St. George-Illawarra Dragons
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St. George Illawarra Dragons Logo
The St. George-Illawarra Dragons have their Sydney office based in Kogarah, a suburb south of Sydney, and an office in the city of Wollongong still further south of Sydney. The new look Dragons entered the NRL competition in 1999 as a joint venture between the St. George Dragons and the Illawarra Steelers. Officially they formed the game’s first joint venture on September 23, 1998.
In their first year as a joint venture the Dragons came within minutes of winning the 1999 Grand Final, they were subsequently beaten by the Melbourne Storm in only its second season of the NRL competition. Since the relative success of 1999, the new Dragons performance has been fairly inconsistent, this is despite a talented playing roster. Factors include repetitive injuries to star players, off-field distractions, infighting between the two fan bases, and the constant travel between their multiple home grounds at Moore Park, Kogarah and Wollongong.
Club information
- Club Name: St. George-Illawarra Dragons
- Founded: 1999 (The St. George Dragons and Illawarra Steelers officially formed the game’s first joint venture on September 23, 1998)
- Home stadium: Alternates between Oki Jubilee Stadium (1999, 2003- ) and WIN Stadium (1999- ). Also played at Aussie Stadium (2000-2002). Note: Oki Jubilee Stadium was known as Kogarah Oval and Jubilee Oval at different times until 2003. Aussie Stadium was known as Sydney Football Stadium (1988-2002).
- Head coach: Nathan Brown (2003- )
- NRL Team Captain: Trent Barrett
- Uniform colors: Red and White
- Premiership Titles: Nil
- Premiership Runners-up: 1 - 1999
- Minor Premiership Titles: Nil
Club history
In the wake of the Super League war of 1995 and 1996, and the resulting split competition of 1997. The St. George Dragons (with 15 Premierships, 11 in consecutive years from 1956-1966) and the Illawarra Steelers would find themselves struggling financially, so with the NRL's intention to rationalise the competition from 20 teams down to 14 teams and with substantial financial incentives and a relaxing of salary cap requirements for joint ventures, the Dragons and the Steelers would ensure their survival by forming the leagues first joint venture on September 23, 1998.
As the concept of a joint venture in Austalian rugby league was new, everyone was watching closely in anticipation of their success or failure, no one was certain of how well the top players sourced from the joint ventures two feeder clubs would perform when it ran out onto the field. As might be expected they were unsuccessful in their first outing, meeting the Parramatta Eels, and losing 20-10, but by the 4th round they had started to form some cohesion and would go on to achieve a top 8 position on the competition ladder by the end of the regular season.
In the semi-finals the Dragons won against the Melbourne Storm at Olympic Park, before returning to Sydney to dispose of the Roosters and Cronulla to reach the Grand Final.
In the Grand Final the Dragons were leading by 14-0 at the break. A fairytale of a maiden title in their first year seemed to be coming true, something of an advertisement to any other clubs considering the option of a joint venture, but the Storm recovered from their poor start and went into the final minutes of the game with the Dragons leading by 18-14. The Dragons were forced to perform a drop kick from their own goal line, and on the fifth tackle Brett Kimmorley kicked high towards the Dragon's corner of the field. As the Storm's winger Craig Smith caught the ball over the try-line he was knocked unconscious in a head high tackle by Jamie Ainscough and lost the ball. Referee Bill Harrigan deferred to the video referee who ruled a penalty try giving Melbourne a 20-18 lead and the premiership title.
External links
- Official St. George-Illawarra Dragons web site (http://www.dragons.com.au/)