NRL Telstra Premiership

Telstra Premiership is the main competition of the popular National Rugby League or NRL that was formed in 1998 under a partnership between the Australian Rugby League and News Limited. The Telstra NRL Premiership, which is sponsored by the Australian telecommunication giant Telstra Corporation, is played by a total of 16 professional rugby league clubs of Australasia that covers Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and neighbouring Islands in the Pacific. This competition takes place from autumn to spring and the matches are held throughout Australia and New Zealand. The NRL Grand Final is one of the world’s most popular sporting events and is followed by rugby lovers with gusto.

Tournament Structure

The NRL is jointly managed and organized by the National Rugby League Board that is formed by 6 members, with 3 each from the Australian Rugby League and News Limited. All the rugby clubs in Australia abide by a common set of rules by the NRL, although they have their own internal organizational structures.

The regular season of the Telstra Premiership usually begins in early March when a series of trial matches are played between the teams. Weekly games, which are usually held on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays, are played till the end of September. This period also includes themed weeks when the teams take part in Heritage Round, Women in League and Rivalry Round. Every team that wins a game is awarded 2 points, and one in case of a draw. No points are awarded to the losing team.

Final Series

The top eight teams at the end of the regular season get to participate in the Final Series where the competition takes place according to the ‘McIntyre Final Eight System’. The eight qualified teams play 26 knockout rounds till only two teams remain to play the Final, which is held on the first Sunday of October.

The Final Series of the Telstra Premiership is usually played between August and September, in a span of four weeks. Here is a detailed explanation about the format of the Final Series.

Week one -In week one, four matches would be played between the eight teams. The top four teams play against the last four in the first week, in their respective home grounds. The highest ranked winners progress directly to week 3 to play the Preliminary Finals. The third and fourth rank winners progress to week two along with the highest ranked runners up. The last two teams, lowest ranked runners up, are eliminated from the final series.

Week Two – In the second week, two semi-finals are played. One is between 3rd highest winner and 2nd highest runner-up, and the other is between 4th highest winner and the 1st highest runner up. The 3rd and the 4th winners from week 1 play their games in their respective home cities.

Week Three – The Preliminary Finals are played between the winners of week two and the top two winners of week one. The winners of these matches move on to play the Grand Final in Week 4, and the runners up are eliminated from the series.

The winner of the NRL Grand Final is awarded the Telstra Premiership trophy.