1997 St Helens RLFC season

1997 St Helens RLFC season
Super League II Rank3rd
Play-off resultPremiership Trophy runners-up
Challenge CupWinners
1997 recordWins: 21; draws: 1; losses: 8
Points scoredFor: 856; against: 631
Team information
CoachShaun McRae
StadiumKnowsley Road
← 1996 List of seasons 1998 →

The 1997 St Helens RLFC season was the 102nd season in the club's rugby league history and the second season in the Super League. Coached by Shaun McRae, the Saints competed in Super League II and finished in 3rd place, but went on to win the 1997 Challenge Cup, beating Bradford Bulls in the final for the second consecutive year.

Table

Pos Team
 Pld W D L PF PA PD Pts Relegation
1 Bradford Bulls (C) 22 20 0 2 769 397 +372 40
2 London Broncos 22 15 3 4 616 418 +198 33
3 St Helens 22 14 1 7 592 506 +86 29
4 Wigan 22 14 0 8 683 398 +285 28
5 Leeds Rhinos 22 13 1 8 544 463 +81 27
6 Salford Reds 22 11 0 11 428 495 −67 22
7 Halifax Blue Sox 22 8 2 12 524 549 −25 18
8 Sheffield Eagles 22 9 0 13 415 574 −159 18
9 Warrington Wolves 22 8 0 14 437 647 −210 16
10 Castleford Tigers 22 5 2 15 334 515 −181 12
11 Paris Saint-Germain 22 6 0 16 362 572 −210 12
12 Oldham Bears (R) 22 4 1 17 461 631 −170 9 Relegated to Division One
Source: Rugby League Project
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Points difference; 3) Number of points scored;
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Squad

No[1] Player Apps Tries Goals DGs Points Ref
1 Steve Prescott 20 6 0 0 24 [1]
2 Joey Hayes 10 3 0 0 12 [2]
3 Sean Long 19 7 40 0 108 [3]
4 Paul Newlove 30 19 0 0 76 [4]
5 Anthony Sullivan 38 27 0 0 108 [5]
6 Karle Hammond 36 15 0 1 61 [6]
7 Bobbie Goulding 20 2 77 1 163 [7]
8 Apollo Perelini 27 3 0 0 12 [8]
9 Keiron Cunningham 36 11 0 0 44 [9]
10 Ian Pickavance 34 3 0 0 12 [10]
11 Chris Joynt 34 6 0 0 24 [11]
12 Simon Booth 10 1 0 0 4 [12]
13 Dean Busby 7 0 0 0 0 [13]
14 Danny Arnold 38 15 0 0 60 [14]
15 Julian O'Neill 36 1 0 0 4 [15]
16 Derek McVey 25 1 0 0 4 [16]
17 Andy Leathem 19 1 0 0 4 [17]
18 Andy Haigh 26 8 0 0 32 [18]
19 Kevin O'Loughlin 4 0 0 0 0 [19]
20 Tommy Martyn 12 10 5 0 50 [20]
21 Alan Hunte 28 27 0 0 108 [21]
22 Vila Matautia 33 0 0 0 0 [22]
23 Andy Northey 23 2 0 0 8 [23]
24 Chris Morley 34 3 0 0 12 [24]
25 Paul Anderson 29 2 1 0 10 [25]
30 Alan Cross 2 0 0 0 0 [26]
33 Scott Barrow 2 0 0 0 0 [27]
34 Richard Sheil 1 0 0 0 0 [28]
35 Jason Johnson 2 0 0 0 0 [29]

Transfers

In

Player Pos From Fee Date Ref
Sean Long Scrum-half Widnes Vikings £80,000 June 1997

Out

Player Pos To Fee Date Ref
Lee Briers Scrum-half Warrington Wolves £65,000 April 1997 [2]
Steve Prescott Fullback Hull Sharks £350,000 November 1997 [3]
Alan Hunte Wing
Simon Booth Second-row

References

  1. ^ Bailey, Richard; Webb, Matthew. "St Helens Saints". rugby-league-world.com. Archived from the original on 2001-01-29. Retrieved 3 June 2004.
  2. ^ Hadfield, Dave (19 April 1997). "Briers signs for Warrington". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  3. ^ Hadfield, Dave (26 November 1997). "Rugby League: Hull sign up Hunte, Prescott and Booth". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-01. Retrieved 6 June 2014.