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.

2008 National Youth Competition
Teams16
Premiers Canberra (1st title)
Minor premiers Canberra (1st title)
Matches played201
Points scored9938
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 →

Season summary

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Schedule

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NYC Records

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Ladder

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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

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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

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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 Alan Shortall
  Penrith Panthers 16-24   Parramatta Eels 13 September 2008, 6:15pm Brookvale Oval Phillip Haines
  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 Phillip Haines
  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 Phillip Haines
  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

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Canberra Raiders Position Brisbane Broncos
  1. Josh Dugan
FB
  1. Josh Hoffman
2. Drury Low WG 2. Mitch Rivett
3. Jarrod Croker CE 3. Will Tupou
4. Daniel Vidot CE 4. Brendon Gibb
5. Michael Brophy WG 5. Jharal Yow Yeh
6. Michael Picker FE 6. Jared Kahu
7. Matt Smith HB 7. Ben Hunt
15. Andrew Edwards PR 8. Josh McGuire
9. Travis Waddell HK 9. Andrew McCullough
10. Nick Skinner PR 10. Mitchell Dodds
11. Jarrad Kennedy SR 11. Matt Handcock
12. Zach Merritt SR 12. Troyden Watene
13. Shaun Fensom (c) LK 13. Alex Glenn (c)
14. Brock Dunn Bench 14. Michael Spence
16. Justin Carney Bench 15. Dunamis Lui
17. Todd Rheinberger Bench 16. Guy Ford
18. Levi Freeman Bench 17. 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 Matt Smith 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

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2008 Toyota Cup Grand Final
Sunday, 5 October
14:15pm AEDT (UTC+11)
Canberra Raiders   28 – 24   Brisbane Broncos
Tries: 5
Picker   10'26'
Low   53'
Dugan   66'
Kennedy   88'
Goals: 4
Dugan   11', 27', 55', 67' (4/4)
1st: 12–16
2nd: 12–8
GP: 4–0
Tries: 5
Yow Yeh   44'68'
Hunt   17'
Spence   29'
Gibb   39'
Goals: 2
Hunt   18', 30' (2/5)
ANZ Stadium, Sydney
Referee: Shayne Hayne
Jack Gibson Medal: Josh Dugan (Canberra)

Statistics

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Top Pointscorers

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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

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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 Coedi Towney   Wests Tigers 17 15
7 Simon Williams   Newcastle 17 15
7 John Kennedy   St George Illawarra 23 15
7 Kevin Locke   New Zealand 24 15

Awards

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Toyota Cup Player of the Year

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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
Matt Mundine, St. George Illawarra

Toyota Cup team of the Year

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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 Matt Mundine   St George Illawarra
Bench Jordan Rapana   Gold Coast
Bench Ben Matulino   New Zealand

References

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  1. ^ "Raiders claim inaugural Toyota Cup". Fox Sports. Retrieved 5 October 2008.