1995 would prove to be a year of massive change for the League. In addition to the introduction of four new teams, it was the last year of the premiership's association with
Rothmans and the Winfield brand and consequently the final year that clubs competed for the
Winfield Cup. There had been a cloud over the league for some time in the form of rumours and speculation about the
Super League, but the ensuing dispute was more extensive than almost any commenters and analysts had predicted. The subsequent
Super League war would have massive impacts on the sport in Australia and would substantially harm the league's popular support and grassroots structures. The 1995 season was played in front of a background of legal actions which did large damage to interpersonal relations within the league, with players and managers jockeying for position. Players who had signed with the new
Super League venture were forbidden by the ARL from participating in the
1995 State of Origin. Selectors from New South Wales and Queensland were limited to selecting players only from ARL-aligned clubs, plus certain defectors from Super League. The usual twenty-two regular season rounds were played from March till August. However the large number of teams meant a resulting top eight would battle it out in the finals rather than the usual five. These were Manly, Canberra, Brisbane, Cronulla, Newcastle, Sydney Bulldogs, St. George and North Sydney (who made it in due to Auckland being penalised for an interchange infringement). In addition to the premiership, there was also the
1995 Trans-Tasman Test series between the
Australian Rugby League's and
New Zealand Rugby League's national teams. Cronulla-Sutherland's halfback
Paul Green was awarded the 1995
Rothmans Medal. The
Dally M Award was given to Canberra's five-eighth,
Laurie Daley who was also named ''
Rugby League Week's'' player of the year. Manly-Warringah's
Steve Menzies became the first
forward for 50 years to top the season's try-scoring list, while his teammate
Matthew Ridge set a club point scoring record of 257 points to be the league's leading point scorer for the year. By the end of the regular season, the ARL's inaugural 20-team competition had set a new record for aggregate match attendances of 3,061,338.
Advertising 1995 marked the final year of the
New South Wales Rugby League's sponsorship arrangement with
Rothmans and
Winfield due to the
federal government's blanket ban on cigarette advertising in Australia effective from 1 January 1996. It was consequently the final year of a seven-year association with
Tina Turner and the end of an era in Australian sports marketing. As in 1994 the New South Wales Rugby League and its advertising agency Hertz Walpole returned to the original 1989 recording of
The Best by Turner to underscore the season launch advertisement. Footage from the studio
bluescreen shoot taken during Turner's 1993 Sydney visit was used in the final advertisements. The enduring images are of Turner performing the song on an elevated stage in front of the fluttering banners of the 20 clubs that would participate in 1995's expanded competition.
Teams When the Australian Rugby League began taking bids for additional teams to begin playing in 1995, it was expected that only two teams would enter.
Auckland were the first club to be accepted, with the final place being fought for by
South Queensland,
North Queensland and
Perth. The Australian Rugby League later announced that all three clubs had been accepted, taking the number of teams from 16 in
1994 to 20 in 1995, the highest it had ever been and would ever be. With the addition of the
Auckland Warriors,
North Queensland Cowboys,
South Queensland Crushers and
Western Reds the 1995 season involved an unprecedented twenty clubs, including five
Sydney-based foundation teams, another six from
Sydney, one from
Newcastle, one from
Wollongong, two from
Brisbane, one from
Gold Coast, one from
Townsville, one from
Auckland, one from
Canberra and one from
Perth, who all contested the premiership, making it the largest competition in terms of participation in Australia's history. With the storm that would be the
Super League war already brewing in the background, three clubs based in Sydney suburbs, in an effort to position themselves favourably as battle lines were being drawn up, re-branded themselves for the 1995 season with less geographically distinct names: the Balmain Tigers became the 'Sydney Tigers', the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs became the 'Sydney Bulldogs', and the Eastern Suburbs Roosters became the 'Sydney City Roosters'.
Ladder • Auckland Warriors were stripped of 2 competition points due to exceeding the replacement limit in round 3. ==Finals==