Australian rugby league premiers

Australian rugby league premiers
Founded
1908
Country
Australia New Zealand
Editions completed
Number of teams
16
Current premiers
Sydney
Most titles won
South Sydney (21 times)

The Australian rugby league premiers are the winners of the top grade competition in Australian rugby league, which is currently the National Rugby League.

History

The first season of rugby league in New South Wales was held in 1908 and run by the New South Wales Rugby Football League. The premiership was formed as a breakaway competition from the amateur rugby union competition that existed in the Sydney district at the time, with which players had fallen out of heart with due to increased revenue from the game not being reflected in player allotments. At the end of the 1908 season, South Sydney became the first team to win the New South Wales premiership. Queensland Rugby League was established in 1908 also, and ran their inaugural season in 1909. Both states ran parallel state competitions from that time.

During the 1980s, the New South Wales competition began to spread out interstate. Starting from 1995, the competition began to be run by the Australian Rugby League. 1997, a proper national competition created by News Limited known as Super League was formed and run alongside the Australian Rugby League premiership, in which a number of teams defected to. Later that year, an agreement was made between the two parties following massive financial losses to merge into a new competition, known as the National Rugby League.

South Sydney, with 21 State titles, have been crowned New South Wales premiers more times than any other team. Fortitude Valley Diehards won the Queensland competition 24 times. They are followed by St. George with 15 premierships, including a record 11 New South Wales premierships in a row between 1956 and 1966. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks took nearly 50 years to win their maiden premiership in 2016 - longer than any other club in the history of the game (Parramatta's maiden premiership came in its 35th season in 1981).

There are 2 clubs currently playing in the National Rugby League that are yet to win a premiership; New Zealand Warriors and Gold Coast Titans.

Since 1908, counting the NRL and all its predecessors (inluding the 1997 Super League Season), the following sides have never won a premiership:

