The Australian rugby league premiers are the winners of the top grade competition in Australian rugby league, which is currently the National Rugby League. From 1908 until 1995, when the ARL Premiership was formed, there were two premiers, one each from Sydney and Brisbane. This occurred again in 1997 during the Super League war.

Quick Facts

Australian rugby league premiers
Founded
1908
Country
Australia  New Zealand
Editions completed
Number of teams
17
Current premiers
Penrith Panthers (5th title)
Most titles won
(NSWRL/NRL) South Sydney (21 times) (BRL) Fortitude Valley (23 titles)

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From 1905 the states of Queensland and New South Wales were beginning to create Rugby League competitions, using the rules created in Northern England as a break-away game from Rugby Union.

The first season of rugby league in Australia commenced in New South Wales and was held in 1908 and was run by the New South Wales Rugby Football League. Queensland Rugby League was established in 1908 also; they ran their inaugural senior season in 1909. Both states ran parallel state competitions from that time. The game was adopted in both states in order to break away from the amateur rugby union competitions that existed at the time. The players had fallen out of heart with the administration of that game due to increased revenue from the game not being reflected in player allotments. At the end of the 1908 NSW season, South Sydney became the first team to win the New South Wales premiership. The Fortitude Valley Diehards, then known as Valleys, won the inaugural senior Queensland Rugby league season in 1909.

The New South Wales Rugby League and Brisbane Rugby League competitions ran parallel to each other for nearly the entire 20th century, with interstate competitions held annually. However, due to these competitions being mainly between state representative sides, apart from a few NSWRL premier v BRL premier competitions held in the 1920s, there was often no way to determine a national premier.

After 19 years of interstate-era dominance by New South Wales, the advent of State of Origin football in 1980 led to increased nationalisation of rugby league in Australia. After a failed proposal to play the first ever "National Championship" game in 1984 between the highly fancied BRL premier Wynnum-Manly Seagulls and the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs of the NSWRL, it was decided that the Queensland Rugby League should form a team in 1986 to enter the NSWRL premiership. While the QRL slowly looked to create their own team, a private bid from the Brisbane Broncos consortium won the licence and the team entered the NSWRL in 1988. As a result, the standard of the Brisbane Rugby League decreased, and no BRL player was picked to represent Queensland or Australia afterwards; at this point most historians agree that the NSWRL became the premier competition nationwide.

Although the BRL was also a first-class competition, similar to Australian Rules Football, where the Australian Football League which evolved from the Victorian Football League keeps VFL statistics back to 1897 as its own history but considers South Australia's SANFL and Western Australia's WAFL as separate competitions, the National Rugby League counts the history of the NSWRL Premiership as its own but considers the Brisbane Rugby League separate. Therefore, BRL champions are considered Australian Rugby League premiers but are not NRL premiers.

Starting from 1995, the New South Wales competition began to call itself the Australian Rugby League. In 1997, an actual national competition was created by News Limited known as Super League, this was formed and run alongside the New South Wales and Queensland state premierships, a number of New South Wales competition teams being promoted to it. Later that year, an agreement was made between Super League and the New South Wales competition, following massive financial loss to both parties, to merge into a new National competition, known as the National Rugby League.

South Sydney, with 20 New South Wales State titles, have been crowned New South Wales premiers more times than any other team. Fortitude Valley Diehards won the Queensland competition 23 times during its period as a first class competition, giving them the most first-class titles in Australian rugby league. They are followed by St. George with 15 premierships, including a record 11 New South Wales premierships in a row between 1956 and 1966. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks took nearly 50 years to win their maiden premiership in 2016 - longer than any other club in the history of the game (Parramatta's maiden premiership came in its 35th season in 1981).

There are 3 clubs currently playing in the National Rugby League that are yet to win a premiership; Redcliffe Dolphins, New Zealand Warriors and the Gold Coast Titans.

Since 1908, counting the NRL and some of its predecessors (including the 1997 Super League Season), the following sides are a few who have never won a premiership:

• Newcastle Rebels
• Cumberland RLFC
• Glebe Dirty Reds
• Annandale Dales
• University Students
• Illawarra Steelers
• Gold Coast Giants / Seagulls / Chargers
• New Zealand Warriors
• Western Reds
• South Queensland Crushers
• Adelaide Rams
• Hunter Mariners
• Northern Eagles
• Gold Coast Titans

All BRL teams except the Ipswich Jets and Logan Scorpions won a premiership during its time as a top-level competition.

