# 1998 Illawarra Steelers season

The 1998 Illawarra Steelers season was the club's seventeenth and final season in its history, spanning across the three competitions of the NSWRL, ARL and NRL. A home loss by a field goal to the hands of the Craig Polla-Mounter and his Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs team, plus results going against them in the final round of the regular season saw the Steelers finish 12th. Andrew Farrar's team of hopefuls were unable to make the finals series and were put under pressure to merge or fold when the league was expected to cut the twenty-team competition down to fourteen for the 1999 season. The club would eventually form a joint-venture with the St. George Dragons for the start of the 1999 NRL season.

## Players
### Squad

| No. | Position | Player Trent Barrett – FE Darren Bradstreet – SR Adam Bristow – LK Jonathan Britten – WG Dean Callaway – HK Wayne Clifford – WG Scott Cram – PR Andrew Hart – PR Jason Hooper – CE Terry Lamey – SR Chris Leikvoll – PR Brad Mackay – LK |
| No. | Position | Player Paul McGregor – CE (captain) Dean Moon – WG Andrew Purcell – HK Brendon Reeves – FB Will Robinson – HB Craig Simon – CE Craig Smith – PR Shaun Timmins – CE Brendon Tunbridge – SR Craig Wilson – SR Rod Wishart – WG |

### Player Movements

Gains
| Player | Previous Club |
| Craig Wilson | South Queensland Crushers |
Losses
| Player | Joined Club |
| John Cross | Penrith Panthers |
| Fili Seru | retired |

## Ladder

1998 NRL season :
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts |
| 1 | Brisbane Broncos (P) | 24 | 18 | 1 | 5 | 688 | 310 | +378 | 37 |
| 2 | Newcastle Knights | 24 | 18 | 1 | 5 | 562 | 381 | +181 | 37 |
| 3 | Melbourne Storm | 24 | 17 | 1 | 6 | 546 | 372 | +174 | 35 |
| 4 | Parramatta Eels | 24 | 17 | 1 | 6 | 468 | 349 | +119 | 35 |
| 5 | North Sydney Bears | 24 | 17 | 0 | 7 | 663 | 367 | +296 | 34 |
| 6 | Sydney City Roosters | 24 | 16 | 0 | 8 | 680 | 383 | +297 | 32 |
| 7 | Canberra Raiders | 24 | 15 | 0 | 9 | 564 | 429 | +135 | 30 |
| 8 | St. George Dragons | 24 | 13 | 1 | 10 | 486 | 490 | −4 | 27 |
| 9 | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 24 | 13 | 0 | 11 | 489 | 411 | +78 | 26 |
| 10 | Manly Warringah Sea Eagles | 24 | 13 | 0 | 11 | 503 | 473 | +30 | 26 |
| 11 | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 24 | 12 | 1 | 11 | 438 | 387 | +51 | 25 |
| 12 | Illawarra Steelers | 24 | 11 | 1 | 12 | 476 | 539 | −63 | 23 |
| 13 | Balmain Tigers | 24 | 9 | 1 | 14 | 381 | 463 | −82 | 19 |
| 14 | Penrith Panthers | 24 | 8 | 2 | 14 | 525 | 580 | −55 | 18 |
| 15 | Auckland Warriors | 24 | 9 | 0 | 15 | 417 | 518 | −101 | 18 |
| 16 | North Queensland Cowboys | 24 | 9 | 0 | 15 | 361 | 556 | −195 | 18 |
| 17 | Adelaide Rams | 24 | 7 | 0 | 17 | 393 | 615 | −222 | 14 |
| 18 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | 24 | 5 | 0 | 19 | 339 | 560 | −221 | 10 |
| 19 | Gold Coast Chargers | 24 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 289 | 654 | −365 | 8 |
| 20 | Western Suburbs Magpies | 24 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 371 | 802 | −431 | 8 |

## Home Crowd Averages

| Round | Opposition | Venue | Crowd |
| Round 1 | Melbourne Storm | WIN Stadium | 10,695 |
| Round 3 | Newcastle Knights | WIN Stadium | 9,141 |
| Round 5 | St. George Dragons | WIN Stadium | 9,427 |
| Round 7 | Parramatta Eels | WIN Stadium | 9,119 |
| Round 9 | Western Suburbs Magpies | WIN Stadium | 7,636 |
| Round 12 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | WIN Stadium | 8,174 |
| Round 14 | Balmain Tigers | WIN Stadium | 10,076 |
| Round 16 | North Queensland Cowboys | WIN Stadium | 6,558 |
| Round 18 | Brisbane Broncos | WIN Stadium | 12,018 |
| Round 20 | North Sydney Bears | WIN Stadium | 6,847 |
| Round 22 | Sydney City Roosters | WIN Stadium | 8,178 |
| Round 24 | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | WIN Stadium | 13,106 |
| Season Total | Season Total | Season Total | 110,975 |
| Season Average | Season Average | Season Average | 9,248 |