Newcastle Rebels

Cumberland RLFC

Glebe Dirty Reds

Annandale Dales

University Students

Illawarra Steelers

Gold Coast Giants / Seagulls / Chargers

New Zealand Warriors

Western Reds

South Queensland Crushers

Adelaide Rams

Hunter Mariners

Northern Eagles

Gold Coast Titans

List of Premierships

Seasons

See also: List of NRL Grand finals

Season	Premiers	Score	Runners-up	Minor Premiers	Wooden Spoon
New South Wales Rugby League
1908	South Sydney	14 – 12	Eastern Suburbs	South Sydney	Cumberland
1909	South Sydney (2)	No Grand Final	Balmain	South Sydney (2)	Western Suburbs
1910	Newtown	4 – 4	South Sydney	Newtown	Western Suburbs (2)
1911	Eastern Suburbs	11 – 8	Glebe Dirty Reds	Glebe	Balmain
1912	Eastern Suburbs (2)	No Grand Final	Glebe Dirty Reds	Eastern Suburbs	Western Suburbs (3)
1913	Eastern Suburbs (3)	No Grand Final	Newtown	Eastern Suburbs (2)	Western Suburbs (4)
1914	South Sydney (3)	No Grand Final	Newtown	South Sydney (3)	Annandale
1915	Balmain	No Grand Final	Glebe Dirty Reds	Balmain	North Sydney
1916	Balmain (2)	5 – 3	South Sydney	Balmain (2)	Western Suburbs (5)
1917	Balmain (3)	No Grand Final	South Sydney	Balmain (3)	North Sydney (2)
1918	South Sydney (4)	No Grand Final	Western Suburbs	South Sydney (4)	Annandale (2)
1919	Balmain (4)	No Grand Final	Eastern Suburbs	Balmain (4)	North Sydney (3)
1920	Balmain (5)	No Grand Final	South Sydney	Balmain (5)	Annandale (3)
1921	North Sydney	No Grand Final	Eastern Suburbs	North Sydney	Sydney University
1922	North Sydney (2)	35 – 3	Glebe Dirty Reds	North Sydney (2)	St George
1923	Eastern Suburbs (4)	15 – 12	South Sydney	Eastern Suburbs (3)	Sydney University (2)
1924	Balmain (6)	3 – 0	South Sydney	Balmain (6)	Newtown
1925	South Sydney (5)	No Grand Final	Western Suburbs	South Sydney (5)	Newtown (2)
1926	South Sydney (6)	11 – 5	Sydney University	South Sydney (6)	St George (2)
1927	South Sydney (7)	20 – 11	St. George	South Sydney (7)	Sydney University (3)
1928	South Sydney (8)	26 – 5	Eastern Suburbs	St. George	Newtown (3)
1929	South Sydney (9)	30 – 10	Newtown	South Sydney (8)	Sydney University (4)
1930	Western Suburbs	27 – 2	St. George	Western Suburbs	Sydney University (5)
1931	South Sydney (10)	12 – 7	Eastern Suburbs	Eastern Suburbs (4)	Sydney University (6)
1932	South Sydney (11)	19 – 12	Western Suburbs	South Sydney (9)	North Sydney (4)
1933	Newtown (2)	18 – 5	St. George	Newtown (2)	Western Suburbs (6)
1934	Western Suburbs (2)	15 – 12	Eastern Suburbs	Eastern Suburbs (5)	Sydney University (7)
1935	Eastern Suburbs (5)	19 – 3	South Sydney	Eastern Suburbs (6)	Sydney University (8)
1936	Eastern Suburbs (6)	32 – 12	Balmain	Eastern Suburbs (7)	Sydney University (9)
1937	Eastern Suburbs (7)	No Grand Final	South Sydney	Eastern Suburbs (8)	Sydney University (10)
1938	Canterbury-Bankstown	19 – 6	Eastern Suburbs	Canterbury-Bankstown	St George (3)
1939	Balmain (7)	33 – 4	South Sydney	Balmain (7)	Newtown (4)
1940	Eastern Suburbs (8)	24 – 14	Canterbury-Bankstown	Eastern Suburbs (9)	Western Suburbs (7)
1941	St. George	31 – 14	Eastern Suburbs	Eastern Suburbs (10)	North Sydney (5)
1942	Canterbury-Bankstown (2)	11 – 9	St. George	Canterbury-Bankstown (2)	Western Suburbs (8)
1943	Newtown (3)	34 – 7	North Sydney	Newtown (3)	Canterbury-Bankstown
1944	Balmain (8)	12 – 8	Newtown	Newtown (4)	Canterbury-Bankstown (2)
1945	Eastern Suburbs (9)	22 – 18	Balmain	Eastern Suburbs (11)	South Sydney
1946	Balmain (9)	13 – 12	St. George	St. George (2)	South Sydney (2)
1947	Balmain (10)	13 – 9	Canterbury-Bankstown	Canterbury-Bankstown (3)	Parramatta
1948	Western Suburbs (3)	8 – 5	Balmain	Western Suburbs (2)	North Sydney (6)
1949	St. George (2)	19 – 12	South Sydney	South Sydney (10)	Eastern Suburbs
1950	South Sydney (12)	21 – 15	Western Suburbs	South Sydney (11)	North Sydney (7)
1951	South Sydney (13)	42 – 14	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	South Sydney (12)	North Sydney (8)
1952	Western Suburbs (4)	22 – 12	South Sydney	Western Suburbs (3)	Parramatta (2)