More information Season, Premiers ...

Season	Premiers	Score	Runners-up	Minor Premiers	Wooden Spoon
Queensland Rugby League
1909	Fortitude Valley	22–4	South Brisbane	Fortitude Valley	Toombul
1910	Ipswich	17–2	Toombul	Ipswich	South Brisbane
1911	Valleys-Toombul	13–2	Ipswich B	Valleys-Toombul	South Brisbane United
1912	Natives	10–0	South Brisbane	Natives	Woolloongabba
1913	West End	5–3	Natives	West End	Railways
1914	Fortitude Valley	18–8	West End	Fortitude Valley	North Brisbane
1915	Fortitude Valley	10–9	Western Suburbs	Woolloongabba	West End
1916	Western Suburbs	4–2	Fortitude Valley	Western Suburbs	Ipswich Starlights
1917	Fortitude Valley	13–5	Merthyr	Fortitude Valley	Coorparoo
1918	Fortitude Valley	16–12	Merthyr	Merthyr	Western Suburbs (Quit competition after 2-point penalty for fielding ineligible players)
1919	Fortitude Valley	28–2	Coorparoo	Fortitude Valley	West End
1920	Western Suburbs	16–8	Christian Brothers	Fortitude Valley	Railways
1921	Carltons	12–10	Coorparoo	Carltons	University
Brisbane Rugby League
1922	Western Suburbs	20–9	Coorparoo	Western Suburbs	Christian Brothers
1923	Coorparoo	13–2	Fortitude Valley	Fortitude Valley	Western Suburbs
1924	Fortitude Valley	11–8	Christian Brothers	Fortitude Valley	University
1925	Carltons	24–5	Coorparoo	Coorparoo	University
1926	Christian Brothers	6–5	Coorparoo	Christian Brothers	Carltons
1927	Past Grammars	13–11	Western Suburbs	Coorparoo	University
1928	University	10–7	Carltons	Carltons	Coorparoo
1929	University	12–11	Coorparoo	University	Western Suburbs
1930	Carltons	19–8	Fortitude Valley	Carltons	University
1931	Fortitude Valley	27–9	Past Grammars	Fortitude Valley	Past Christian Brothers
1932	Western Suburbs	8–7	Past Grammars	Western Suburbs	Wynnum District
1933	Fortitude Valley	9–3	Western Suburbs	Western Suburbs	Southern Suburbs
1934	Northern Suburbs	7–4	Western Suburbs	Western Suburbs	Southern Suburbs
1935	Past Christian Brothers	11–9	Fortitude Valley	Northern Suburbs	Southern Suburbs
1936	Western Suburbs	13–12	Fortitude Valley	Fortitude Valley	Southern Suburbs
1937	Fortitude Valley	9–7	Western Suburbs	Fortitude Valley	Southern Suburbs
1938	Northern Suburbs	16–10	Fortitude Valley	Fortitude Valley	Eastern Suburbs
1939	Past Christian Brothers	11–9	Northern Suburbs	Northern Suburbs	Eastern Suburbs
1940	Northern Suburbs	17–11	Past Christian Brothers	Northern Suburbs	Eastern Suburbs
1941	Fortitude Valley	13–7	Northern Suburbs	Fortitude Valley	Southern Suburbs
1942	Past Brothers	20–11	Southern Suburbs	Fortitude Valley	Western Suburbs
1943	Past Brothers	13–7	Fortitude Valley	Fortitude Valley	Western Suburbs
1944	Fortitude Valley	16–12	Northern Suburbs	Fortitude Valley	Eastern Suburbs
1945	Southern Suburbs	21–11	Northern Suburbs	Northern Suburbs	Eastern Suburbs
1946	Fortitude Valley	5–2	Eastern Suburbs	Eastern Suburbs	Western Suburbs
1947	Eastern Suburbs	15–2	Southern Suburbs	Eastern Suburbs	Western Suburbs
1948	Western Suburbs	14–8	Eastern Suburbs	Western Suburbs	Fortitude Valley
1949	Southern Suburbs	22–8	Eastern Suburbs	Southern Suburbs	Northern Suburbs
1950	Eastern Suburbs	14–10	Western Suburbs	Western Suburbs	Northern Suburbs
1951	Southern Suburbs	20–10	Eastern Suburbs	Southern Suburbs	Fortitude Valley
1952	Western Suburbs	15–14	Past Brothers	Western Suburbs	South Coast
