NRL
The NRL (National Rugby League) is widely regarded as the world’s elite rugby league competition – read our NRL betting tips. Comprising of 16 clubs – predominately from New South Wales and Queensland – the league is played out over 30 weeks spanning from mid-March to early-October, with each side playing 24 regular season matches, before the top-eight finishing teams contest the finals series, culminating in the Grand Final.
Founded in 1998 as a rationalised amalgamation of the then rival Australian Rugby League and Super League competitions, the NRL has seen rugby league in Australasia reach unprecedented heights in popularity since the beginning of the new millennium. Expansion plans for the coming years could see teams from areas such as Wellington, south east Queensland, the New South Wales central coast, South Australia and Western Australia included in the competition.
A Brief History of Rugby League in Australia
The birth of rugby league in Australia dates back to 1907, when a group of disgruntled rugby union players held a meeting at a Sydney hotel and formed a rebel competition known as the NSWRFL (New South Wales Rugby Football League) – later changed to the NSWRL. In 1908 Australia’s first rugby league competition commenced, with nine teams – eight from Sydney and one from Newcastle – fighting it out for the inaugural premiership, which was eventually won by the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
The NSWRL remained the governing body of the major rugby league competition in Australia up until 1994. During that time the NSWRL expanded to include numerous current NRL clubs, before control of the annual premiership was handed to the ARL (Australian Rugby League) in 1995. The ensuing three years were marred by bitter infighting as a breakaway competition known as Super League, which was compiled of ten teams – eight of which were former ARL sides – and was the brainchild of billionaire tyrant Rubert Murdoch, belatedly kicked-off in 1997, following a year-long legal battle that reached the High Court of Australia.
The ARL ran its own 12-team competition in 1997, however – after just one season as rival ventures – both parties came to the realisation that they could not co-exist, as neither league would have been able to sustain itself financially over the long-term. The NRL was then initially formed as a 20-team competition in 1998, with the condition that the league must be cut to 14 teams by the year 2000. This eventually resulted in six clubs merging into three, along with the swift extinction of three other clubs.
One of the three clubs forced to fold was foundation club South Sydney, which created a major uproar amongst their many fans and rugby league traditionalists alike. However, having missed the 2000 and 2001 seasons, the proud club was reinstated in 2002 after winning a High Court appeal. In 2007 the league officially expanded to its current number of 16, after the Gold Coast Titans were granted an NRL licence roughly 18 months earlier.
NRL Clubs
Brisbane Broncos
Founded – 1988
Premierships – 6 (including 1997 Super League Premiership)
Home Ground – Suncorp Stadium (capacity: 52,000)
Canterbury Bulldogs
Founded – 1935
Premierships – 8
Home Ground – ANZ Stadium (capacity: 83,500)
Canberra Raiders
Founded – 1982
Premierships – 3
Home Ground – Canberra Stadium (capacity: 25,000)
Cronulla Sharks
Founded – 1967
Premierships – 0
Home Ground – Toyota Stadium (capacity: 22,000)
Gold Coast Titans
Founded – 2007
Premierships – 0
Home Ground – Skilled Park (capacity: 27,000)
Manly Sea Eagles
Founded – 1947
Premierships – 7
Home Ground – Brookvale Oval (capacity: 23,000)
Melbourne Storm
Founded – 1998
Premierships – 3*
Home Ground – AAMI Park (capacity: 30,000)
Newcastle Knights
Founded – 1988
Premierships – 2 (including 1997 ARL Premiership)
Home Ground – Energy Australia Stadium (capacity: 26,000)
New Zealand Warriors
Founded – 1995
Premierships – 0
Home Ground – Mt Smart Stadium (capacity: 30,000)
North Queensland Cowboys
Founded – 1995
Premierships – 0
Home Ground – Dairy Farmers Stadium (capacity: 26,000)
Parramatta Eels
Founded – 1947
Premierships – 4
Home Ground – Parramatta Stadium (capacity: 21,500)
Penrith Panthers
Founded – 1967
Premierships – 2
Home Ground – CUA Stadium (capacity: 22,500)
St George-Illawarra Dragons
Founded – 1999
Premierships – 1
Home Grounds – WIN Jubilee Oval (capacity: 22,000), WIN Stadium (capacity: 20,000)
South Sydney Rabbitohs
Founded – 1908
Premierships – 20
Home Ground – ANZ Stadium (capacity: 83,500)
Sydney Roosters
Founded – 1908
Premierships – 12
Home Ground – Sydney Football Stadium (capacity: 45,500)
Wests Tigers
Founded – 2000
Premierships – 1
Home Grounds – Campbelltown Stadium (capacity: 21,000), Leichhardt Oval (Capacity: 23,000)
*Melbourne Storm were stripped of their 2007 and 2009 Premierships – as well as their 2007, 2008 and 2009 Minor Premierships – by the NRL in April 2010, after they were ruled to have breached the NRL salary cap laws for those seasons.
