NRL Grand Final

First grade rugby league in NSW began in 1908, the first premiership deciding game was played at the Royal Agricultural Society Showground, with Souths defeating Easts 14-12. From 1912 to 1925, no finals system was in place, however in 1916, 1922, 1923 and 1924, a match was played as a tiebreaker to decide the season's premiership winner. From 1926 to 1953, finals were played under the Argus system, which produced a deciding game in two slightly differing ways.

All of these deciding games are now deemed to be grand finals, whether they were referred to as such at the time or not. From 1954 to the present, using a variety of systems, the deciding match has been explicitly termed a grand final, and no distinction is made between grand finals played under the auspices of the various governing bodies.

2006 NRL Grand Final

The NRL grand final is held in Sydney since it has the most clubs in the NRL and the current venue for the grand final, Stadium Australia is the second highest capacity stadium in Australia, after the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

It was announced in June 2019 that the 2020 and 2021 Grand Finals will be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground, while Stadium Australia undergoes redevelopment.[6]

City	Stadium	Years
Brisbane	Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre	1997 (SL)
Sydney	Sydney Football Stadium	1988-1998
Sydney	Stadium Australia	1999–2019
Sydney	Sydney Cricket Ground	1908–87, 2020–present

Attendances

Year	City	Stadium	Attendance
1999	Sydney	Stadium Australia	107,999

The winners of the grand final qualify to play the winners of the Super League Grand Final in the World Club Challenge.

1909 - South Sydney win the premiership by forfeit over Balmain. There was an agreement that both sides would forfeit the match, however Souths showed up, kicked off to an imaginary opponent, scored a try and were declared premiers.[12]

1924 - Balmain defeat South Sydney 3-0 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the lowest scoring grand final.[13]

1943 - Newtown defeat North Sydney 34-7 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in front of a then record crowd of 60,922. This grand final would be North Sydney's final appearance in a decider before exiting the competition in 1999 and also Newtown's last premiership before their exclusion at the end of 1983.[14]

1952 - Western Suburbs defeated South Sydney 22-10. The match was remembered due to its controversy with claims the referee George Bishop had put a big wager on Western Suburbs winning the game. Souths claimed that they were denied two fair tries and Wests had scored one try off a blatant knock on. Western Suburbs player Hec Farrell was sent off in the second half of the match. This would prove to be the last premiership Western Suburbs would win as a stand-alone entity before exiting the competition in 1999. South Sydney captain-coach Jack Rayner reportedly never spoke to George Bishop following the grand final even though both men lived in the same suburb of Sydney for years after the match.[15][16]

1956 - St. George beat Balmain to claim the first of a world record 11 straight premierships.[17]

1963 - St. George beat Western Suburbs 8-3 in a match famous for the iconic 'Gladiators' photo of Norm Provan and Arthur Summons covered in mud. It is also notable for a controversial try scored by Dragons winger Johnny King. Wests players tackled him and believed him to be held, however the referee rules play on.[18]

1965 - A then record crowd of 78,056 packed into the Sydney Cricket Ground to see St. George captain Norm Provan play his last NSWRFL game. It was also St. George's 10th straight premiership.

1966 - St. George win their 11th straight premiership, at the time a world record in any football code.[19]

1969 - Balmain win a controversial grand final 11-2 over South Sydney. The game causes controversy due to Balmain's lay down tactics.[20]

1975 - Eastern Suburbs beat St. George by a then record 38-0 score line. St. George fullback Graeme Langlands plays the game in white boots and has a painkiller injection go wrong.[21]

1977 - St. George and Parramatta play out the first drawn grand final, 9-all after extra time. They come back the next week for a grand final replay and St. George win 22-0.[22]

1978 - Manly and Cronulla play out the second drawn grand final, 11-all. There is no extra time and the replay is played on the following Tuesday, won by Manly 16-0.[23]

1987 - Manly defeat Canberra 18-8 in the last grand final played at the Sydney Cricket Ground.[24]

1989 - Known by many as the best grand final ever, Canberra come from 14-2 down to beat Balmain 19-14 in extra time. Canberra became the first team outside of NSW to win the competition.

1992 - The Brisbane Broncos defeat St. George 28-8 to become the first Queensland team to win the grand final.

1997 - Brisbane defeat Cronulla for their third premiership in the Super League grand final. This was the first night grand final, the first (and currently only) top level rugby league grand final to be played outside of Sydney before a record crowd for any sporting event in Queensland of 58,912.[25]

1997 - Newcastle winger Darren Albert scores a try with six seconds left to deliver Newcastle their first ever premiership, 22-16 over Manly.[26]

1999 - A world record crowd of 107,999 watch the two newest clubs Melbourne Storm and St George Illawarra Dragons battle it out. St. George Illawarra lead 18-14 before a late penalty try to Melbourne winger Craig Smith gives the Storm a 20-18 win to become the first Victorian team to win a NRL premiership and the quickest NRL club to win their first ever premiership in only their second season.[27]

2001 - Newcastle win the first night grand final in Sydney, 30-24 over Parramatta.[28]

2002- Pre-game entertainment Billy Idol arrived on ground onboard a hovercraft, but due to technical issues - "waiting for some power" - he did not perform.

