2012 NRL season

2012 National Rugby League
Teams	16
Premiers	Melbourne Storm (2nd title)
Minor premiers	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (7th title)
Wooden spoon	Parramatta Eels
Matches played	201
Attendance	3486494
Top points scorer(s)	Jarrod Croker (226)
Top try-scorer(s)	Ben Barba (22)

The 2012 NRL season was the 106th season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia, and the first run by the newly formed Australian Rugby League Commission. The main competition, called the 2012 NRL Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra Corporation was contested by the sixteen teams of the National Rugby League. The season started with the 2012 NRL All Stars match and culminated in the 2012 NRL grand final. The 2012 Toyota Cup season also took place alongside the Premiership. The McIntyre Final Eight System, in use since 1999, was replaced with the finals system previously used by the ARL in the 1990s.

The 2012 Premiership was awarded to the Melbourne Storm, the club's second following the removal of their 2007 and 2009 premierships. They defeated minor premiers the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs 14-4 in the Grand Final, which was held on Sunday 30 September at Sydney's ANZ Stadium.

Season summary

See also: 2012 NRL season results

Half way through the 2012 season, the NRL's chief executive officer David Gallop was unexpectedly stood down by the Australian Rugby League Commission.

Records Set on 2012

• Canterbury Bulldogs won 12 consecutive matches between rounds 9 and 21, the longest winning streak for the Bulldogs in 8 years.
• Canterbury Bulldogs won their first Minor Premiership in 18 years.
• Melbourne Storm lost 5 consecutive matches from rounds 16 to 21 (around a Bye in round 17), the longest losing streak in Craig Bellamy's coaching career and the second longest losing streak in the club's history.
• For the first time since 1989, the South Sydney Rabbitohs finished in the top 4.
• The South Sydney Rabbitohs won their first finals match since 1987

Ladder

2012 NRL season
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	24	18	0	6	2	568	369	+199	40
2	Melbourne Storm (P)	24	17	0	7	2	579	361	+218	38
3	South Sydney Rabbitohs	24	16	0	8	2	559	438	+121	36
4	Manly Warringah Sea Eagles	24	16	0	8	2	497	403	+94	36
5	North Queensland Cowboys	24	15	0	9	2	597	445	+152	34
6	Canberra Raiders	24	13	0	11	2	545	536	+9	30
7	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	24	12	1	11	2	445	441	+4	29
8	Brisbane Broncos	24	12	0	12	2	481	447	+34	28
9	St. George Illawarra Dragons	24	11	0	13	2	405	438	-33	26
10	Wests Tigers	24	11	0	13	2	506	551	-45	26
11	Gold Coast Titans	24	10	0	14	2	449	477	-28	24
12	Newcastle Knights	24	10	0	14	2	448	488	-40	24
13	Sydney Roosters	24	8	1	15	2	462	626	-164	21
14	New Zealand Warriors	24	8	0	16	2	497	609	-112	20
15	Penrith Panthers	24	8	0	16	2	409	575	-166	20
16	Parramatta Eels	24	6	0	18	2	431	674	-243	16

Ladder progression

• Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 8.
• Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.
• Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished last place on the ladder in that round.
• Underlined numbers indicate that the team had a bye during that round.

	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26
1	Canterbury-Bankstown	2	4	6	6	8	8	8	8	10	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	26	28	30	32	34	36	38	38	40
2	Melbourne	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	18	20	22	24	24	26	26	28	28	28	28	28	30	32	34	36	38
3	South Sydney	0	0	2	2	4	6	6	8	10	12	14	16	16	18	20	20	22	24	26	28	30	32	32	32	34	36
4	Manly-Warringah	2	4	4	4	4	6	6	8	10	12	14	14	16	18	18	20	22	24	24	24	26	28	30	32	34	36
5	North Queensland	0	2	4	4	6	6	8	8	10	12	14	14	14	16	18	20	20	22	24	26	26	26	28	30	32	34
6	Canberra	0	2	2	4	4	6	6	6	6	8	10	10	10	12	14	14	16	18	18	20	20	22	24	26	28	30
7	Cronulla-Sutherland	0	0	2	4	6	8	10	12	12	14	14	16	16	18	20	22	24	25	25	25	25	27	27	29	29	29
8	Brisbane	2	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	14	16	16	18	20	20	22	22	24	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	28
9	St. George Illawarra	2	2	4	6	6	6	8	10	10	10	10	12	12	14	14	16	16	18	20	20	22	22	22	22	24	26
10	Wests	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	18	18	20	20	22	22	22	24	26	26	26	26
11	Gold Coast	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	6	8	10	12	12	14	14	16	16	18	20	22	22	22	24	24	24
12	Newcastle	0	2	2	4	4	6	6	8	8	8	10	10	10	10	12	14	16	16	18	20	22	22	24	24	24	24
13	Sydney	2	2	4	4	6	8	8	8	10	10	10	10	12	12	14	14	16	17	17	17	17	19	19	19	21	21
14	New Zealand	0	2	2	4	4	4	6	6	8	10	10	12	12	14	14	16	18	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	20
15	Penrith	0	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	6	6	8	10	10	10	10	10	12	12	14	16	16	16	18	20	20
16	Parramatta	0	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	6	8	8	10	10	10	10	12	14	14	16	16	16	16

Finals

For details on the finals see 2012 NRL season results.

