1999 NRL Grand Final

The 1999 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership=deciding game of the 1999 NRL season.

Melbourne Storm	Position	St. George Illawarra
Robbie Ross	FB	Luke Patten
Craig Smith	WG	Jamie Ainscough
Aaron Moule	CE	Paul McGregor (c)
Tony Martin	CE	Shaun Timmins
Marcus Bai	WG	Nathan Blacklock
Matt Geyer	FE	Anthony Mundine
Brett Kimmorley	HB	Trent Barrett
Glenn Lazarus (c)	PR	Craig Smith
Richard Swain	HK	Nathan Brown
Rodney Howe	PR	Chris Leikvoll
Stephen Kearney	SR	Lance Thompson
Paul Marquet	SR	Darren Treacy
Tawera Nikau	LK	Wayne Bartrim
Matt Rua	Bench	Craig Fitzgibbon
Russell Bawden	Bench	Rod Wishart
Ben Roarty	Bench	Brad Mackay
Danny Williams	Bench	Colin Ward
Chris Anderson	Coach	David Waite Andrew Farrar

A new rugby league world record crowd of 107,999 was at Stadium Australia for the Grand Final. Pre-match entertainment featured Hugh Jackman's rendition of the national anthem.

The Dragons were up 14-0 at half time, with a converted try and penalty goal to Craig Fitzgibbon (who would later eventually play in four grand finals for the Roosters, winning in his second of four attempts at the club and also winning the Clive Churchill Medal in 2002), and a converted try to Nathan Blacklock. However, an Anthony Mundine knock-on over the try line early in the second half proved to be a major turning point in the match, with Melbourne running in tries through Tony Martin and Ben Roarty and winger Craig Smith kicking two penalty goals. An unconverted try to Dragons captain Paul McGregor couldn't stem Melbourne's momentum, with Craig Smith kicking the Storm to within four points of the Dragons at 18-14.

In the 77th minute the Storm forced the Dragons to a goal line dropout. Melbourne's halfback Brett Kimmorley then bombed to Craig Smith's wing. Dragons centre Jamie Ainscough, anticipating a Melbourne try, caught Smith in a head-high tackle over the try-line, resulting in Smith knocking on. Referee Bill Harrigan requested video referee Chris Ward adjudicate on the decision. In one of the most controversial grand final incidents, the Melbourne Storm were granted a penalty try, drawing them level with the Dragons. Being a penalty try, the subsequent conversion was taken from directly in front of the posts. Matt Geyer was successful in the conversion and the Storm, for the first time in the match, pulled ahead of the Dragons and took out their first grand final 20-18.

The Storm thus became the quickest expansion team to win a premiership, eclipsing the Canterbury side who won the 1938 premiership in just their fourth season. It was the last game of champion prop and captain Glenn Lazarus, who retired after a remarkable fifth grand final victory (having won premierships with the Canberra Raiders in 1989 and 1990 and with the Brisbane Broncos in 1992 and 1993).

For traditional St George fans the loss was hard to take. The Dragons were unsuccessful in their four previous visits to the grand final (1985, 1992, 1993 and 1996) and had not won a premiership since 1979. It wouldn't be until another eleven years that the Dragons would again return to the big dance, when they defeated the Sydney Roosters by 32-8.

20	Melbourne Storm
Tries	1 Martin 1 Roarty 1 Smith (pen.)
Goals	3/4 Smith 1/1 Geyer
Field Goals
18	St George Illawarra Dragons
Tries	1 Fitzgibbon 1 Blacklock 1 McGregor
Goals	2/3 Bartrim 1/1 Fitzgibbon
Field Goals

Clive Churchill Medal: Brett Kimmorley

The grand final attracted a television viewership of over 600,000 in Melbourne.

To date this also remains Melbourne's only premiership, after their 2007 and 2009 titles were stripped following mass salary cap breaches disclosed in 2010.