1953	Southern Suburbs	21–4	Eastern Suburbs	Southern Suburbs	Wynnum-Manly
1954	Western Suburbs	35–18	Past Brothers	Southern Suburbs	Northern Suburbs
1955	Fortitude Valley	17–7	Past Brothers	Fortitude Valley	Eastern Suburbs
1956	Past Brothers	17–10	Western Suburbs	Past Brothers	Eastern Suburbs
1957	Fortitude Valley	18–17	Past Brothers	Past Brothers	Wynnum-Manly
1958	Past Brothers	22–7	Fortitude Valley	Western Suburbs	Southern Suburbs
1959	Northern Suburbs	24–18	Past Brothers	Northern Suburbs	Southern Suburbs
1960	Northern Suburbs	18–5	Fortitude Valley	Fortitude Valley	Southern Suburbs
1961	Northern Suburbs	29–5	Fortitude Valley	Northern Suburbs	Eastern Suburbs
1962	Northern Suburbs	22–0	Fortitude Valley	Northern Suburbs	Wynnum-Manly
1963	Northern Suburbs	18–8	Southern Suburbs	Northern Suburbs	Past Brothers
1964	Northern Suburbs	13–4	Past Brothers	Fortitude Valley	Wynnum-Manly
1965	Redcliffe	15–2	Fortitude Valley	Fortitude Valley	Southern Suburbs
1966	Northern Suburbs	9–6	Past Brothers	Northern Suburbs	Wynnum-Manly
1967	Past Brothers	6–2	Northern Suburbs	Fortitude Valley	Wynnum-Manly
1968	Past Brothers	21–4	Eastern Suburbs	Past Brothers	Southern Suburbs
1969	Northern Suburbs	14–2	Fortitude Valley	Northern Suburbs	Southern Suburbs
1970	Fortitude Valley	13–11	Northern Suburbs	Past Brothers	Wynnum-Manly
1971	Fortitude Valley	18–10	Eastern Suburbs	Fortitude Valley	Wynnum-Manly
1972	Eastern Suburbs	16–15	Fortitude Valley	Western Suburbs	Wynnum-Manly
1973	Fortitude Valley	15–7	Redcliffe	Fortitude Valley	Wynnum-Manly
1974	Fortitude Valley	9–2	Past Brothers	Northern Suburbs	Western Suburbs
1975	Western Suburbs	26–24	Redcliffe	Western Suburbs	Fortitude Valley
1976	Western Suburbs	16–1	Eastern Suburbs	Eastern Suburbs	Northern Suburbs
1977	Eastern Suburbs	17–13	Redcliffe	Redcliffe	Southern Suburbs
1978	Eastern Suburbs	14–10	Fortitude Valley	Redcliffe	Northern Suburbs
1979	Fortitude Valley	26–0	Southern Suburbs	Fortitude Valley	Wynnum-Manly
1980	Northern Suburbs	17–15	Southern Suburbs	Fortitude Valley	Western Suburbs
1981	Southern Suburbs	13–9	Redcliffe	Southern Suburbs	Past Brothers
1982	Wynnum-Manly	17–3	Southern Suburbs	Fortitude Valley	Western Suburbs
1983	Eastern Suburbs	14–6	Redcliffe	Redcliffe	Western Suburbs
1984	Wynnum-Manly	42–8	Southern Suburbs	Wynnum-Manly	Northern Suburbs
1985	Southern Suburbs	10–8	Wynnum-Manly	Southern Suburbs	Western Suburbs
1986	Wynnum-Manly	14–6	Past Brothers	Wynnum-Manly	Western Suburbs
1987	Past Brothers	26–8	Redcliffe	Past Brothers	Eastern Suburbs
1988	Seagulls-Diehards	17–14	Ipswich	Southern Suburbs	Logan City
1989	Fortitude Valley	28–4	Ipswich	Fortitude Valley	Logan City
1990	Fortitude Valley	17–16	Northern Suburbs	Fortitude Valley	Wynnum-Manly
1991	Eastern Suburbs	25–10	Western Suburbs	Eastern Suburbs	Wynnum-Manly
1992	Western Suburbs	40–10	Eastern Suburbs	Eastern Suburbs	Ipswich
1993	Western Suburbs	18–12	Eastern Suburbs	Western Suburbs	Logan City
1994	Redcliffe	24–18	Western Suburbs	Redcliffe	Northern Suburbs

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Note: The BRL maintained first class status until 1994 when the NSWRL became the ARL and a national competition was formed.

• List of NRL Grand finals
• List of British rugby league champions