The 2018 NRL season was the 111th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 21st season run by the National Rugby League. The main competition, known as the 2018 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra, featured 16 teams playing 25 weekly rounds of matches from March until September, resulting in the top eight teams playing a series of finals matches to determine which two teams reached the 2018 NRL Grand Final.
Teams
The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 12th consecutive year.
Colours Club Season Home ground(s) Head coach Captain(s) Brisbane Broncos 31st season Suncorp Stadium Wayne Bennett Darius Boyd Canberra Raiders 37th season GIO Stadium Canberra Ricky Stuart Jarrod Croker Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 84th season ANZ Stadium & Belmore Sports Ground Dean Pay Josh Jackson Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 52nd season Southern Cross Group Stadium Shane Flanagan Paul Gallen & Wade Graham Gold Coast Titans 12th season Cbus Super Stadium Garth Brennan Ryan James Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 69th season Lottoland Trent Barrett Daly Cherry-Evans Melbourne Storm 21st season AAMI Park Craig Bellamy Cameron Smith Newcastle Knights 31st season McDonald Jones Stadium Nathan Brown Jamie Buhrer & Mitchell Pearce New Zealand Warriors 24th season Mt. Smart Stadium Stephen Kearney Roger Tuivasa-Sheck North Queensland Cowboys 24th season 1300SMILES Stadium Paul Green Johnathan Thurston & Matt Scott Parramatta Eels 72nd season ANZ Stadium Brad Arthur Tim Mannah, Beau Scott & Clint Gutherson Penrith Panthers 52nd season Panthers Stadium → Cameron Ciraldo (interim) → James Maloney South Sydney Rabbitohs 109th season ANZ Stadium Anthony Seibold Greg Inglis St. George Illawarra Dragons 20th season UOW Jubilee Oval & WIN Stadium Paul McGregor Gareth Widdop Sydney Roosters 111th season Allianz Stadium Trent Robinson Jake Friend & Boyd Cordner Wests Tigers 19th season Leichhardt Oval, Campbelltown Stadium & ANZ Stadium Ivan Cleary Chris Lawrence, Benji Marshall, Elijah Taylor, Josh Reynolds & Russell Packer
Pre-season The 2018 pre-season as usual saw a number of trials. In addition it saw British clubs Leeds Rhinos, Hull F.C., and Wigan Warriors conduct pre-season tours to Australia. Leeds's tour was ahead of their the 2018 World Club Challenge clash Melbourne Storm (won by Melbourne 38–4), while Hull's and Wigan's was ahead of them hosting a Super League game at Wollongong Showground.
Trial results
italics indicates a non-NRL club
7 February: Newcastle Knights 26-22 Melbourne Storm 10 February: Brisbane Broncos 16-6 Central Queensland Capras 17 February: New Zealand Warriors 24-14 Melbourne Storm 17 February: St George Illawarra Dragons 24-18 Hull F.C. 17 February: Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 16-12 Canberra Raiders 17 February: Penrith Panthers 30-18 Sydney Roosters 17 February: Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 30-14 Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 17 February: South Sydney Rabbitohs 18-8 Wigan Warriors 17 February: Brisbane Broncos 38-10 Gold Coast Titans 17 February: Wests Tigers 30-16 North Queensland Cowboys 23 February: North Queensland Cowboys 16-14 Melbourne Storm 24 February: Brisbane Broncos 26-12 PNG Hunters 24 February: New Zealand Warriors 20-14 Gold Coast Titans 24 February: Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 24-10 Penrith Panthers 24 February: Sydney Roosters 28-26 Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 24 February: Parramatta Eels 26-6 Newcastle Knights 24 February: Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 24-12 Wests Tigers 24 February: South Sydney Rabbitohs 22-18 St George Illawarra Dragons
Regular season
With the City vs. Country representative game having been scrapped, the NRL scheduled 6 games to take place in regional areas of New South Wales and Queensland as a replacement: Tamworth, Bathurst & Mudgee, and Toowoomba, Gladstone & Cairns.
The overall structure of the season's draw was also revised. The second game of the 2018 State of Origin series was played as a stand-alone fixture on a Sunday to avoid conflict with the regular season. Due to this the competition was shortened to 25 rounds and each team got 1 bye as opposed to 2 in previous years.
