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,^[1] 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.^[2] The season was also noteworthy as it was the first time that all three Queensland based teams made the finals.

Quick Facts Duration, Teams ...

2016 National Rugby League
Duration	March 3 – October 2, 2016
Teams	16
Premiers	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks (1st title)
Minor premiers	Melbourne Storm (2nd title)
Matches played	201
Points scored	8388
Average attendance	16,063
Attendance	3,228,623
Top points scorer(s)	Jarrod Croker (296)
Player of the year	Cooper Cronk & Jason Taumalolo (Dally M Medal)
Top try-scorer(s)	Suliasi Vunivalu (22)
← 2015 2017 →

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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.^[3]

More information Colours, Club ...

Colours	Club	Season [citation needed]	Home ground(s)	Head coach	Captain(s) [citation needed]
	Brisbane Broncos	29th season	Suncorp Stadium	Wayne Bennett	Corey Parker[4]
	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[5]
	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[6]
	New Zealand Warriors	22nd season	Mt. Smart Stadium	Andrew McFadden	Ryan Hoffman[7]
	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[8]
	Penrith Panthers	50th season	Pepper Stadium	Anthony Griffin	Matt Moylan[9]
	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[10]
	Sydney Roosters	109th season	Allianz Stadium	Trent Robinson	Jake Friend[11]
	Wests Tigers	16th season	Campbelltown Stadium & Leichhardt Oval & ANZ Stadium	Jason Taylor	Aaron Woods[12]

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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.

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.^[13]

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^[14] 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.^[15]

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.^[16]

Bold – Opposition's Home game
X – Bye
* – Golden point game
Opponent for round listed above margin

More information Pos, Team ...

2016 NRL season v t e
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Melbourne Storm	24	19	0	5	2	563	302	+261	42
2	Canberra Raiders	24	17	1	6	2	688	456	+232	39
3	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks (P)	24	17	1	6	2	580	404	+176	39
4	North Queensland Cowboys	24	15	0	9	2	584	355	+229	34
5	Brisbane Broncos	24	15	0	9	2	554	434	+120	34
6	Penrith Panthers	24	14	0	10	2	563	463	+100	32
7	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	24	14	0	10	2	506	448	+58	32
8	Gold Coast Titans	24	11	1	12	2	508	497	+11	27
9	Wests Tigers	24	11	0	13	2	499	607	−108	26
10	New Zealand Warriors	24	10	0	14	2	513	601	−88	24
11	St. George Illawarra Dragons	24	10	0	14	2	341	538	−197	24
12	South Sydney Rabbitohs	24	9	0	15	2	473	549	−76	22
13	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	24	8	0	16	2	454	563	−109	20
14	Parramatta Eels	24	13	0	11	2	298	324	−26	181
15	Sydney Roosters	24	6	0	18	2	443	576	−133	16
16	Newcastle Knights	24	1	1	22	2	305	800	−495	7

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¹ Parramatta were deducted 12 competition points and their for/against tally accumulated between rounds 1-9 for gross long-term salary cap breaches.

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.

More information Team ...

	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
1	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	42
2	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	39
3	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	39
4	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	34
5	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	34
6	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	32
7	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	32
8	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	27
9	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	26
10	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	24
11	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	24
12	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	22
13	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	20
14	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	18
15	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	16
16	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

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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.^[17]

More information Home, Score ...

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time (Local)	Venue	Referees	Crowd
QUALIFYING & ELIMINATION FINALS
Brisbane Broncos	44 – 28	Gold Coast Titans	9 September 2016, 8:00 pm	Suncorp Stadium	Gerard Sutton Gavin Badger	43,170
Canberra Raiders	14 – 16	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	10 September 2016, 5:45 pm	GIO Stadium Canberra	Matt Cecchin Alan Shortall	25,592
Melbourne Storm	16 – 10	North Queensland Cowboys	10 September 2016, 8:00 pm	AAMI Park	Ben Cummins Grant Atkins	21,233
Penrith Panthers	28 – 12	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	11 September 2016, 4:15 pm	Allianz Stadium	Jared Maxwell Chris James	22,631
SEMI FINALS
North Queensland Cowboys †	26 – 20	Brisbane Broncos	16 September 2016, 8:05 pm	1300SMILES Stadium	Matt Cecchin Alan Shortall	23,804
Canberra Raiders	22 – 12	Penrith Panthers	17 September 2016, 7:50 pm	GIO Stadium Canberra	Ben Cummins Gerard Sutton	21,498
PRELIMINARY FINALS
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	32 – 20	North Queensland Cowboys	23 September 2016, 8:05 pm	Allianz Stadium	Ben Cummins Gerard Sutton	36,717
Melbourne Storm	14 – 12	Canberra Raiders	24 September 2016, 7:55 pm	AAMI Park	Matt Cecchin Alan Shortall	28,161

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† Match decided in extra time.

Chart

	Qualifying and elimination finals					Semi-finals						Preliminary finals					Grand Final
	10 Sept, AAMI Park
	1	Melbourne	16
	4	North Queensland	10			16 Sept, 1300SMILES Stadium
						North Queensland		26
	9 Sept, Suncorp Stadium					Brisbane		20				24 Sept, AAMI Park
	5	Brisbane	44									Melbourne		14
	8	Gold Coast	28									Canberra		12			2 Oct, ANZ Stadium
																	Melbourne		12
	11 Sept, Allianz Stadium											23 Sept, Allianz Stadium					Cronulla-Sutherland		14
	6	Penrith	28									Cronulla-Sutherland		32
	7	Canterbury-Bankstown	12			17 Sept, GIO Stadium Canberra						North Queensland		20
						Canberra		22
	10 Sept, GIO Stadium Canberra					Penrith		12
	2	Canberra	14
	3	Cronulla-Sutherland	16

The following statistics are at the conclusion of Round 26.

More information Points, Player ...

Top 5 point scorers Points Player Tries Goals Field Goals 276 Jarrod Croker 17 104 0 185 Johnathan Thurston 2 88 1 185 James Maloney 5 81 3 176 Cameron Smith 2 83 2 162 Michael Gordon 5 71 0 Top 5 try scorers Tries Player 22 Suliasi Vunivalu 20 Jordan Rapana 19 Bevan French 19 Valentine Holmes 17 Jarrod Croker

Top 5 goal scorers Goals Player 104 Jarrod Croker 88 Johnathan Thurston 83 Cameron Smith 81 James Maloney 71 Michael Gordon Top 5 tacklers Tackles Player 1,279 Jake Friend 1,042 Simon Mannering 1,022 Mitch Rein 960 Cameron Smith 941 Elliott Whitehead

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Total and average home attendances:^[19]