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The National Rugby League (NRL) is the top league

Sports league

League is a term commonly used to describe a group of sports teams or individual athletes that compete against each other in a specific sport. At its simplest, it may be a local group of amateur athletes who form teams among themselves and compete on weekends; at its most complex, it can be an...

of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia

Australasia

Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...

. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership (due to sponsorship from Telstra Corporation), is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand. It is regarded as the world's elite rugby league championship and, per season, is the single most viewed and attended rugby football

Rugby football

Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...

competition in the world.

The National Rugby League is the present-day embodiment of Australia's top-level domestic club competition, which in turn grew from Sydney's club competition, and which has been running continuously since 1908. The NRL formed in the aftermath of the 1990s' Super League war

Super League war

The Super League war is the common name given to the corporate dispute that was fought in and out of court during the mid-1990s between the Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation-backed Super League and the Kerry Packer and Optus Vision-backed Australian Rugby League organisations over broadcasting...

as a joint partnership between the sport's already-existing national governing body, the Australian Rugby League

Australian Rugby League

The Australian Rugby League is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in Australia. It is made up of state bodies, including the New South Wales Rugby League and the Queensland Rugby League...

(ARL

ARL

ARL may refer to:*Admiralty Research Laboratory, a UK military research laboratory.*Aero Research Limited, a UK company involved in the development of aircraft adhesives....

) and Media giant News Corporation

News Corporation

News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...

-controlled Super League

Super League (Australia)

Super League was an Australian rugby league football administrative body that conducted professional competition in Australasia for one season in 1997. Along with Super League of Europe, it was created by News Corporation during the Super League war which arose following an unsuccessful attempt to...

, after both organisations ran premierships parallel to each other in 1997.

NRL matches are played throughout Australia and New Zealand from Autumn until Spring. The season culminates in the premiership-deciding game, the NRL Grand Final

Grand Final

Grand Final is a predominantly Australian sport term used to describe a match that decides a league champion.It originated in Victoria and South Australia and has become specifically significant Australian culture...

, traditionally one of Australia's most popular sporting events and one of the largest attended club championship events in the world. In addition, the NRL premiers also play in the World Club Challenge

World Club Challenge

The World Club Challenge is an annual rugby league football match held between the champions of the Australasian National Rugby League and the European Super League competitions to determine the world's best rugby league club...

, an additional match against the champions of the European Super League

Super League

Super League is the top-level professional rugby league football club competition in Europe. As a result of sponsorship from engage Mutual Assurance the competition is currently officially known as the engage Super League. The League features fourteen teams: thirteen from England and one from...

competition.

Teams

Since 2007 the NRL has consisted of sixteen teams: eight clubs based within Greater Sydney, two elsewhere in New South Wales, three in Queensland, one in Victoria, one each in the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The league operates on a single group system, with no divisions or conferences and no relegation and promotion from other leagues. Below the NRL however are regional affiliated leagues operating in all states and territories of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and neighbouring Pacific Islands.

The map below indicates the locations of teams currently competing in the National Rugby League competition. The inset is of greater Sydney.
The following sixteen clubs are competing in the National Rugby League during the 2010 NRL season

2010 NRL season

The 2010 NRL season was the 103rd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the thirteenth run by the National Rugby League. The season commenced on 12 March and ended with the Grand Final, played on 3 October at ANZ Stadium...

. All but four of them (the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, North Queensland Cowboys

North Queensland Cowboys

The North Queensland Cowboys are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, Queensland. They compete in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership...

, New Zealand Warriors

New Zealand Warriors

The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership and are the League's only team from outside Australia...

, and the Gold Coast Titans

Gold Coast Titans

Gold Coast Titans are an Australian professional rugby league football club, based in the Gold Coast, Queensland. The club competes in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership. It is the newest of the sixteen clubs in the league, having commenced its...

) have won premierships.

Brisbane Broncos Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the city of Brisbane, the capital of the state of Queensland. Founded in 1988, the Broncos play in Australasia's elite competition, the National Rugby League premiership. They have won six premierships and two... Brisbane Brisbane Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of... , QLD Queensland Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean... Ground: Suncorp Stadium Suncorp Stadium Lang Park is the original name of the site located in the Brisbane suburb of Milton, Queensland, Australia, now occupied by the major sports facility known by its sponsorship name, Suncorp Stadium... First season: 1988	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs Canterbury-Bankstown, Sydney Canterbury-Bankstown Canterbury-Bankstown is a general term used to describe the area located around the Bankstown railway line. The suburbs of the Canterbury-Bankstown region are not specific to the local government areas of City of Canterbury and the City of Bankstown but includes many of them. The Georges River acts... , NSW New South Wales New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales... Ground: ANZ Stadium First season: 1935 New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1935 The 1935 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the twenty-eighth season of Sydney's top-grade rugby league football club competition, Australia's first...	Canberra Raiders Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership since 1982... Canberra Canberra Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne... , ACT Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory... Ground: Canberra Stadium Canberra Stadium Canberra Stadium is a facility primarily used for rugby league and rugby union games, located adjacent to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, the capital of Australia... First season: 1982	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks Cronulla, Sydney Cronulla, New South Wales Cronulla is a beachside suburb, in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Cronulla is located 26 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Sutherland Shire.... , NSW New South Wales New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales... Ground: Toyota Stadium First season: 1967 1967 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks season The 1967 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks season was the club's inaugural season in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership.-Ladder:- Results :--------------------------------------------------------------------...
Gold Coast Titans Gold Coast Titans Gold Coast Titans are an Australian professional rugby league football club, based in the Gold Coast, Queensland. The club competes in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership. It is the newest of the sixteen clubs in the league, having commenced its... Gold Coast Gold Coast, Queensland Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous... , QLD Queensland Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean... Ground: Skilled Park First season: 2007	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership, the premier rugby league competition of Australasia... Manly, Sydney Manly, New South Wales Manly is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Manly is located 17 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the local government area of Manly Council, in the Northern Beaches region.-History:Manly was named... , NSW New South Wales New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales... Ground: Brookvale Oval Brookvale Oval Brookvale Oval is a sporting ground located within Brookvale Park at Brookvale, New South Wales, Australia. The ground is owned by Warringah Council and is primarily used by the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles rugby league team... First season: 1947	Melbourne Storm Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria.... Melbourne, VIC Victoria (Australia) Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively.... Ground: AAMI Park First season: 1998 1998 Melbourne Storm season The 1998 Melbourne Storm season was the first in the club's history. They competed in the NRL's inaugural Telstra Premierhsip and by Round 15 had climbed to the top of the 20-team ladder...	Newcastle Knights Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership... Newcastle Newcastle, New South Wales The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas... , NSW New South Wales New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales... Ground: Ausgrid Stadium First season: 1988
New Zealand Warriors New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership and are the League's only team from outside Australia... Auckland Auckland The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world... , NZ New Zealand New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga... Ground: Mt Smart Stadium Mt Smart Stadium Mt Smart Stadium, formerly Ericsson Stadium, is a stadium in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the home ground of National Rugby League team, the New Zealand Warriors... First season: 1995 1995 Auckland Warriors season The Auckland Warriors 1995 season was the Auckland Warriors inaugural first-grade season. The club competed in Australasia's Australian Rugby League competition. The coach of the team was John Monie while Dean Bell was the club's captain.-Milestones:...	North Queensland Cowboys North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, Queensland. They compete in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership... Townsville, QLD Queensland Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean... Ground: Dairy Farmers Stadium Dairy Farmers Stadium The Willows Sports Complex, currently known as Dairy Farmers Stadium due to sponsorship rights, is a grass football stadium situated in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It has historically been used mainly for rugby league, and is the home ground of the National Rugby League club the North... First season: 1995	Parramatta Eels Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, with their First Grade side playing their first season in the New South Wales Rugby Football League... Parramatta, Sydney Parramatta, New South Wales Parramatta is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Greater Western Sydney west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Parramatta River. Parramatta is the administrative seat of the Local Government Area of the City of Parramatta... , NSW New South Wales New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales... Ground: Parramatta Stadium Parramatta Stadium Parramatta Stadium is a sports stadium situated in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia.The stadium is used primarily as the home ground of Australian National Rugby League club the Parramatta Eels... First season: 1947	Penrith Panthers Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership, the top rugby league football competition in Australasia. For the 2012 NRL season they will be coached by Ivan... Penrith, Sydney Penrith, New South Wales Penrith is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Penrith is located west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the City of Penrith... , NSW New South Wales New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales... Ground: Centrebet Stadium First season: 1967 1967 Penrith Panthers season The Penrith Panthers 1967 season is the Penrith Panthers 1st first-grade season. The club competes in Australasia's NSWRFL. The coach of the team is Leo Trevena.-Regular season:-Ladder:-External links:*...
St. George Illawarra Dragons Kogarah, Sydney, NSW New South Wales New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales... Wollongong Wollongong, New South Wales Wollongong is a seaside city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the narrow coastal strip between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Pacific Ocean, 82 kilometres south of Sydney... , NSW New South Wales New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales... Ground: WIN Jubilee Oval & WIN Stadium WIN Stadium Wollongong Showground is a rectangular multi-purpose stadium located in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. The stadium was officially opened in 1911. From 1982 until 1998 it played host to every home match for the Illawarra Steelers NRL team... First season: 1999	South Sydney Rabbitohs South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in Redfern, a suburb of South-central Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital... Redfern, Sydney Redfern, New South Wales Redfern is an inner-city suburb of Sydney. Redfern is 3 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney... , NSW New South Wales New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales... Ground: ANZ Stadium First season: 1908	Sydney Roosters Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League and is one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Australian rugby league history, having won twelve New South Wales Rugby League... Eastern Suburbs, Sydney Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) The Eastern Suburbs is a general term used to describe the metropolitan area directly to the east and south-east of the Sydney central business district in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Eastern Suburbs can refer to the suburbs within the local government areas of Woollahra, Waverley, Dover... , NSW New South Wales New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales... Ground: Sydney Football Stadium First season: 1908	Wests Tigers Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's mid-western suburbs. They have competed in the National Rugby League since they were formed at the end of the 1999 season as a joint-venture club between the Balmain Tigers and the Western Suburbs... Balmain, Sydney Balmain, New South Wales Balmain is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Balmain is located slightly west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Leichhardt.... , NSW New South Wales New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales... Campbelltown, Sydney Campbelltown, New South Wales Campbelltown is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Campbelltown is located 51 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of the City of Campbelltown.- History :Campbelltown... , NSW New South Wales New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales... Grounds: Campbelltown Stadium Campbelltown Stadium Campbelltown Stadium, formerly Orana Park and Campbelltown Sports Ground, is a rugby league stadium in Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia. It is the full time home ground for the Western Suburbs Magpies District Rugby League Football Club and is one of three home grounds for the Wests Tigers... & Leichhardt Oval Leichhardt Oval Leichhardt Oval is a football stadium in Leichhardt, New South Wales, Australia. It is a home ground for the Wests Tigers rugby league team. The stadium has a nominal capacity of 20,000, with recorded highest crowd figures of 23,000 in the 1981 KB Tooth final South Sydney Rabbitohs versus... First season: 2000

A total of twenty-three clubs have played in the National Rugby League since its first season in 1998. For a list of all clubs past and present see National Rugby League Teams. For a complete list of all teams no longer competing in the NRL see here

Eleven clubs have been members of the National Rugby League for every season since its inception in 1998. This group includes Brisbane, Canberra, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cronulla, Melbourne, New Zealand, Newcastle, North Queensland, Parramatta, Penrith and Roosters.

Foundation clubs

Two current NRL teams have existed since the 1908 foundation of the NSWRL, the predecessor of the NRL. These teams are the South Sydney Rabbitohs

South Sydney Rabbitohs

The South Sydney Rabbitohs are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in Redfern, a suburb of South-central Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital...

and the Sydney Roosters

Sydney Roosters

The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League and is one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Australian rugby league history, having won twelve New South Wales Rugby League...

(founded as 'Eastern Suburbs'). The Wests Tigers

Wests Tigers

The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's mid-western suburbs. They have competed in the National Rugby League since they were formed at the end of the 1999 season as a joint-venture club between the Balmain Tigers and the Western Suburbs...

team resulted from a merger between the Western Suburbs Magpies

Western Suburbs Magpies

The Western Suburbs Magpies are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are commonly referred to, were one of the nine foundation clubs of the first New South Wales Rugby League competition in Australia...

and the Balmain Tigers

Balmain Tigers

The Balmain Tigers are a rugby league football club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and one of the most successful in the history of the premiership, with eleven titles...

, both of which were foundation clubs which played in the first grade competition between 1908 and 1999. Despite fielding a join-venture team in the NRL, Western Suburbs and Balmain remain independent clubs and field their own teams in lower-level competitions.

