The 1998 Adelaide Rams season was the Adelaide Rams' second and final season as a rugby league club. They competed in the first season of the National Rugby League.
The club was again coached by Rod Reddy and captained by Kerrod Walters. However, after the Rams lost nine of their first ten games, coach Reddy and the entire coaching staff were sacked by the Rams' administration. Reddy was replaced by former Perth Reds coach Dean Lance.
Results In June after numerous financial disagreements with the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) who at the time owned the Adelaide Oval, the club changed home grounds to the smaller, 16,000 capacity Hindmarsh Stadium, a soccer specific venue which was better suited to a rugby league field than the Adelaide Oval was. The Rams celebrated the move with a record 52–0 win over the Balmain Tigers.
The club went on to win six of their last fourteen games after the arrival of Dean Lance's, enough to avoid the wooden spoon awarded to the team finishing lowest on the competition ladder. Their overall results were comparable to those of their first season, coming fourth last in the 20–team competition. Appo broke several team records in his 14 games with the Rams.
The Adelaide Rams last home game in the penultimate round of the season saw a 36–0 thrashing at the hands of the finals bound North Sydney Bears in front of 7,035 fans on 15 August 1998.1998 Adelaide vs North Sydney at Rugby League Project
Throughout the 1998 season, the Rams attempted to build a stronger supporter base in order to avoid removal from the competition in 1999 or 2000. However, with the team's lack of on-field success, plus the success of other Adelaide-based sports teams who won national championships in 1997 and/or 1998 including the Adelaide Crows (AFL), Adelaide 36ers (NBL) and Adelaide Thunderbirds (netball), saw average home attendances dropped by more than half (51.3%) from the previous years 15,330 to just 7,472 over the course of the season.
+ Adelaide Rams 1998 NRL season resultsRound Home Scoreline Away Date Venue Crowd 1 Adelaide Rams 8 – 18 North Queensland Cowboys 13 March Adelaide Oval 11,289 2 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 22 – 6 Adelaide Rams 22 March Brookvale Oval 6,434 3 Adelaide Rams 22 – 20 Canterbury Bulldogs 27 March Adelaide Oval 8,390 4 Penrith Panthers 54 – 12 Adelaide Rams 5 April Penrith Football Stadium 6,637 5 Adelaide Rams 8 – 16 Gold Coast Chargers 9 April Adelaide Oval 7,058 6 Sydney City Roosters 50 – 12 Adelaide Rams 17 April Sydney Football Stadium 6,200 7 Adelaide Rams 12 – 22 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 25 April Adelaide Oval 8,472 8 Canterbury Bulldogs 30 – 4 Adelaide Rams 3 May Belmore Sports Ground 5,041 9 Adelaide Rams 18 – 24 Canberra Raiders 8 May Adelaide Oval 6,500 10 Parramatta Eels 18 – 2 Adelaide Rams 16 May Pioneer Oval 7,514 11 Adelaide Rams 35 – 18 Penrith Panthers 23 May Adelaide Oval 5,000 12 Western Suburbs Magpies 36 – 24 Adelaide Rams 31 May Campbelltown Stadium 6,392 13 Adelaide Rams 22 – 20 St George Dragons 6 June Adelaide Oval 8,506 14 Melbourne Storm 24 – 4 Adelaide Rams 13 June Olympic Park 8,293 15 Adelaide Rams 4 – 39 Illawarra Steelers 20 June Bennett Oval 5,153 16 Gold Coast Chargers 12 – 40 Adelaide Rams 27 June Carrara Stadium 3,897 17 Adelaide Rams 52 – 0 Balmain Tigers 3 July Hindmarsh Stadium 7,351 18 South Sydney Rabbitohs 18 – 34 Adelaide Rams 12 July Sydney Football Stadium 4,060 19 North Queensland Cowboys 14 – 10 Adelaide Rams 18 July Dairy Farmers Stadium 11,340 20 Adelaide Rams 22 – 20 Auckland Warriors 26 July Hindmarsh Stadium 7,445 21 Brisbane Broncos 46 – 12 Adelaide Rams 1 August ANZ Stadium 13,858 22 Adelaide Rams 10 – 32 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 7 August Hindmarsh Stadium 7,459 23 Adelaide Rams 0 – 36 North Sydney Bears 15 August Hindmarsh Stadium 7,035 24 Newcastle Knights 34 – 20 Adelaide Rams 22 August Marathon Stadium 17,281
Ladder
Players
The demise of three clubs from the Super League and ARL (Western Reds and Hunter Mariners (SL), and South Queensland Crushers (ARL)) saw some player re-shuffling, and brought Noel Goldthorpe, Tony Iro and Matt Daylight to the Adelaide club. No.NamePos.DebutAppTGFGPts 2WG1 March 1997102008 5WG1 March 199772008 8PR1 March 19972130012 9HK1 March 1997241004 10PR1 March 1997141004 11SR1 March 199730000 12SR1 March 199781004 15FB/CE/FE1 March 1997172008 17SR1 March 199721004 18FB9 March 199721004 19PR/SR9 March 1997210011 20FE/HB/LK9 March 1997216002421 PR14 March 1997201004 22CE/FE21 March 199717316044 23PR/SR27 March 1997211004 24CE19 April 19971340016 26CE17 August 1997142008 27PR/LK22 August 1997121004 28CE13 March 1998162008 29HB13 March 1998221106 30SR13 March 1998201004 31PR/SR13 March 1998190000 32WG22 March 19982070028 33HB27 March 199830306 34FE17 April 199810000 35WG25 April 19981780032 36FB/CE8 May 19981412340116 37FE8 May 199841004 38FB/FE23 May 19981406024 39PR6 June 199810000 40SR27 June 199871004 41PR1 August 199820000
References