1953	South Sydney (14)	31 – 12	St. George	South Sydney (13)	Western Suburbs (9)
1954	South Sydney (15)	23 – 15	Newtown	Newtown (5)	Parramatta (3)
1955	South Sydney (16)	12 – 11	Newtown	Newtown (6)	Western Suburbs Magpies (10)
1956	St. George (3)	18 – 12	Balmain	St George (3)	Parramatta (4)
1957	St. George (4)	31 – 9	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	St George (4)	Parramatta (5)
1958	St. George (5)	20 – 9	Western Suburbs	St George (5)	Parramatta (6)
1959	St. George (6)	20 – 0	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	St George (6)	Parramatta (7)
1960	St. George (7)	31 – 6	Eastern Suburbs	St George (7)	Parramatta (8)
1961	St. George (8)	22 – 0	Western Suburbs Magpies	Western Suburbs Magpies (4)	Parramatta (9)
1962	St. George (9)	9 – 6	Western Suburbs Magpies	St George (8)	South Sydney Rabbitohs (3)
1963	St. George (10)	8 – 3	Western Suburbs Magpies	St George (9)	Eastern Suburbs (2)
1964	St. George (11)	11 – 6	Balmain	St George (10)	Canterbury-Bankstown Berries (3)
1965	St. George Dragons (12)	12 – 8	South Sydney Rabbitohs	St George Dragons (11)	Eastern Suburbs (3)
1966	St. George Dragons (13)	23 – 4	Balmain	St George Dragons (12)	Eastern Suburbs (4)
1967	South Sydney Rabbitohs (17)	12 – 10	Canterbury-Bankstown	St George Dragons (13)	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
1968	South Sydney Rabbitohs (18)	13 – 9	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	South Sydney Rabbitohs (14)	Newtown (5)
1969	Balmain (11)	11 – 2	South Sydney Rabbitohs	South Sydney Rabbitohs (15)	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks (2)
1970	South Sydney Rabbitohs (19)	23 – 12	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	South Sydney Rabbitohs (16)	Parramatta (10)
1971	South Sydney Rabbitohs (20)	16 – 10	St. George Dragons	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Western Suburbs Magpies (11)
1972	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	19 – 14	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (2)	Parramatta (11)
1973	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (2)	10 – 7	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (3)	Penrith Panthers
1974	Eastern Suburbs Roosters (10)	19 – 4	Canterbury-Bankstown	Eastern Suburbs (12)	Balmain Tigers (2)
1975	Eastern Suburbs Roosters (11)	38 – 0	St. George Dragons	Eastern Suburbs (13)	South Sydney Rabbitohs (4)
1976	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (3)	13 – 10	Parramatta	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (4)	Newtown (6)
1977	St. George Dragons	9 – 9	Parramatta	Parramatta	Newtown Jets (7)
	St. George Dragons (14)	22 – 0	Parramatta
1978	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	11 – 11	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Western Suburbs Magpies (5)	Newtown Jets (8)
	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (4)	16 – 0	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
1979	St. George Dragons (15)	17 – 13	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	St George Dragons (14)	North Sydney Bears (9)
1980	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (3)	18 – 4	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	Eastern Suburbs (14)	Penrith Panthers (2)
1981	Parramatta Eels	20 – 11	Newtown Jets	Eastern Suburbs (15)	Western Suburbs Magpies (12)
1982	Parramatta Eels (2)	21 – 8	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Parramatta Eels (2)	Canberra Raiders
1983	Parramatta Eels (3)	18 – 6	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (5)	Western Suburbs Magpies (12)
1984	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (4)	6 – 4	Parramatta Eels	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (4)	Western Suburbs Magpies (13)
1985	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (5)	7 – 6	St. George Dragons	St George Dragons (15)	Illawarra Steelers
1986	Parramatta Eels (4)	4 – 2	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Parramatta Eels (3)	Illawarra Steelers (2)
