The 2016 NRL season was the 109th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 19th season run by the National Rugby League. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, and was followed by the All Stars Match, which was played at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, and the World Club Series. The season concluded on October 2 with the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks winning their first ever premiership after 50 seasons, having entered the competition in 1967. The season was also noteworthy as it was the first time that all three Queensland based teams made the finals.
Teams
The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 10th consecutive year. The NRL's salary cap for the clubs' top 25 players was $A6.3M for 2016.
Colours Club Season Home ground(s) Head coach Captain(s) Brisbane Broncos 29th season Suncorp Stadium Wayne Bennett Corey Parker Canberra Raiders 35th season GIO Stadium Canberra Ricky Stuart Jarrod Croker Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 82nd season ANZ Stadium & Belmore Sports Ground Des Hasler James Graham Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 50th season Southern Cross Group Stadium Shane Flanagan Paul Gallen Gold Coast Titans 10th season Cbus Super Stadium Neil Henry Nathan Friend & William Zillman Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 67th season Brookvale Oval Trent Barrett Jamie Lyon Melbourne Storm 19th season AAMI Park Craig Bellamy Cameron Smith Newcastle Knights 29th season Hunter Stadium Nathan Brown Jeremy Smith, Trent Hodkinson & Tariq Sims New Zealand Warriors 22nd season Mt. Smart Stadium Andrew McFadden Ryan Hoffman North Queensland Cowboys 22nd season 1300SMILES Stadium Paul Green Johnathan Thurston & Matt Scott Parramatta Eels 70th season Pirtek Stadium & ANZ Stadium Brad Arthur Tim Mannah & Kieran Foran Penrith Panthers 50th season Pepper Stadium Anthony Griffin Matt Moylan South Sydney Rabbitohs 107th season ANZ Stadium Michael Maguire Greg Inglis St. George Illawarra Dragons 18th season UOW Jubilee Oval & WIN Stadium Paul McGregor Ben Creagh & Gareth Widdop Sydney Roosters 109th season Allianz Stadium Trent Robinson Jake Friend Wests Tigers 16th season Campbelltown Stadium & Leichhardt Oval & ANZ Stadium Jason Taylor Aaron Woods
Pre-season
The 2016 pre-season featured the third edition of the Auckland Nines competition, held over a weekend at Auckland's Eden Park in which the Parramatta Eels defeated the New Zealand Warriors in the final. The All Stars match was held on February 13 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. The 2016 World Club Series took place in England with the NRL premiers North Queensland Cowboys defeating the Super League champions Leeds Rhinos in the World Club Challenge match.
Parramatta Eels salary cap breach
The Parramatta Eels were faced with starting the season on -4 points due to salary cap indiscretions in 2015, however the NRL was satisfied with governance changes at the Eels and no points were deducted.
However, on 3 May 2016, after further salary cap breaches were exposed by the NRL, CEO Todd Greenberg announced the preliminary penalties of the club being fined $1 million, deducted twelve competition points, stripped of its 2016 Auckland Nines title and they were barred from receiving any further competition points until they fell under the salary cap, which they were reported to have exceeded by $570,000. Five officials (chairman Steve Sharp, deputy chairman Tom Issa, director Peter Serrao, chief executive John Boulous and football manager Daniel Anderson) were also suspended indefinitely. On 12 May the NRL reported that Parramatta had fallen back under the salary cap for 2016 and were able to play for competition points again for their next scheduled game.
On 9 July, after over 2 months of club officials contesting the preliminary penalties, Parramatta were handed their punishment with the addition of their for/against points tally accumulated from rounds 1-9 being deducted.
