2002 NRL season

In February, 2002, the National Rugby League's Director of Legal and Business Affairs, David Gallop, was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the NRL, succeeding David Moffett.

The legendary Broncos and Maroons halfback, Allan Langer, returned from England to play his final season of professional football with the Brisbane club. In doing so he became the NRL's oldest player for the 2002 season at 36 years and 60 days.[1]

The number of teams contesting the Premiership increased for the 2002 season from 14 to 15 due to the re-inclusion of the South Sydney Rabbitohs. It was the first time the number of Premiership teams had increased since the 1995 ARL season when the introduction of the Auckland Warriors, North Queensland Cowboys, South Queensland Crushers and Western Reds saw the number of teams increase from 16 to 20.

Brisbane Broncos 15th season Ground: Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre Coach: Wayne Bennett Captain: Gorden Tallis			Bulldogs RLFC 68th season Ground: Sydney Showground Coach: Steve Folkes Captain: Steve Price			Canberra Raiders 21st season Ground: Canberra Stadium Coach: Matthew Elliott Captain: Simon Woolford			Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 38th season Ground: Shark Park Coach: Chris Anderson Captain: David Peachey
Melbourne Storm 5th season Ground Olympic Park Stadium Coach: Mark Murray Captain: Robbie Kearns			Newcastle Knights 15th season Ground: Newcastle International Sports Centre Coach: Michael Hagan Captain: Andrew Johns			New Zealand Warriors 8th season Ground: Mt Smart Stadium Coach: Daniel Anderson Captain: Stacey Jones & Monty Betham			North Queensland Cowboys 8th season Ground: Willows Sports Complex Coach: Murray Hurst → Graham Murray Captain: Paul Bowman
Northern Eagles 3rd season Ground: Brookvale Oval & Central Coast Stadium Coach: Peter Sharp Captain: Steve Menzies			Parramatta Eels 56th season Ground: Parramatta Stadium Coach: Brian Smith Captain: Nathan Cayless			Penrith Panthers 36th season Ground: Penrith Stadium Coach: John Lang Captain: Craig Gower			South Sydney Rabbitohs 93rd season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: Craig Coleman Captain: Adam Muir
Sydney Roosters 95th season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: Ricky Stuart Captain: Brad Fittler				St. George Illawarra Dragons 4th season Ground: Kogarah Oval & WIN Stadium Coach: Andrew Farrar Captain: Trent Barrett				Wests Tigers 3rd season Ground: Campbelltown Stadium & Leichhardt Oval Coach: Terry Lamb Captain: Darren Senter

In 2002, as in 2001, the NRL's advertising was handled by Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney. As in the previous season, there was no big budget season launch advertising campaign. The NRL focussed on stretching its marketing spending throughout the season with newspaper ads promoting individual rounds and clubs, and with simple TV ads to promote key games.

The Bulldogs won 17 games in a row and had an unbeaten run of 18 games, the most in the club's history. However they were deducted 37 premiership points for a gross salary cap breaches, the most points deducted in premiership history. That left the club with just four competition points attained from the two byes earlier in the season. Four more competition points followed since the salary cap scandal, all from wins in the last two rounds of the season.

The New Zealand Warriors won the club's first Minor Premiership in its 8-year history and also made it to their first Grand Final. The Warriors were not in first place almost during the entire season, only taking top spot on the ladder at the conclusion of Round 26.

John Hopoate ran 3,976 metres with the ball in 2002, more than any other player in the competition.[2]

At the end of the season NRL referees' coach Peter Louis resigned from his position.[3]

Ladder

The Warriors received A$100,000 prize money for finishing the regular season as minor premiers.[5]

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	New Zealand Warriors	24	17	0	7	2	688	454	+234	38
2	Newcastle Knights	24	17	0	7	2	724	498	+226	38
3	Brisbane Broncos	24	16	1	7	2	672	425	+247	37
4	Sydney Roosters (P)	24	15	1	8	2	621	405	+216	35
5	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	24	15	0	9	2	653	597	+56	34
6	Parramatta Eels	24	10	2	12	2	531	440	+91	26
7	St George Illawarra Dragons	24	9	3	12	2	632	546	+86	25
8	Canberra Raiders	24	10	1	13	2	471	641	-170	25
9	Northern Eagles	24	10	0	14	2	503	740	-237	24
10	Melbourne Storm	24	9	1	14	2	556	586	-30	23
11	North Queensland Cowboys	24	8	0	16	2	496	803	-307	20
12	Penrith Panthers	24	7	0	17	2	546	654	-108	18
13	Wests Tigers	24	7	0	17	2	498	642	-144	18
14	South Sydney Rabbitohs	24	5	0	19	2	385	817	-432	14
15	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	24	20	1	3	2	707	435	+272	81

¹The Bulldogs were deducted 37 premiership points due to gross salary cap breaches.