1987	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (5)	18 – 8	Canberra Raiders	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (6)	Western Suburbs Magpies (14)
1988	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (6)	24 – 12	Balmain Tigers	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Western Suburbs Magpies (15)
1989	Canberra Raiders	19 – 14	Balmain Tigers	South Sydney Rabbitohs (17)	Illawarra Steelers (3)
1990	Canberra Raiders (2)	18 – 14	Penrith Panthers	Canberra Raiders	South Sydney Rabbitohs (5)
1991	Penrith Panthers	19 – 12	Canberra Raiders	Penrith Panthers	Gold Coast Seagulls
1992	Brisbane Broncos	28 – 8	St. George Dragons	Brisbane Broncos	Gold Coast Seagulls (2)
1993	Brisbane Broncos (2)	14 – 6	St. George Dragons	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (5)	Gold Coast Seagulls (3)
1994	Canberra Raiders (3)	36 – 12	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (6)	Balmain Tigers (4)
Australian Rugby League
1995	Sydney Bulldogs (7)	17 – 4	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (7)	North Queensland Cowboys
1996	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (6)	20 – 8	St. George Dragons	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (8)	South Queensland Crushers
1997	Newcastle Knights	22 – 16	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (9)	South Queensland Crushers (2)
Super League
1997	Brisbane Broncos (3)	26 – 8	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Brisbane Broncos (2)	North Queensland Cowboys (2)
National Rugby League
1998	Brisbane Broncos (4)	38 – 12	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Brisbane Broncos (3)	Western Suburbs Magpies (16)
1999	Melbourne Storm	20 – 18	St. George Illawarra Dragons	Cronulla Sharks (2)	Western Suburbs Magpies (17)
2000	Brisbane Broncos (5)	14 – 6	Sydney Roosters	Brisbane Broncos (4)	North Queensland Cowboys (3)
2001	Newcastle Knights (2)	30 – 24	Parramatta Eels	Parramatta Eels (4)	Penrith Panthers (3)
2002	Sydney Roosters (12)	30 – 8	New Zealand Warriors	New Zealand Warriors	Bulldogs (3)
2003	Penrith Panthers (2)	18 – 6	Sydney Roosters	Penrith Panthers (2)	South Sydney Rabbitohs (6)
2004	Bulldogs (8)	16 – 13	Sydney Roosters	Sydney Roosters (16)	South Sydney Rabbitohs (7)
2005	Wests Tigers	30 – 16	North Queensland Cowboys	Parramatta Eels (5)	Newcastle Knights
2006	Brisbane Broncos (6)	15 – 8	Melbourne Storm	Melbourne Storm1	South Sydney Rabbitohs (8)
2007	Melbourne Storm1	34 – 8	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Melbourne Storm1	Penrith Panthers (4)
2008	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (7)	40 – 0	Melbourne Storm	Melbourne Storm1	Bulldogs (4)
2009	Melbourne Storm1	23 – 16	Parramatta Eels	St George Illawarra Dragons	Sydney Roosters (5)
2010	St. George Illawarra Dragons	32 – 8	Sydney Roosters	St George Illawarra Dragons (2)	Melbourne Storm1
2011	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (8)	24 – 10	New Zealand Warriors	Melbourne Storm	Gold Coast Titans
2012	Melbourne Storm (2)	14 – 4	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (7)	Parramatta Eels (12)
2013	Sydney Roosters (13)	26 – 18	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Sydney Roosters (17)	Parramatta Eels (13)
2014	South Sydney Rabbitohs (21)	34 – 6	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Sydney Roosters (18)	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks (3)
2015	North Queensland Cowboys	17 – 16	Brisbane Broncos	Sydney Roosters (19)	Newcastle Knights (2)
2016	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	14 – 12	Melbourne Storm	Melbourne Storm (2)	Newcastle Knights (3)
2017	Melbourne Storm (3)	34 – 6	North Queensland Cowboys	Melbourne Storm (3)	Newcastle Knights (4)
2018	Sydney Roosters (14)	21 – 6	Melbourne Storm	Sydney Roosters (20)	Parramatta Eels (14)
2019	Sydney Roosters (15)	14 – 8	Canberra Raiders	Melbourne Storm (4)	Gold Coast Titans (2)