Regular season
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 F1 F2 F3 GF Brisbane BroncosPAR13NZL15PEN1NQL1*GCT8SGI26NEW53SOU22CRO2MAN24NQL1WTI1NZL18CAN8XCBY26MEL42XSOU20PEN19SYD16SGI4PAR22CBY10MEL10SYD10GCT16NQL6* Canberra RaidersPEN8SYD1NEW0*GCT4CBY14PAR30CRO24WTI54PEN1SGI4*NZL26CBY12MAN12BRI8XGCT8NEW4*NQL14XNZL4*SOU50CRO16MEL14PAR10MAN14WTI42CRO2PEN10MEL2 Canterbury-Bankstown BulldogsMAN22PEN2PAR14SOU30CAN14MEL6NZL4GCT1*PAR8WTI32SYD12CAN12CRO2SGI18XBRI26SYD4WTI10XNQL36SGI3NEW14MAN4*BRI10NQL8SOU18PEN16 Cronulla-Sutherland SharksNQL6SGI28MAN10MEL8WTI8GCT5CAN24PEN2BRI2NEW62MAN8XCBY2NQL3XNZL1*PAR10PEN16SYD12NEW32GCT0*CAN16SGI14SOU6SYD25MEL20CAN2XNQL12MEL2 Gold Coast TitansNEW18MEL18WTI12CAN4BRI8CRO5SGI5CBY1*MEL38SYD20PEN4XSOU1*PAR10MAN20CAN8NZL9XSGI20PAR20CRO0*NZL10WTI1NEW20PEN1NQL16BRI16 Manly Warringah Sea EaglesCBY22WTI14CRO10SYD2SOU4NZL16PAR12NEW16NQL16BRI24CRO8XCAN12PEN7GCT20NQL4SGI30XNZL1*SOU8NEW20PAR1CBY4*MEL20CAN14PEN30 Melbourne StormSGI2GCT18NZL7CRO8NEW4CBY6WTI1*NZL42GCT38NQL1PAR12XPEN18SYD46SGI10WTI9BRI42XNEW4SYD16NQL8SOU1*CAN14MAN20BRI10CRO20NQL6XCAN2CRO2 Newcastle KnightsGCT18SOU42CAN0*NZL22MEL4WTI2BRI53MAN16SYD38CRO62WTI8PAR2NQL30NZL36XSGI12CAN4*XMEL4CRO32MAN20CBY14PEN36GCT20SOU22SGI2 New Zealand WarriorsWTI8BRI15MEL7NEW22SYD4*MAN16CBY4MEL42SGI16PEN12CAN26XBRI18NEW36SYD2CRO1*GCT9XMAN1*CAN4*PEN4*GCT10SOU19NQL28WTI12PAR22 North Queensland CowboysCRO6PAR4SYD40BRI1*SGI36PEN5SOU26PAR16MAN16MEL1BRI1SGI4NEW30CRO3XMAN4SOU20CAN14XCBY36MEL8WTI12SYD12NZL28CBY8GCT16MEL6BRI6*CRO12 Parramatta EelsBRI13NQL4CBY14WTI8PEN2CAN30MAN12NQL16CBY8SOU2MEL12NEW2XGCT10SOU18XCRO10SYD4PEN4GCT20WTI15MAN1BRI22CAN10SGI12NZL22 Penrith PanthersCAN8CBY2BRI1SGI2PAR2NQL5SYD4CRO2CAN1NZL12GCT4XMEL18MAN7XSOU2WTI8CRO16PAR4BRI19NZL4*SYD20NEW36WTI30GCT1MAN30CBY16CAN10 South Sydney RabbitohsSYD32NEW42SGI2CBY30MAN4SYD7NQL26BRI22WTI8PAR2SGI10XGCT1*WTI16PAR18PEN2NQL20XBRI20MAN8CAN50MEL1*NZL19CRO6NEW22CBY18 St. George Illawarra DragonsMEL2CRO28SOU2PEN2NQL36BRI26GCT5SYD2NZL16CAN4*SOU10NQL4XCBY18MEL10NEW12MAN30XGCT20WTI13CBY3BRI4CRO14SYD36PAR12NEW2 Sydney RoostersSOU32CAN1NQL40MAN2NZL4*SOU7PEN4SGI2NEW38GCT20CBY12XWTI14MEL46NZL2XCBY4PAR4CRO12MEL16BRI16PEN20NQL12SGI36CRO25BRI10 Wests TigersNZL8MAN14GCT12PAR8CRO8NEW2MEL1*CAN54SOU8CBY32NEW8BRI1SYD14SOU16XMEL9PEN8CBY10XSGI13PAR15NQL12GCT1PEN30NZL12CAN42 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 F1 F2 F3 GF
Bold – Opposition's Home game X – Bye * – Golden point game Opponent for round listed above margin
Ladder
Ladder progression Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 8. Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round. Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished last place on the ladder in that round. Underlined numbers indicate that the team had a bye during that round.