The North Sydney Bears

North Sydney Bears

The North Sydney Bears are an Australian rugby league football club based in North Sydney, New South Wales. They currently compete in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 92 years of top-grade competition. The Bears are based on...

were also a foundation club of the NSWRL in 1909 though are currently playing in the NSW Cup instead of the top level of rugby league. This was after a failed merger with arch rivals the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League's Telstra Premiership, the premier rugby league competition of Australasia...

in 2000 which they ran under the banner of the now defunct Northern Eagles. The North Sydney Bears

North Sydney Bears

have proposed readmission to the NRL for the 2013 season which they will be called the Central Coast Bears and play their home games at Gosford where they built their homeground Graham Park.

Former top-grade side Newtown Jets

Newtown Jets

The Newtown Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Newtown, a suburb of Sydney's inner west. They currently compete in the NSWRL Premier League competition, having left the top grade after the 1983 NSWRFL season...

were also a foundation club, but were forced out of the competition after the 1983 season for financial reasons. They now field a team in the NSW Cup.

There also existed Newcastle (who withdrew after 1909 to start a local premiership) and Glebe (also known as "The Dirty Reds" because their colour was maroon) who were removed from the NSWRL premiership in 1929 for "unsporting behaviour". 23 days after the kickoff on 20 April 1908, another team entered from Cumberland. They only ever won one game as they won the wooden spoon in 1908 and did not participate after that.

List of premiers

For the complete list of all first grade Australian rugby league premiers 1908 – present see – Australian rugby league premiers
Australian rugby league premiers
The Australian rugby league premiers are the winners of the First Grade competition in Australian rugby league, which is currently the National Rugby League.-History:...

Origins

The New South Wales Rugby League

New South Wales Rugby League

The New South Wales Rugby League is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and is a member of the Australian Rugby League. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was known as the New South Wales Rugby Football League until 1984 when forward thinking marketing managers decided...

(NSWRL) ran the major rugby league competition of New South Wales from its inception in 1908

New South Wales Rugby League season 1908

The 1908 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the inaugural season of Australia's first rugby league football club competition, which was based in Sydney, New South Wales...

until 1994

New South Wales Rugby League season 1994

The 1994 New South Wales Rugby League season was the eighty-seventh season of professional rugby league football in Australia...

, by which time its powers had expanded to run the code nationally. Following the introduction of a new format for interstate rugby league, State of Origin

Rugby League State of Origin

State of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...

in 1980, the decade of the 1980s brought about expansion of the NSWRL premiership

New South Wales Rugby League premiership

The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League from 1908 until 1994, the premiership was the state's and later the country's elite rugby league competition...

, with the introduction of commercial sponsorship, the Winfield Cup

Winfield Cup

The Winfield Cup was an Australian rugby league trophy awarded to the winner of the New South Wales Rugby League premiership's Grand Final from 1982 to 1994, and to the winner of the Australian Rugby League Grand Final in 1995...

, and the addition of non-Sydney-based teams, Canberra

Canberra Raiders

The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership since 1982...

and Illawarra

Illawarra Steelers

The Illawarra Steelers are an Australian rugby league football club based in the city of Wollongong, New South Wales. The club competed in Australia's top-level Rugby League competition from 1982, when they, along with the Canberra Raiders, were admitted into the then New South Wales Rugby Football...

in 1982. Although this move brought more interest in the competition statewide in New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, it would spell the beginning of the demise of some of the traditional Sydney-based clubs as well as the Brisbane Rugby League premiership. Following the 1983 season, foundation club Newtown Jets

Newtown Jets

were ultimately forced to withdraw from the competition because of financial difficulties.

Further expansion of the league followed in 1988

New South Wales Rugby League season 1988

The 1988 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership was the eighty-first season of professional rugby league football in Australia. This year saw the first expansion of the NSWRL competition outside the borders of New South Wales, with the addition of three new teams, the Brisbane Broncos, Gold...

, with another three teams based outside Sydney introduced to the competition; the Newcastle Knights

Newcastle Knights

The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership...

and the first two Queensland teams, the Brisbane Broncos

Brisbane Broncos

The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the city of Brisbane, the capital of the state of Queensland. Founded in 1988, the Broncos play in Australasia's elite competition, the National Rugby League premiership. They have won six premierships and two...

and Gold Coast-Tweed Giants. The Brisbane and Newcastle sides proved to be successful and popular and paved the way towards a push for a truly national competition. This was undertaken in 1995

Australian Rugby League season 1995

The 1995 ARL premiership was the 88th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the first to be run by the Australian Rugby League. For the first time since 1988, the League expanded again, with the addition of four new clubs from North Queensland, Western Australia, South...

with control of the premiership passing from the NSWRFL to the Australian Rugby League

Australian Rugby League

(ARL), who invited four more teams from outside NSW to participate in 1995.

Establishment

The prospect of a truly national rugby league competition in addition to the introduction of pay television in Australia attracted the attention of global media organisation, News Corporation

News Corporation

, and it followed that professional rugby league was shaken to its very foundations in the mid-1990s with the advent of the Super League war

Super League war

. Initially a conflict over broadcasting rights, it became a dispute as to who controlled the sport, as News Limited formed their own Super League

Super League (Australia)

and admitted some former ARL clubs, poaching players from the original ARL league with high salaries. With twenty-two teams of highly varying quality playing in two competitions that year, crowd attendances and corporate sponsorships were spread very thinly, and many teams found themselves in financial difficulty. The ARL undertook moves to invite the traditional clubs that had moved to the Super League competition back into a re-unified competition. Following a period of negotiation with News Corporation, on 23 September 1997 the ARL announced that it was forming a new company to conduct the competition in 1998. On 7 October News' Rupert Murdoch

Rupert Murdoch

Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....

announced that he was confident that there would be a single competition in 1998. On 19 December, representatives of clubs affiliated with the Australian Rugby League gathered at the Sydney Football Stadium to decide whether to accept News Limited's offer of a settlement – eventually voting in favour by 36 votes to 4. As a result, in the following months the National Rugby League, jointly owned by the ARL

Australian Rugby League

and News Limited, was formed.

It was announced that the inaugural National Rugby League (NRL) season of 1998

National Rugby League season 1998

The 1998 NRL season was the 91st season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the inaugural season of the newly formed National Rugby League. After the Australian Rugby League and Super League organisations ran separate competitions parallel to each other in 1997, they joined to...

would have 20 teams competing, 19 remaining Super League and ARL teams plus the Melbourne Storm

Melbourne Storm

The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....

, who were created by Super League for their 1998 season. Clubs on both sides of the war were shut down. Super League decided to close the Hunter Mariners

Hunter Mariners

The Hunter Mariners were an Australian rugby league club based in the Hunter Valley region's largest city, Newcastle. Hunter was formed in mid 1995 and was later disbanded at the end of 1997. The club was formed because of the Super League war, which was the rivalry between the traditional...

and the financially ruined Perth Reds, who were $10 million in debt at the end of 1997, while the ARL decided to close down the South Queensland Crushers

South Queensland Crushers

The South Queensland Crushers were an Australian rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. In 1992 it was decided that the team would be admitted into the New South Wales Rugby League competition, along with three other teams, as part of the League's expansion plans for professional...

, who were also in severe financial trouble. Additionally, at the end of 1998 the NRL decided to close down former Super League club, the Adelaide Rams

Adelaide Rams

The Adelaide Rams were an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The team was formed in 1995 for the planned rebel Super League competition, which eventually ran parallel to the rival Australian Rugby League competition in 1997...

and former ARL club, the Gold Coast Chargers

Gold Coast Chargers

Gold Coast were a professional Rugby league football club which played in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership from 1988 to 1994, the Australian Rugby League premiership from 1995 to 1997, and the National Rugby League premiership in 1998...

, despite the Gold Coast franchise being one of the few clubs to make a profit during the Super League war.

1998–2002: Rationalisation

One condition of the peace agreement between the ARL and News Limited was that there would be a 14 team competition in 2000. The 20 clubs that played in 1998 would be assessed on various items such as sponsorship, crowds, on-field success and the like. It was also announced that clubs that merged would receive a large sum of money, as well as a guaranteed position in the 2000 NRL Competition. The St. George Dragons

St. George Dragons

The St George Dragons was an Australian Rugby league football club in St George, Sydney, New South Wales that played in Australia's top-level Rugby league competition from New South Wales Rugby Football League in 1921 until 1998; in 1999 they formed a joint venture with the Illawarra Steelers,...

and the Illawarra Steelers

Illawarra Steelers

were the first clubs to take up the offer, forming the joint-venture St. George Illawarra Dragons at the end of the 1998 season.

The 1999 NRL Grand Final brought about a new official world record attendance for a game of rugby league. 107,999 spectators saw the Melbourne Storm

Melbourne Storm

defeat the newly-created St. George Illawarra Dragons in the decider at Stadium Australia.

Balmain

Balmain Tigers

and Western Suburbs

Western Suburbs Magpies

formed the joint-venture club, the Wests Tigers

Wests Tigers

at the end of 1999, while North Sydney

North Sydney Bears

and Manly-Warringah

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

created the ill-fated Northern Eagles

Northern Eagles

The Northern Eagles were a rugby league team, that competed in the National Rugby League between 2000 and 2002. The club was formed during the rationalisation process of the NRL by the merger of the North Sydney Bears and the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in 2000...

. As part of another image makeover, a number of teams also released new club logos. The most notable of these was the Sydney Roosters, dropping the City section of their name for the 2000 season and beyond. Souths

South Sydney Rabbitohs

were controversially axed from the competition at the end of 1999 for failing to meet the criteria.

This move was highly controversial and on 12 November 2000 approximately 80,000 marched in protest at their continued exclusion. South Sydney challenged the decision in the Federal Court claiming that the NRL agreement was exclusionary, intended to unfairly exclude South Sydney, and breached the Trade Practices Act. Justice Paul Finn ruled that the agreement did not specifically exclude any club and dismissed the Rabbitohs' claims for re-instatement into the national competition. Souths appealed this decision and were re-admitted into the competition in 2002.

The Auckland Warriors experienced much financial hardship in the early part of the decade, ultimately collapsing before being resurrected as the New Zealand Warriors for the 2001 season. They made the Grand Final in 2002.

In 2001, Australia's largest telecommunications provider Telstra became naming rights sponsor of the NRL, with the competition's name becoming the NRL Telstra Premiership, while in 2002 David Gallop

David Gallop

David Gallop is an Australian sports administrator who has been the Chief Executive Officer of the National Rugby League since February 2002. He has also been the Secretary of the Rugby League International Federation since its inception in 1998.-Early life:...

took over the CEO role from David Moffett

David Moffett

David Moffett is an executive businessman who was notably the Group Chief Executive of the Welsh Rugby Union from 2002 until 2005 and Australia's National Rugby League from 1999 until 2001.-Biography:...

, and the competition has become more and more popular each season.

In 2001 the NRL Grand Final started to be played on Sunday nights, a shift from the traditional Sunday afternoon slot used for over a decade prior.

2003–2005: Record popularity

The 2003 season was widely regarded as the most successful since the beginning of the National Rugby League in 1998. The Penrith Panthers rose from the bottom of the table to win the Premiership, while the Broncos returned to Suncorp Stadium

Suncorp Stadium

Lang Park is the original name of the site located in the Brisbane suburb of Milton, Queensland, Australia, now occupied by the major sports facility known by its sponsorship name, Suncorp Stadium...

mid-year. Season 2004 proved even more successful than 2003, with the North Queensland Cowboys

North Queensland Cowboys

going from 11th position in 2003 to 3rd in 2004, narrowly missing out on a maiden Grand Final berth.

Crowd average records were broken in 2003, 2004 and 2005. In 2005, the NRL reached record levels of popularity for its competition. Total crowds for the competition season almost reached the figures for the last year of the competition conducted by the ARL competition of 1995, prior to the Super League war. The average attendance record remained until 2010. From 2004 to 2005, there was a 39% increase in sponsorship, a 41% increase in merchandise royalties, and a 12% increase in playing participation. In 2005, Business Review Weekly

Business Review Weekly

BRW is an Australian weekly business magazine published by the Fairfax Media group. It regularly compiles lists which rank corporations and individuals according to various criteria, similar to Fortune magazine in the United States.BRW provides news and commentary on the economy, business and...

ranked the NRL 497 in revenue of Australian private companies, with revenue of A$66.1m (+7%) with 35 employees. In 2004, Canterbury-Bankstown put a year of turmoil and disgrace at the aftermath of the alleged Rape Scandal to hold aloft the NRL trophy and give the Bulldogs their first premiership since 1995. In 2005, a record national audience of 4.1 million tuned in to watch the grand final between the Wests Tigers

Wests Tigers

and the North Queensland Cowboys

North Queensland Cowboys

2006: A unique year

The 2006

Rugby league in 2006

This article contains information on rugby league played in 2006. The season commenced with the World Club Challenge in England in February, and concluded with the Tri-Nations final in Australia in November.-World Club Challenge:...

