Throwback Thursday: The 1997 Super League Final

In the final days before this year's NRL Grand Final, it's easy to get caught up in the hype and health of Australasian rugby league; not to mention the hard-luck Cronulla Sharks narrative that will rule the weekend.

Clubs are making more money than every before, the salary cap is higher than ever before and a recent broadcast deal has set up the health of the comp for years to come.

Off-field issues remain as concerning as ever. Scandals continue to swirl, punches keep being thrown outside pubs (Greg Bird), and dirty characters remain on the fringes of the game (Eddie Hayson).

But all in all, rugby league is trending in the right direction. Hell, the Sharkies are even made it to a Big Dance this year, against the overwhelming title favourites, the Broncos.

That's something that has only happened – without an asterisk – twice in the club's 49-year history. Both times without a win, too.

But what about that asterisk? What about 1997?

Cronulla Sharks will be playing in a grand final without an asterisk. I am without speech — paul suttor (@paulsuttor)September 23, 2016

For Australasian leaguies, that's a year people consciously try to forget. Even Sharkies fans, whose team made that rare GF appearance.

It was the year of the violent, near- apocalyptic fissure in the bedrock of the game; between the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and Super League teams.

The vitriole between the two comps was brutal throughout the year, with both claiming to be the rightful heirs to the throne of Aussie league. Neither would, as history soon tell fans – with the crucial laying down of their guns, and the mutual formation of the NRL, later in the year.

If you wanted strange, that season had it all. A brazen billionaire, Rupert Murdoch, holding the sport the ransom. Clubs hemorrhaging cash. Two sadly diluted comps, with two sadly diluted State of Origin series. Super League even subbed in New Zealand for an Origin tri-series that rugby league should be seriously ashamed of.

By the time the season was up, the tide had rolled in and out on three clubs that marked league's attempted expansion in Australia; the Western Reds (from Perth), Hunter Valley Mariners (both SL) and South Queensland Crushers (ARL). The Adelaide Rams lasted one more year, before disappearing.

For all the retrospective disappointment, each competition had to have its victors.

In the ARL Grand Final, the Newcastle Knights beat Manly 16-8 in a thrilling match that fired up a Newcastle region who'd suffered mass job losses due to the closure of the BHP steelworks earlier that year.

Over in Super League, it came down to Cronulla and Brisbane.

A highlights package of the 1997 Super League Grand Final. Source: Youtube.

The Sharks' road to the final through the convoluted Super League playoffs wasn't an easy one.

After finishing second on the regular season table, the Sharks beat Canberra 22-18 in their first playoff before being trounced 34-2 by the Broncos in their next game.

That meant they'd face the Raiders again in the preliminary final, who they'd beat 10-4, setting up the final against the Broncs. The Queenslanders' only knock-out game was that second round one against the Sharkies.

The final would take place in Brisbane on September 20, 1997. It was the first ever night final in Australian league, and the first – and so far, only – final played outside Sydney.

The Broncos team was a strong one, arguably the best in either comp that year. Led by a top-tier halves pairing of Allan Langer and Kevin Walters, the Queenslanders had a strong veteran backbone with the likes of Steve Renouf, Michael Hancock and Shane Webcke filling the ranks.

The young talent was there for coach Wayne Bennett too; with the likes of Gorden Tallis, Darren Lockyer, Tonie Carroll and Wendell Sailor just starting what would be strong first-grade careers. Future pro boxer Anthony Mundine lurked in the centres, while All Black World Cup winner Brad Thorn provided forward pack muscle.

It was always going to be a big ask for the Sharks, who were coached by the grizzly faced John Lang. Led by club legend Andrew 'E.T' Ettingshausen, the men from the Shire had little in the way of strike power compared to their opponents.

Fullback David Peachey and young winger Mat Rogers were in the mix, as was iconic Kiwis back-rower Tawera Nikau, who would lose a leg in a motorcycle crash six years later, but that was it.

BREAKING: Ron Massey smiling down from heaven… — The Mole (@RLW_Mole)September 23, 2016

The first half was a tight tussle. The first half hour at ANZ Stadium – which was filled with a then-record 59,912 crowd – saw Lockyer knock over two penalties for the Broncos, to Rogers' one for the Sharks, before the first try came thanks to an Alfie Langer bomb.

Renouf touched down the ball in the left-hand corner after Rogers fumbled it, with Lockyer converting.

The Sharkies started the second half with a flourish with centre Russell Richardson scoring off a loose ball that came about following a poor Sailor pass and a Cronulla chip ahead. That'd bring the score to 10-8 Broncos, but that was as close as the game really got.

Renouf scored two more in the next twenty minutes to become just the third ever hat-trick scorer in a GF, while Hancock snared at four-pointer too. Game over, shut the gate; Broncos win 26-8.

Eight days later, the ARL GF was played – but, more importantly, between the two games, News Limited and the ARL sat down and agreed to form a new comp. The fissure had been closed, thank Christ.

As for Sharks fans, it was a Grand Final appearance – but one that few seem to care about now.

"The Super League Grand Final was a bit of a non-event," Brad Foli, a Cronulla fan, told the ABC this week. "I think for Sharks fans, we want the real deal."

They'll get it this weekend. It might be heartbreak ahead for the underdogs, but at least it's 100 per cent legit this time.