The National Rugby League is a professional rugby league competition in Australasia which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand.
The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Greater Western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The team is based 55 km (34 mi) west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penrith are the current reigning NRL Premiers, having won the title five times, including the last three times consecutively.
The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL).
Ivan Cleary is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Penrith Panthers in the National Rugby League (NRL) and a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a fullback and centre in the 1990s and 2000s.
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.
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.
The 2011 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the NRL's 2011 Telstra Premiership season. It was played between the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the New Zealand Warriors on the afternoon of Sunday, 2 October, and it was the first time the two sides have met in a grand final. Manly won the match, 24–10, for the club's eighth premiership.
The 2003 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding match of the 2003 NRL season. In what was a contest of Sydney's east versus west, defending premiers the Sydney Roosters played against minor premiers the Penrith Panthers. The first grand final since 1996 to feature two Sydney-based teams was played on the night of Sunday, 5 October at Telstra Stadium in the inner western suburb of Sydney Olympic Park. Domestically, live free-to-air television coverage was provided by Nine's Wide World of Sports. The match was also broadcast live in the United States by Fox Soccer.
1998 brought the start of the National Rugby League competition. Super League (Australia) ended its 1 year competition and the Australian Rugby League also ended theirs to merge as one. But for some clubs it came at a cost. For the Hunter Mariners and Perth Reds from Super League (Australia) and the South Queensland Crushers from the Australian Rugby League, these franchises ended. But a new franchise was created that was the first team in the state of Victoria: the Melbourne Storm.
Tom Eisenhuth is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a lock and second-row forward for the St George Illawarra Dragons in the National Rugby League (NRL).
Isaah Patrick Ferguson-Yeo is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a lock and second-row forward for the Penrith Panthers in the NRL and Australia at international level. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest locks in the game.
Nathan Cleary is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a halfback for the Penrith Panthers in the National Rugby League and Australia at international level. He won the Clive Churchill Medal in 2021 and 2023 as well as Dally M Halfback of the year in 2020 and 2021. As co-captain, Cleary also led the Penrith Panthers to 5 consecutive grand final appearances, including three consecutive premiership wins from 2021 to 2023. He is considered one of the best halfbacks of all time.
Moses Leota is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a prop and lock for the Penrith Panthers in the NRL. He has played for both Samoa and New Zealand at international level.
Jarome Luai is a Samoan international rugby league footballer who plays as a five-eighth for the Penrith Panthers in the NRL. He is a three time premiership winning player with the Panthers, and he has represented Samoa at test and 9's level, the NSW Blues in State of Origin and the Māori All Stars in the annual NRL All Stars match.
Brian To'o is an Australian and Samoa international rugby league footballer who plays as a winger for the Penrith Panthers in the NRL.
Stephen Crichton is a Samoan professional rugby league footballer who plays for and captains the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs in the NRL and Samoa at international level. He has represented the NSW Blues in State of Origin.
The 2020 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2020 National Rugby League season held at Sydney's ANZ Stadium on October 25. The match was contested between minor premiers Penrith Panthers and second-placed Melbourne Storm. Melbourne led the game 22-0 at half-time before holding off a late Penrith comeback to win 26-20, claiming their fourth premiership title. Melbourne fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal as the official man of the match. The match was attended by 37,303 spectators due to an enforced limit to stadium capacity by the NSW government as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. The game would be the last for Melbourne hooker and captain Cameron Smith after announcing his retirement in the following year, making him the most-capped player in the NRL with 430 games, and the most for a single club.
The 2021 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2021 National Rugby League season in Australia. It was contested between the Penrith Panthers and the South Sydney Rabbitohs on Sunday 3 October at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. Penrith won the match 14–12 to claim their third premiership title, and their first since 2003. Penrith co-captain and halfback Nathan Cleary was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal as the official man of the match.
The 2022 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2022 National Rugby League season in Australia. It was contested between the Penrith Panthers and the Parramatta Eels on Sunday the 2nd of October at Accor Stadium in Sydney. Penrith, who were both the defending premiers and minor premiers, won the match 28–12 to claim their fourth premiership title, and their first back-to-back premierships in the club's 56-year history. Panthers fullback Dylan Edwards was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal for being judged as the man of the match.
The 2023 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 2023 National Rugby League season in Australia. It was contested between the Penrith Panthers and the Brisbane Broncos on Sunday the 1st of October at Accor Stadium in Sydney. Penrith, who were the two-time defending premiers and the defending minor premiers, won the match 26–24 to claim their fifth premiership title, and became the first club in forty years to win three consecutive first-grade premierships following the Parramatta Eels in 1983. Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary, who scored the winning try for his team, was awarded his second Clive Churchill Medal for being judged as the man of the match. The match gained significant notoriety for featuring the largest comeback victory in grand final history, with the Panthers overcoming a 24-8 deficit after 56 minutes by scoring 18 unanswered points to ultimately win the match.