National Rugby League season kicked off on Friday, 10 March, between defending premiers Wests Tigers

Wests Tigers

and early favourites St. George Illawarra Dragons at Telstra Stadium

Telstra Stadium

Stadium Australia, currently also known as ANZ Stadium due to naming rights, formerly known as Telstra Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Sydney Olympic Park precinct of Homebush Bay...

.

Melbourne, after leading the competition for most of the season, comfortably claimed the minor premiership, with the Bulldogs, Brisbane, and Newcastle making up the top four. Manly, St George Illawarra, Canberra and Parramatta took places five to eight.

The 2006 NRL Grand Final won by the Brisbane Broncos over the Melbourne Storm, 15–8. The matchup was a significant milestone in the history of the NRL, as two interstate teams (teams not from New South Wales, the "heartland" of the NRL) contested the grand final for the first time ever.

The game itself once again enjoyed immense support, with more record TV ratings, particularly capturing Melbourne on Grand Final night. Crowds were down on 2005, however were better than any other year prior to that.

2007: Further expansion

In its tenth season the NRL returned to having a club based on the Gold Coast, Queensland

Gold Coast, Queensland

Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...

with the inclusion of the Gold Coast Titans

Gold Coast Titans

. The Titans were the first professional sporting team to occupy the Gold Coast since 1998, when the Gold Coast Chargers

Gold Coast Chargers

were one of the teams removed during the NRL's rationalisation process between the end of the Super League war and the 2000 season.

The 2007 NRL season kicked off on Friday 16 March 2007 with eight games each round. 2007 also saw the return of Monday Night Football and the inclusion of two Friday night games. Both of which turned out to be ratings successes. Another change from the previous seasons was a reduction in the number of byes per team in the season. With an odd number of teams contesting between 2002 and 2006, the draw meant that at least one team would have to have a bye each weekend. With the inclusion of the 16th team for the 2007 season, the National Rugby League had the option of reverting to back to the system used between 2000 and 2001 where every team played each round. That system was not used however, with teams were given just a single bye during the year, grouped in periods that will assist clubs around representative fixtures.

The opening round saw two matches at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium

Suncorp Stadium

Lang Park is the original name of the site located in the Brisbane suburb of Milton, Queensland, Australia, now occupied by the major sports facility known by its sponsorship name, Suncorp Stadium...

, the first featuring reigning champions Brisbane against fellow Queensland side North Queensland, while the second match featured the new club, the Gold Coast playing St George Illawarra. The weather during the middle of the season was less than ideal, with cyclonic conditions severely affecting many NRL games played in Sydney and Newcastle.

The finals series was contested over a period of four weeks and saw the newly privatised South Sydney Rabbitohs return to finals football for the first time in decades. The season culminated with the NRL Grand Final on Sunday 30 September 2007 contested between a resurgent Manly and a Melbourne team looking for redemption from last year's Grand Final loss. Melbourne ran out convincing winners with a 34–8 scoreline and the Grand Final achieved the honour of being the most watched television show in Australia in 2007.

2008: The Centenary

Throughout 2008, the NRL celebrated 100 years since Rugby League was introduced into Australia, with several initiatives to recognise the important milestone, including an extensive marketing campaign called the 'Centenary of Rugby League'. The competition began in March, with a special Heritage round held in mid-April, coinciding with the first round of competition played in 1908.

At a Gala event on 17 April 2008 the Team of the Century

Australian Rugby League's Team of the Century

In late 2007, the Australian Rugby League and National Rugby League commissioned a college of 130 experts to select the 100 best rugby league players in the game's 100-year history in Australia...

was announced, being:

Full-back: Clive Churchill
Clive Churchill
Clive Bernard Churchill AM was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach of the mid-20th century. An Australian international and New South Wales and Queensland interstate representative fullback, he played the majority of his club football with and later coached the South Sydney Rabbitohs...
Wingers: Ken Irvine
Ken Irvine
Kenneth John Irvine was an Australian rugby league footballer of the 1950s, 60s and 70s. He holds the standing record for the most number of tries in a first-grade career – 212. No other player has yet managed 200 tries in their career, apart from Steve Menzies who has scored 216...

, Brian Bevan
Brian Bevan
Brian Eyrl Bevan was a legendary rugby league winger who scored a world record 796 tries for Warrington RLFC...
Centres: Reg Gasnier
Reg Gasnier
Reg Gasnier AM is an Australian former rugby league footballer and coach, regarded as one of the 20th century's finest players. He played in the centres for the St. George Dragons from 1959 to 1967...

, Mal Meninga
Mal Meninga
Malcolm Norman Meninga AM is an Australian former rugby league test captain and current coach of Queensland's State of Origin team. As a player he was a legendary goal-kicking centre, counted amongst the finest footballers of the 20th century...
Five-eighth: Wally Lewis
Wally Lewis
Walter James "Wally" Lewis AM is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and coach. Currently a commentator of the sport, he is widely regarded as the greatest rugby league player of all time...
Half-back: Andrew Johns
Andrew Johns
Andrew Gary "Joey" Johns is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s who is considered by many to be the greatest player of all time. He was heralded as the world's best halfback for a number of years...
Lock: John Raper
Second Row: Norm Provan
Norm Provan
Norm "Sticks" Provan is an Australian former rugby league footballer and coach. A giant of a man, he was a second-row forward with the St. George Dragons during their 11-year consecutive premiership-winning run from 1956 to 1966...

, Ron Coote
Ron Coote
Ron Coote AM is an Australian former representative rugby league player whose club career was played with the South Sydney and Eastern Suburbs, both of whom he won premierships with. He is considered one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century...
Props: Arthur Beetson
Arthur Beetson
Arthur Henry "Artie" Beetson, OAM , was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. He represented Australia and Queensland from 1964 to 1981. His position was at prop. Beetson became the first Indigenous Australian to captain his country in any sport. and is frequently cited as the best...

, Duncan Hall
Duncan Hall
Duncan Hall was an Australian rugby league footballer of the 1940s and 1950s, singled out as having been amongst the greatest of the 20th century. He played in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership for Fortitude Valley Diehards and represented Queensland and Australia. He has been named amongst...
Hooker: Noel Kelly
Noel Kelly (rugby league)
Noel Kelly is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and coach, who played at club, state and national level. He has been named amongst the country's finest footballers of the 20th century...
Reserves: Graeme Langlands
Graeme Langlands
Graeme 'Changa' Langlands, MBE, is an Australian former rugby league footballer and coach of the 1960s and 70s. He retired as the most-capped player for the Australian national team with 45 from 1963 to 1975, and captained his country in 15 Test matches and World Cup games. Langlands was the...

, Dally Messenger
Dally Messenger
Herbert Henry "Dally" Messenger was an Australian rugby union and rugby league footballer, recognised as one of the greatest ever players in either code. Messenger, or 'The Master' as he was dubbed, represented his country in both rugby football codes, playing two rugby union tests and seven...

, Bob Fulton
Bob Fulton
Robert "Bob" Fulton AM is an Australian rugby league football identity. Fulton played, coached, selected for and has commentated on the game with great success at the highest levels and has been named amongst Australia's greatest rugby league players of the 20th century.As a player Fulton won...

, Frank Burge
Frank Burge
Frank 'Chunky' Burge was one of the greatest forwards in the history of rugby league in Australia. Later he was one of the game's finest coaches....
Coach: Jack Gibson.

For the second year in a row, the Grand Final was played between the Melbourne Storm and the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, in the NRL's first ever twilight decider. The Sea Eagles took out the premiership game 40–0, setting the record for the highest winning margin in a Grand Final match (although the club formerly known as St George Dragons were beaten 38–0 in 1975 and using the modern point scale of 4-point tries, this would amount to 44–0.) Furthermore, it was the first time a team had been kept scoreless in a Grand Final since 1978.

2009–2010: The second century begins

After the centenary celebrations of 2008, the 2009 season marks the second century of rugby league competition in Australia.
The Grand Final

2009 NRL Grand Final

The 2009 NRL Grand Final was a rugby league football game played on 4 October 2009 at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney. It was the 12th annual championship game of the National Rugby League staged to decide the premiers of the 2009 NRL season....

that year was played between the Parramatta Eels and the Melbourne Storm at the ANZ Stadium; Melbourne defeated Parramatta 23 – 16 to make it two premierships out of the last four grand finals for the Storm. The Storm were stripped of these premierships on 22 April 2010 due to gross long-term salary cap breaches between 2006 and 2010 (read more below, Major breaches of the salary cap).

In 2010 the Inaugural All Stars Match was held on 13 February, in conjunction with the Sorry Day reconciliation anniversary in order to promote Rugby League's long association and involvement with the Aboriginal community. The first match saw the Indigenous All Stars beat the NRL All Stars 16–12. The success of this event has seen it become a permanent fixture on the Rugby League calendar with Queensland awarded the hosting rights for the next three years.

The 29th State of Origin series was also played featuring the world's first live free-to-air 3D TV broadcast. Queensland later made further history by winning an unprecedented fifth series in a row, and winning the 2010 series by a scoreline of 3–0, their first Origin whitewash in a decade.

In October 2010 it was announced that the NRL set a record total season average attendance of 17,367 per game and a record total season aggregate attendance of 3,490,778.

During the 2010 finals series, the second qualifying match between the Wests Tigers and Sydney Roosters became the first McIntyre System final to go into extra time, with the One Hundred Minute Epic described in media circles as one of the greatest of the modern era.

The 2010 Grand Final

2010 NRL Grand Final

The 2010 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2010 NRL season. Played on Sunday, 3 October at Sydney's ANZ Stadium, the match was contested by the St. George Illawarra Dragons and the Sydney Roosters. It was the first time the two sides met in a grand final. They...

was played between the St George Illawarra Dragons

St George Illawarra Dragons

The St George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing the St. George and Illawarra regions. They have competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 as a joint venture between Sydney's historic St. George Dragons club and 1982 expansion club, the...

and the Sydney Roosters

Sydney Roosters

. The Dragons won 32–8. This is the first premiership won by the club in its eleven year existence.

After several years of preparation and build up, on 14 December 2010 the Australian Rugby League and News Corporation finally agreed upon a constitutional framework paving the way for the establishment of a new and independent commission to govern the sport in Australia.

National Rugby League Expansion Bid Clubs

When the Gold Coast Titans were admitted into the 2007 season of the NRL they beat out proposals from Gosford, New South Wales

Gosford, New South Wales

Gosford is a city located on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia, approximately 76 km north of the Sydney central business district...

(as the Central Coast Bears

North Sydney Bears

) and Wellington, New Zealand (as the Southern Orcas

Wellington Orcas

The Wellington rugby league team are a rugby league team that represents the Wellington Rugby League in New Zealand Rugby League competitions. They currently compete in the National Zonal Competition as the Wellington Orcas.-Early years:...

).

CEO David Gallop has stated that the NRL will not consider expansion until mid 2011 due to previous failed expansion efforts during the Super League era. He has however spoken specifically about adding a team in Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

, Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

, Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

, the Central Coast, the Sunshine Coast

Sunshine Coast, Queensland

The Sunshine Coast is an urban area in South East Queensland, north of the state capital of Brisbane on the Pacific Ocean coastline. Although it does not have a central business district, by population it ranks as the 10th largest metropolis in Australia and the third largest in...

, and Wellington, New Zealand. Interest in gaining an NRL franchise has also come from Fiji

Fiji

Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...

and from the Toowoomba & Darling Downs Region, a rugby league heartland that has no team in the NRL or the Queensland Cup (since the demise of the Toowoomba Clydesdales

Toowoomba Clydesdales

The Toowoomba Clydesdales are a rugby league football club based in Toowoomba, Queensland, named after the Scottish horse breed. They played in the Queensland Wizard Cup since the competition began in 1996 but no longer play in this competition....

).

The NRL also has a fund of $8 million for any club that decides to relocate to a 'strategically identified area'.

