1997 ARL season

The eight ARL teams that had aligned themselves with Super League were absent from this year's ARL premiership, instead spending the year competing in the new Telstra Cup competition. The Balmain Tigers changed their name back from the Sydney Tigers this season.

Balmain 90th season Ground: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Wayne Pearce Captain: Paul Sironen	Gold Coast 10th season Ground: Carrara Stadium Coach: Phil Economidis Captain: Graham Mackay	Illawarra 16th season Ground: WIN Stadium Coach: Andrew Farrar Captain: Paul McGregor	Manly 51st season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Bob Fulton Captain: Geoff Toovey
Newcastle 10th season Ground: Marathon Stadium Coach: Mal Reilly Captain: Paul Harragon	North Sydney 90th season Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Peter Louis Captain: Jason Taylor	Parramatta 51st season Ground: Parramatta Stadium Coach: Brian Smith Captain: Dean Pay	South Queensland 3rd season & final season Ground: Suncorp Stadium Coach: Steve Bleakley Captain: Craig Teevan
South Sydney 90th season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: Ken Shine Captain: Sean Garlick	St. George 77th season Ground: Kogarah Oval Coach: David Waite Captain: Mark Coyne	Sydney City 90th season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: Phil Gould Captain: Brad Fittler	Western Suburbs 90th season Ground: Campbelltown Stadium Coach: Tommy Raudonikis Captain: Paul Langmack

• (MP) - Minor Premiers
• (P) - Premiers

The Optus Cup trophy

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Manly (MP)	22	15	2	5	521	366	+155	32
2	Newcastle (P)	22	14	1	7	512	320	+192	29
3	Parramatta	22	14	1	7	431	359	+72	29
4	North Sydney	22	13	1	8	529	341	+188	27
5	Sydney City	22	13	1	8	487	366	+121	27
6	Illawarra	22	10	3	9	423	376	+47	23
7	Gold Coast	22	10	1	11	438	466	−28	21
8	Balmain	22	10	0	12	339	340	−1	20
9	Western Suburbs	22	10	0	12	355	424	−69	20
10	St. George	22	9	1	12	331	392	−61	19
11	South Sydney	22	4	1	17	323	630	−307	9
12	South Queensland	22	4	0	18	321	630	−309	8

• Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 7.
• 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
1	Manly	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	15	16	18	18	20	20	22	24	24	26	28	30	30	32
2	Newcastle	2	2	4	6	8	10	10	12	12	121	14	14	14	16	17	19	21	21	23	25	27	29
3	Parramatta	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	24	26	28	28	29
4	North Sydney	0	2	2	3	5	7	7	9	11	13	15	15	17	19	19	21	23	25	25	25	27	27
5	Sydney City	2	4	6	6	6	6	8	10	12	14	14	14	14	14	15	15	17	19	21	23	25	27
6	Illawarra	2	4	4	5	7	9	9	9	10	10	10	11	11	13	15	17	17	19	19	19	21	23
7	Gold Coast	2	2	4	4	4	6	6	6	8	9	11	11	13	15	17	17	19	19	19	19	21	21
8	Balmain	0	0	0	2	4	4	6	8	8	8	8	10	12	12	14	14	16	16	18	18	20	20
9	Western Suburbs	0	0	0	2	2	2	4	6	6	8	10	12	14	14	14	16	16	16	18	20	20	20
10	St. George	0	0	2	4	6	8	8	8	10	10	10	12	12	12	12	14	14	14	16	18	18	19
11	South Sydney	0	2	4	4	4	4	6	6	6	61	6	7	7	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9
12	South Queensland	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	6	6	6	6	8

¹ The round 10 match between Newcastle Knights and South Sydney Rabbitohs was postponed due to rain. This match was played during round 16.

1997 (1997) ARL Grand Final  ()
Manly Newcastle 16 22
1 2 Total MAN 16 0 16 NEW 8 14 22
Date	28 September 1997
Stadium	Sydney Football Stadium
Location	Sydney
Clive Churchill Medal	Robbie O'Davis (NEW)
Referee	David Manson
Attendance	42,482
Broadcast partners
Broadcasters	Nine Network
Commentators	Ray Warren Peter Sterling

The fairytale came true for thousands of Novocastrians when the Knights won their first ever premiership, staging a comeback from 8–16 to shatter Manly's hopes.