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 F1 F2 F3 GF Brisbane BroncosSGI22NQL4WTI2*GCT12NEW5NZL9MEL14SOU4CBY2MAN14SYD6PAR8XMEL16CRO4CAN4GCT34NZL20PEN32CRO2CBY14NQL4SOU20SYD14MAN32SGI30 Canberra RaidersGCT2NEW2NZL1MAN16CBY16PAR16SOU20NQL10GCT14CRO8SGI7MAN1XPEN1WTI36BRI4CBY4NQL26CRO4MEL34PEN9WTI2SYD2SOU12NZL4 Canterbury-Bankstown BulldogsMEL18SYD18PEN2SOU4CAN16NQL17SYD6PEN8BRI2PAR8CRO6WTI4XSGI2GCT22NEW20CAN4SOU18PAR6WTI12BRI14MAN12NZL1SGI38CRO12 Cronulla-Sutherland SharksNQL6SGI4PAR10MEL10SYD18SGI20PEN4GCT1PAR2CAN8CBY6NEW38SOU8WTI8BRI4NZL3XPEN12CAN4BRI2MAN1*MEL3NQL12NEW26CBY12SYD9PEN1MEL16 Gold Coast TitansCAN2NZL12SGI46BRI12MAN12PEN23NQL12CRO1CAN14MEL14NEW7SYD20XSOU2CBY22WTI18BRI34SYD8NEW6NZL24PAR16PEN1*MAN8MEL2NQL4 Manly Warringah Sea EaglesNEW1*PAR54SOU28CAN16GCT12WTI26PAR34NEW6SYD2BRI14MEL20CAN1NQL14NZL20SGI24PEN8XMEL1SYD32PEN4CRO1*CBY12GCT8WTI2BRI32 Melbourne StormCBY18WTI2NQL16CRO10WTI1NEW26BRI14NZL40SGI20GCT14MAN20NQL1XBRI16NEW18SYD1SGI22MAN1NZL6CAN34SOU10CRO3PAR16GCT2PEN6SOU1XCRO16SYD15 Newcastle KnightsMAN1*CAN2SYD30SGI18BRI5MEL26WTI2MAN6SOU18PEN11GCT7CRO38PAR26SYD2MEL18CBY20XPAR2GCT6NQL2WTI9NZL16PEN8CRO26SGI10 New Zealand WarriorsSOU12GCT12CAN1SYD24NQL10BRI9SGI8MEL40WTI22SYD32PAR10SOU20XMAN20NQL7CRO3PEN32BRI20MEL6GCT24SGI6NEW16CBY1PEN20CAN4PEN15 North Queensland CowboysCRO6BRI4MEL16PEN19NZL10CBY17GCT12CAN10PEN6WTI8SOU1MEL1MAN14PAR6NZL7SOU1XCAN26SGI14NEW2SYD6BRI4CRO12PAR38GCT4 Parramatta EelsPEN10MAN54CRO10WTI10PEN6CAN16MAN34WTI2CRO2CBY8NZL10BRI8NEW26NQL6SOU18SGI2XNEW2CBY6SOU6GCT16SGI36MEL16NQL38SYD34 Penrith PanthersPAR10SOU4CBY2NQL19PAR6GCT23CRO4CBY8NQL6NEW11WTI14SGI26XCAN1SYD26MAN8NZL32CRO12BRI32MAN4CAN9GCT1*NEW8NZL20MEL6NZL15CRO1 South Sydney RabbitohsNZL12PEN4MAN28CBY4SGI4SYD12CAN20BRI4NEW18SGI14NQL1NZL20CRO8GCT2PAR18NQL1XCBY18WTI16PAR6MEL10SYD4BRI20CAN12WTI41MEL1SGI1SYD8 St. George Illawarra DragonsBRI22CRO4GCT46NEW18SOU4CRO20NZL8SYD16MEL20SOU14CAN7PEN26XCBY2MAN24PAR2MEL22WTI4NQL14SYD18NZL6PAR36WTI10CBY38NEW10BRI30SOU1 Sydney RoostersWTI2CBY18NEW30NZL24CRO18SOU12CBY6SGI16MAN2NZL32BRI6GCT20WTI2NEW2PEN26MEL1XGCT8MAN32SGI18NQL6SOU4CAN2BRI14PAR34CRO9XSOU8MEL15 Wests TigersSYD2MEL2BRI2*PAR10MEL1MAN26NEW2PAR2NZL22NQL8PEN14CBY4SYD2CRO8CAN36GCT18XSGI4SOU16CBY12NEW9CAN2SGI10MAN2SOU41 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 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. Team123456789101112131415161718192021222324251 Sydney 0 2 4 4 6 6 8 8 1012 12 14 16 18 20 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 32 32 342 Melbourne 2 2 4 4 4 6 8 10 10 12 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 30 30 32 34 343 South Sydney 0 0 2 4 4 6 8 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 28 30 32 32 32 32 344 Cronulla-Sutherland 0 0 2 4 4 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 16 18 18 20 22 24 26 26 26 28 30 32 345 Penrith 2 4 4 6 8 10 10 12 12 14 16 18 20 22 22 22 24 24 24 26 28 30 30 30 326 Brisbane 0 2 4 4 4 6 6 8 10 10 12 14 16 16 18 20 22 22 24 26 26 26 28 30 327 St. George Illawarra 2 4 6 8 10 12 12 14 16 16 18 18 20 22 24 26 26 26 28 28 28 28 30 30 328 New Zealand 2 4 6 8 10 10 12 