The NRL is currently assessing a large number of possible franchise locations around Australasia that have the backing of fans, governments and corporate interests. These include:

Australia

Bid Area	Home City	State	Home Ground(s)	Bid Club	Website	Official Launch
Brisbane	Brisbane	Queensland	Lang Park (52,500)	Brisbane Bombers Brisbane Bombers The Brisbane Bombers are a proposed Australian professional rugby league football club to be based in the city of Brisbane, the capital of the state of Queensland...	brisbanebombers.com.au	2011, January
Central Coast	Gosford Gosford, New South Wales Gosford is a city located on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia, approximately 76 km north of the Sydney central business district... North Sydney North Sydney, New South Wales North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. North Sydney is located 3 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney...	New South Wales	Central Coast Stadium (20,119) North Sydney Oval North Sydney Oval -Development:* The first cricket pitch was laid on 6 December 1867, making it one of the oldest cricket grounds in Australia.* The first structure built, in 1879, was a simple pavilion overlooking the cricket ground... (20,000)	Central Coast Bears Central Coast Bears The Central Coast Bears are a proposed rugby league club on the Central Coast of Australia. There is a movement for a return to first-grade Rugby League for the once proud club, with the North Sydney Bears moving to Gosford and becoming the Central Coast Bears...	centralcoastbears.com.au	2005
Central Queensland	Rockhampton Rockhampton, Queensland Rockhampton is a city and local government area in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Fitzroy River, approximately from the river mouth, and some north of the state capital, Brisbane....	Queensland	Browne Park Browne Park Browne Park is a rectangular football stadium located in the Rockhampton suburb of Wandal, Queensland, Australia. The stadium has been the home of rugby league football in Central Queensland since the 1980s and today also hosts rugby union and soccer matches... (5,200) New Stadium (25,000)	Central Queensland Comets Central Comets Central Queensland Capras are an semi-professional rugby league football club based in Rockhampton, Queensland. They currently play in the Queensland Cup, the premier rugby league competition in Queensland....	cqnrlbid.com.au	2009, April
South Australia	Adelaide	South Australia	Hindmarsh Stadium Hindmarsh Stadium Hindmarsh Stadium is a rectangular stadium located in Adelaide, South Australia. It is the home of the Australian A-League team, Adelaide United.... (16,500)	Adelaide Rams Adelaide Rams The Adelaide Rams were an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The team was formed in 1995 for the planned rebel Super League competition, which eventually ran parallel to the rival Australian Rugby League competition in 1997...	-
Sunshine Coast	Sunshine Coast Sunshine Coast, Queensland The Sunshine Coast is an urban area in South East Queensland, north of the state capital of Brisbane on the Pacific Ocean coastline. Although it does not have a central business district, by population it ranks as the 10th largest metropolis in Australia and the third largest in...	Queensland	Stockland Park Stockland Park Stockland Park formally Quad Park is a multi-sport venue located at Kawana Waters on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland.In 2007 the Queensland Government funded a $22 million development on Quad Park and completed renamed it Stockland Park when the renovation was completed in 2009.-Development:The... (12,000)	Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles are a professional rugby league team currently playing in the Queensland Cup they are a new team to the competition. They previously played under the name of the Sunshine Coast Falcons but were booted from the competition...	-
Western Australia	Perth Perth, Western Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....	Western Australia	Perth Oval (20,500) Upgrade to (25,500)	WA Reds	waredsrugbyleague.com.au	2006
Western Corridor	Ipswich Ipswich, Queensland Ipswich is a city in South-East Queensland, Australia. Situated along the Bremer River Valley approximately 40 kilometres away from the state's capital Brisbane. The suburb by the same name forms the city's Central Business District and administrative centre... Logan Logan City, Queensland Logan City is a Local Government Area in South East Queensland, Australia. The city is situated between the City of Brisbane to the north and Gold Coast to the south. The city also borders the Scenic Rim, the City of Ipswich and Redland City.... Toowoomba Toowoomba, Queensland Toowoomba is a city in Southern Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital city, Brisbane. With an estimated district population of 128,600, Toowoomba is Australia's second largest inland city and its largest non-capital inland city...	Queensland	Lang Park (52,500), Proposed Springfield Springfield, Queensland Springfield, also known as the Greater Springfield Development, is a 28.50 square kilometre residential development located in Ipswich, in South East Queensland, Australia... stadium	Western Corridor	westerncorridornrlbid.com.au	2011, May

Oceania

Bid Area	Home City	Country	Home Ground(s)	Bid Club	Website	Official Launch
Central & Southern New Zealand	Wellington Christchurch Christchurch Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...	New Zealand	Westpac Stadium Westpac Stadium Westpac Stadium, is a major sporting venue in Wellington, New Zealand. Due to its shape and silver coloured external walls, it is colloquially known as The Cake-Tin to the locals and other New Zealanders... (36,000) AMI Stadium (38,628)	Southern Orcas	-	2005
Fiji	Suva	Fiji	National Stadium (30,000)	Fiji Bati Fiji national rugby league team -Competitions:Fiji have participated in:Pacific Cup World Cup World Sevens Superleague World Nines Superleague Oceania Tournament Pacific Rim Competition -Results:...	-
Papua New Guinea	Port Moresby	Papua New Guinea	Lloyd Robson Oval Lloyd Robson Oval Lloyd Robson Oval is a sporting ground in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. It hosted 3 games for the 1989 - 1992 Rugby League World Cup. It has been the home ground for the Papua New Guinea national rugby league team since 1982. It has a total capacity of just over 10,000 people.Llyod Robson Oval... (10,000) Upgrade to (25,000)	Papua New Guinea Vipers Port Moresby Vipers The Port Moresby Vipers are a Papua New Guinean rugby league team from Port Moresby. They competed in the Panasonic Cup in 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1989 and the Queensland Cup competition in 1996 and 1997. Due to the cost of transportation to and from Australia they were not invited to compete in the...	pngnrlbid.com	2008, October

Official franchise bids

There are currently six official bids in progress, all intent on joining the NRL when the current media deal comes up for negotiation around 2012/2013.

In 2005 the North Sydney Bears

North Sydney Bears

planned on rejoining the league as the Central Coast Bears

Central Coast Bears

The Central Coast Bears are a proposed rugby league club on the Central Coast of Australia. There is a movement for a return to first-grade Rugby League for the once proud club, with the North Sydney Bears moving to Gosford and becoming the Central Coast Bears...

and basing themselves out of Gosford, New South Wales

Gosford, New South Wales

Gosford is a city located on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia, approximately 76 km north of the Sydney central business district...

and will use Central Coast Stadium. The bid team plans to unite the current North Sydney and Central Coast districts under the one team.

In 2006 the Western Australia Rugby League

Western Australia Rugby League

The Western Australia Rugby League is responsible for administering the game of rugby league in Western Australia. Western Australia is an Affiliated State of the overall Australian governing body the Australian Rugby League....

announced that the Perth

Perth, Western Australia

-based WA Reds were to be resurrected with an aim to re-join the NRL in 2013, playing out of nib Stadium. Currently they contest the under-age S. G. Ball Cup, with an aim to having a number of WA-born juniors when the bid joins the NRL

In October 2008, a Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

bid team was launched with government funding and support. An official website was launched in September 2009 detailing the progress of the PNG bid and its aim to provide social and economic benefits for the country as a whole

In April 2009, a consortium from the Central Queensland
Central Queensland
Central Queensland is an ambiguous geographical division of Queensland that centres on the eastern coast, around the Tropic of Capricorn. Its major regional centre is Rockhampton and the Capricorn Coast and the area extends west to the Central Highlands at Emerald, north to the Mackay Regional...

region declared their intent to launch a bid for an NRL franchise to be based in Rockhampton

Rockhampton, Queensland

Rockhampton is a city and local government area in Queensland, Australia. The city lies on the Fitzroy River, approximately from the river mouth, and some north of the state capital, Brisbane....

in the next expansion period. The bid is aiming to be a new club by 2013.

In August 2010, the Ipswich Jets
Ipswich Jets
The Ipswich Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Ipswich, Queensland.Their name comes from nearby RAAF Base Amberley, one of the largest airbases in Australia. The Jets compete in the Queensland Cup competition...

formally announced the creation of a bid team for 2013 with the future club to based in the Ipswich-West Brisbane corridor in order to capitalise on the massive population boom projected for that region. The move would effectively see the promotion of the existing local Queensland Cup side to the higher NRL premiership.

In January 2011, David Gallop, CEO of the NRL, confirmed he had spoken to a bid team delegate seeking to create Brisbane's second team who would be based in south Brisbane area. If their bid is successful they would play at Suncorp Stadium on alternate weekends to the Brisbane Broncos. The club launched its name and branding on 14 July 2011, as the Brisbane Bombers
Brisbane Bombers
The Brisbane Bombers are a proposed Australian professional rugby league football club to be based in the city of Brisbane, the capital of the state of Queensland...

.

Structure

A Partnership Executive Committee administers the agreement between the Australian Rugby League

Australian Rugby League

and News Limited

News Limited

News Limited is one of Australia's largest diversified media companies. The publicly listed company's interests span newspaper and magazine publishing, Internet, Pay TV, National Rugby League, market research, DVD and film distribution, and film and television production trading assets.News Limited...

as well as making major financial decisions. Three representatives from each party make up this committee. A National Rugby League Board, which is commissioned by the Partnership Committee and is composed of six delegates – three from each party – is responsible for administering the competition. Both bodies nominate a Chairman to lead each board for a term of 12 months on an alternating basis.

The National Rugby League markets the premiership on behalf of the clubs as well as organising the draw and finals matches. When the draw is finalised, teams are responsible for controlling and organising their assigned home games. Clubs each have their own organisational structure but are also bound to the National Rugby League by a common set of rules in club agreements.

In late November/early December each year the NRL holds a conference for CEOs, coaches and players to discuss issues facing the League.

Regular season

As rugby league is a winter sport in Australasia, the NRL premiership season usually begins in early March following a brief series of trial matches. Games are then played every weekend until the end of September. In most rounds, two matches are played on Friday night, three on Saturday night, two on Sunday afternoon and one on Monday night.

Special themed weeks include Heritage Round, Women in League Round and Rivalry Round. Separate trophies between rival teams are also presented throughout the season, such as the Ron Coote cup.

Teams receive two competition points for a win, and one point for a draw. The bye also receives two points; a loss, no points. Teams on the ladder are ranked by competition points, then match points differential (for and against) and points percentage are used to separate teams with equal competition points. At the end of the regular season, the club which is ranked highest on the ladder is declared minor premiers

Minor premiership

A minor premiership is the name of the title given to the team which finishes a sporting competition first in the league standings after the regular season but prior to commencement of the playoffs....

Finals

The eight highest placed teams at the end of the regular season compete in the finals series, which is contested using the McIntyre Final Eight System

McIntyre Final Eight System

The McIntyre Final Eight System was devised by Ken McIntyre in addition to the McIntyre Four, Five and Six systems. It is a playoff system of the top 8 finishers in a competition to determine which two teams will play in the Grand Final. The teams play each other over three weeks, with two teams...

. This system has been used for every NRL season with the exception of the first, in 1998. The system consists of a number of knockout and sudden-death games between the top eight teams over four weeks in August and September, until only two teams remain. These two teams then contest the Grand Final, which is usually played on the first Sunday of October. In the first week of the finals, the top four seeds play at their respective home grounds. In week two, matches are played within the home city of the two lower seeded winning teams from week one. In week three, teams play within the home regions of the two seeded winning teams from week one.

Grand final

The NRL Grand Final

Grand Final

, which determines the season's premiers, is one of Australasia's major sporting events, typically attracting large attendances and high television ratings. The game itself is usually preceded by an opening ceremony featuring entertainment from well-known Australasian and international musical acts. The Prime Minister of Australia

Prime Minister of Australia

The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...

is also usually on hand for the trophy-presenting ceremony. In 1998 the Grand Final was held at the Sydney Football Stadium. Since then, it has been contested at Stadium Australia, which was the primary athletics venue for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. The first year it was held at Stadium Australia, the NRL Grand Final broke the world record for attendance at a rugby league game. In June 2006, the NRL announced that the Grand Final will continue to be held at the Stadium until at least 2012, after which the possibility of the game being moved interstate will be considered if certain circumstances arise. However, in mid 2010 it was announced that the New South Wales Government secured the grand final for Stadium Australia until 2022 for $45 million.

Each year the grand final breakfast, a function that is attended by both teams, hundreds of guests and screened live on Australian television is held during the week before the game.

The Grand Final has traditionally been played on Sunday afternoons, but between 2001 and 2007 the Grand Final was played at night, in order to coincide with the primetime period on television. Because this meant that the game finished late at night, the NRL feared losing younger audiences. From 2008, a compromise was reached between official broadcaster Channel 9

Nine Network

The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...

's preferred starting time of 8 pm and the traditional starting time of 3 pm, with the Grand Final beginning at 5 pm AEST.

It has become traditional for the NRL trophy, which is based on the former premiership trophy, the Winfield Cup

Winfield Cup

, to be delivered to the stadium by helicopter shortly before kick off. The player judged to be the man-of-the-match by the Australian national team selectors is awarded the prestigious Clive Churchill Medal

Clive Churchill Medal

The Clive Churchill Medal has been presented to the man-of-the-match of the National Rugby League's annual Grand Final match ever since the 1986 season. The award was created to honour Clive Churchill, one of the greatest rugby league players in Australian history, following his death in 1985...

. The Australian Prime Minister usually presents the winning team of the grand final with the trophy after the match. In addition, members of the winning team are presented with premiership rings

Championship ring

A championship ring is a ring presented to members of winning teams in professional sports leagues, and—in North America—college tournaments. In recent years, it has become common for American, and Canadian high schools to give championship rings to teams that win the state or provincial...

