Schedule The 2008 season was one week longer than the 2007 competition, allowing an extra bye on top of the existing one allocated to each club. In addition, the scheduling of the earlier representative fixtures was changed, including the removal of Monday Night Football on weekends prior to the
City vs Country match and the
ANZAC Test. The City vs Country fixture was pushed back to Friday night where it had been prior to 2007. Many of these initiatives were announced midway through the 2007 season by the
chief executive officer of the National Rugby League,
David Gallop, in an attempt to help reduce player fatigue after several complaints of player injuries caused by the short turnaround between some matches. 2008 also saw a change in how the draw is devised, with teams nominating their preferred home opponents in order of preference. The NRL consulted these requests when structuring the season's fixtures. This change is intended to maximise attendances by allowing local derbies and other high-interest matches to be played twice a year. It is a departure from previous methods, which focused on trying to produce an equally difficult playing schedule for each club. The draw was released on 19 October 2007. On the back of increasing public pressure, the National Rugby League decided to move the
Grand Final back from the later timeslot of 7:00pm to 5:00pm. The Grand Final had traditionally been held on a Sunday afternoon up until 2000, after which it was relocated to the evening in order to accommodate the
Nine Network's programming desires. Whilst the late night scheduling was not considered as much an issue for
New South Wales audiences because of the
Labour Day public holiday the following day, it was argued by many
Queenslanders that such a time was unsuitable for families on the eve of a weekday. Many individuals in the general public and the media pushed for a full return to a 3:00pm kickoff time where it had been for many decades, whilst Channel 9 continued to insist on 7:00pm. As a compromise, the National Rugby League decided on a "
twilight" match starting at 5:00pm. It was the first time since the
2000 season that the grand final was played in daylight, largely due to a change in commencement of
Daylight Saving Time in
New South Wales,
ACT and
Victoria in 2008.
Teams The number of teams in the NRL remained unchanged since the previous season, with sixteen participating in the regular season: ten from
New South Wales, three from Queensland and one from each of
Victoria, the
Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. Of the ten from New South Wales, eight (St. George Illawarra are both from Sydney and
Wollongong) are from Sydney's metropolitan area, with (St. George Illawarra being a Sydney and
Wollongong joint venture. Just two foundation clubs from
New South Wales Rugby League season 1908 played in this competition: the
Sydney Roosters (formerly known as Eastern Suburbs) and the
South Sydney Rabbitohs. The
Melbourne Storm were the defending premiers. For the first time since the 1988 introduction of teams outside of New South Wales, an under-20 competition ran incorporating sides fielded by each of the sixteen premiership clubs. The National Youth Competition, known as the
Toyota Cup for sponsorship purposes was solely for under-20 players.
Records set in 2008 •
Gold Coast Titans winger
Jordan Atkins matched the standing record for most tries in a first grade debut set by
Canterbury Bankstown's Tony Nash in
season 1942 when he scored four tries in round 1 of 2008. • The
Brisbane Broncos set a new club home attendance record for a regular season game at
Suncorp Stadium when 50,612 spectators attended their Round 3 match against the
North Queensland Cowboys. However, this did not beat their all-time club record of 58,583 set at their former home
ANZ Stadium (Brisbane) (1993-2003) in Round 22 of the
1993 season against the
St. George Dragons. • The
Bulldogs set a club home crowd record when 36,526 spectators attended their Round 4 clash against the
Sydney Roosters. The match marked Roosters forward
Willie Mason's first match against his old club, and also set a record for the highest attended club match in Sydney during a premiership season (excluding finals). •
Ruben Wiki became only the 10th player in history to play 300 first grade games, and is the first New Zealander to pass this milestone. • The
South Sydney Rabbitohs equalled the 2nd biggest comeback in NRL history in Round 16 against the North Queensland Cowboys. After trailing 28–4 after fifty minutes, the Rabbitohs won the match 29–28. • The
North Queensland Cowboys recorded their longest losing streak of 13 matches (round 7–21) •
Melbourne Storm became the first club to win three minor premierships in a row (and also three minor premierships overall) since the founding of the NRL, but these titles have since been stripped by the NRL as a result of gross salary cap infringements. • The
New Zealand Warriors became the first eighth-placed club to win in the first week of the finals since the McIntyre Final 8 System was introduced in season 1999. They progressed to the preliminary final, the furthest stage that any 8th-placed team has progressed. This record stood for 12 months, when the 8th-placed team from the following season, the Parramatta Eels, went one better and made the grand final. • The
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles' grand final defeat of defending premiers
Melbourne Storm, 40–0, is the greatest winning margin in a grand final, eclipsing the record set in 1975 which was
Eastern Suburbs 38–0 win over
St. George Dragons. The last team to be kept scoreless in a grand final was Cronulla in 1978 in the grand final replay against Manly 16–0. • The season's leading try scorer, Manly-Warringah's
Brett Stewart, equalled former
Canberra Raiders flyer
Brett Mullins'
1994 record for most tries scored in a season by a with 22 (19 in the regular season, 3 in the finals). ==Marketing==