User:Bongomanrae/National Rugby League champions

This article is about winners of the current National Rugby League competition. For information on winners of the previous competitions, please see Australian rugby league champions. The NRL Trophy

National Rugby League champions is a title given to the winning team of the National Rugby League, an Australian rugby league competition. The tournament started in 1998.

The tournament consists of each team playing the other in a round robin. The final table position at the end of the round robin determines the teams that go through to the semi finals. 2 points are awarded for a win and 0 for a loss. The 8 highest ranked teams at the end of the round robin go through to the semi finals, consisting of first hosting fourth and second hosting third. The two winning teams would then go through to the grand final, held at Sydney's Telstra Stadium.

The NRL was created by the merger of the Australian Rugby League and Super League (Australia). The tournament involves 16 teams. As of 2006 the NRL has had almost as many cham,pions as it has had seasons. The most successful of which was the Brisbane Broncos, who have won the tournament 3 times.

Qualification for finals series

The eight highest placed teams at the end of the regular season have the opportunity to compete in the finals series, which is contested using the McIntyre System. This system has been used for every National Rugby League season with the exception of the first, in 1998.^[1]. The system consists of a number of knockout and sudden-death games over four weeks between the top eight teams in August and September until there are only two teams remaining. These two teams then play in the Grand Final, on the first Sunday of October. In the first week, 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 will play within the home regions of the two seeded winning teams from week one.

In 1998 the Grand Final was held at Sydney Football Stadium. Since 1999 the Grand Final has been contested at Telstra Stadium, the primary athletics venue during the 2000 Olympic Games held in Sydney.^[2] In June 2006, the NRL announced that the National Rugby League Grand Final will continue to be held at Sydney's Telstra Stadium until at least 2012, when it will be considered to be moved interstate if certain circumstances arose.^[3]

Results

File:Nrltelstra.PNG

Competition scoring

win = 2 points
loss = 0 points
for = Total points scored
against = Total points conceded
difference = Subtraction of against from for
Golden Point Extra Time:
- The NRL introduced Golden Point Extra Time in ^{[citation needed]}.

Tournaments (1998-present)

Teams mentioned are those which finished in the top 8, qualifying them for the semi-finals. Scores mentioned are written so that the team in that column is mentioned first. The highlighted team won that season's Super 12 final.^[4]^[5]^[6]