Ladder progression

• Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 8.
• 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
• Underlined numbers indicate that the team had a bye during 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	25	26
1	New Zealand	2	4	4	6	8	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	24	26	26	28	30	30	32	34	36	36	36	38
2	Newcastle	2	4	6	8	10	12	12	14	16	16	18	20	22	24	24	26	28	28	30	30	32	32	34	36	38	38
3	Brisbane	2	3	5	7	9	11	13	15	17	19	19	21	21	23	25	25	27	29	31	33	35	35	35	35	37	37
4	Sydney	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	16	18	19	21	23	23	23	25	25	27	29	31	33	35
5	Sharks	2	4	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	26	28	30	32	34	34
6	Parramatta	2	2	4	4	5	7	9	11	13	15	15	17	19	19	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	22	22	24	26	26
7	St. George Illawarra	0	2	2	4	5	5	5	5	6	8	10	10	10	11	13	15	15	15	17	19	19	19	21	23	23	25
8	Canberra	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	4	5	5	7	9	11	11	11	13	13	15	15	17	19	21	21	23	23	25
9	Northern Eagles	0	2	2	4	4	6	6	8	8	10	10	10	12	12	14	16	16	18	18	18	20	22	22	22	24	24
10	Melbourne	2	2	4	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	10	10	11	13	13	15	17	19	19	19	21	23	23	23	23
11	North Queensland	0	0	0	0	2	2	4	4	6	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	10	10	12	14	14	14	16	16	18	20
12	Penrith	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	8	8	10	10	10	10	10	10	12	12	14	14	16	16	18
13	Wests	2	4	4	6	6	8	10	10	10	10	12	12	12	12	14	14	14	14	14	14	16	16	16	18	18	18
14	South Sydney	0	2	4	4	4	4	6	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	10	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	14
15	Bulldogs	0	1	3	5	7	9	11	13	15	17	19	21	23	25	27	29	31	33	35	37	39	39	41	4	6	8

To decide the grand finalists from the top eight finishing teams, the NRL adopts the McIntyre Final Eight System.

Coincidentally, the finalists for 2002 were almost the same as the previous season, with the exception of the Bulldogs being replaced by Canberra. Had the Bulldogs not been deducted competition points, they would have become the minor premiers and completed the replication, with Canberra moving down to 9th.

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Qualifying Finals
Sydney Roosters	32 – 20	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	13 September 2002	Aussie Stadium	Paul Simpkins	25,366
Brisbane Broncos	24 – 14	Parramatta Eels	14 September 2002	ANZ Stadium	Sean Hampstead	19,115
Newcastle Knights	22 – 26	St George Illawarra Dragons	14 September 2002	Energy Australia Stadium	Bill Harrigan	21,051
New Zealand Warriors	36 – 20	Canberra Raiders	15 September 2002	Ericsson Stadium	Tim Mander	25,800
Semi Finals
St George Illawarra Dragons	24 – 40	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	21 September 2002	Aussie Stadium	Bill Harrigan	31,783
Sydney Roosters	38 – 12	Newcastle Knights	22 September 2002	Aussie Stadium	Sean Hampstead	23,816
Preliminary Finals
Brisbane Broncos	12 – 16	Sydney Roosters	28 September 2002	Aussie Stadium	Bill Harrigan	28,251
New Zealand Warriors	16 – 10	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	29 September 2002	Telstra Stadium	Tim Mander	45,782

Chart

	Qualifying Finals					Semi Finals					Preliminary Finals					Grand Final
	1	New Zealand	36
	8	Canberra	20
											1W	New Zealand	16
	2	Newcastle	22			4W	St. George Illawarra	24				Cronulla	10
	7	St. George Illawarra	26			2L	Cronulla	40									New Zealand	8
																	Sydney	30
	3	Brisbane	24								2W	Brisbane	12
	6	Parramatta	14			3W	Sydney	38				Sydney	16
						1L	Newcastle	12
	4	Sydney	32
	5	Cronulla	20

• Middleton, David (2002). National Rugby League 2002. HarperSports. ISBN 978-0-7322-7466-5.

• NRL official website
• RLeague.com 2002 NRL Draw and Results
• Blood, guts and Rooster glory - Sydney Morning Herald match report
• 2002 NRL Grand Final at sportsphotography.net