1st half

The long-running duel between opposing front rowers Mark Carroll and Paul Harragon erupted once again in the 2nd minute when Carroll reacted to a Harragon shot on Geoff Toovey. Newcastle applied pressure early when they regained possession inside Manly's 20m and shortly after that Andrew Johns took a penalty attempt, but Manly's defence and luck stood firm and the score stayed nil-all. Manly scored first after rookie hooker Anthony Colella won a scrum against the feed. John Hopoate exploited a weakness in Newcastle's right side defence and got between Darren Albert and Mark Hughes to score. Nevin's sideline conversion gave the Sea Eagles a 6–0 lead. In 13th minute Manly suffered a blow when Toovey was steamrolled. He left the field concussed for Cliff Lyons to come on.

Johns went within inches of scoring for Newcastle in the 24th minute when his blindside break on the last tackle was stopped by a desperate Hopoate. Manly responded with a thrilling try in the 25th minute. The movement started 55 metres out – Hopoate making the initial break down the left-hand side with Lyons backing up to enable Craig Innes to crash over for a Manly 10–0 lead. Newcastle's first points came through a Johns' penalty goal. Then in the 34th minute they scored their first ever Grand Final try after a clever kick from Matthew Johns was taken by Hopoate who was bundled into touch. From the scrum win, Robbie O'Davis got outside Terry Hill to score. Andrew Johns' conversion brought Newcastle within two points. Manly hit back in the 38th minute after some magical work from Lyons. He swept onto the ball which had been dropped by Harragon and spun around to find Shannon Nevin on the inside. The Newcastle forwards couldn't get across to cover the overlap and Nevin then converted his own try for a 16–8 half-time scoreline.

2nd half

Early in the second half there was more concern for Toovey after he was stomped on by Adam MacDougall. Manly then almost put Newcastle away in the 51st minute when Steven Menzies powered through close to the line only to be stopped by Troy Fletcher scrambling well to effect a try- and match-saving tackle for the Knights. Andrew Johns booted a penalty goal in the 57th minute to claw Newcastle back to within a converted try. In the 61st minute Adam Muir dropped a pass from Andrew Johns a metre from Manly's line but it was a sign that the Knights were back in the game. Manly on the other hand, began to play conservatively to their own ultimate cost. They received a penalty after another Harragon high tackle and elected to kick at goal 32 metres out with a swirling breeze. Nevin missed and Darren Albert returned the kick with a 40-metre run. Manly applied pressure for the next ten minutes but came away empty handed. Colella and then Nik Kosef both dropped balls inside Newcastle's 30m line while trying to off-load. A 69th minute last tackle raid ten metres out by Manly also fell short when a field-goal might have sealed the game. Having withstood the pressure, Newcastle then lifted. Following a long break by Fletcher, Andrew Johns received the ball from his brother. He stood in a tackle, handed to O'Davis, who spun and planted the ball on the line. Johns' conversion levelled the scores 16–16 with five minutes remaining.

The match is ultimately best remembered for its classic grandstand finish. With 28 seconds remaining and on their last tackle, the Knights attempted a match-winning field goal. A charge-down by a Manly player foiled the field goal attempt but gave the Knights six more tackles. With 19 seconds left, Darren Albert played the ball on the first tackle of the next set of six, with Andrew Johns at dummy-half. At the play of the ball Johns unexpectedly went down the narrow blind-side, throwing a dummy and engaging several Manly players, before slipping a pass back inside to Albert whose try took the score to 20–16 only seven seconds from full-time.[5] The Knights players and their fans broke into celebration at having won their inaugural title, with Ray Warren proclaiming "Newcastle have won the Grand Final!"[6] With the after the siren conversion from Andrew Johns, the final score was 22-16.

Newcastle Knights 22
Tries: O'Davis 2, Albert
Goals: Johns 5/6

Manly Sea Eagles 16
Tries: Hopoate, Innes, Nevin
Goals: Nevin 2/4

Clive Churchill Medal: Robbie O'Davis[7]

Seventy per cent of the winning squad were Newcastle juniors. The win was a huge morale boost to the blue-collar Newcastle district in the same year that the area's biggest employer, the BHP steelworks had announced its closure.

A Super Bowl style match between the Newcastle Knights and Brisbane Broncos, the 1997 Super League season's premiers was mooted, but did not eventuate.[8] Newcastle only had to wait another four years for its next premiership, whilst Manly had to wait until 2007 for another shot at the title, which was unsuccessful. Manly's next premiership would however come the following year.