Teams

The number of teams competing remained unchanged for the second consecutive year, with sixteen clubs contesting the premiership, including five Sydney-based foundation teams, another six from Sydney, two from greater New South Wales, two from Queensland, and one from the Australian Capital Territory

Balmain Tigers 83rd season Ground: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Warren Ryan Captain: Wayne Pearce	Brisbane Broncos 3rd season Ground: Lang Park Coach: Wayne Bennett Captain: Gene Miles	Canberra Raiders 9th season Ground: Bruce Stadium Coach: Tim Sheens Captain: Mal Meninga	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 56th season Ground: Belmore Sports Ground Coach: Chris Anderson Captain: Terry Lamb
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 24th season Ground: Endeavour Field Coach: Allan Fitzgibbon Captain: David Hatch	Eastern Suburbs Roosters 83rd season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: Russell Fairfax→Hugh McGahan Captain: Hugh McGahan	Gold Coast Seagulls 3rd season Ground: Seagulls Stadium Coach: Bob McCarthy Captain: Billy Johnstone	Illawarra Steelers 9th season Ground: Wollongong Showground Coach: Ron Hilditch Captain: Chris Walsh
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 44th season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Graham Lowe Captain: Michael O'Connor	Newcastle Knights 3rd season Ground: Marathon Stadium Coach: Allan McMahon Captain: Sam Stewart	North Sydney Bears 83rd season Ground: North Sydney Oval Coach: Steve Martin Captain: Tony Rea	Parramatta Eels 44th season Ground: Parramatta Stadium Coach: Mick Cronin Captain: Peter Sterling
Penrith Panthers 24th season Ground: Penrith Stadium Coach: Phil Gould Captain: Royce Simmons	South Sydney Rabbitohs 83rd season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: George Piggins → Frank Curry Captain: Mario Fenech	St. George Dragons 70th season Ground: Kogarah Oval Coach: Craig Young Captain: Trevor Bailey	Western Suburbs Magpies 83rd season Ground: Orana Park Coach: John Bailey Captain: Ivan Henjak

Advertising

1990 saw the NSWRL's advertising shift to a new level of sophistication, marking the first use of Tina Turner's 1989 hit "The Best". The league and its Sydney advertising agency Hertz Walpole struck gold in forging a link between the game and the song, which would become the soundtrack to a marketing success story that skyrocketed right up to a point of self-implosion in the Super League war of 1996–1997.

Tina Turner's manager Roger Davies contacted agency chief Jim Walpole in 1989 to advise that Turner's upcoming album Foreign Affair was to contain a rendition of a Mike Chapman and Holly Knight song which might possibly be of interest to Walpole's NSWRL client. The track, which had been previously released by Bonnie Tyler with modest results, would prove to be one of Turner's most successful singles. After hearing demo tracks, Walpole and the NSWRL General Manager John Quayle and his marketing staff sensed the linkage could be perfect.

Turner was brought to Australia amid much public interest for a massive film shoot where enough footage was secured for advertisements for both the 1990 and 1991 seasons.

The finished 1990 advertisement, in its full two-minute version, tells the story of Turner's touchdown at Sydney Airport and a scurry through paparazzi; she then finds herself in a warehouse training scene that's more glamour than grit where players from a number of clubs are working out on weights and climbing vertical chains. She plays touch footy on a beach, attends a lunch where she cheekily surprises Gavin Miller, whom she had met at the 1989 UK shoot, and later arrives by helicopter to a black-tie dinner with Andrew Ettingshausen and Gene Miles. Throughout are the de rigueur big hits and action shots, with Turner cheering in a replica grand final crowd, and finally congratulating the 1989 premiership captain, Mal Meninga.

Ladder

South Sydney went from minor premiers in 1989 to wooden spooners in 1990, becoming the third club to suffer this ignominy after Canterbury from 1942 to 1943 and Western Suburbs from 1952 to 1953 – however, the Rabbitohs’ decline of sixteen and a half wins is easily the most severe in league history. It would mark the beginning of a 22-year barren wilderness for the Rabbitohs spanning 1990-2011 (which included two seasons excluded from the competition in 2000–01), during which they would only record a solitary finals appearance in 2007. Canberra won their first and to date only minor premiership.

More information Team, Pld ...

