2008 NRL Under-20s season

2008 National Youth Competition
Teams	16
Premiers	Canberra (1st title)
Minor premiers	Canberra (1st title)
Matches played	201
Points scored	9938
Wooden Spoon	North Queensland (1st spoon)
Player of the Year	Ben Hunt
Top point-scorer(s)	Ben Barba (254)
Top try-scorer(s)	Ben Barba (28)
2009 →

The 2008 NRL Under-20s season was the first season of the National Rugby League's youth competition, known as the Toyota Cup due to sponsorship from Toyota. The draw and structure of the competition mirrors that of its senior counterpart, the 2008 Telstra Premiership.

Season summary[]

Schedule[]

NYC Records[]

Ladder[]

2008 Toyota Cup season v t
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Canberra Raiders (P)	24	18	0	6	2	744	581	+163	40
2	Brisbane Broncos	24	15	1	8	2	684	476	+208	35
3	New Zealand Warriors	24	14	3	7	2	721	533	+188	35
4	Penrith Panthers	24	15	1	8	2	692	583	+109	35
5	Parramatta Eels	24	14	3	7	2	578	564	+14	35
6	St George Illawarra Dragons	24	13	2	9	2	561	520	+41	32
7	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	24	12	3	9	2	711	587	+124	31
8	Gold Coast Titans	24	13	1	10	2	686	567	+119	31
9	Wests Tigers	24	13	0	11	2	620	623	-3	30
10	South Sydney Rabbitohs	24	11	2	11	2	618	584	+34	28
11	Manly Warringah Sea Eagles	24	11	0	13	2	519	532	-13	26
12	Newcastle Knights	24	8	1	15	2	526	630	-104	21
13	Melbourne Storm	24	8	1	15	2	512	638	-126	21
14	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	24	6	1	17	2	394	666	-272	17
15	Sydney Roosters	24	6	0	18	2	480	721	-241	16
16	North Queensland Cowboys	24	4	3	17	2	455	696	-241	15

Ladder Progression[]

Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 8.

	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26
1	Canberra Raiders	2	4	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	16	18	18	20	22	22	24	24	26	28	30	32	34	36	36	38	40
2	Brisbane Broncos	0	0	2	4	6	6	6	6	8	10	12	14	15	15	17	19	21	21	23	25	25	27	29	31	33	35
3	New Zealand Warriors	0	0	2	4	5	6	8	8	10	10	12	14	16	18	20	20	22	24	26	28	30	30	32	34	34	35
4	Penrith Panthers	2	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	16	18	20	22	24	26	26	28	29	29	31	31	31	31	33	35	35
5	Parramatta Eels	2	4	6	7	9	11	13	13	13	15	17	17	17	19	21	23	23	23	23	25	27	29	31	33	34	35
6	St. George Illawarra Dragons	0	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	23	25	25	25	27	27	29	29	31	31	31	31	32	32
7	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	0	2	4	6	7	7	7	9	11	12	14	14	16	18	20	22	23	25	25	27	27	29	31	31	31	31
8	Gold Coast Titans	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	6	8	9	9	11	13	15	17	19	21	23	25	25	27	29	29	29	29	31
9	Wests Tigers	2	4	4	4	4	6	6	8	10	10	12	14	16	16	16	18	20	22	24	24	26	28	28	28	30	30
10	South Sydney Rabbitohs	0	0	0	2	4	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	14	16	16	17	18	20	20	20	20	22	24	26	26	28
11	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	6	8	8	10	12	14	14	16	16	16	18	18	20	20	20	22	24	26
12	Newcastle Knights	0	2	2	2	2	4	6	6	6	8	10	10	10	10	12	12	12	13	15	17	17	17	17	19	21	21
13	Melbourne Storm	2	3	3	3	5	5	7	9	11	11	11	13	13	15	15	15	17	17	17	17	17	19	21	21	21	21
14	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	0	1	3	3	3	3	5	7	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	11	13	13	13	13	13	13	15	15	17
15	Sydney Roosters	2	4	6	6	6	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	10	10	10	12	12	12	12	12	14	16
16	North Queensland Cowboys	0	0	0	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	6	8	9	11	11	11	11	13	13	15	15	15	15

Finals Series[]

	Qualifying Finals					Semi Finals					Preliminary Finals					Grand Final
	1	Canberra Raiders	43
	8	Gold Coast Titans	12
											1W	Canberra Raiders	18
	2	Brisbane Broncos	28			4W	Parramatta Eels	22				St. George Illawarra	14
	7	Bulldogs	22			2L	St. George Illawarra	23									Canberra Raiders	28
																	Brisbane Broncos	24
	3	NZ Warriors	47								2W	Brisbane Broncos	28
	6	St. George Illawarra	20			3W	NZ Warriors	38				NZ Warriors	26
						1L	Penrith Panthers	4
	4	Penrith Panthers	16
	5	Parramatta Eels	24