Year	Duration	Table position	Team	Games				Points			Bonus points	Table points	Semi score	Final score
Year	Duration	Table position	Team	played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	diff	Bonus points	Table points	Semi score	Final score
1996	February 28 – May 31	1	Reds	11	9	0	2	320	247	+73	5	41	25-43	N/A
		2	Blues	11	8	0	3	408	354	+54	9	41	48-11	45-12
		3	Northern Transvaal	11	8	0	3	329	208	+121	6	38	11-48	N/A
		4	Natal Sharks	11	6	0	5	389	277	+112	9	33	43-25	12-45
1997	March 1 – May 25
		1	Blues	11	10	1	0	435	283	+152	8	50	55-36	23-7
		2	Brumbies	11	8	0	3	406	291	+115	9	41	33-20	7-23
		3	Hurricanes	11	6	0	5	416	314	+102	10	34	20-33	N/A
		4	Natal Sharks	11	5	2	4	321	350	-29	6	30	36-55	N/A
1998	February 27 – May 30	1	Blues	11	9	0	2	388	296	+92	7	43	37-31	13-20
		2	Crusaders	11	8	0	3	340	260	+80	9	41	36-32	20-13
		3	Coastal Sharks	11	7	0	4	329	263	+66	8	36	32-36	N/A
		4	Highlanders	11	7	0	4	343	279	+64	6	34	31-37	N/A
1999	February 26 – May 30	1	Reds	11	8	1	2	233	170	+63	2	36	22-28	N/A
		2	Stormers	11	8	0	3	290	244	+46	4	36	18-33	N/A
		3	Highlanders	11	8	0	3	280	203	+77	3	35	33-18	19-24
		4	Crusaders	11	7	1	3	322	262	+60	3	33	28-22	24-19
2000	February 25 – May 27	1	Brumbies	11	9	0	2	393	196	+197	9	45	28-5	19-20
		2	Crusaders	11	8	0	3	369	293	+76	7	39	37-15	20-19
		3	Highlanders	11	6	0	5	310	280	+30	8	32	15-37	N/A
		4	Cats	11	7	0	4	320	334	-14	4	32	5-28	N/A
2001	February 23 – May 26
		1	Brumbies	11	8	0	3	348	204	+144	8	40	36-6	36-6
		2	Sharks	11	8	0	3	322	246	+76	6	38	30-12	6-36
		3	Cats	11	7	0	4	285	244	+41	6	34	12-30	N/A
		4	Reds	11	6	0	5	300	277	+23	8	32	6-36	N/A
2002	February 22 – May 25
		1	Crusaders	11	11	0	0	469	264	+205	7	51	34-23	31-13
		2	Waratahs	11	8	0	3	337	284	+53	7	39	10-51	N/A
		3	Brumbies	11	7	0	4	374	230	+144	10	38	51-10	13-31
		4	Highlanders	11	8	0	3	329	207	+122	6	38	23-34	N/A
2003	February 21 – May 24
		1	Blues	11	10	0	1	393	185	+208	9	49	42-21	21-17
		2	Crusaders	11	8	0	3	358	263	+95	8	40	39-16	17-21
		3	Hurricanes	11	7	0	4	324	284	+40	7	35	16-39	N/A
		4	Brumbies	11	6	0	5	358	313	+45	7	31	21-42	N/A
2004	February 20 – May 22
		1	Brumbies	11	8	0	3	408	269	+139	8	40	32-17	47-38
		2	Crusaders	11	7	0	4	345	303	+42	6	34	27-16	38-47
		3	Stormers	11	7	0	4	286	260	+26	5	33	16-27	N/A
		4	Chiefs	11	7	0	4	274	251	+23	5	33	17-32	N/A
2005	February 25 – May 28
		1	Crusaders	11	9	0	2	459	281	+178	9	45	47-7	35-25
		2	Waratahs	11	9	0	2	322	174	+148	8	44	23-13	35-25
		3	Bulls	11	7	0	4	301	229	+72	6	34	13-23	N/A
		4	Hurricanes	11	8	0	3	281	248	+33	2	34	7-47	N/A

Total wins

Team	Championships^[6]
Brisbane Broncos	3
Melbourne Storm	1
Newcastle Knights	1
Sydney Roosters	1
Penrith Panthers	1
Bulldogs	1
Wests Tigers	1

National Rugby League (1998-present)

Season	Winners	Runners-up	Minor Premiers
1998	Brisbane	Canterbury-Bankstown	Brisbane
1999	Melbourne	St. George Illawarra	Cronulla
2000	Brisbane	Sydney Roosters	Brisbane
2001	Newcastle	Parramatta	Parramatta
2002	Sydney Roosters^[4]	New Zealand	New Zealand
2003	Penrith	Sydney Roosters	Penrith
2004	Bulldogs^[3]	Sydney Roosters	Sydney Roosters
2005	Wests Tigers	North Queensland	Parramatta
2006	Brisbane	Melbourne	Melbourne

References

^ "Rugby League Tables - Notes". Rugby League Tables & Statistics. Retrieved 2007-01-22.
^ "Aussie Stadium". Australian Stadiums. Retrieved 2007-01-22.
^ Australian Associated Press (June 2 2006). "Sydney locks in grand final for six years". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2007-01-22. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^ "Super 12 Rugby Union standings". Retrieved 2006-07-10.
^ "Sports Australia - Rugby Union Super 12 Season 2005 Results". Retrieved 2006-07-10.
^ ^a ^b McIlraith, Matt (2005). Ten Years of Super 12. Hodder Moa. ISBN 1-86971-025-8.

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