Sponsorship

The NRL and its clubs receive significant revenue from sponsorships, with sponsors' logos appearing on most parts of players' and referees' uniforms, the playing surface and even the ball itself. Since 2001, the National Rugby League premiership has been sponsored by Telstra and known as the 'NRL Telstra Premiership'; in earlier seasons, it was simply known as the 'National Rugby League'.

The Telstra Premiership has had three competition logos since 2001. The first, lasting only through the 2001 regular season, was the Telstra logo with an elongated circle enclosing the word Premiership. From the Finals series of 2001 through to the end of 2006 the logo was based around the shape of a football, with the words Telstra Premiership on respective lines along the bottom, culminating with a small football similar to the one in the official NRL logo. The main colours were blue and orange, the corporate colours of Telstra. The company worked with the NRL to create the current logo (pictured) for the 2007 season onward as part of a new sponsorship deal. This new logo is quite similar to the original National Rugby League emblem.

Other notable sponsorships include Toyota (official car of the NRL), Powerade

Powerade

Powerade is a sports drink manufactured and marketed by The Coca-Cola Company. First introduced in 1988, its primary competitor is PepsiCo's Gatorade...

(match ball), AAMI

Promina Group

The Promina Group was an Australian and New Zealand Insurance company formerly listed on the Australian and New Zealand stock exchanges. It is now fully owned by Suncorp-Metway Limited.-History:...

(referees), Harvey Norman

Harvey Norman

Harvey Norman is a large Australian-based retailer of electrical, computer, furniture, entertainment and bedding goods. It is effectively a franchise and the main brand owned by Harvey Norman Holdings Limited...

(video referees), Victoria Bitter

Victoria Bitter

Victoria Bitter is one of the many iconic beers manufactured in the Australian state of Victoria. VB currently maintains the highest market share of all beer sold in Australia, both on tap and packaged...

(official beer of the NRL), Bundaberg Rum

Bundaberg Rum

Bundaberg Rum is a dark rum produced in Bundaberg, Australia, often referred to as "Bundy".The Bundaberg Distilling Company owns its own cola-producing facility, which supplies the cola for its ready-to-drink Bundaberg Rum and Cola products.-History:...

(Friday Night Football), Keno

Keno

Keno is a lottery or bingo gambling game often played at modern casinos, and is also offered as a game in some state lotteries. A traditional live casino keno game uses a circular glass enclosure called a "bubble" containing 80 balls which determine the ball draw result. Each ball is imprinted...

(Saturday Football) and Home Timber and Hardware

Home Timber and Hardware

Home Timber and Hardware is Australia's third largest retail hardware chain. It is owned by Danks Holdings Ltd, now a subsidiary of Woolworths...

(Sunday Football).

Non-traditional venues

Since 1998 NRL clubs have played both trial matches and premiership season games in areas that do not have representation in the NRL.

The Wests Tigers
Wests Tigers
The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's mid-western suburbs. They have competed in the National Rugby League since they were formed at the end of the 1999 season as a joint-venture club between the Balmain Tigers and the Western Suburbs...

and Sydney Roosters
Sydney Roosters
The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League and is one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Australian rugby league history, having won twelve New South Wales Rugby League...

have played premiership season games in Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

in New Zealand.
The Penrith Panthers
Penrith Panthers
The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership, the top rugby league football competition in Australasia. For the 2012 NRL season they will be coached by Ivan...

, Cronulla Sharks
Cronulla Sharks
The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are Australian professional Rugby league team based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales...

and Canterbury Bulldogs
Canterbury Bulldogs
The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership, as well as New South Wales Rugby League junior competitions...

have played premiership season games in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

.
The Bulldogs have also taken games interstate to Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

, the Gold Coast
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...

as well as Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

.
In 2003 the Canberra Raiders
Canberra Raiders
The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership since 1982...

hosted one game at Westpac Stadium
Westpac Stadium
Westpac Stadium, is a major sporting venue in Wellington, New Zealand. Due to its shape and silver coloured external walls, it is colloquially known as The Cake-Tin to the locals and other New Zealanders...

in Wellington.
From 2005–2006 The Parramatta Eels
Parramatta Eels
The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, with their First Grade side playing their first season in the New South Wales Rugby Football League...

played two premiership season games in Waikato in New Zealand.
The South Sydney Rabbitohs
South Sydney Rabbitohs
The South Sydney Rabbitohs are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in Redfern, a suburb of South-central Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital...

and Manly Sea Eagles generally play one of their two premiership fixtures at Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
Gosford, New South Wales
Gosford is a city located on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia, approximately 76 km north of the Sydney central business district...

. Since then, a number of other Sydney based teams have chosen to move one or two home fixtures to the Central Coast location.
From 2008, the West Tigers plays host against South Sydney Rabbitohs
South Sydney Rabbitohs
The South Sydney Rabbitohs are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in Redfern, a suburb of South-central Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital...

at the Sydney Cricket Ground
Sydney Cricket Ground
The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney in Australia. It is used for Australian football, Test cricket, One Day International cricket, some rugby league and rugby union matches and is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team and the Sydney Swans of the Australian...

to celebrate the season's annual heritage round.
In 2009:
- The Cronulla Sharks
  Cronulla Sharks
  The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are Australian professional Rugby league team based in Cronulla, in the Sutherland Shire, Southern Sydney, New South Wales...
  
  played a home game at Hindmarsh Stadium
  Hindmarsh Stadium
  Hindmarsh Stadium is a rectangular stadium located in Adelaide, South Australia. It is the home of the Australian A-League team, Adelaide United....
  
  in Adelaide
  Adelaide
  Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
  
  . They were contracted to play a home game at the venue up until and including the 2011 season. This only lasted for one game and their contract to play in Adelaide was ended.
- The South Sydney Rabbitohs
  South Sydney Rabbitohs
  The South Sydney Rabbitohs are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in Redfern, a suburb of South-central Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital...
  
  played a home game against the Melbourne Storm
  Melbourne Storm
  The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....
  
  at Perth Oval in Perth
  Perth, Western Australia
  Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
  
  .
Many teams play in rural and other areas not home to a current NRL club during their pre-season campaign. Matches are played in locations such as Cairns, Darwin
Darwin, Northern Territory
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...

, Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

, Gosford, Cessnock
Cessnock, New South Wales
Cessnock is a city in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, about by road west of Newcastle. It is the administrative centre of the Cessnock City Council LGA and was named after an 1826 grant of land called Cessnock Estate, which was owned by John Campbell...

, Mackay
Mackay, Queensland
Mackay is a city on the eastern coast of Queensland, Australia, about north of Brisbane, on the Pioneer River. Mackay is nicknamed the sugar capital of Australia because its region produces more than a third of Australia's cane sugar....

, the Queensland Sunshine Coast
Sunshine Coast, Queensland
The Sunshine Coast is an urban area in South East Queensland, north of the state capital of Brisbane on the Pacific Ocean coastline. Although it does not have a central business district, by population it ranks as the 10th largest metropolis in Australia and the third largest in...

and Coffs Harbour.

Salary cap

In 1990, the NSWRL introduced a salary cap

Salary cap

In professional sports, a salary cap is a cartel agreement between teams that places a limit on the amount of money that can be spent on player salaries. The limit exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both...

system to even the playing field of teams in the Winfield Cup

Winfield Cup

. The National Rugby League has adopted the salary cap system from its predecessor. A special team deals with salary cap issues and monitors teams on a yearly basis. Each club is allowed A$

Australian dollar

The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...

4.6875 million per season to contract 25 players, with a minimum salary of $55,000, setting an effective upper limit of about $500,000 for the game's best players.

Payment Structure for the Top 25 Players 2010

+$200,000 Sponsor Servicing Allowance (automatically given to all clubs to compensate players for club sponsorship activities including appearances and endorsements).

+$100,000 Long Serving Player Allowance (players who have played eight continuous years of grade football with that club
including Toyota Cup and NSW Cup).

+$100,000 Paid to the RLPA retirement fund and towards RLPA contributions

Payments under the actual salary cap total $4.6875 million paid directly by clubs across the top 25 players. A further $100,000 is paid into the RLPA retirement fund contribution but is not defined as a salary cap payment.

What Players can earn outside of the Salary Cap

+$150,000 Marquee Player Allowance (any or all of the top 10 players at each club can share in payments made by club sponsors seeking to use a player’s intellectual property. A cap of $50,000 per player applies).

Unlimited Players can earn unlimited amounts from corporate sponsors who are not associated with the club and who do not
use the game’s intellectual property (no club logos, jerseys or emblems) provided these are pre-approved.

Unlimited Tertiary education, approved traineeships, medical insurance costs, relocation/temporary accommodation costs are
not included in the cap but must be approved.

Payments for players outside the Top25

+$350,000 Cap for all players outside of the top 25 who compete in the Telstra Premiership.

The cap is actively policed and penalties for clubs found to have breached the NRL salary cap regulations include fines of lesser of half the amount involved or $500,000 and/or deduction of premiership points. For example, six clubs were fined for minor infractions in 2003. These infractions are usually technical in nature, and can sometimes be affected by third-party factors such as loss of sponsorship revenue affecting an allowance. During the 2007 season the NRL implemented ways of creating a fair and more beneficial cap for players and clubs.

In 2010, following the Melbourne Storm salary cap scandal, the NRL introduced requirements for players and their agents to sign statutory declarations pledging their contracts comply with salary cap regulations, where previously only club chairmen and chief executives did so for biannual salary cap audits.

Major breaches of the cap

In 2002, the Bulldogs were fined the maximum of $500,000 and deducted all 37 premiership points received during the season after it was found that they had committed serious and systematic breaches of the salary cap totaling $2.13 million over the past three years, including $750,000 in 2001 and $920,000 in 2002; these were described by NRL Chief Executive David Gallop

David Gallop

as "exceptional in both its size and its deliberate and ongoing nature". The points penalty meant that the club won the 2002 wooden spoon

Wooden spoon (award)

A wooden spoon is a mock or real award, usually given to an individual or team which has come last in a competition, but sometimes also to runners-up. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous events...

(Souths

South Sydney Rabbitohs

would have finished last if not for the breaches), and as the club had been leading the competition table prior to the imposition of the penalties, this was a shattering outcome for the club and its fans. Two senior club officials were jailed for fraud as a result of these breaches.

In 2005, the New Zealand Warriors

New Zealand Warriors

were fined $430,000 and were ordered to start the 2006 season with a four premiership point deficit and cut their payroll by $450,000 after club officials revealed that their former management had exceeded the salary cap by $1.1 million over the last two years. The points penalty meant that the Warriors missed a finals berth in 2006.

On 22 April 2010, the Melbourne Storm were stripped of the 2007 and 2009 premierships, 2006–2008 minor premierships and the 2010 World Club Challenge trophy, fined a record $1.689 million ($1.1 million in NRL prize money which will be equally distributed between the remaining 15 clubs, $89,000 in prize money from the World Club Challenge which will be distributed to the Leeds Rhinos, and the maximum of $500,000 for breaching the salary cap regulations), ordered to cut their payroll by $1.0125 million, deducted all eight premiership points received during the season and barred from receiving premiership points for the remainder of the season after Storm officials revealed that the club had committed serious and systematic breaches of the salary cap regulations between 2006 and 2010 by running a well-organized dual contract and bookkeeping system that concealed a total of $3.78 million in payments made to players outside of the salary cap from the NRL, including $303,000 in 2006, $459,000 in 2007, $957,000 in 2008, $1.021 million in 2009 and $1.04 million in 2010. The points penalty meant that the club won the 2010 wooden spoon (North Queensland

North Queensland Cowboys

would have finished last if not for the breaches). Legal action by the former directors of the club against the penalties collapsed, and the matter has been referred to ASIC, the Australian Tax Office, the Victorian State Revenue Office, and the Victoria Police. The club's former CEO Brian Waldron and financial officers Matt Hanson, Paul Gregory and Cameron Vale are all facing lifetime suspensions. Players were still eligible for Test and/or State of Origin selection and other individual awards including the Clive Churchill Medal

Clive Churchill Medal

lists from 2007 and 2009 will still continue to be recognised.

Judiciary

The NRL judiciary is made up of former players who convene in three-man panels to rule on on-field incidents. The judiciary is currently chaired by Wollongong district court judge Paul Conlon and made up of former players, Mal Cochrane

Mal Cochrane

Mal Cochrane is an Indigenous Australian former professional rugby league player for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership...

, Michael Buettner

Michael Buettner

Michael Buettner is an Australian former rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s. He played club football for the North Sydney Bears, the ill fated Northern Eagles, Parramatta Eels and Wests Tigers, as well as representative football for New South Wales and for the Australian national...

, Bradley Clyde

Bradley Clyde

Bradley Clyde is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 1980s, 90s and 2000s who, at the peak of his playing career was widely acknowledged as the best lock forward in the game....

, Sean Garlick

Sean Garlick

Sean Garlick is an Australian former rugby league footballer. A South Sydney junior, he went on to captain Easts as well as the Rabbitohs in his final season with the Club in 1999....