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee
Qualifying Finals
Brisbane Broncos	28-22	Canterbury Bulldogs	12 September 2008, 5:30pm	Sydney Football Stadium	Gerard Sutton
Canberra Raiders	43-12	Gold Coast Titans	13 September 2008, 4:15pm	Toyota Stadium
Penrith Panthers	16-24	Parramatta Eels	13 September 2008, 6:15pm	Brookvale Oval
New Zealand Warriors	47-20	St. George Illawarra	14 September 2008, 1:45pm	Olympic Park	Chris James
Semi Finals
New Zealand Warriors	38-4	Penrith Panthers	19 September 2008, 6:15pm	Mt Smart Stadium
Parramatta Eels	22-23	St. George Illawarra	20 September 2008, 5:30pm	Suncorp Stadium	Chris James
Preliminary Finals
Canberra Raiders	18-14	St. George Illawarra	26 September 2008, 5:30pm	Sydney Football Stadium
Brisbane Broncos	28-26	New Zealand Warriors	27 September 2008, 5:30pm	Sydney Football Stadium	Chris James
Grand Final
Canberra Raiders	28-24	Brisbane Broncos	5 October 2008, 2:15pm	ANZ Stadium	Shayne Hayne

Grand final[]

Canberra Raiders	Position	Brisbane Broncos
Josh Dugan	FB	Josh Hoffman
Drury Low	WG	Mitch Rivett
Jarrod Croker	CE	Will Tupou
Daniel Vidot	CE	Brendon Gibb
	WG	Jharal Yow Yeh
Michael Picker	FE
	HB	Ben Hunt
	PR	Josh McGuire
Travis Waddell	HK	Andrew McCullough
Nick Skinner	PR	Mitchell Dodds
Jarrad Kennedy	SR	Matt Handcock
	SR
Shaun Fensom (c)	LK	Alex Glenn (c)
	Bench	Michael Spence
Justin Carney	Bench	Dunamis Lui
	Bench	Guy Ford
	Bench	Tom Butterfield
Tony Adam	Coach	Anthony Griffin

A Spectacular try to second-rower Jarrad Kennedy seven minutes into golden-point extra time gave Canberra a thrilling 28-24 victory over Brisbane in the U20 rugby league grand final at ANZ Stadium.

Kennedy was mobbed by jubilant Raiders teammates after collapsing over the line in exhaustion after willing himself to back up centre Jarrod Croker, who had collected a cross-field kick from halfback as the clock wound down.

Canberra won the hard way, though, recovering from 20-12 down early in the second half and then needing a missed conversion attempt from Broncos halfback Ben Hunt to force extra time.

Gunning for their eighth straight victory, Brisbane made a worrying start, conceding a soft try to five-eighth Michael Picker, which fullback Josh Dugan converted for a 6-0 lead after 10 minutes.

The Broncos steadied and went to the interval with a 16-12 buffer after tries to Hunt, interchange forward Michael Spence and winger Jharal Yow Yeh.

The Broncos looked set to go on with the job when centre Brendon Gibb crossed out wide in the opening minutes of the second half, but the Raiders refused to lie down.

A second try to Michael Picker and a goose-stepping four-pointer to winger Drury Low, plus Dugan's heroics, eventually set the scene for Kennedy's match-winning play.^[1]

Match Summary[]

Statistics[]

Top Pointscorers[]

	Player	Team	P	T	G	FG	Pts
1	Ben Barba	Bulldogs	20	28	70	2	254
2	Kevin Locke	New Zealand	24	15	88	-	236
3	Josh Dugan	Canberra	19	15	83	-	226
4	Ben Hunt	Brisbane	26	17	49	-	166
5	Lachlan Coote	Penrith	12	15	39	-	138
6	Nathan Gardner	Parramatta	16	18	32	-	136
7	Jordan Kahu	Brisbane	22	5	52	-	124
8	Eddie Paea	South Sydney	19	11	38	2	122
9	Chris Sandow	South Sydney	11	6	47	-	118
10	Daly Cherry-Evans	Manly	24	7	41	3	113

Top Tryscorers[]

	Player	Team	P	T
1	Ben Barba	Bulldogs	20	28
2	Jharal Yow Yeh	Brisbane	26	27
3	Kevin Gordon	Gold Coast	20	20
4	Nathan Gardner	Parramatta	16	18
5	Ben Hunt	Brisbane	26	17
6	Drury Low	Canberra	16	16
7	Lachlan Coote	Penrith	12	15
7		Wests Tigers	17	15
7		Newcastle	17	15
7	John Kennedy	St George Illawarra	23	15
7	Kevin Locke	New Zealand	24	15

Awards[]

Toyota Cup Player of the Year[]

The winner of the award is decided by the most votes during the year as decided by the referee of each game on a 3-2-1 basis for each game played throughout the regular season.

Winner:

Ben Hunt, Brisbane

Nominated:

Ben Barba, Bulldogs

Eddie Paea, South Sydney

, St. George Illawarra

Toyota Cup Team of the Year[]

The Toyota Cup Team of the Year is voted on by the 16 Toyota Cup coaches, with the players with the highest votes in each position selected.

Position	Player	Club
FB	Lachlan Coote	Penrith
WG	Jharal Yow Yeh	Brisbane
CE	Justin Carney	Canberra
CE	Tony Williams	Parramatta
WG	Kevin Gordon	Gold Coast
FE	Ben Barba	Bulldogs
HB	Chris Sandow	South Sydney
PR	Russell Packer	New Zealand
HK	Masada Iosefa	Penrith
PR	John Kite	Bulldogs
SR	Joel Thompson	Canberra
SR	Daniel Harrison	Bulldogs
LK	Shaun Fensom	Canberra
Bench	Ben Hunt	Brisbane
Bench		St George Illawarra
Bench	Jordan Rapana	Gold Coast
Bench	Ben Matulino	New Zealand

References[]