The Illawarra Steelers are an Australian rugby league football club based in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales. The club competed in Australia's top-level rugby league competition from 1982 until 1998. On 13 December 1980, they were the first non-Sydney based team to be admitted into the New South Wales Rugby League premiership, with the Canberra Raiders being admitted later ensuring an even number of teams in the competition for the start of their first season, 1982. Over their seventeen years in the top grade, the club received three wooden spoons, made the play-offs twice and had a total of three of its players selected to play for the Australia national rugby league team.
The 2004 NRL season was the 97th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the seventh run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen clubs competed during the regular season before the top eight finishing teams contested the finals series. The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs defeated the Sydney Roosters in the 2004 NRL grand final and in doing so claimed their eighth premiership.
The 1998 NRL season was the 91st season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the inaugural season of the newly formed National Rugby League (NRL). After the 1997 season, in which the Australian Rugby League and Super League organisations ran separate competitions parallel to each other, they joined to create a reunited competition in the NRL. The first professional rugby league club to be based in Victoria, the Melbourne Storm was introduced into the League, and with the closure of the Hunter Mariners, Western Reds and South Queensland Crushers, twenty teams competed for the premiership, which culminated in the 1998 NRL grand final between the Brisbane Broncos and Canterbury-Bankstown. It was also the final season for the Illawarra Steelers and the St. George Dragons as their own clubs prior to their merger into the St. George-Illawarra Dragons for the 1999 NRL season
The 2006 NRL season was the 99th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the ninth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen clubs competing for the 2006 Telstra Premiership. Throughout the 26 rounds of the regular season ten teams from New South Wales, two from Queensland and one each from Victoria, the ACT and New Zealand competed for the minor premiership. Eight of these teams qualified for the four-week finals series, with the Brisbane Broncos eventual victors over the Melbourne Storm in the grand final. Melbourne finished the regular season first so were awarded the minor premiership, but this was later revoked due to the Melbourne Storm salary cap breach.
The St. George Illawarra Dragons are an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since 1999 after a joint-venture was formed between the St. George Dragons and the Illawarra Steelers. The club officially formed as the game's first joint-venture club on 23 September 1998 and remains the only inter-city team in the NRL. The team has its headquarters and leagues clubs in both Wollongong and the Sydney suburb of Kogarah, and trains and plays games regularly at WIN Stadium in Wollongong, as well as at Jubilee Oval in Kogarah. From 1999 to 2006 the club was jointly owned by the St. George Dragons 50% and Illawarra Steelers 50%. In 2006 WIN Corporation purchased 50% of the Illawarra Steelers stake in the club before purchasing the rest of the Illawarra Steelers' share in August 2018.
Jamie Soward is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer, and the former head-coach of St. George Illawarra Dragons Women in the NRLW.
This article contains information on rugby league played in 2007. The season commenced with the World Club Challenge and concluded with the New Zealand All Golds Tour in November.
Paul McGregor is an Australian professional rugby league coach who was until August 2020, the head coach of the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL, and a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a centre in the 1990s and 2000s.
Brett Morris is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played on the wing and as a fullback for the St George Illawarra Dragons, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League (NRL) and Australia at international level.
The history of the National Rugby League (NRL), the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia, goes back to December 1997, when it was formed in the aftermath of the Super League war of the mid-1990s. The NRL has, in its relatively brief history, enjoyed growth and record attendance figures.
Jason Nightingale is a former New Zealand international rugby league footballer who played as a winger and fullback for the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL.
The 2008 National Rugby League season consisted of 26 weekly regular season rounds, starting on 14 March, followed by four weeks of play-offs, culminating in a Grand Final on 5 October.
Frank-Paul Nu'uausala, also known by the nicknames of "Frank Paul the Wrecking Ball" or "Frank the tank", is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer. A New Zealand international representative forward, Nu'uausala most notably played for the Sydney Roosters with whom he won the 2013 NRL Premiership.
Gerard Beale is a New Zealand international rugby league professional footballer who last played for the St. George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL.
Top-level rugby league in 2010 centered on Australasia's 2010 NRL season and Super League XV. High-profile representative competitions included the 2010 Four Nations, the 2010 State of Origin series and the 2010 European Cup.
Dean Whare pronounced (FAR-dEH) is a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who plays as a Halfback for the Glebe Dirty Reds in the NSWRL Ron Massey Cup, and New Zealand and the New Zealand Māori at international level.
Jackson Hastings is a Great Britain international rugby league footballer who plays as a halfback for the Newcastle Knights in the National Rugby League (NRL).
The World Club Challenge is an annual rugby league competition between the winners of the Australian National Rugby League and the British Super League, for the de facto club world championship of the sport.
Jacob Host is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a second-row forward for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the National Rugby League (NRL).
Brian To'o is an Australian and Samoa international rugby league footballer who plays as a winger for the Penrith Panthers in the NRL.