¹ The Melbourne Storm were stripped of these titles due to gross long-term salary cap breaches. They also received 0 points in 2010 due to these breaches.

Grand final team performance

Team	Winners	Runners-up	Years won	Years runner-up
South Sydney Rabbitohs	21	13	1908, 1909, 1914, 1918, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1931, 1932, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1971, 2014	1910, 1916, 1917, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1949, 1952, 1965, 1969
Sydney Roosters	15	15	1911, 1912, 1913, 1923, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1940, 1945, 1974, 1975, 2002, 2013, 2018, 2019	1908, 1919, 1921, 1928, 1931, 1934, 1938, 1941, 1960, 1972, 1980, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2010
St George Dragons	15	12	1941, 1949, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1977, 1979	1927, 1930, 1933, 1942, 1946, 1953, 1971, 1975, 1985, 1992, 1993, 1996
Balmain Tigers	11	9	1915, 1916, 1917, 1919, 1920, 1924, 1939, 1944, 1946, 1947, 1969	1909, 1936, 1945, 1948, 1956, 1964, 1966, 1988, 1989
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	8	11	1972, 1973, 1976, 1978, 1987, 1996, 2008, 2011	1951, 1957, 1959, 1968, 1970, 1982, 1983, 1995, 1997, 2007, 2013
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	8	10	1938, 1942, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1995, 2004	1940, 1947, 1967, 1974, 1979, 1986, 1994, 1998, 2012, 2014
Brisbane Broncos	6	1	1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2006	2015
Western Suburbs Magpies	4	8	1930, 1934, 1948, 1952	1918, 1925, 1932, 1950, 1958, 1961, 1962, 1963
Parramatta Eels	4	5	1981, 1982, 1983, 1986	1976, 1977, 1984, 2001, 2009
Newtown Jets	3	7	1910, 1933, 1943	1913, 1914, 1929, 1944, 1954, 1955, 1981
Melbourne Storm	3	4	1999, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2017	2006, 2008, 2016, 2018
Canberra Raiders	3	3	1989, 1990, 1994	1987, 1991, 2019
North Sydney Bears	2	1	1921, 1922	1943
Penrith Panthers	2	1	1991, 2003	1990
Newcastle Knights	2	0	1997, 2001	–
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	1	3	2016	1973, 1978, 1997
North Queensland Cowboys	1	2	2015	2005, 2017
St George Illawarra Dragons	1	1	2010	1999
Wests Tigers	1	0	2005	–
Glebe Dirty Reds	0	4	–	1911, 1912, 1915, 1922
New Zealand Warriors	0	2	–	2002, 2011
Sydney University	0	1	–	1926

Regular season team performance

Team	Minor Premiers	Wooden Spoon	Years Minor Premier	Years Wooden Spoon
Sydney Roosters	20	5	1912, 1913, 1923, 1931, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1940, 1941, 1945, 1974, 1975, 1980, 1981, 2004, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018	1949, 1963, 1965, 1966, 2009
South Sydney Rabbitohs	17	8	1908, 1909, 1914, 1918, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1929, 1932, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1989	1945, 1946, 1962, 1975, 1990, 2003, 2004, 2006
St George Dragons	15	3	1928, 1946, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1979, 1985	1922, 1926, 1938
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	9	0	1971, 1972, 1973, 1976, 1983, 1987, 1995, 1996, 1997	–
Balmain Tigers	7	4	1915, 1916, 1917, 1919, 1920, 1924, 1939	1911, 1974, 1981, 1994
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	7	5	1938, 1942, 1947, 1984, 1993, 1994, 2012	1943, 1944, 1964, 2002, 2008
Newtown Jets	6	8	1910, 1933, 1943, 1944, 1954, 1955	1924, 1925, 1928, 1939, 1968, 1976, 1977, 1978
Parramatta Eels	5	14	1977, 1982, 1986, 2001, 2005	1947, 1952, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1970, 1972, 2012, 2013, 2018
Western Suburbs Magpies	5	17	1930, 1948, 1952, 1961, 1978	1909, 1910, 1912, 1913, 1916, 1933, 1940, 1942, 1953, 1955, 1971, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1998, 1999
Brisbane Broncos	4	0	1992, 1997, 1998, 2000	–
Melbourne Storm	4	1	2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2016, 2017, 2019	2010
St George Illawarra Dragons	2	0	2009, 2010	–
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	2	3	1988, 1999	1967, 1969, 2014
Penrith Panthers	2	4	1991, 2003	1973, 1980, 2001, 2007
North Sydney Bears	2	8	1921, 1922	1917, 1919, 1932, 1941, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1979
Glebe Dirty Reds	1	0	1911	–
New Zealand Warriors	1	0	2002	–
Canberra Raiders	1	1	1990	1982
Cumberland	0	1	–	1908
Gold Coast Titans	0	2	–	2011, 2019
South Queensland Crushers	0	2	–	1996, 1997
North Queensland Cowboys	0	3	–	1995, 1997, 2000
Gold Coast Chargers	0	3	–	1991, 1992, 1993
Annandale Dales	0	3	–	1914, 1918, 1920
Illawarra Steelers	0	3	–	1985, 1986, 1989
Newcastle Knights	0	4	–	2005, 2015, 2016, 2017
Sydney University	0	10	–	1921, 1923, 1927, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937

See also

• List of NRL Grand finals

External links

• "Season Summary". Rugby League Tables & Statistics. Retrieved 1 June 2007.
• "Premiership Records". National Rugby League. Archived from the original on 17 May 2007. Retrieved 1 June 2007.