12 Facts About Hunter Mariners

Hunter Mariners were an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Hunter Region's largest city, Newcastle.

Hunter Mariners faced much adversity in the Newcastle region because of the Australian Rugby League's Newcastle Knights team being already well established in the region.

In early 1996, the Hunter Mariners club was officially launched, without a home ground, but on that same day the Super League was banned from running its rebel competition.

Originally the Hunter Mariners were allowed to use the Newcastle Knights home ground Marathon Stadium by the Showground Trust, but the Supreme Court found that they had no rights to play there.

Hunter Mariners lost their first three games of the premiership season, their first a narrow loss on their home ground.

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However, after the first loss at home, the Hunter Mariners were able to win seven consecutive matches at Topper Stadium.

Hunter Mariners were able to produce some representative players throughout their one season.

The Hunter Mariners were a part of Australasia's group B and competed in England, before returning to complete the Australian part of the competition.

The Hunter Mariners won all three games in England, over Paris Saint-Germain, Castleford and Sheffield.

However the Gold Coast party withdrew late to go alone in the 1998 competition, and while the Hunter Mariners tried to do the same, they, along with South Queensland Crushers and Western Reds, were not admitted into the NRL competition, thus ending their tenure as a first-grade rugby league team.

Players from the Hunter Mariners that have represented other teams while at the club include Australian international Brett Kimmorley and New Zealand internationals Kevin Iro, Tony Iro and Tyran Smith.

The Hunter Mariners have only had three representatives, Robbie Ross and Noel Goldthorpe represented New South Wales in the Super League Tri-series while Brett Kimmorley represented Australia in the Super League test matches.