2005 - Wests Tigers five-eighth Benji Marshall throws a magic flick pass to winger Pat Richards as the Tigers become the first joint venture to win the premiership, 30-16 over the North Queensland Cowboys.

2008 - Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles secure a record 40-0 win over Melbourne Storm.

2011 - Lights at the stadium accidentally go out causing the post game ceremony to go delayed.

2014 - South Sydney Rabbitohs win their first premiership in 43 years, beating Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 30-6.[29]

2015 - The North Queensland Cowboys' first premiership after 21 seasons in the NRL and widely regarded as one of the all-time best (along with the Raiders' '89 win). The first all-Queensland NRL grand final sparked talk of future deciders being held in Queensland. It was also notable as Brisbane Broncos ended their biggest drought from a grand final since entering the competition (in 1988) and it was Bennett's first season back in Brisbane after leaving in 2008. North Queensland Cowboys winger Kyle Feldt scored a try from a Michael Morgan try-assist after the full-time siren to level the game at 16-all. After Jonathan Thurston missed the sideline conversion, hitting the right post, the match went to golden point extra time, the first grand final to do so. The Kyle Feldt kick-off to begin golden point was dropped by the Broncos' Ben Hunt. From the ensuing set of six, Thurston kicked the winning field goal, and was subsequently awarded the Clive Churchill Medal. It also ended Brisbane's undefeated streak in grand finals, having won all six previous deciders.

2016 - Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks win their first premiership in their 50th season by defeating Melbourne Storm 14-12. This was also only their 4th grand final appearance since entering the competition in 1967. Their other grand final appearances came in 1973, 1978 and 1997. The Sharks won only one of their final five regular-season games. But it was enough to break through for their inaugural premiership.

2019 - Sydney Roosters become the first team to win back-to-back premierships in 26 years by defeating the Canberra Raiders 14-8. The last team to achieve successive premierships in a unified competition was the Brisbane Broncos in 1992-93. The Roosters' win did not come without any controversy during the game. In the third minute, a Luke Keary kick was charged down, only for the ball to ricochet off the head of the Roosters' trainer who was on the field at the time; a scrum feed was then awarded to the Roosters, and 3 minutes later Roosters' Sam Verrills scored a try adjacent to the goalposts. The Raiders then started to dominate the match, with their five-eighth Jack Wighton scoring a try in the 31st minute. Roosters' Cooper Cronk was sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes for a professional foul (tackling a player not in possession of the football). With a man down, the Roosters' defence was stoic; despite numerous attacks the Raiders were unable to score. The 72nd minute saw what was arguably one of the most controversial moments in a rugby league match (let alone for a NRL grand final). A Jack Wighton bomb kick saw the ball bounce off the shoulder off a Raiders' player (who was contesting the ball against the Roosters' fullback James Tedesco) and the ball bounced back to the Raiders. Initially, the primary referee Ben Cummins believed that the ball was touched by Tedesco and subsequently Cummins called that the Raiders had another set of six tackles while the ball was still in play, however, Cummins was quickly notified by other match officials that Roosters had not touched the ball and as such the Raiders were still on their last tackle. Wighton was tackled, and despite his protests to the referees, handed the ball over to the Roosters. Four tackles later, the Roosters ran 80 metres, the ball passing between Keary, Latrell Mitchell, Daniel Tupou, and finally Tedesco who scored the match winning try.

2020 - the Grand Final this year will be contested on 25 October, three weeks later than originally scheduled, due to the season being suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic.[30]

The 1999 NRL Grand Final saw a new rugby league world record crowd of 107,999 was at Stadium Australia for the game. The attendance, which saw 67,142 more people attend than had done so for the 1998 NRL Grand Final at the Sydney Football Stadium, broke the record attendance for a grand final, eclipsing the previous record of 78,065 set in 1965 when St. George defeated South Sydney 12-8 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The 2014 NRL Grand Final had a crowd of 83,833 was the largest attendance at a sporting event at Stadium Australia since its 2001 reconfiguration.[31][32]

Early NRL grand finals featured a halftime show consisting of marching bands but as the popularity of the game increased, a trend where popular singers and musicians performed during its pre-game ceremonies and the halftime show emerged. Traditionally, Advance Australia Fair is sung before every match. When the New Zealand Warriors play, God Defend New Zealand is also sung.

• Grand Final
• National Rugby League
• List of Australian rugby league grand final records
• List of NRL Grand finals
• List of NRL Premiers
• NRL Women's Grand Final
• Super League Grand Final
• AFL Grand Final