To decide the grand finalists from the top eight finishing teams, the NRL returned to the top-eight system used by the ARL in the 1990s, replacing the McIntyre Final Eight System that was used for the past 12 seasons. Only four of last year's finalists will feature in this year's finals series: Melbourne Storm, Manly Sea Eagles, Brisbane Broncos and the North Queensland Cowboys. For the teams that did not feature last year, the Canberra Raiders last appeared in 2010, the Canterbury Bulldogs in 2009, the Cronulla Sharks in 2008 and the South Sydney Rabbitohs in 2007. The Rabbitohs will make only their second finals appearance since 1989.

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time (Local)	Venue	Referees	Crowd
QUALIFYING & ELIMINATION FINALS
Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs	16 – 10	Manly Warringah Sea Eagles	7 September 2012, 7:45pm	ANZ Stadium	Ben Cummins Ashley Klein	36,420
Melbourne Storm	24 – 6	South Sydney Rabbitohs	8 September 2012, 5:45pm	AAMI Park	Shayne Hayne Jason Robinson	19,750
North Queensland Cowboys	33 – 16	Brisbane Broncos	8 September 2012, 7:45pm	Dairy Farmers Stadium	Matt Cecchin Gerard Sutton	21,307
Canberra Raiders	34 – 16	Cronulla Sutherland Sharks	9 September 2012, 4:00pm	Canberra Stadium	Tony Archer Chris James	24,450
SEMI FINALS
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles	22 – 12	North Queensland Cowboys	14 September 2012, 7:45pm	Allianz Stadium	Shayne Hayne Ben Cummins	16,678
South Sydney Rabbitohs	38 – 16	Canberra Raiders	15 September 2012, 7:45pn	ANZ Stadium	Tony Archer Matt Cecchin	35,874
PRELIMINARY FINALS
Melbourne Storm	40 – 12	Manly Warringah Sea Eagles	21 September 2012, 7:45pm	AAMI Park	Matt Cecchin Tony Archer	25,543
Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs	32 – 8	South Sydney Rabbitohs	22 September 2012, 7:45pm	ANZ Stadium	Shayne Hayne Ben Cummins	70,354
GRAND FINAL
Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs	4 – 14	Melbourne Storm	30 September 2012, 5:30pm	ANZ Stadium	Tony Archer Ben Cummins	82,976

Grand final

Main article: 2012 NRL Grand Final

Season statistics

The following statistics are correct as of the conclusion of Round 26.

Top 5 point scorers

Points	Player	Tries	Goals	Field Goals
226	Jarrod Croker	16	81	0
208	Adam Reynolds	3	97	2
192	Johnathan Thurston	3	90	0
190	Jamie Lyon	11	73	0
167	Benji Marshall	5	72	3

Top 6 try scorers

Tries	Player
22	Ben Barba
21	Ashley Graham
18	Akuila Uate
17	Josh Morris
17	Andrew Everingham
16	Jarrod Croker

Top 6 goal scorers

Goals	Player
97	Adam Reynolds
90	Johnathan Thurston
81	Jarrod Croker
77	Cameron Smith
73	Jamie Lyon
72	Benji Marshall

Attendance figures

Home ground figures

Club	Total	Average	Best Crowd
Brisbane Broncos	400,528	33,377	43,171 vs North Queensland Cowboys, Round 2
Canterbury Bulldogs	282,864	23,572	70,354 vs South Sydney Rabbitohs Finals Week three
Newcastle Knights	251,024	20,919	29,482 vs Canterbury Bulldogs, Round 22
South Sydney Rabbitohs	226,848	18,904	35,874 vs canberra raiders, finals week two
New Zealand Warriors	205,334	17,111	37,502 vs Manly Sea Eagles, Round 1 2
Parramatta Eels	201,663	16,803	45,863 vs St George Dragons, Round 26
St George Illawarra Dragons	197,111	16,426	40,164 vs Sydney Roosters, Round 8 3
Wests Tigers	194,726	16,227	25,608 vs South Sydney Rabbitohs, Round 5
Manly Sea Eagles	175,120	14,593	20,095 vs New Zealand Warriors, Round 21 4
North Queensland Cowboys	172,978	14,415	20,367 vs Brisbane Broncos, Round 15
Gold Coast Titans	172,865	14,405	20,187 vs South Sydney Rabbitohs, Round 22
Cronulla Sharks	158,802	13,234	21,380 vs St George Illawarra Dragons, Round 6
Melbourne Storm	152,217	12,685	25,534 vs Manly Sea Eagles Finals Week 3
Sydney Roosters	149,790	12,482	19,934 vs South Sydney Rabbitohs, Round 19
Penrith Panthers	130,301	10,858	15,579 vs Wests Tigers, Round 7
Canberra Raiders	122,274	10,190	24,450 vs Cronulla Sharks, Finals Week 1

Transfers

Coaches

Coach	2011 Club	2012 Club
Wayne Bennett	St. George Illawarra Dragons	Newcastle Knights
Steve Price	St. George Illawarra Dragons (assistant coach)	St. George Illawarra Dragons
Ivan Cleary	New Zealand Warriors	Penrith Panthers
Brian McClennan	Auckland Rugby League (development officer)	New Zealand Warriors
Michael Maguire	Wigan Warriors	South Sydney Rabbitohs
Des Hasler	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
Geoff Toovey	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (assistant coach)	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

See also

• 2012 NRL season results
• 2012 NYC season

External links

• NRL.com – Official site of the NRL, National Rugby League
• NRL Final Eight Calculator, footy.com.au