2015 NRL season

The 2015 NRL season was the 108th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 18th season of the National Rugby League in Australia and New Zealand. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, which was followed by the Rugby League All Stars Match, returning after a one-year hiatus, and the World Club Series. North Queensland Cowboys won their first premiership in only the second Grand Final to be decided in extra time and their second ever grand final.

Season launch and advertising The season launched with a gala event at the Queens Wharf, Auckland on 29 January attended by a selection of the code's stars, including Shaun Johnson and Greg Inglis. It was the first time the event had been held outside Australia.Auckland welcomes NRL season launch nrl.com, 30 January 2015NRL season to launch in New Zealand nrl.com, 5 December 2014

The NRL and their longstanding ad agency MJW Haukuhodo used, for the second year running, Robbie Williams' "Let Me Entertain You" as the commercial soundtrack. The launch commercial takes members and supporters on a journey from the outback plains of Western Queensland to an inner city boot camp in Sydney and features more than fifty NRL club members and fans in a range of scenarios that include a rendition of a Haka on a Sydney train and a focus on Greg Inglis' trademark Goanna post-try celebration.Season launch

The second Sunday afternoon match began at 4:10pm instead of the traditional 3:10pm. This change was to allow the Nine Network to show the match live in New South Wales and Queensland, and use it as a lead-in to their respective 6:00 pm news bulletins.

Teams

The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 9th consecutive year. The NRL's salary cap for the clubs' top 25 players will be $A6.3M for 2015. Colours Club Season Home ground(s) Head coach Captain(s) Brisbane Broncos 28th season Suncorp Stadium Wayne Bennett Justin Hodges Canberra Raiders 34th season GIO Stadium Canberra Ricky Stuart Jarrod Croker Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 81st season ANZ Stadium & Belmore Sports Ground Des Hasler James Graham Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 49th season Remondis Stadium Shane Flanagan Paul Gallen Gold Coast Titans 9th season Cbus Super Stadium Neil Henry Nate Myles Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 66th season Brookvale Oval Geoff Toovey Jamie Lyon Melbourne Storm 18th season AAMI Park Craig Bellamy Cameron Smith Newcastle Knights 28th season Hunter Stadium Rick Stone→Danny Buderus (interim) Kurt Gidley New Zealand Warriors 21st season Mt. Smart Stadium Andrew McFadden Simon Mannering North Queensland Cowboys 21st season 1300SMILES Stadium Paul Green Johnathan Thurston & Matt Scott Parramatta Eels 69th season Pirtek Stadium Brad Arthur Tim Mannah Penrith Panthers 49th season Pepper Stadium Ivan Cleary Peter Wallace South Sydney Rabbitohs 106th season ANZ Stadium Michael Maguire Greg Inglis St. George Illawarra Dragons 17th season WIN Jubilee Oval & WIN Stadium Paul McGregor Ben Creagh Sydney Roosters 108th season Allianz Stadium Trent Robinson Mitchell Pearce & Jake Friend Wests Tigers 16th season Campbelltown Stadium & Leichhardt Oval Jason Taylor Robbie Farah

Pre-season

The 2015 pre-season featured the second Auckland Nines tournament, held over a weekend at Auckland's Eden Park in which the South Sydney Rabbitohs defeated the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the final. This tournament took place on the last weekend of January, and the All Stars match was played on Friday 13 February at Cbus Super Stadium in Robina.NRL Nines to kick off 2015 season in January, Sydney Morning Herald, 6 May 2014 The 2015 World Club Series took place in England with 2014 premiers the South Sydney Rabbitohs taking on Super League champions St. Helens in the showpiece match, which South Sydney won.