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Canberra (P)	22	16	1	5	532	245	+287	33
2	Brisbane	22	16	1	5	478	278	+200	33
3	Penrith	22	15	1	6	415	286	+129	31
4	Manly-Warringah	22	15	0	7	395	255	+125	30
5	Balmain	22	14	0	8	432	284	+148	28
6	Newcastle	22	13	2	7	344	305	+39	28
7	Canterbury-Bankstown	22	12	1	9	354	291	+65	25
8	Parramatta	22	12	1	9	387	347	+40	25
9	Illawarra	22	11	1	10	366	361	+5	23
10	Cronulla-Sutherland	22	11	0	11	370	359	+11	22
11	North Sydney	22	10	0	12	322	298	+24	20
12	St. George	22	8	0	14	371	399	-28	16
13	Western Suburbs	22	6	1	15	323	433	-110	13
14	Eastern Suburbs	22	6	1	15	283	547	-264	13
15	Gold Coast	22	4	0	18	233	567	-334	8
16	South Sydney	22	2	0	20	302	652	-350	4

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Ladder progression

• Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 5.
• 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.

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
1	Canberra Raiders	2	4	4	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	16	18	20	20	20	22	23	25	27	29	31	33
2	Brisbane Broncos	1	3	3	5	5	7	7	9	11	13	15	17	19	21	23	25	27	29	29	29	31	33
3	Penrith Panthers	0	2	4	5	7	9	11	11	11	13	15	17	17	19	21	23	23	25	27	29	31	31
4	Manly Warringah Sea Eagles	2	4	4	4	4	6	8	8	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	22	22	24	26	28	30
5	Balmain Tigers	0	0	2	4	6	8	10	10	12	14	14	16	18	20	22	22	24	24	26	28	28	28
6	Newcastle Knights	2	2	4	5	5	5	5	7	9	9	11	13	15	17	19	21	23	25	25	26	26	28
7	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	2	2	4	6	8	9	11	13	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	17	17	17	19	21	23	25
8	Parramatta Eels	2	2	4	4	6	6	6	8	8	10	12	14	14	16	18	18	18	20	22	23	25	25
9	Illawarra Steelers	2	2	4	4	6	8	8	8	8	10	10	10	12	12	12	14	15	17	17	19	21	23
10	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	2	4	6	8	8	8	10	12	12	12	14	14	16	18	18	20	22	22	22	22	22	22
11	North Sydney Bears	0	2	2	2	4	4	6	8	10	12	14	14	14	16	18	18	20	20	20	20	20	20
12	St. George Dragons	0	2	2	2	4	6	8	8	8	8	8	10	10	10	10	10	12	14	14	14	16	16
13	Western Suburbs Magpies	1	1	1	3	3	3	3	5	7	7	9	9	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	13
14	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	0	2	2	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	7	7	7	9	11	11	11	13
15	Gold Coast Seagulls	0	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	6	8	8	8
16	South Sydney Rabbitohs	0	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4

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Chart

	Qualifying final					Major semi-final					Preliminary final					Grand final
						1	Canberra	12								Penrith		14
							Penrith	30								Canberra		18
	2	Brisbane	16								Canberra		32
	3	Penrith	26			Minor semi-final					Brisbane		4
						Brisbane		12
	4	Manly	16			Manly		4
	5	Balmain	0

Grand final

The 1990 season's grand final was played on the afternoon of Sunday, 23 September at the Sydney Football Stadium before a crowd of 41,535.^[2] Penrith were attempting to become the first team to win a grand final in their first attempt, but were coming up against an experienced Canberra team.

Extra time in the reserve grade grand final followed by the pre-match entertainment (including a performance by John Farnham) running late meant that referee Bill Harrigan blew time on for the kick-off half an hour behind schedule. This may have worked to the advantage of the more experienced Raiders and served to rattle the young Panthers. Canberra jumped to a 12-nil lead in the opening minutes after their half-back Ricky Stuart laid on tries for winger John Ferguson and Laurie Daley and the match appeared as good as over despite a strengthening of Penrith's defence as they recovered. The Panthers came back to trail 12-10 after Greg Alexander put Brad Fittler in for a try just before half-time and Paul Smith in for another seven minutes into the second half. Canberra moved to 18–10 in the second half when replacement winger Matthew Wood scored. A late try from Alexander still left Penrith trailing 18–14 at the full-time siren.^[3] Both sides finished with three tries each but the wizardry of Stuart and the kicking boot of Meninga were the difference that saw the Raiders with their second consecutive premiership.

Canberra's Ricky Stuart was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal as man of the match.

Canberra Raiders 18
Tries: Ferguson, Daley, Wood
Goals: Meninga 3/3

Penrith Panthers 14
Tries: Fittler, Smith, Alexander
Goals: Alexander 1/3