Team12345678910111213141516171819202122232425261 Melbourne 2 4 6 6 8 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 38 40 40 422 Canberra 2 4 5 5 7 7 7 9 9 9 11 13 15 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 393 Cronulla-Sutherland (P) 0 2 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 37 37 37 37 39 394 North Queensland 2 2 4 4 6 8 10 12 14 14 16 16 18 18 20 22 24 24 26 28 28 28 28 30 32 345 Brisbane 2 4 4 6 8 10 12 14 14 16 16 16 16 18 20 20 20 22 24 24 24 26 28 30 32 346 Penrith 0 0 2 2 4 4 6 6 8 10 10 12 12 14 16 18 18 18 20 22 22 24 26 28 30 327 Canterbury-Bankstown 2 4 4 6 6 8 8 10 10 12 14 14 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 26 28 30 32 32 32 328 Gold Coast 2 2 4 6 6 6 6 6 6 8 10 12 14 14 16 16 16 18 20 22 23 23 25 27 27 279 Wests 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 6 6 8 10 10 12 14 14 16 16 18 20 22 24 24 24 26 2610 New Zealand 0 0 0 2 4 4 6 6 8 8 8 10 12 14 16 16 18 20 20 20 22 24 24 24 24 2411 St. George Illawarra 0 0 2 4 4 4 6 8 8 10 10 12 14 14 16 18 18 20 20 20 20 20 22 22 22 2412 South Sydney 2 4 4 4 6 6 6 6 6 8 10 12 12 12 12 12 12 14 14 14 14 14 16 18 20 2213 Manly-Warringah 0 0 2 4 4 6 6 8 8 8 8 10 10 10 10 10 12 14 16 18 20 20 20 20 20 2014 Parramatta* 0 2 4 6 6 8 10 10 12 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 10 12 12 12 12 14 14 14 16 1815 Sydney 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 4 4 4 6 8 8 8 10 10 10 10 10 12 12 14 16 16 1616 Newcastle 0 0 1 1 1 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 5 5 5 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
Finals series
A new format of extra time was introduced for the finals series where two additional 5-minute periods are played and if the scores are still tied afterwards, the next team to score wins.
The 2016 Finals series is notable as the first time three Queensland teams have all made the finals in one season.
Canberra also broke a long preliminary final drought reaching their first grand final qualifier in 19 years.
HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and Time (Local)VenueRefereesCrowd QUALIFYING & ELIMINATION FINALS Brisbane Broncos 44 – 28 Gold Coast Titans 9 September 2016, 8:00pm Suncorp Stadium Gerard SuttonGavin Badger 43,170 Canberra Raiders 14 – 16 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 10 September 2016, 5:45pm GIO Stadium Canberra Matt CecchinAlan Shortall 25,592 Melbourne Storm 16 – 10 North Queensland Cowboys 10 September 2016, 8:00pm AAMI Park Ben CumminsGrant Atkins 21,233 Penrith Panthers 28 – 12 Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 11 September 2016, 4:15pm Allianz Stadium Jared MaxwellChris James 22,631 SEMI FINALS North Queensland Cowboys † 26 – 20 Brisbane Broncos 16 September 2016, 8:05pm 1300SMILES Stadium Matt CecchinAlan Shortall 23,804 Canberra Raiders 22 – 12 Penrith Panthers 17 September 2016, 7:50pm GIO Stadium Canberra Ben CumminsGerard Sutton 21,498 PRELIMINARY FINALS Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 32 – 20 North Queensland Cowboys 23 September 2016, 8:05pm Allianz Stadium Ben CumminsGerard Sutton 36,717 Melbourne Storm 14 – 12 Canberra Raiders 24 September 2016, 7:55pm AAMI Park Matt CecchinAlan Shortall 28,161 † Match decided in extra time.
Chart
Grand final
Regular season player statistics The following statistics are at the conclusion of Round 26.
Top 5 point scorers PointsPlayerTriesGoalsField Goals276 Jarrod Croker171040185 Johnathan Thurston2881185 James Maloney5813176 Cameron Smith2832162 Michael Gordon5710 Top 5 try scorers TriesPlayer22 Suliasi Vunivalu20 Jordan Rapana19 Bevan French19 Valentine Holmes17 Jarrod Croker
Top 5 goal scorers GoalsPlayer104 Jarrod Croker88 Johnathan Thurston83 Cameron Smith81 James Maloney71 Michael Gordon Top 5 tacklers TacklesPlayer1,279 Jake Friend1,042 Simon Mannering1,022 Mitch Rein960 Cameron Smith941 Elliott Whitehead
Transfers
Players