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1999 Telstra Premiership

1999 National Rugby League
Teams 17
Premiers Melbourne colours.svg Melbourne (1st title)
Minor premiers Cronulla colours.svg Cronulla-Sutherland (2nd title)
Matches played 213
Points scored 8857
Attendance 3273372
Top points scorer(s) Melbourne colours.svg Matt Geyer (242)
Player of the year Newcastle colours.svg Andrew Johns (Dally M Medal)
Top try-scorer(s) St. George colours.svg Nathan Blacklock (24)

The 1999 NRL season was the 92nd season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the second to be run by the National Rugby League. With the exclusion of the Adelaide Rams and Gold Coast Chargers, and the merger of the St. George Dragons and Illawarra Steelers, seventeen teams competed for the NRL Premiership during the 1999 season, which culminated in the first grand final to be played at Stadium Australia. The St George Illawarra Dragons, the first joint-venture club to appear in the grand final, played against the Melbourne Storm, who won the premiership in only their second season.

The 1999 National Rugby League season was historic for many reasons. The St George Illawarra Dragons played their inaugural game after forming the League's first joint venture, losing 10-20 to the Parramatta Eels. That game was the second of a double header, which was the first event to be held at Sydney's Stadium Australia, the central venue for the Olympic Games the following year. That game attracted a rugby league world record of 104,583 spectators.

During the season, the members of the Balmain Tigers and Western Suburbs Magpies voted to form another joint venture, to be named the Wests Tigers. After the conclusion of the season, the South Sydney Rabbitohs and North Sydney Bears were excluded from the premiership. The Bears would later form the game's third joint venture with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, whilst South Sydney would fight a two-year legal battle for reinclusion.


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