2006 Parramatta Eels season

The 2006 Parramatta Eels season was the 60th in the club's history. Coached by Brian Smith and Jason Taylor and captained by Nathan Cayless, they competed in the National Rugby League's 2006 Telstra Premiership.

Summary

The Parramatta Eels began Season 2006 with the knowledge that their coach Brian Smith, would not be there next season, after being asked to step down by the management of the Parramatta Eels rugby league club in what turned out to be a direct trade with the Newcastle Knights club for their coach, Michael Hagan. However, Brian Smith resigned officially on 15 May 2006, after an extremely poor start to the season, which left the Eels running 14th and second-last. Assistant coach and former Eels great, Jason Taylor, took over as caretaker manager for the rest of the season and led a Parramatta resurgence in the second-half of the season to eventually reach 8th position by season's end. They were, however, eliminated by eventual runners-up Melbourne Storm in the first week of the Finals, 12–6.

Ladder

National Rugby League

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	F	A	PD	Pts
1	Melbourne	24	20	0	4	2	605	404	+201	441
2	Bulldogs	24	16	0	8	2	608	468	+140	36
3	Brisbane	24	14	0	10	2	497	392	+105	32
4	Newcastle	24	14	0	10	2	608	538	+70	32
5	Manly Warringah	24	14	0	10	2	534	493	+41	32
6	St. George Illawarra	24	14	0	10	2	519	481	+38	32
7	Canberra	24	13	0	11	2	525	573	-48	30
8	Parramatta	24	12	0	12	2	506	483	+23	28
9	North Queensland	24	11	0	13	2	450	463	-13	26
10	New Zealand	24	12	0	12	2	552	463	+89	242
11	Wests Tigers	24	10	0	14	2	490	565	-75	24
12	Penrith	24	10	0	14	2	510	587	-77	24
13	Cronulla-Sutherland	24	9	0	15	2	515	544	-29	22
14	Sydney	24	8	0	16	2	528	650	-122	20
15	South Sydney	24	3	0	21	2	429	772	-343	10

¹The Melbourne Storm were later stripped of this minor premiership due to gross salary cap breaches.
²The New Zealand Warriors were deducted 4 competition points due to gross salary cap breaches.

Awards

• Michael Cronin Clubman of the Year Award: Chad Robinson^[1]
• Ken Thornett Medal (Players' player): Nathan Hindmarsh
• Jack Gibson Award (Coach's award): Nathan Cayless
• Eric Grothe Rookie of the Year Award: Jarryd Hayne

References