, Don McKinnon

Don McKinnon (rugby league)

Don McKinnon is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 1970s and 80s. He played for the North Sydney Bears in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership as well as the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, and represented New South Wales and Australia...

and Bob Lindner

Bob Lindner

Bob Lindner is a former Australian representative rugby league player and coach. He represented his country in the sport and is one of a handful of players to be man-of-the-match in State of Origin football more than once...

Representative season

As well as playing for their club in the premiership, NRL players are regularly selected to play in a number of representative competitions that are conducted throughout each season. These include:

The pre-season NRL All Stars Game
The New South Wales City vs Country Origin
City vs Country Origin
City vs Country is an annual Australian rugby league football match that takes place in New South Wales between City and Country representative sides. The City side represents the Sydney metropolitan area...

match
The State of Origin
Rugby League State of Origin
State of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...

three match series – one of the fiercest sporting rivalries in the world
The mid-year ANZAC Test
ANZAC Test
The Anzac Test is an annual rugby league football test match . The test match is played annually between Australia and New Zealand on or around Anzac Day for the Bill Kelly Memorial Trophy.-Origins:Australia and New Zealand had competed in Rugby League Tests since 1908...
The Four Nations
Rugby League Four Nations
The Rugby League Four Nations is an annual rugby league football tournament run in partnership between the Australian Rugby League, Rugby Football League and New Zealand Rugby League representing the top three nations in the sport: Australia, England and New Zealand. A fourth partner, France,...

tournament
The quadrennial World Cup
Rugby League World Cup
The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league competition contested by members of the Rugby League International Federation . It has been held nearly once every 4 years on average since its inaugural tournament in France in 1954...

tournament

Media coverage

The NRL provides six of the top seven and 78 of the top 100 programs on Australian subscription television. It is the second most watched sports league on Australian television, with an aggregate audience of 113,025,367 million viewers in 2009.

Coverage history

Professional club rugby league in Australia has been revolutionised by television, with a shift away from daytime games to night-time games over recent years to better suit the official television broadcasters, Channel 9

Nine Network

and Fox Sports

Fox Sports (Australia)

Fox Sports is an Australia group of sports channels. They are owned by the Premier Media Group, which is in turn owned by News Corporation, and Consolidated Media Holdings. Its main competitors are ESPN, which has little local content and the free-to-air digital channel One HD...

. This even extended to the Grand Final, which from 2001 to 2007 was shifted from 3 pm on Sunday to 7 pm Sunday night to better suit broadcasters. It has been moved back to 5 pm Sunday from 2008 onwards.

Free-to-air coverage for Channel 9

Nine Network

viewers in states other than New South Wales or Queensland is delayed until later at night to make way for other programming by Channel 9

Nine Network

. The late showing has upset fans in those state, especially in Victoria, but their call for change had remained unheard by the NRL and Channel 9

Nine Network

.

The Fox Sports

Fox Sports (Australia)

, which broadcast its first rugby league

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

matches during the 1997 Super League

Super League (Australia) season 1997

The 1997 Super League season was the 90th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the first and only to be run by the News Limited-controlled Super League organisation...

season, has broadcast the remaining National Rugby League matches exclusively live since the competition's inception in 1998. In 2007, "Monday Night Football" was added to Fox Sport's rugby league coverage.

In 2003 the Grand Final was broadcast live in the United States by Fox Sports World.

Domestic

Friday Night Football
Friday Night Football (Australia)
In Australia, Friday Night Football is the broadcasting of both the National Rugby League and Australian Football League Friday night matches on television. Friday Night Football is generally considered to be the biggest stage and generate the most publicity for the clubs involved in both codes...

starts at 7:30 pm and consists of two matches shown on Channel 9
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...

free-to-air television in New South Wales and Queensland. Both games are played concurrently, with one broadcast live and the other shown on delay immediately after the first, usually at 9:30 pm. In many cases, the order in which the games are shown differs in different television markets. For instance, a match featuring a Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

team, would usually be shown first in Queensland markets, but might be broadcast second in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

if a popular Sydney team were playing in the other match. Both matches are broadcast after midnight on Saturday morning in Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania.
Super Saturday includes one Toyota Cup afternoon game at 3:15 pm, followed by that game's corresponding Telstra Premiership match at 5:30 pm. This is then followed by two consecutive NRL matches beginning at 7:30 pm, one of which is shown live and one on delay immediately after the conclusion of the 7.30 pm game. Providing that the viewer has Foxtel Digital or Austar Digital
Austar
Austar is an Australian telecommunications company. Its main business activity is Subscription Television but it is also involved with internet access and mobile phones...

, they can use a tool called Viewer's Choice. Viewer's Choice gives the viewer a choice of either game played at 7:30 pm to be shown live. All four games are shown on Fox Sports
Fox Sports (Australia)
Fox Sports is an Australia group of sports channels. They are owned by the Premier Media Group, which is in turn owned by News Corporation, and Consolidated Media Holdings. Its main competitors are ESPN, which has little local content and the free-to-air digital channel One HD...

.
NRL Sunday is a 2:00 pm match broadcast live on Fox Sports
Fox Sports (Australia)
Fox Sports is an Australia group of sports channels. They are owned by the Premier Media Group, which is in turn owned by News Corporation, and Consolidated Media Holdings. Its main competitors are ESPN, which has little local content and the free-to-air digital channel One HD...

.
Sunday Football is broadcast on Channel 9
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...

. The match normally kicks off at 3:00 pm, but the broadcast is delayed until 4:00 pm, running until 6:00 pm in order to provide a strong lead-in to Channel 9's evening news. These broadcasts are aired after midnight on Monday mornings in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.
Monday Night Football is televised live from 7:00 pm by Fox Sports
Fox Sports (Australia)
Fox Sports is an Australia group of sports channels. They are owned by the Premier Media Group, which is in turn owned by News Corporation, and Consolidated Media Holdings. Its main competitors are ESPN, which has little local content and the free-to-air digital channel One HD...

.

Note: Saturday and Sunday broadcast schedules can also vary, with less Saturday and more Sunday matches. This is dependent on the scheduling of matches for the New Zealand Warriors

New Zealand Warriors

played in Auckland, New Zealand and a number of other factors including daylight saving time.

The State of Origin series is shown live in most states on Channel 9
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...

. Viewers in Adelaide and Perth usually receive alternative programming such as episodes of the popular sitcom Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...

before a delayed telecast of the game is broadcast later in the evening.

The NRL Grand Final is shown live in every state on Channel 9
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...

, with New South Wales and Queensland receiving up to 10 hours of continuous pre-game and post-game coverage. The game is also shown live in New Zealand, with ratings improving since the introduction of a 7 pm (NZST) kick-off – plus in various other countries around the world via local broadcasters.

International

The NRL is televised internationally with the following channels being the main telecast partners overseas.

Australia Network
Australia Network
Australia Network, originally Australia Television International and later ABC Asia Pacific, is a free-to-air international satellite television service operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation since 2006. The television and online service broadcasts 24 hours a day on 7 days a week, to...

– Provides free-to-air coverage to overseas locales in the Asia-Pacific region and India. Covers the Grand Final live.

Sky Sport in New Zealand has coverage of all the NRL games including both LIVE games on Sunday with a delayed option available later in the night.

Setanta Sports: From 2006 until June 2009 (when Setanta went into administration and then ceased broadcasting in Great Britain), viewers in the UK, Republic of Ireland, USA and Canada would receive 2–3 LIVE and/or replayed games from each of the weekly rounds, plus all the playoffs, the Grand Final and all three State of Origin
Rugby League State of Origin
State of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...

matches live. This deal included test matches involving Australia, except for those when Australia played Great Britain. Setanta still broadcasts in Canada as of 2010 and provides live and delayed coverage of several NRL games a week during the summer when soccer goes on hiatus.

Spike TV
Spike TV
Spike is an American cable television channel. It launched on March 7, 1983 as The Nashville Network , a joint venture of WSM, Inc...

– A landmark deal was agreed in 2009 whereby NRL finals matches would be beamed into 100 million homes in the United States and Canada. It is the first time NRL games have become available on basic cable in the U.S. *America One
America One
America One is an over-the-air television network in the United States. The network serves over 170 LPTV, Class A, Full Power, Cable and Satellite affiliate stations...

's One World Sports have announced a 3 year deal starting in 2010 to broadcast NRL games in the United States and the Caribbean. The broadcast will potentially reach an audience of 35 million households.

The 2009 NRL preliminary finals and Grand Final were broadcast LIVE on TV in the UK and Ireland on the new ESPN UK channel. BigPond

BigPond

BigPond is an Australian Internet service provider and is a product of Telstra. BigPond is Australia's largest ISP and based in Melbourne.- Internet :...

and the NRL have reached an agreement to stream selected remaining games live into the UK and Ireland, over BigPond's web portal service.

For the remainder of the 2010 Telstra Premiership, and for the 2011/2012 seasons, sports channel Premier Sports

Premier Sports

Premier Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels, operated by the Luxembourg registered Premier Media S.à r.l., broadcasting in United Kingdom.-History:...

, (channel 433 on the Sky platform) will feature at least three Telstra Premiership games from each round of matches.

Games will be shown free of charge for the first two months from 16 April 10:30 am UK Time, after which they will be available via subscription. The NRL Grand Final, State of Origin

Rugby League State of Origin

series and all International matches will be screened LIVE in the UK and Republic of Ireland on Sky Sports

Sky Sports

Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...

to all customers that subscribe to the Sky Sports channels.

Omnisport (owned and operated by Perform Media Channels Limited) has also signed a similar agreement to stream matches on pay-per-view LIVE in selected territories around the world through the omnisport.tv

Omnisport.TV

Omnisport.tv is a live sports website that holds the legal rights to certain sporting events and leagues from around the world.-About the company:...

website.

The UK secured new broadcasting rights in 2010 which will see 3 games televised each week including international and representative matches. Fans will also be able to see the NRL’s new weekly half-hour international highlights show, ‘NRL Full-time’, with Sky Sports
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...

joining Starhub
StarHub
StarHub Limited is a full-fledged telecommunications company providing a full range of services over mobile, internet and fixed platforms in Singapore...

(Singapore), Dahlia TV
Dahlia TV
Dahlia TV was an Italian pay-per-view television network, available on digital terrestrial television, offering 12 Widescreen channels. Telecom Italia Media owns a 9% stake in the company.- Dahlia Calcio:...

(Italy), Orbit Showtime Network (Middle East) and V Australia
V Australia
Virgin Australia International Airlines Pty Ltd, trading as V Australia, is a long haul international airline owned by Virgin Blue Holdings. It operates as an international feeder for Virgin Australia...

(in-flight) in broadcasting the program.

These new agreements have seen the NRL significantly expand its international television broadcast reach to now include North America, Africa, Italy, the Middle East, PNG and the Asia Pacific region, as well as online subscription services for international supporters.

NRL-related television programs

In Australia, there are several television shows dedicated to talking about NRL. These programs, as of March 2011, are:

The NRL Footy Show
The NRL Footy Show
The Footy Show is a Logie Award-winning Australian sports variety television programme, shown on the Nine Network and its affiliates. Following the success of the AFL program of the same name, the Nine Network quickly developed a version for the rugby league market. The rugby league version has...

(airs Thursdays, 9.30 pm, Channel Nine in NSW, Qld, NT and the ACT: screens after 11.15 pm in all other areas of Australia): a variety show with discussions about current-round games and issues, competitions, live bands, and sketches
The Sunday Footy Show (Sundays, 11.00 am, Channel Nine in NSW, QLD, NT and the ACT): a recap of Friday and Saturday's games, and preview of Sunday's and Monday's games
The Sunday Roast
The Sunday Roast
The Sunday Roast is an Australian sports talk show that deals with the issues in the National Rugby League. It airs on the Nine Network, and first aired in 2005, beginning at and leading into The Sunday Footy Show. In 2006, with the axing of Boots N' All, The Sunday Footy Show moved to , with The...

(Sundays, Midday, Channel Nine in NSW, QLD, NT and the ACT), a show dedicated to discussing the heavy issues, controversies, and playing tactics currently developing
The Game Plan
The Game Plan
Game Plan or The Game Plan may refer to:* The Game Plan , a 2007 comedy starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson* "The Game Plan" , an episode of The O.C.* Game Plan , a defunct American pinball machine manufacturer...

(Thursdays, 8.30 pm, on ONE HD)
One Week at a Time
One Week at a Time
One Week at a Time can refer to one of the following television shows:*One Week at a Time , a sports analysis show centred around Australian rules football first screened in 2009 till 2011...

(Mondays, at 9.30 pm, on ONE HD), recapping the weekend games
There also exists numerous off-beat rugby shows on Fox Sports, typically on the Monday/Tuesday after the round.

