The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership between the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and media giant News Corporation-controlled Super League, in the aftermath of the 1990s Super League war, in which both ran parallel to each other in 1997. The partnership was dissolved in 2012, with control of the NRL going to the re-constituted ARL, which was re-structured with an independent board of directors and renamed the Australian Rugby League Commission.
The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL). The club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League season and currently host the majority of their home games from Brookvale Oval in Brookvale, while training at the New South Wales Academy of Sport in Narrabeen.
Joe Galuvao is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s in the NRL. A Samoa and New Zealand international second row forward, he played for the Auckland Warriors, Parramatta Eels, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Penrith Panthers and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.
Craig Bellamy is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the head coach of the Melbourne Storm in the NRL, and a former professional rugby league footballer. He is known as one of the greatest coaches in NRL history.
The 2006 NRL season was the 99th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the ninth run by the National Rugby League. The lineup of teams remained unchanged from the previous year, with fifteen clubs competing for the 2006 Telstra Premiership. Throughout the 26 rounds of the regular season ten teams from New South Wales, two from Queensland and one each from Victoria, the ACT and New Zealand competed for the minor premiership. Eight of these teams qualified for the four-week finals series, with the Brisbane Broncos eventual victors over the Melbourne Storm in the grand final. Melbourne finished the regular season first so were awarded the minor premiership, but this was later revoked due to the Melbourne Storm salary cap breach.
This article contains information on rugby league played in 2007. The season commenced with the World Club Challenge and concluded with the New Zealand All Golds Tour in November.
The 2007 NRL season was the one hundredth season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the tenth run by the National Rugby League. Sixteen teams contested the NRL's 2007 Telstra Premiership, and with the inclusion of a new team, the Gold Coast Titans, the competition was the largest run since the 1999 NRL season.
Anthony Quinn is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. He played as a winger and centre for the Newcastle Knights and Melbourne Storm in the NRL.
The 2007 Melbourne Storm season was the 10th in the club's history. They competed for NRL's 2007 Telstra Premiership, finishing the season in 1st place to claim the minor premiership before going on to reach the 2007 NRL grand final, their third. In the grand final the Storm defeated the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles to claim their second premiership. However two years after the event Melbourne were stripped of their 2007 titles after being found guilty of long-term salary cap breaches.
The 2007 Parramatta Eels Season was the 61st in the club's history. They competed in the NRL's 2007 Telstra Premiership, finishing the regular season in 5th position, and came within one match of the grand final only to be knocked out by eventual premiers, Melbourne Storm, who would later be stripped of this title after being found guilty of salary cap breaches.
Jeremy Smith is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. A New Zealand international representative, he played as a second-row and lock. He played for the Melbourne Storm, the St. George Illawarra Dragons, with whom he won the 2010 NRL Grand Final with, the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and the Newcastle Knights, who he co-captained, in the NRL.
The 2009 NRL season was the 102nd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the twelfth run by the National Rugby League. For the third consecutive year, sixteen teams competed for the 2009 Telstra Premiership title. The season commenced with the first match played on 13 March and ended with the Grand Final, played on 4 October. The Grand Final was won by the Melbourne Storm in their fourth consecutive grand final appearance. However, they were stripped of their Premiership on 22 April 2010 after they were found to be guilty of breaching the league's salary cap.
The 2009 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the NRL's 2009 Telstra Premiership season. Played on 4 October 2009 at Sydney's ANZ Stadium was contested between the Parramatta Eels and the Melbourne Storm, the latter competing in their 4th grand final in a row. That was later stripped from them for breaking the salary cap rule. It was also the first Grand Final to feature the two referee system, with Shayne Hayne and Tony Archer being the first referees to jointly officiate in an NRL Grand Final.
The 2010 NRL season was the 103rd season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the thirteenth run by the National Rugby League. The season commenced on 12 March and ended with the Grand Final, played on 3 October at ANZ Stadium. Sixteen teams competed for the 2010 Telstra Premiership whilst the third season of the National Youth Competition was also in progress.
The 2010 St. George Illawarra Dragons season was the 12th in the joint venture club's history. They competed in the National Rugby League's 2010 Telstra Premiership, securing their second successive minor premiership. The Dragons went on to compete in the 2010 NRL Grand Final, defeating the Sydney Roosters to gain the club's first premiership since their formation as a joint venture club in 1999.
The 2010 Wests Tigers season was the eleventh in the joint-venture club's history. They competed in the National Rugby League's 2010 Telstra Premiership, finishing the regular season 3rd. The Tigers then came within one game of the grand final but were knocked out by eventual premiers, St. George Illawarra.
The 2007 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive, premiership-deciding match of the 2007 NRL season. It was played between the first-placed Melbourne Storm and second-placed Manly Warringah Sea Eagles at Telstra Stadium on 30 September, in front of 81,392 spectators. The 2007 Grand final was the fourth to be played between the first and second placed teams, and the first in three years. The match was the last Grand Final played at night until 2013; each Grand Final in the intervention switched to a 5:00pm AEST kick-off. This match was also the most-watched television program on Australian TV for 2007.
The 2012 NRL season was the 105th 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 Battle of Brookvale was the unofficial name given to the Round 25, 2011 National Rugby League (NRL) match between the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and Melbourne Storm, played at Brookvale Oval on 26 August 2011.
The Manly–Melbourne NRL rivalry is between two National Rugby League clubs, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and the Melbourne Storm, who are engaged in a modern-day rivalry. They have met 42 times since 1998, with Melbourne leading the head-to-head 25–16; there has also been a drawn match between the two sides. They have finished three regular seasons as the top two placed sides on the premiership ladder, although in the cases of 2007 and 2008, Melbourne had those minor premierships stripped from them due to the discovery of salary cap breaches in April 2010.
