The National Rugby League (NRL) is a professional rugby league competition in Australasia which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. Tracing its origins back to the New South Wales Rugby League, which formed in 1908, rugby league competition in Australia had gone through numerous iterations, including the 1990s Super League war, by the time the NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership between the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and the News Corporation-controlled Super League. 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.
Stadium Australia, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Sydney Olympic Park, in Sydney, Australia. The stadium, which in Australia is sometimes referred to as Sydney Olympic Stadium, Homebush Stadium or simply the Olympic Stadium, was completed in March 1999 at a cost of A$690 million to host the 2000 Summer Olympics. The Stadium was leased by a private company, the Stadium Australia Group, until the Stadium was sold back to the NSW Government on 1 June 2016 after NSW Premier Michael Baird announced the Stadium was to be redeveloped as a world-class rectangular stadium. The Stadium is owned by Venues NSW on behalf of the NSW Government.
The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership since 1982. Over this period the club has won 3 premierships,. They have not won a grand final since 1994 and last played in a grand final in 2019. They have received 1 wooden spoon and had a total of 15 of its players selected to play for the Australia national rugby league team. The Raiders' current home ground is Canberra Stadium in Bruce, Australian Capital Territory. Previously, the team played home matches at Seiffert Oval in Queanbeyan, New South Wales, with the move to the AIS Stadium in Bruce taking place in 1990. The official symbol for the Canberra Raiders is the Viking. The Viking, also a mascot at Raiders' games, is known as Victor the Viking.
Canberra Stadium is a facility primarily used for rugby league and rugby union games, located adjacent to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is the largest sports venue by capacity in Canberra.
City vs Country Origin was an annual Australian rugby league football match that took place in New South Wales between City and Country representative sides. The City side represented the Sydney metropolitan area. While technically it was Sydney vs. the rest of NSW, players from the Central Coast often represented City, but other players from the Central Coast represented Country. The Country side represented the rest of New South Wales.
Jarrod Keith Croker is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who is the captain and goal-kicking centre for the Canberra Raiders in the NRL.
Joshua Dugan is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who last played as a fullback and centre for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the NRL and Australia at international level.
Josh Papali'i is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a prop for the Canberra Raiders in the National Rugby League (NRL). He has played for both Australia and Samoa at international level.
James Tedesco, nicknamed "Teddy", is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a fullback and captains the Sydney Roosters in the NRL, New South Wales rugby league team and Australia.
Edrick Lee is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a winger for the Dolphins in the National Rugby League.
Jack Wighton is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a five-eighth for the Canberra Raiders in the NRL and Australia at international level.
The Queensland women's rugby league team represents the Australian state of Queensland in rugby league football. Nicknamed the "Maroons", after the colour of their jersey, the team compete in the annual Women's State of Origin game against arch-rivals New South Wales. Coached by Tahnee Norris and captained by Ali Brigginshaw, the team is administered by the Queensland Rugby League.
Brenko Lee is an Australia-based Tonga international rugby league footballer who plays as a centre and winger for the Dolphins in the National Rugby League.
Thomas Peter Trbojevic, also nicknamed "Tommy Turbo", is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a fullback as well as a wing and centre for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in the NRL and plays centre for Australia at international level and New South Wales at State of Origin level.
Nathan Cleary born is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a halfback for the Penrith Panthers in the NRL and Australia at international level. He won the Clive Churchill Medal in 2021 as well as Dally M Halfback of the year in 2020 and 2021. As co-captain, Cleary also led the Penrith Panthers to back-to-back premiership wins in 2021 and 2022. Cleary is known for his playmaking, vision, and goal kicking, and is widely considered to be one of the best rugby league players currently playing.
Women's rugby league is a popular women's sports in Australia. The sport has a high level of participation in the country both recreational and professional. Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) is the national governing body of the sport in Australia, organising the Australian Women's Rugby League, the Australian women's national team, and the nine state governing bodies of the game, among other duties. Women's participation of modern rugby league has been recorded since the early 1920s. It has since become one of Australia's most popular women's team sports.
The Telstra NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW) is Australia's national rugby league competition for female players. The first season of the league began in September 2018 with four teams. The league is run by the National Rugby League (NRL) and is contested by a subset of clubs from that competition. The current premiers are the Newcastle Knights.
The 2020 NRL season was the 113th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 23rd season run by the National Rugby League.
The 2021 Women's State of Origin was the fourth official Women's State of Origin rugby league match between the New South Wales and Queensland. It was played at Sunshine Coast Stadium on 25 June 2021. The teams have played each other annually since 1999 with the 2021 game being the fourth played under the State of Origin banner.
The 2022 State of Origin series was the 41st annual best-of-three series between the Queensland and New South Wales rugby league teams. Before this series, Queensland had won 22 times, NSW 16 times, with two series drawn.