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 BroncosSOU30CRO8NQL22NZL8GCT10SYD4SGI2PAR12PEN3NQL11NEW13CAN12MAN34XMEL2NEW22XCBY8WTI26GCT34MAN30CBY2SGI26SYD2SOU35MEL7NQL4XSYD19NQL1 Canberra RaidersCRO4NZL12SGI2SYD28MAN13MEL4WTI8SOU8GCT40SGI14CBY7BRI12NEW22XNQL1NZL22XNEW14CRO1PEN10NQL8WTI2MAN2GCT16PEN16PAR4 Canterbury-Bankstown BulldogsPEN6PAR20MAN4WTI1SOU1SGI25MAN12WTI24NQL7SYD14CAN7XSGI13GCT14PEN12MEL16XBRI8PAR24CRO2SYD10BRI2GCT22SOU14NEW2NZL4SGI1SYD26 Cronulla-Sutherland SharksCAN4BRI8MEL18GCT2SYD8NEW16SOU8PEN8NZL4GCT1XSGI36SYD6XNEW2NQL6MAN12SGI20CAN1CBY2NZL4NQL12MEL28WTI22PAR7MAN2SOU16NQL39 Gold Coast TitansWTI1PEN40NEW2CRO2BRI10PAR22PEN26NZL4CAN40CRO1XSOU6WTI7CBY14NZL22SYD10XMAN32NEW28BRI34PAR10MEL22CBY22CAN16SGI2NQL30 Manly Warringah Sea EaglesPAR30MEL2CBY4SGI8CAN13PEN10CBY12MEL2NEW20PEN1XNQL4BRI34XWTI10SOU12CRO12GCT32NQL18NZL20BRI30SOU20CAN2PAR4SYD36CRO2 Melbourne StormSGI8MAN2CRO18NQL1NZL16CAN4SYD1MAN2PAR18SOU4XSYD22PEN20PAR4BRI2CBY16XNZL14PEN42SGI18WTI18GCT22CRO28NEW14NQL8BRI7SYD2XNQL20 Newcastle KnightsNZL10NQL2GCT2PEN12SGI13CRO16PAR6NQL2MAN20WTI10BRI13NZL4CAN22XCRO2BRI22XCAN14GCT28SOU46SGI22SYD16WTI6MEL14CBY2PEN18 New Zealand WarriorsNEW10CAN12PAR13BRI8MEL16WTI10NQL4GCT4CRO4PAR4XNEW4SOU32SYD4GCT22CAN22XMEL14SYD24MAN20CRO4SGI36PEN14NQL34WTI34CBY4 North Queensland CowboysSYD24NEW2BRI22MEL1PEN20SOU18NZL4NEW2CBY7BRI11WTI8MAN4PAR6XCAN1CRO6SGI6XMAN18PAR42CAN8CRO12SOU13NZL34MEL8GCT30BRI4CRO39MEL20BRI1 Parramatta EelsMAN30CBY20NZL13SOU13WTI16GCT22NEW6BRI12MEL18NZL4SOU2PEN6NQL6MEL4XSGI4WTI12XCBY24NQL42GCT10PEN6SYD10MAN4CRO7CAN4 Penrith PanthersCBY6GCT40SYD8NEW12NQL20MAN10GCT26CRO8BRI3MAN1XPAR6MEL20XCBY12WTI23SOU14SYD20MEL42CAN10SOU4PAR6NZL14SGI7CAN16NEW18 South Sydney RabbitohsBRI30SYD8WTI14PAR13CBY1NQL18CRO8CAN8SGI6MEL4PAR2GCT6NZL32WTI28XMAN12PEN14XSGI16NEW46PEN4MAN20NQL13CBY14BRI35SYD30CRO16 St. George Illawarra DragonsMEL8WTI18CAN2MAN8NEW13CBY25BRI2SYD2SOU6CAN14XCRO36CBY13XSYD5PAR4NQL6CRO20SOU16MEL18NEW22NZL36BRI26PEN7GCT2WTI2CBY1 Sydney RoostersNQL24SOU8PEN8CAN28CRO8BRI4MEL1SGI2WTI32CBY14XMEL22CRO6NZL4SGI5GCT10XPEN20NZL24WTI25CBY10NEW16PAR10BRI2MAN36SOU30MEL2CBY26BRI19 Wests TigersGCT1SGI18SOU14CBY1PAR16NZL10CAN8CBY24SYD32NEW10NQL8XGCT7SOU28MAN10PEN23PAR12XBRI26SYD25MEL18CAN2NEW6CRO22NZL34SGI2 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 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 Sydney 2 2 4 6 6 6 6 6 8 10 12 14 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 402 Brisbane 0 2 4 6 8 10 10 12 14 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 34 34 36 36 38 383 North Queensland (P) 0 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 24 26 28 30 32 34 34 34 36 36 384 Melbourne 2 2 4 4 6 8 10 10 12 14 16 16 18 18 18 18 20 20 22 24 24 26 28 28 30 325 Canterbury-Bankstown 0 2 4 6 6 6 8 8 8 8 10 12 14 14 16 18 20 20 22 22 22 24 26 28 30 326 Cronulla-Sutherland 0 0 0 0 2 4 6 6 6 8 10 10 12 14 16 18 18 20 22 24 26 28 28 30 32 327 South Sydney 2 4 6 6 8 8 8 8 10 10 12 14 16 16 18 20 20 22 24 26 28 28 30 30 30 308 St. George Illawarra 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 12 14 16 18 18 20 20 2020 20 20 20 22 24 24 26 26 289 Manly-Warringah 0 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 6 6 8 8 8 10 12 12 14 16 16 18 20 22 24 24 24 2610 Canberra 2 2 2 2 4 4 6 8 10 10 10 10 12 14 14 14 16 18 18 20 20 20 20 20 22 2411 Penrith 2 4 4 4 4 6 6 8 8 10 12 12 12 14 14 16 18 18 18 18 18 18 20 20 20 2212 Parramatta 2 2 2 4 4 4 6 6 6 6 6 8 8 10 12 14 16 18 18 18 18 20 20 22 22 2213 New Zealand 0 2 4 4 4 6 6 6 8 10 12 14 14 14 16 18 20 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 2214 Gold Coast 0 0 0 2 2 4 6 8 8 8 10 10 12 14 14 14 16 16 16 16 18 18 18 20 22 2215 Wests 2 4 4 4 6 6 6 8 8 8 8 10 10 12 12 12 12 14 14 14 16 18 18 18 20 2016 Newcastle 24688888 8 10 10 10 10 12 12 12 14 14 16 16 16 16 18 20 20 20 Rugby League Tables / Ladders / Year by Year