Former shows:

The Matty Johns Show
The Matty Johns Show
The Matty Johns Show is an Australian variety television show largely focused on the National Rugby League competition, starring former rugby league player Matthew "Matty" Johns. It first aired in 2010 on Thursdays at 7.30pm in New South Wales and Queensland, on the Seven Network. The show usually...

(Thursdays, 7.30 pm, Channel Seven in NSW, QLD, NT and the ACT except Darwin: after midnight in all other regions of Australia), a more sketch-and-regular-segment-oriented version of The Footy Show and

Internet

Replays of NRL matches, as well as highlights and NRL-related informational programming are available in Australia from BigPond

BigPond

BigPond is an Australian Internet service provider and is a product of Telstra. BigPond is Australia's largest ISP and based in Melbourne.- Internet :...

. Telstra

Telstra

Telstra Corporation Limited is an Australian telecommunications and media company, building and operating telecommunications networks and marketing voice, mobile, internet access and pay television products and services....

's ISP. Outside of Australia, these programs are sold by Aussie Sport TV.

Radio coverage

The NRL has several games broadcast live on the radio.

2GB

2GB

2GB is a commercial radio station in Sydney, Australia broadcasting on 873 kHz, AM. It is one of Australia's most popular talk-back radio stations, and is the number one station in Sydney.-History:The station commenced broadcasting in August 1926...

873AM Radio has the commercial rights to one Friday game, the 5:30 pm Saturday game, and a Sunday game of their choice, covering the game through the Continuous Call Team

Continuous Call Team

The Continuous Call Team is an Australian radio sports program, covering the news and live games of the National Rugby League. It is produced and broadcast by 2GB Sydney, and is relayed to stations in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia and Papua New Guinea.The team have...

program. They also air many representative games, as well as all matches throughout the finals series, and all three matches on Grand Final day. The coverage is networked to stations across the country, typically those owned by Southern Cross Media Group, Grant Broadcasters

Grant Broadcasters

Grant Broadcasters is an Australian regional radio network that also includes a small number of metropolitan radio stations. It is a privately owned company, held by Janet Cameron and her family. The company was started by Cameron's father, Walter Grant in the 1970s.-CHR/Rock:*Hot 100 100.1 FM and...

and other station groups on the Macquarie Radio Network.

ABC Local Radio

ABC Local Radio

ABC Local Radio is a network of publicly owned radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.ABC Local Radio stations broadcast across the continent using terrestrial transmitters and satellites...

has the rights to all NRL matches in the ACT

Australian Capital Territory

The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...

, Queensland and New South Wales

New South Wales

except Monday night games. Exceptions to this include Monday night games of regional teams including the Newcastle Knights

Newcastle Knights

and Canberra Raiders

Canberra Raiders

, those games still air on their respective local ABC stations.

Triple M

Triple M

The Triple M Network is an active rock radio network in Australia owned by media company Austereo, who also own the Today Network.- History :...

(Sydney) covers the Monday Night game and is broadcast on commercial stations across the country.

Print

In print media, there are two major magazines: Rugby League Week

Rugby League Week

Rugby League Week is the second highest selling Australian rugby league magazine, behind major competitor Big League...

is produced by ACP Magazines and is generally released on Wednesdays between rounds; Big League

Big League

Big League is the official magazine of the National Rugby League and that of the NRL's forerunners, the New South Wales Rugby League and Australian Rugby League competitions. Its predecessor, The Rugby League News, was first published in 1920; in 1974 it was rebadged as Big League.It also serves as...

is the competition's official publication, released Thursday and produced by News Magazines. Another News Magazines publication, ALPHA Magazine, regularly publishes league-related stories and interviews.

Theme songs

1985–1988: The Boys Are Back In Town

The Boys Are Back in Town

"The Boys Are Back in Town" is a single from Irish hard rock band Thin Lizzy. The song came out in 1976 on their album Jailbreak. It was honoured with the 499th position among the 2004 Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, though it was not included in the 2010 update...

– Thin Lizzy

Thin Lizzy

Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist/vocalist Phil Lynott met while still in school. Lynott assumed the role of frontman and led them throughout their recording career of thirteen studio albums...

1989: What You Get Is What You See

What You Get Is What You See

"What You Get Is What You See" is a hit song by Grammy Award winning rock and soul singer Tina Turner, it was released as a single from Tina's Break Every Rule album...

– Tina Turner

Tina Turner

Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...

1990–1995: Simply The Best

The Best (song)

"The Best" is a song written by Mike Chapman and Holly Knight, originally recorded by Bonnie Tyler on her 1988 release Hide Your Heart, in reference to Tom Mason. The single reached reaching #10 in Norway and Portugal, #34 in Spain and #95 in the UK....

– Tina Turner

Tina Turner

1997 (SL

Super League (Australia)

): Two Tribes

Two Tribes

"Two Tribes" is the second single by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, released in the UK by ZTT Records in May 1984 . The song was later included on the album Welcome to the Pleasuredome....

– Frankie Goes To Hollywood

Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Frankie Goes to Hollywood were a British dance-pop band popular in the mid-1980s. The group was fronted by Holly Johnson , with Paul Rutherford , Peter Gill , Mark O'Toole , and Brian Nash .The group's debut single "Relax" was banned by the BBC in 1984 while at number six in the charts and...

1997 (ARL

Australian Rugby League

): It's My Game – NSWRL

1998: Tubthumping

Tubthumping

"Tubthumping", informally known by its prominent lyric "I Get Knocked Down", is the title of a song released by the Anarcho-punk band Chumbawamba on 11 August 1997 through Universal Records and EMI Electrola. It was their most successful single, peaking at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart...

– Chumbawamba

Chumbawamba

Chumbawamba is a British musical group who have, over a career spanning nearly three decades, played punk rock, pop-influenced music, world music, and folk music...

1999: Blow That Whistle – Thomas Keneally

Thomas Keneally

Thomas Michael Keneally, AO is an Australian novelist, playwright and author of non-fiction. He is best known for writing Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize-winning novel of 1982 which was inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor...

2000: What A Game – Tom Jones

Tom Jones (singer)

Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...

2001: Racing Car Noises over Action Highlights

2003–2007: That's My Team – Hoodoo Gurus

Hoodoo Gurus

Hoodoo Gurus are an Australian rock band, formed in Sydney in 1981, by the mainstay Dave Faulkner and later joined by Richard Grossman , Mark Kingsmill , and Brad Shepherd...

2008: Centenary of Rugby League Campaign

2009: Feels Like Woah

Feels Like Woah

-Music video:A music video was created and released for the song. It was filmed in Sydney's inner-west suburbs. On March 4, 2009 the music video was released when uploaded to Carr's official YouTube channel.-Chart performance:...

– Wes Carr

Wes Carr

Wes Carr is an Australian singer-songwriter. He released his first studio album Simple Sum independently in 2008 shortly before entering Australian Idol. In November 2008 he was announced as the winner of the sixth season of Australian Idol...

2010: Fan Voices over Action Highlights

2011: This Is Our House – Bon Jovi

Bon Jovi

Bon Jovi is an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Formed in 1983, Bon Jovi consists of lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi , guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, as well as current bassist Hugh McDonald...

Players

National Rugby League footballers are some of Australasia's most famous athletes, commanding multi-million dollar playing contracts as well as sponsorship deals. Each club in the NRL has a "top squad" of twenty-five players, who are signed under the salary cap, as described above. For the most part, the players who play in NRL matches are sourced from these top squads. Occasionally during a season, however, the need may arise for a club to use players outside these 25, and in this case players are usually sourced from the club's corresponding Toyota Cup

Toyota Cup

Toyota Cup may refer to:* Copa Toyota Libertadores was the name of Copa Libertadores from 1997-2007 for sponsorship reasons.* Intercontinental Cup , known as Toyota Cup, was a football competition endorsed by UEFA and CONMEBOL....

side or feeder club (such as the relevant New South Wales Cup or Queensland Cup

Queensland Cup

The Queensland Cup is the premier rugby league football competition in the State of Queensland, Australia.It is a statewide competition with the majority of teams based in South East Queensland but also including sides based in Cairns, Mackay and Rockhampton.The competition began in 1996 as a...

squad).

The players voted to be the best in each position at the end of the season are honoured at the annual Dally M Awards

Dally M Awards

The Dally M Awards are the official annual player awards for the National Rugby League competition. The most prestigious of these awards is the Dally M Medal which is only ever awarded to Australian born Players...

, with the player of the year awarded the Dally M Medal

Dally M Medal

The Dally M Medal is the premier individual award in the Australian rugby league competition, which is given to the player voted by sports commentators as the best and fairest in the competition for that year....

. The man of the match in the Grand Final is awarded the Clive Churchill Medal

Clive Churchill Medal

Indigenous Australians in the NRL

The first Indigenous Australian

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....

to play in the precursor to the NRL was New South Wales Rugby League premiership

New South Wales Rugby League premiership

player George Green

George Green (rugby league)

Edward George Green , is reputed to have been the first Indigenous Australian to play rugby league at first-grade level in Australia...

, who debuted in 1909. Since that time, many high profile indigenous athletes have played in the competition, including standout rugby league test players Arthur Beetson

Arthur Beetson

Arthur Henry "Artie" Beetson, OAM , was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. He represented Australia and Queensland from 1964 to 1981. His position was at prop. Beetson became the first Indigenous Australian to captain his country in any sport. and is frequently cited as the best...

(the first Aborigine to captain an Australian national team in any sport) and current Test match representatives Johnathan Thurston

Johnathan Thurston

Johnathan Dean Thurston is an Indigenous Australian professional rugby league footballer in the NRL with the North Queensland Cowboys whom he co-captains...

and Greg Inglis

Greg Inglis

Greg Inglis is an Australian professional rugby league player for the South Sydney Rabbitohs. A Queensland State of Origin and Australian international representative outside back, Inglis joined the Rabbitohs in 2011 after much controversy.Inglis is a versatile back, having played in several...

.
A Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission

The Australian Human Rights Commission is a national human rights institution, a statutory body funded by, but operating independently of, the Australian Government. It has the responsibility for investigating alleged infringements under Australia’s anti-discrimination legislation...

report found that 11% of NRL players in 2006 were of Aboriginal descent, (By way of comparison, only 2.3% of the Australian population identified themselves as Indigenous in the 2006 Australian census.). A 2009 survey of NRL players showed that 47 players, or 10.9 per cent, in its clubs' full-time squads are indigenous with a slightly higher figure for under-20s competition.

On 13 February 2010 at Skilled Park on the Gold Coast, the NRL will hold an "indigenous all stars" game. It is to be a indigenous Australian verse non-indigenous Australian and New Zealander game of the top players from their respective backgrounds. The Indigenous All-Stars will be a 20 man squad voted by the public. The non-indigenous squad will consist of the Australian and New Zealand national teams captains and vice captains and one player from each of the sixteen NRL clubs.

Record statistics (1998+)

**Top scorers in the National Rugby League**
Rank	Player	Points
1	Hazem El Masri Hazem El Masri Hazem El Masri is a Lebanese-Australian retired professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s. An Australia and Lebanon international, and New South Wales State of Origin representative winger, he played his entire club football career with the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs with...	2,418
2	Andrew Johns Andrew Johns Andrew Gary "Joey" Johns is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s who is considered by many to be the greatest player of all time. He was heralded as the world's best halfback for a number of years...	2,176
3	Jason Taylor	2,107
4	Daryl Halligan Daryl Halligan Daryl Halligan is a rugby league football commentator and former professional player. A New Zealand international winger, he was the pre-eminent goal-kicker of his era, retiring as the highest point scorer in Australian premiership history...	2,034
5	Luke Burt Luke Burt Luke Kevin Burt is an Australian professional rugby league player for the Parramatta Eels in the National Rugby League competition...	1,659
6=	Craig Fitzgibbon Craig Fitzgibbon Craig "Fitzy" Fitzgibbon is an Australian professional rugby league footballer for Hull in the European Super League and previously the Sydney Roosters of the NRL. A New South Wales State of Origin and Australian international representative forward, he is the son of former rugby league player and...	1,604
6=	Clinton Schifcofske Clinton Schifcofske Clinton Schifcofske is an Australian rugby league footballer for the Crusaders in the European Super League. He has previously played for Irish rugby union club Ulster in the Magners League competition and also he spent a year with Queensland Reds in the Super 14...	1,604
8	Brett Hodgson Brett Hodgson Brett Hodgson is an Australian professional rugby league footballer for the Warrington Wolves of Super League...	1,549
9	Matt Orford Matt Orford Matthew Orford is an Australian professional rugby league player, last playing for the Canberra Raiders in the National Rugby League competition...	1,500
10	Mat Rogers Mat Rogers Matthew S. "Mat" Rogers is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s. He also played rugby union at the highest levels, becoming a dual-code international. The son of the late Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks legend and CEO Steve Rogers, Mat played for the Sharks...	1,355
As of 9 November 2011.