NRL Grand Final Winners
1998 – Brisbane Broncos
1999 – Melbourne Storm
2000 – Brisbane Broncos
2001 – Newcastle Knights
2002 – Sydney Roosters
2003 – Penrith Panthers
2004 – Canterbury Bulldogs
2005 – Wests Tigers
2006 – Brisbane Broncos
2007 – Melbourne Storm*
2008 – Manly Sea Eagles
2009 – Melbourne Storm*
2010 – St George-Illawarra Dragons
*See above
NRL Minor Premiers
1998 – Brisbane Broncos
1999 – Cronulla Sharks
2000 – Brisbane Broncos
2001 – Parramatta Eels
2002 – New Zealand Warriors
2003 – Penrith Panthers
2004 – Sydney Roosters
2005 – Parramatta Eels
2006 – Melbourne Storm*
2007 – Melbourne Strom*
2008 – Melbourne Storm*
2009 – St George-Illawarra Dragons
2010 – Melbourne Storm
*See above
Dally M Medal Winners (awarded to the NRL player of the year)
1998 – Andrew Johns (Newcastle Knights)
1999 – Andrew Johns (Newcastle Knights)
2000 – Trent Barratt (St George-Illawarra Dragons)
2001 – Preston Campbell (Cronulla Sharks)
2002 – Andrew Johns (Newcastle Knights)
2003 – Graig Gower (Penrith Panthers)
2004 – Danny Buderus (Newcastle Knights)
2005 – Jonathon Thurston (North Queensland Cowboys)
2006 – Cameron Smith (Melbourne Storm)
2007 – Jonathon Thurston (North Queensland Cowboys)
2008 – Matt Orford (Manly Sea Eagles)
2009 – Jarryd Hayne (Parramatta Eels)
2010 – Todd Carney (Sydney Roosters)
State of Origin
State of Origin is a three-match series – played during the middle of the NRL season – that is contested between the best rugby league players from New South Wales and Queensland. Selection eligibility is determined by the state in which a player plays their first rugby league match at the age of 16 or over, hence the name State of Origin.
Regarded by players, fans and the media alike as the pinnacle of rugby league, State of Origin has grown to become one of the great rivalries in world sport, since its inception in 1980. Queensland – whose top players were formerly forced to represent New South Wales in the interstate match-ups prior to 1980, as they were playing for club sides in the NSWRL – ran out 20-10 winners in the inaugural origin encounter in 1980 and went on to dominate the early origin series, before New South Wales had their first series triumph in 1985, winning 2-1.
Series Winners (not including single matches played in 1980/1981)
1982 – QLD (2-1)
1983 – QLD (2-1)
1984 – QLD (2-1)
1985 – NSW (2-1)
1986 – NSW (3-0)
1987 – QLD (2-1)
1988 – QLD (3-0)
1989 – QLD (3-0)
1990 – NSW (2-1)
1991 – QLD (2-1)
1992 – NSW (2-1)
1993 – NSW (2-1)
1994 – NSW (2-1)
1995 – QLD (3-0)
1996 – NSW (3-0)
1997 – NSW (2-1)
1998 – QLD (2-1)
1999 – Drawn series
2000 – NSW (3-0)
2001 – QLD (2-1)
2002 – Drawn series
2003 – NSW (2-1)
2004 – NSW (2-1)
2005 – NSW (2-1)
2006 – QLD (2-1)
2007 – QLD (2-1)
2008 – QLD (2-1)
2009 – QLD (2-1)
2010 – QLD (3-0)
Total Series Wins
QLD 15, NSW 12
Total Match Wins (includes single matches played in 1980/1981 and exhibition match played in 1987)
QLD 47, NSW 38