -4 27
9   Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 24 13 0 11 489 411 +78 26
10   Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 24 13 0 11 503 473 +30 26
11   Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 24 12 1 11 438 387 +51 25
12   Illawarra Steelers 24 11 1 12 476 539 -63 23
13   Balmain Tigers 24 9 1 14 381 463 -82 19
14   Penrith Panthers 24 8 2 14 525 580 -55 18
15   Auckland Warriors 24 9 0 15 417 518 -101 18
16   North Queensland Cowboys 24 9 0 15 361 556 -195 18
17   Adelaide Rams 24 7 0 17 393 615 -222 14
18   South Sydney Rabbitohs 24 5 0 19 339 560 -221 10
19   Gold Coast Chargers 24 4 0 20 289 654 -365 8
20   Western Suburbs Magpies 24 4 0 20 371 802 -431 8

Ladder progression

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  • Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 10.
  • 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
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
1   Brisbane Broncos 2 4 6 8 10 10 12 14 14 14 16 16 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 29 31 33 35 37
2   Newcastle Knights 2 4 6 8 10 10 12 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 24 26 27 29 31 31 31 33 35 37
3   Melbourne Storm 2 4 6 8 8 10 12 14 14 16 17 19 21 23 25 25 25 27 27 29 31 33 33 35
4   Parramatta Eels 2 4 4 6 8 8 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 24 24 26 28 28 30 32 34 35
5   North Sydney Bears 0 2 4 4 6 8 8 10 12 12 14 14 16 18 18 20 22 22 24 26 28 30 32 34
6   Sydney City Roosters 2 2 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 16 16 18 20 20 22 24 24 26 26 26 28 30 32
7   Canberra Raiders 0 0 2 2 4 4 6 8 10 12 12 14 16 16 18 18 20 20 22 24 26 28 30 30
8   St George Dragons 2 2 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 20 22 22 22 22 24 24 26 26 26 26 27
9   Canterbury Bulldogs 2 2 2 2 2 4 6 8 10 10 10 12 12 12 14 14 16 18 18 18 20 22 24 26
10   Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 0 2 2 2 2 4 6 6 6 6 8 8 8 8 10 12 14 14 16 18 20 22 24 26
11   Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 0 2 2 2 4 4 6 8 10 10 12 14 14 14 16 18 18 18 19 21 23 23 23 25
12   Illawarra Steelers 0 2 2 2 2 4 6 6 8 8 9 11 13 13 15 17 19 19 19 19 21 21 23 23
13   Balmain Tigers 2 2 4 6 8 10 10 10 10 10 12 12 12 14 16 16 16 18 18 19 19 19 19 19
14   Penrith Panthers 0 2 2 4 4 4 4 6 6 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 9 11 12 14 14 14 16 18
15   Auckland Warriors 0 0 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 6 8 8 10 10 12 14 14 14 16 16 18 18 18 18
16   North Queensland Cowboys 2 4 6 8 8 10 10 10 10 10 10 12 14 14 14 14 16 16 18 18 18 18 18 18
17   Adelaide Rams 0 0 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 6 6 6 8 10 12 12 14 14 14 14 14
18   South Sydney Rabbitohs 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 6 6 6 6 8 8 10 10 10
19   Gold Coast Chargers 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 6 6 6 6 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
20   Western Suburbs Magpies 0 0 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 6 6 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8


Players

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The demise of three clubs from the Super League and ARL (Western Reds and Hunter Mariners (SL), and South Queensland Crushers (ARL)) saw some player re-shuffling, and brought Noel Goldthorpe, Tony Iro and Matt Daylight to the Adelaide club.[6]

No. Name Pos. Debut App T G FG Pts
2 Wayne Simonds WG 1 March 1997 10 2 0 0 8
5 Joe Tamani WG 1 March 1997 7 2 0 0 8
8 Andrew Hick PR 1 March 1997 21 3 0 0 12
9 Kerrod Walters HK 1 March 1997 24 1 0 0 4
10 Marty McKenzie PR 1 March 1997 14 1 0 0 4
11 Dave Boughton SR 1 March 1997 3 0 0 0 0
12 Brett Galea SR 1 March 1997 8 1 0 0 4
15 Chris Quinn FB/CE/FE 1 March 1997 17 2 0 0 8
17 Bruce Mamando SR 1 March 1997 2 1 0 0 4
18 Rod Maybon FB 9 March 1997 2 1 0 0 4
19 Andrew Pierce PR/SR 9 March 1997 21 0 0 1 1
20 Dean Schifilliti FE/HB/LK 9 March 1997 21 6 0 0 24
21 Mark Corvo PR 14 March 1997 20 1 0 0 4
22 Luke Williamson CE/FE 21 March 1997 17 3 16 0 44
23 Alan Cann PR/SR 27 March 1997 21 1 0 0 4
24 Danny Grimley CE 19 April 1997 13 4 0 0 16
26 David Kidwell CE 17 August 1997 14 2 0 0 8
27 Adam Peek PR/LK 22 August 1997 12 1 0 0 4
28 Peter Clarke CE 13 March 1998 16 2 0 0 8
29 Noel Goldthorpe HB 13 March 1998 22 1 1 0 6
30 Tony Iro SR 13 March 1998 20 1 0 0 4
31 Darrien Doherty PR/SR 13 March 1998 19 0 0 0 0
32 Matthew Daylight WG 22 March 1998 20 7 0 0 28
33 Craig Kimmorley HB 27 March 1998 3 0 3 0 6
34 Meti Noovao FE 17 April 1998 1 0 0 0 0
35 Rod Jensen WG 25 April 1998 17 8 0 0 32
36 Graham Appo FB/CE 8 May 1998 14 12 34 0 116
37 Craig Bowen FE 8 May 1998 4 1 0 0 4
38 Deon Bird FB/FE 23 May 1998 14 0 6 0 24
39 Sam Faalafi PR 6 June 1998 1 0 0 0 0
40 Alan Wieland SR 27 June 1998 7 1 0 0 4
41 Jamie McDonald PR 1 August 1998 2 0 0 0 0

References

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  1. ^ "Newcastle stay top despite tie". sportsillustrated.cnn.com. Australia: CNN/SI. Associated Press. 1998-07-05. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
  2. ^ 1998 Adelaide vs North Sydney at Rugby League Project
  3. ^ Whiticker, Alan & Collis, Ian (2004). The History of Rugby League Clubs. New Holland Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd. ISBN 1-74110-075-5.
  4. ^ "Rugby League Tables / Attendances / Adelaide". Retrieved 2008-04-15.
  5. ^ "Rugby League Tables / All Games / Adelaide". Retrieved 2009-04-20.[dead link]
  6. ^ Fagan, Sean. "Rugby League History – RL1908.com – Adelaide Rams". RL1908. Archived from the original on 2008-04-10. Retrieved 2008-04-15.