List of teams in the NSWRL/ARL/SL/NRL

This is a complete list of teams that have competed in the first-grade competition in Australia that began with the New South Wales Rugby Football League (NSWRL) competition in 1908. The NSWRL competition ran until the end of the 1994 season where the Australian Rugby League (ARL) took over and ran the competition until 1997. However a rival competition was being planned and the only season of the rival Super League competition (SL) was held in 1997. The two competitions were brought together and formed the National Rugby League (NRL) in 1998 which still runs today.

There have been thirty-three teams which have competed in all of the first-grade competitions since 1908, of which sixteen remain in this competition. There were nine foundation clubs, which began in 1908, however over the next eighty years, the NSWRL only ever expanded into the Sydney region which included eight new teams while five clubs left the competition. This changed in 1982 when a Wollongong club and a Canberra based team joined. In 1988 teams from outside New South Wales began to enter the premiership. With the Super League war, the two rival competitions, the ARL and SL, had twenty-two teams competing in the 1997 season. As part of the agreement for the NRL, the competition would be forced to reduce to only fourteen teams in 2000.

Currently in 2015, there are sixteen teams. There are ten teams from the state of NSW, three from Queensland, one from the Australian Capital Territory, one from Victoria and one from the neighbouring country New Zealand.

Of the thirty-three clubs that have participated in the competition, the majority have called Sydney home: Seventeen clubs have been based exclusively in Sydney, while two have split their homes games between Sydney and elsewhere as joint-ventures. A majority of clubs have also been from New South Wales, the state being home to twenty-three of the competition's thirty-three clubs. Of the remaining clubs, five have been from the state of Queensland, and there has been one each from the states of South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory, and the nation of New Zealand.

Foundation clubs

Two current NRL teams have existed since the 1908 foundation of the NSWRFL, the predecessor of the NRL. These teams are the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Sydney Roosters (founded as 'Eastern Suburbs').

Clubs

Team Based Admission date Seasons participated P
 R
 M
 W
 W% Wins Draws Losses
Newtown Jets Sydney 8 January 1908 1908-1983 (76 seasons) 3 7 6 8 47% 583 59 663
Glebe Dirty Reds Sydney 9 January 1908 1908-1929 (22 seasons) 0 4 1 1 56% 163 6 128
South Sydney Rabbitohs Sydney 17 January 1908 1908-1999, 2002-2015 (106 seasons) 21 13 17 8 53% 1013 46 917
Balmain Tigers^ Sydney 23 January 1908 1908-1999 (92 seasons) 11 9 7 4 53% 871 68 766
Eastern Suburbs / Sydney Roosters Sydney 24 January 1908 1908-2015 (108 seasons) 13 14 16 4 54% 1064 68 912
Western Suburbs Magpies^ Sydney 4 February 1908 1908-1999 (92 seasons) 4 8 5 17 45% 734 49 908
North Sydney Bears^^ Sydney 7 February 1908 1908-1999 (92 seasons) 2 1 2 9 43% 678 71 916
Newcastle Rebels Newcastle 10 April 1908 1908-1909 (2 seasons) 0 0 0 0 45% 9 0 11
Cumberland Sydney 21 April 1908 1908 (1 season) 0 0 0 1 13% 1 0 7
Annandale Dales Sydney 10 April 1910 1910-1920 (11 seasons) 0 0 0 3 18% 25 6 122
University Sydney February 1920 1920-1937 (18 seasons) 0 1 0 10 20% 47 5 190
St. George Dragons^ Sydney 13 October 1920 1921-1998 (78 seasons) 15 12 15 3 61% 910 56 579
Canterbury Bulldogs Sydney 25 September 1934 1935-2015 (81 seasons) 8 9 6 4 54% 866 53 751
Parramatta Eels Sydney 4 November 1946 1947-2015 (69 seasons) 4 5 5 11 48%
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles^^ Sydney 4 November 1946 1947-1999, 2003-2015 (66 seasons) 8 10 9 0 59%
Cronulla Sharks Sydney 4 July 1966 1967-2015 (49 seasons) 0 3 1 2 50%
Penrith Panthers Penrith 4 July 1966 1967-2015 (49 seasons) 2 1 2 4 42%
Illawarra Steelers^ Wollongong 13 December 1980 1982-1998 (17 seasons) 0 0 0 3 40%
Canberra Raiders Canberra 30 March 1981 1982-2015 (34 seasons) 3 2 1 1 54%
Brisbane Broncos Brisbane 5 April 1987 1988-2015 (28 seasons) 6 0 4 0 65%
Newcastle Knights Newcastle 5 April 1987 1988-2015 (28 seasons) 2 0 0 1 53%
Gold Coast Giants/Seagulls/Chargers Gold Coast / Tweed Heads April 1987 1988-1998 (11 seasons) 0 0 0 3 23%
Auckland/New Zealand Warriors Auckland 18 May 1992 1995-2015 (21 seasons) 0 2 1 0 47%
North Queensland Cowboys Townsville 30 November 1992 1995-2015 (21 seasons) 0 1 0 3 37%
Western Reds/Perth Reds Perth 30 November 1992 1995-1997 (3 seasons) 0 0 0 0 40%
South Queensland Crushers Brisbane 30 November 1992 1995-1997 (3 seasons) 0 0 0 2 21%
Hunter Mariners Newcastle 28 April 1995 1997 (1 season) 0 0 0 0 39%
Adelaide Rams Adelaide 13 December 1995 1997-1998 (2 seasons) 0 0 0 0 32%
Melbourne Storm Melbourne 23 June 1997 1998-2015 (18 seasons) 2 2 1 1 61%
St. George Illawarra Dragons (joint-venture) Sydney, Wollongong 23 September 1998 1999-2015 (17 seasons) 1 1 2 0 52%
Wests Tigers (joint-venture) Sydney 27 July 1999 2000-2015 (16 seasons) 1 0 0 0 43%
Northern Eagles (joint-venture) Sydney, Gosford 2000 2000-2002 (3 seasons) 0 0 0 0 40%
Gold Coast Titans Gold Coast 22 September 2005 2007-2015 (9 seasons) 0 0 0 1 44%

^Now compete as a joint venture

^^Have competed as a joint venture

Key:

See also

References