12 14 14 16 16 18 20 22 22 22 24 24 24 26 28 28 30 329 Wests 2 4 4 6 8 10 10 10 10 12 12 14 14 14 14 14 16 18 20 20 22 24 24 26 2610 Canberra 0 0 0 0 2 4 4 6 8 8 8 10 12 12 14 14 16 18 18 18 18 18 20 22 2211 Newcastle 2 4 4 4 6 6 8 10 10 10 10 10 12 12 12 12 14 16 18 18 18 18 20 20 2012 Canterbury-Bankstown 0 0 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 6 6 6 8 8 8 10 10 10 10 12 14 14 16 18 1813 North Queensland 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 6 6 6 6 8 8 8 8 10 10 10 12 12 14 14 16 1814 Gold Coast 2 2 2 4 6 6 6 6 6 6 8 8 10 10 12 14 14 14 14 16 16 16 18 18 1815 Manly-Warringah 0 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 6 8 8 8 8 8 10 12 12 12 12 14 16 16 16 1616 Parramatta 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 6 6 6 8 8 10 10 12 14 14 14 14
Finals series
HomeScoreAwayMatch InformationDate and Time (Local)VenueRefereesCrowd QUALIFYING & ELIMINATION FINALS Melbourne Storm 29 – 28 South Sydney Rabbitohs 7 September 2018, 7:50pm AAMI Park Ashley KleinAdam Gee 17,306 Penrith Panthers 27 – 12 New Zealand Warriors 8 September 2018, 5:40pm ANZ Stadium Matt CecchinHenry Perenara 17,168 Sydney Roosters 21 – 12 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 8 September 2018, 7:50pm Allianz Stadium Gerard SuttonBen Cummins 24,588 Brisbane Broncos 18 – 48 St. George Illawarra Dragons 9 September 2018, 4:10pm Suncorp Stadium Grant AtkinsChris Sutton 47,296 SEMI FINALS Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 21 – 20 Penrith Panthers 14 September 2018, 7:50pm Allianz Stadium Ashley KleinAdam Gee 19,211 South Sydney Rabbitohs 13 – 12 St. George Illawarra Dragons 15 September 2018, 7:50pm ANZ Stadium Gerard SuttonBen Cummins 48,188 PRELIMINARY FINALS Melbourne Storm 22 – 6 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 21 September 2018, 7:55pm AAMI Park Gerard SuttonBen Cummins 26,621 Sydney Roosters 12 – 4 South Sydney Rabbitohs 22 September 2018, 7:50pm Allianz Stadium Ashley KleinAdam Gee 44,380 † Match decided in extra time.
Chart
Grand final
Player statistics and records Jamayne Isaako broke the record for the most points scored in a rookie season with 239, which was set by Mick Cronin in 1977 who scored 225 points. Gavin Cooper became the first forward in the 111 year history of the NRL to score a try in nine consecutive games, beating the previous record of eight set by Frank Burge in 1918. Cameron Smith became the first hooker in NRL history to score 200 points in a season.
The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 25.
Top 5 point scorers PointsPlayerTriesGoalsField Goals233 Jamayne Isaako11941228 Latrell Mitchell15840191 Gareth Widdop4871186 Adam Reynolds4842181 Cameron Smith1881 Top 5 try scorers TriesPlayer22 David Fusitu'a21 Valentine Holmes18 Robert Jennings18 Corey Oates17 Blake Ferguson17 Josh Addo-Carr
Top 5 goal scorers GoalsPlayer94 Jamayne Isaako88 Cameron Smith87 Gareth Widdop84 Adam Reynolds84 Latrell Mitchell Top 5 tacklers TacklesPlayer1,102 Jake Friend1,062 Cameron McInnes968 Jake Trbojevic963 Matt Eisenhuth954 Aidan Guerra
2018 Transfers
Players