ARL season 1997
| 1997 Australian Rugby League | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Teams | 12 |
| Premiers |
 Newcastle (1st title) |
| Minor premiers |
 Manly (9th title) |
| Matches played | 141 |
| Points scored | 5370 |
| Attendance | 1496040 |
| Top points scorer(s) |
 Jason Taylor (242) |
| Player of the year |
 Brad Fittler (Rothmans Medal) |
| Top try-scorer(s) |
Terry Hill (22) |
The 1997 Australian Rugby League season was the 90th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the third season run by the Australian Rugby League. While several clubs had left the League to compete in the 1997 Super League season, twelve ARL-loyal teams - eight from across Sydney, two from greater New South Wales and two from Queensland - competed for the Optus Cup Trophy. 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.
The season is most notable for being run parallel to the rival Super League competition. This was the only season when the two competitions actually ran, notwithstanding that 1995 and 1996 had been disrupted by the Super League war.
ARL chairman Ken Arthurson resigned in February 1997 in an effort to enable re-unification negotiations held during the season to succeed. It wouldn't be 'til after the season's end in December that the boards of every ARL club would gather at the SCG in an unprecedented meeting to consider the proposed peace deal following five months of secret negotiations between Ian Frykberg and Neil Whittaker.
In 1997 the official player of the year award, the Provan-Summons Medal was won by Brad Fittler. This award was replaced by the Dally M Medal from the following year. The Illawarra Steelers' Scott Cram was named the 1997 season's rookie of the year.
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.
1 The round 10 match between Newcastle and South Sydney was postponed due to rain. This match was played during round 16.
...
Wikipedia