First seasons for each club

General Rugby League
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With the addition of the Dolphins to the competition this season, I thought I’d take a look at how each club has fared in their first season.

I have included the first season for merged sides, as well as the first season for Souths re-admittance & Manly’s first season after the Northern Eagles merger folded.

Melbourne & St George Illawarra are the only non-foundation clubs to appear in the finals in their first season. Most clubs fall towards the bottom.

All new clubs from 1935-1982 finished either last or second last.

Brisbane were the first non-foundation club not to finish bottom 3 (Gold Coast & Newcastle were both bottom 3 that year).

1908:
Souths - 10 wins, 1 loss - 1st & Premiers
Easts - 9 wins, 2 losses - 2nd & Runners up
Glebe - 7 wins, 3 losses - 3rd & Semi Finalists
Norths - 6 wins, 4 losses - 4th & Semi Finalists
Newcastle 08 - 4 wins, 5 losses - 5th
Balmain - 3 wins, 1 draw, 5 losses - 6th
Newtown - 1 win, 1 draw, 7 losses - 7th
Wests - 1 win, 8 losses - 8th
Cumberland - 1 win, 7 losses - 9th & last

1910:
Annandale - 5 wins, 1 draw, 8 losses - 6th

1920:
University - 1 win, 12 losses - 8th

1921:
St George - 2 wins, 6 losses - 7th

1935:
Canterbury - 2 wins, 14 losses - 8th

1947:
Manly - 4 wins, 14 losses - 9th
Parramatta - 3 wins, 15 losses - 10th & last

1967:
Penrith - 5 wins, 2 draws, 15 losses - 11th
Cronulla - 3 wins, 1 draw, 18 losses - 12th & last

1982:
Illawarra - 6 wins, 20 losses - 13th
Canberra - 4 wins, 22 losses - 14th & last

1988:
Brisbane - 14 wins, 8 losses - 7th
Newcastle - 5 wins, 1 draw, 16 losses - 14th
Gold Coast - 4 wins, 2 draws, 16 losses - 15th

1995:
Auckland - 13 wins, 9 losses - 10th
Western Reds - 11 wins, 11 losses - 11th
South Queensland - 6 wins, 1 draw, 15 losses - 16th
North Queensland - 2 wins, 20 losses - 20th & last

1997 (Super League):
Hunter - 7 wins, 11 losses - 6th
Adelaide - 6 wins, 1 draw, 11 losses - 9th

1998:
Melbourne - 18 wins, 1 draw, 8 losses - 3rd & Preliminary Finalists

1999:
St George Illawarra - 18 wins, 10 losses - 6th & Runners up

2000:
Wests Tigers - 11 wins, 2 draws, 13 losses - 10th
Northern Eagles - 9 wins, 17 losses - 12th

2002:
Souths - 5 wins, 19 losses - 14th (would have finished last had Bulldogs not lost all of their points for salary cap breaches)

2003:
Manly - 7 wins, 17 losses - 14th

2007:
Gold Coast Titans - 10 wins, 14 losses - 12th

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Great summary.

What’s interesting would be the points gap for example in ‘67. While only Cronulla finished below us on the ladder, we lost a lot less games than them.

The immediate success of the new teams in Super league was a surprise at the time too.

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I think by the time Super League came around, the power brokers realised that new entities need almost immediate on field success to succeed long term.

Going back to 88, Broncos weren’t far off making the finals in their first season, and Knights made the finals within a few years. Gold Coast struggled, and ultimately folded because of it.

In 95, Warriors & Western Reds were close to making the finals. Western Reds suffered from a lack of support from the ARL, and were wound up despite a decent showing on & off the field. South Queensland were always under the pump, so no surprises they failed. North Queensland were a surprise, taking several years to achieve any on field success. Off field support is probably what kept them going.

The Rams & Mariners in Super League were little more than something to make up numbers, and as a result only lasted a year or two each.

Since then, Storm, Dragons, Wests Tigers, Manly (after merge) & Titans have all had reasonable success in their early years, and have been able to build some stability. Souths always had great off field support, even when they were struggling, and that helped to build them to what we see today.

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Dolphins had a reasonable start to the year, but as time went on & injuries took hold, their lack of depth became obvious. Have made a few good signings for next year, so it will be interesting to see how they back up.

Final result:
Dolphins - 9 wins, 15 loses - 13th