Finals series

A new record was set for overall attendance in Week 1 of the Finals with a combined total of 131,794.

HomeScoreAwayMatch informationDate and time (local)VenueRefereesCrowd QUALIFYING & ELIMINATION FINALS Sydney Roosters 18 – 20 Melbourne Storm 11 September 2015, 8:00pm Allianz Stadium Ben CumminsAlan Shortall 20,521 Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs † 11 – 10 St. George Illawarra Dragons 12 September 2015, 5:55pm ANZ Stadium Jared MaxwellGavin Morris 33,854 Brisbane Broncos 16 – 12 North Queensland Cowboys 12 September 2015, 8:00pm Suncorp Stadium Gerard SuttonGavin Badger 50,388 Cronulla Sutherland Sharks 28 – 12 South Sydney Rabbitohs 13 September 2015, 4:10pm Allianz Stadium Matt CecchinAshley Klein 27,031 SEMI FINALS Sydney Roosters 38 – 12 Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs 18 September 2015, 7:55pm Allianz Stadium Matt CecchinBen Cummins 35,711 North Queensland Cowboys 39 – 0 Cronulla Sutherland Sharks 19 September 2015, 7:45pm 1300SMILES Stadium Gerard SuttonGavin Badger 21,683 PRELIMINARY FINALS Brisbane Broncos 31 – 12 Sydney Roosters 25 September 2015, 8:00pm Suncorp Stadium Gerard SuttonGavin Badger 51,826 Melbourne Storm 12 – 32 North Queensland Cowboys 26 September 2015, 7:45pm AAMI Park Matt CecchinBen Cummins 29,315 † Match decided in golden point extra time.

Chart

Grand final

Regular season player statistics The following statistics are of the conclusion of Round 26.

Top 5 point scorers PointsPlayerTriesGoalsField Goals236 Jarrod Croker12940226 James Maloney9942197 Pat Richards17641176 Johnathan Thurston3804176 Gareth Widdop9700 Top 5 try scorers TriesPlayer24 Semi Radradra22 Curtis Rona17 Alex Johnston17 Pat Richards17 James Tedesco

Top 5 goal scorers GoalsPlayer94 James Maloney94 Jarrod Croker80 Johnathan Thurston70 Gareth Widdop68 Michael Gordon Top 5 tacklers TacklesPlayer1,140 Andrew McCullough1,092 Simon Mannering1,034 Cameron Smith1,024 Shaun Fensom965 Elijah Taylor

2015 Transfers

Players