The team competed in the inaugural and only Super League season in 1997, as well as that year's World Club Challenge.

The Mariners were disbanded after being left out of the new competition because they believed that the Hunter region could not support two entities.

Six of the Mariners first grade squad would relocate to Super League's new frontier team to debut in the NRL, the Melbourne Storm.

[3] 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 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.

They lost all nine matches played away from their stadium, and subsequently missed out on the finals for the Super League season.

While mid-year find Brett Kimmorley was the club's sole selection for Australia in the Super League Test series against Great Britain.

That score line would again be repeated in the grand final qualifier against Australian club Cronulla, another match the Mariners were expected to lose.

But the Mariners were able to defeat the Australian Super League runners-up to take themselves to the grand final of the competition.

[4] Against the winners of the Super League grand final, Brisbane, the Mariners were blown away by the competition favourites.

[citation needed] In the Super League season, the Mariners used a total of twenty-nine players over the eighteen games.

[3] Their home ground success, winning seven from nine matches, was never able to attract decent figure crowds, their highest reaching 7,719.