The Brisbane Broncos

Brisbane Broncos

(1998

National Rugby League season 1998

, 2000

National Rugby League season 2000

The 2000 NRL season was the 93rd season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the third to be run by the National Rugby League...

and 2006

National Rugby League season 2006

The 2006 NRL season was the 99th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the ninth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen clubs competing for the 2006 Telstra Premiership...

) have the distinction of winning the most premierships (three) since the creation of the National Rugby League. The Melbourne Storm had also won three premierships until being stripped of two of these premierships in April 2010.

The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs hold the record for the most consecutive wins, having won 17 matches in a row between 31 March 2002 and 3 August 2002. However this was the year that it was discovered that they had gone over the salary cap by $2 million. The Parramatta Eels

Parramatta Eels

The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, with their First Grade side playing their first season in the New South Wales Rugby Football League...

set the records for the highest score and margin of victory in a 74–4 victory over the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks on 23 August 2003. The most victories achieved within a regular season is 21 (excluding a further 3 wins in the finals series), was held by the Melbourne Storm

Melbourne Storm

in 2007.

Since the first National Rugby League season in 1998, a total of six players have topped the scorers list in a season. However, the only player to have won the title more than once is Hazem El Masri

Hazem El Masri

Hazem El Masri is a Lebanese-Australian retired professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s. An Australia and Lebanon international, and New South Wales State of Origin representative winger, he played his entire club football career with the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs with...

, the overall top scorer in the National Rugby League's history, having claimed the title in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2009. Hazem El Masri

Hazem El Masri

was leading the top scoring table in 2005 until sidelined through injury. His tally of 342 points in 2004 remains the most points scored by an individual in a season. He is also the 2000s' most-served player with 249 games (out of 259); at a match in 2004 he equaled the record for most successful goals with 35 (a feat which he also nearly matched that year in international tests); he is the third most successful goal-scorer in the NRl with 891 two-pointers to his name (beaten by Jason Taylor with 941 and Andrew Johns with 917); and he is tied fifth on most tries scored with 159.

Nigel Vagana

Nigel Vagana

Nigel Vagana is a retired professional rugby league footballer of the 1990s and 2000s. A New Zealand and Samoa international representative centre, he retired as the Kiwis' all-time top try-scorer with 19...

's 154 tries scored across all nine seasons of the National Rugby League makes him the most prolific try scorer in the competition's history ( as Ken Irvine

Ken Irvine

Kenneth John Irvine was an Australian rugby league footballer of the 1950s, 60s and 70s. He holds the standing record for the most number of tries in a first-grade career – 212. No other player has yet managed 200 tries in their career, apart from Steve Menzies who has scored 216...

and Steve Menzies, the games actual highest try scorers, played before the creation of the NRL). Nathan Blacklock

Nathan Blacklock

Nathan Blacklock is an Australian former rugby league and rugby union player who primarily played as a winger.-Playing career:...

holds the record for the most tries in a season, with 27 scored in 2001 for his team, the St. George Illawarra Dragons.

Terry Campese

Terry Campese

Terry Campese is an Australian professional rugby league footballer, of Italian descent for the Canberra Raiders of the National Rugby League competition...

holds the record for the most points scored in a game with 36 points in a match featuring Canberra vs Panthers Round 22 2008 (Canberra 74 defeated Penrith 12). Only four players have scored five tries in a game; Francis Meli

Francis Meli

Francis Meli is a professional rugby league player who currently plays for St. Helens in the Super League competition. Meli has represented both New Zealand and Samoa in internationals. His usual position is on the wing....

, Jamie Lyon

Jamie Lyon

Jamie Lyon is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who currently captains for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles of the National Rugby League...

, Nigel Vagana

Nigel Vagana

, and Nathan Merritt

Nathan Merritt

Nathan Merritt is an Australian professional rugby league footballer for the South Sydney Rabbitohs of the National Rugby League. He has also previously played for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. His position of choice is either on the wing or at fullback. Merritt is an Indigenous Australian who...

.

It should be noted, however, that none of these are official records, as the NRL does not differentiate between the various top level competitions.

Referees

Tony Archer
Tony Archer (referee)
Tony Archer is a rugby league referee who currently controls matches in the National Rugby League and a Police Prosecutor.-Rugby league career:...
Gavin Badger
Matt Checchin
Ben Cummins
Tony De Las Heras
Adam Devcich
Phil Haines
Shane Hayne
Chris James
Ashley Klein
Ashley Klein
Ashley Klein is an Australian rugby league referee.Klein arrived in England as a youngster and refereed his first few games in the Rugby League Conference travelling up from London....

Steve Lyons
Jared Maxwell
Gavin Morris
Henry Perenara
Henry Perenara
Henry Edward Perenara is a New Zealand rugby league referee and former professional player who represented his country. His position of choice is at Lock though he can also play in the Second Row...
Luke Phillips
Luke Phillips
Luke Phillips is an Australian professional rugby league football referee and former player. A goal-kicking fullback, he played for National Rugby League clubs the Sydney Roosters , Canberra Raiders, Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and North Queensland Cowboys...
Alan Shortall
Gerard Sutton
Brett Suttor
Gavin Reynolds
Jason Robinson

Season	Grand Final Information			Minor Premiers
Season	Premiers	Score	Runners-Up	Minor Premiers
1998 National Rugby League season 1998 The 1998 NRL season was the 91st season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the inaugural season of the newly formed National Rugby League. After the Australian Rugby League and Super League organisations ran separate competitions parallel to each other in 1997, they joined to...	Brisbane Broncos Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the city of Brisbane, the capital of the state of Queensland. Founded in 1988, the Broncos play in Australasia's elite competition, the National Rugby League premiership. They have won six premierships and two...	38 – 12	Canterbury Bulldogs	Brisbane Broncos Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the city of Brisbane, the capital of the state of Queensland. Founded in 1988, the Broncos play in Australasia's elite competition, the National Rugby League premiership. They have won six premierships and two... (37 pts)
1999 National Rugby League season 1999 The 1999 NRL season was the 92nd season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the second to be run by the National Rugby League. Seventeen teams competed for the NRL Premiership during the season which culminated in a grand final between the first grand final played at Stadium...	Melbourne Storm Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....	20 – 18	St George Illawarra Dragons St George Illawarra Dragons The St George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing the St. George and Illawarra regions. They have competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 as a joint venture between Sydney's historic St. George Dragons club and 1982 expansion club, the...	Cronulla Sutherland Sharks (40 pts)
2000 National Rugby League season 2000 The 2000 NRL season was the 93rd season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the third to be run by the National Rugby League...	Brisbane Broncos Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the city of Brisbane, the capital of the state of Queensland. Founded in 1988, the Broncos play in Australasia's elite competition, the National Rugby League premiership. They have won six premierships and two...	14 – 6	Sydney Roosters Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League and is one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Australian rugby league history, having won twelve New South Wales Rugby League...	Brisbane Broncos Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the city of Brisbane, the capital of the state of Queensland. Founded in 1988, the Broncos play in Australasia's elite competition, the National Rugby League premiership. They have won six premierships and two... (38 pts)
2001 National Rugby League season 2001 The 2001 NRL season was the 94th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fourth run by the National Rugby League. The Newcastle Knights claimed their second premiership in five seasons, defeating minor premiers Parramatta Eels in the first ever night-time grand...	Newcastle Knights Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership...	30 – 24	Parramatta Eels Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, with their First Grade side playing their first season in the New South Wales Rugby Football League...	Parramatta Eels Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, with their First Grade side playing their first season in the New South Wales Rugby Football League... (42 pts)
2002 National Rugby League season 2002 The 2002 NRL season was the 95th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fifth to be run by the National Rugby League...	Sydney Roosters Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League and is one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Australian rugby league history, having won twelve New South Wales Rugby League...	30 – 8	New Zealand Warriors New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership and are the League's only team from outside Australia...	New Zealand Warriors New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership and are the League's only team from outside Australia... (38 pts)
2003 National Rugby League season 2003 The 2003 NRL premiership was the 96th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the sixth run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen teams competed, with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles returning in place of their failed joint-venture club, the Northern Eagles...	Penrith Panthers Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership, the top rugby league football competition in Australasia. For the 2012 NRL season they will be coached by Ivan...	18 – 6	Sydney Roosters Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League and is one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Australian rugby league history, having won twelve New South Wales Rugby League...	Penrith Panthers Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership, the top rugby league football competition in Australasia. For the 2012 NRL season they will be coached by Ivan... (40 pts)
2004 National Rugby League season 2004 The year 2004 NRL season was the 97th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the seventh run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen clubs competed for the Telstra Premiership...	Bulldogs Canterbury Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership, as well as New South Wales Rugby League junior competitions...	16 – 13	Sydney Roosters Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League and is one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Australian rugby league history, having won twelve New South Wales Rugby League...	Sydney Roosters Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League and is one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Australian rugby league history, having won twelve New South Wales Rugby League... (42 pts)
2005 National Rugby League season 2005 The 2005 NRL season was the 98th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the eighth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of clubs remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen clubs contesting the 2005 Telstra Premiership, which culminated in a grand final...	Wests Tigers Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's mid-western suburbs. They have competed in the National Rugby League since they were formed at the end of the 1999 season as a joint-venture club between the Balmain Tigers and the Western Suburbs...	30 – 16	North Queensland Cowboys North Queensland Cowboys The North Queensland Cowboys are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, Queensland. They compete in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League premiership...	Parramatta Eels Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, with their First Grade side playing their first season in the New South Wales Rugby Football League... (36 pts)
2006 National Rugby League season 2006 The 2006 NRL season was the 99th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the ninth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen clubs competing for the 2006 Telstra Premiership...	Brisbane Broncos Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the city of Brisbane, the capital of the state of Queensland. Founded in 1988, the Broncos play in Australasia's elite competition, the National Rugby League premiership. They have won six premierships and two...	15 – 8	Melbourne Storm Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....	(Melbourne Storm Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria.... stripped of minor premiership) (44 pts)
2007 National Rugby League season 2007 The 2007 NRL season was the one hundredth season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the tenth run by the National Rugby League...	(Melbourne Storm Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria.... stripped of premiership)	34 – 8	Manly Warringah Sea Eagles	(Melbourne Storm Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria.... stripped of minor premiership) (44 pts)
2008 National Rugby League season 2008 The 2008 NRL season was the 101st season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia, and the eleventh run by the National Rugby League. For the second year, sixteen teams competed for the 2008 Telstra Premiership title. The season commenced with the first matches played on 14 March...	Manly Warringah Sea Eagles	40 – 0	Melbourne Storm Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria....	(Melbourne Storm Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria.... stripped of minor premiership) (38 pts)
2009 National Rugby League season 2009 The 2009 NRL season was the 102nd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the twelfth run by the National Rugby League. For the third consecutive year, sixteen teams competed for the 2009 Telstra Premiership title. The season commenced with the first match...	(Melbourne Storm Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria.... stripped of premiership)	23 – 16	Parramatta Eels Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, with their First Grade side playing their first season in the New South Wales Rugby Football League...	St George Illawarra Dragons St George Illawarra Dragons The St George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing the St. George and Illawarra regions. They have competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 as a joint venture between Sydney's historic St. George Dragons club and 1982 expansion club, the... (38 pts)
2010	St George Illawarra Dragons St George Illawarra Dragons The St George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing the St. George and Illawarra regions. They have competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 as a joint venture between Sydney's historic St. George Dragons club and 1982 expansion club, the...	32 – 8	Sydney Roosters Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League and is one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Australian rugby league history, having won twelve New South Wales Rugby League...	St George Illawarra Dragons St George Illawarra Dragons The St George Illawarra Dragons is an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing the St. George and Illawarra regions. They have competed in the National Rugby League since 1999 as a joint venture between Sydney's historic St. George Dragons club and 1982 expansion club, the... (38 pts)
2011 2011 NRL season The 2011 NRL season was the 105th season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the fourteenth run by the National Rugby League. The NRL's main championship, called the 2011 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra, was contested by sixteen teams for the...	Manly Warringah Sea Eagles	24 – 10	New Zealand Warriors New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand. They compete in the National Rugby League premiership and are the League's only team from outside Australia...	Melbourne Storm Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the city of Melbourne. They are the first fully professional rugby league team based in the Australian rules football-dominated state of Victoria.... (42 pts)

National Rugby League

Teams

Foundation clubs

List of premiers

Origins

Establishment

1998–2002: Rationalisation

2003–2005: Record popularity

2006: A unique year

2007: Further expansion

2008: The Centenary

2009–2010: The second century begins

National Rugby League Expansion Bid Clubs

Australia

Oceania

Official franchise bids

Structure

Regular season

Finals

Grand final

Sponsorship

Non-traditional venues

Salary cap

Major breaches of the cap

Judiciary

Representative season

Media coverage

Coverage history

Domestic

International

NRL-related television programs

Internet

Radio coverage

Print

Theme songs

Players

Indigenous Australians in the NRL

Record statistics (1998+)

Referees

See also

External links