| Year: | 2013 |
| Competition: | National Rugby League |
| Duration: | March 7 – October 6, 2013 |
| Teams: | 16 |
| Count: | 13th |
| Mpcount: | 17th |
| Matches: | 201 |
| Points: | 8210 |
| Attendance: | 3,345,248 |
| Avg Attendance: | 16,643 |
| Top Point Scorer: | James Maloney (252) |
| Top Try Scorer: | David Williams (20) Jorge Taufua (20) Michael Jennings (20) |
| Player Of The Year: | Cooper Cronk (Dally M Medal) |
| Nextseason Year: | 2014 |
The 2013 NRL season was the 106th season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia. The National Rugby League's main competition, named the 2013 Telstra Premiership after major sponsors Telstra Corporation, was contested by sixteen teams during the regular season, which lasted from March to September, and resulted in the top eight finishing teams, who went on to contest the finals. The season culminated in the Grand Final, in which the Sydney Roosters defeated the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 26-18 to win their first NRL premiership since 2002.
The NRL season started with the 2013 NRL All Stars match, which was played in February. The 2013 Holden Cup, the NRL's Under-20s competition, also took place alongside the Premiership, with most matches held before the first grade competition. The Parramatta Eels picked up the wooden spoon for the second consecutive season after winning only five matches for the season.
See also: 2013 NRL season results.
See also: Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks supplements saga. The 2013 NRL season was marred by a major investigation involving the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks' supplements program, which was alleged to have taken place during the 2011 season. Following an almost year-long investigation by ASADA and the NRL, a series of penalties were applied on the club, including, among others, the 12-month suspension of Shane Flanagan as the club's head coach, as well as a $1,000,000 fine (with $400,000 suspended) and the deregistration of Trent Elkin as the club's trainer.[1]
Despite the off-field controversy, the Sharks were still able to reach the NRL finals for the second consecutive year, losing to eventual grand finalists Manly in the second week.
The lineup of teams remained unchanged for the 7th consecutive year. A report conducted by Brand Finance valued the Penrith Panthers club at $46.2m, the highest of any Australian sporting brand, while the Brisbane Broncos had the highest brand equity.[2]
| width=175 | 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 | Sydney | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 32 | 34 | 36 | 38 | 38 | 38 | 40 | |
| 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 32 | 32 | 34 | 34 | 34 | 36 | 38 | 40 | 40 | ||
| 3 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 25 | 25 | 27 | 27 | 29 | 31 | 33 | 35 | 35 | 37 | ||
| 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 15 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 19 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 25 | 27 | 29 | 31 | 31 | 33 | 35 | 35 | ||
| 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 28 | 30 | 30 | 32 | ||
| 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 26 | 28 | 28 | 30 | 30 | ||
| 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 23 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 27 | 29 | ||
| 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 28 | ||
| 9 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 26 | 26 | ||
| 10 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 26 | ||
| 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 26 | ||
| 12 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 25 | ||
| 13 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 | ||
| 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 18 | ||
| 15 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 18 | ||
| 16 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 14 |
For the second year the NRL uses the finals system previously implemented by the ARL competition from the 1990s (also used as the AFL final eight system) to decide the grand finalists from the top eight finishing teams. Both the seventh-placed Newcastle Knights and minor premiers Sydney Roosters return the finals after last featuring respectively in 2011 and 2010, whilst the other six teams (Bulldogs, Storm, Rabbitohs, Sea Eagles, Cowboys & Sharks) were featured in the preceding finals series.
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=17% | Date and Time (Local) | width=17% | Venue | width=11% | Referees | width=7% | Crowd | ||
| QUALIFYING & ELIMINATION FINALS | |||||||||
| align=left | South Sydney Rabbitohs | 20 - 10 | align=left | 13 September 2013, 7:45pm | ANZ Stadium | Shane Hayne Jared Maxwell | 21,609 | ||
| align=left | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 20 - 18 | align=left | North Queensland Cowboys | 14 September 2013, 4:00pm | Allianz Stadium | Matt Cecchin Henry Peranara | 32,747 | |
| align=left | Sydney Roosters | 4 - 0 | align=left | Manly Warringah Sea Eagles | 14 September 2013, 7:00pm | Ben Cummins Gerard Sutton | |||
| align=left | Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | 6 - 22 | align=left | Newcastle Knights | 15 September 2013, 4:00pm | ANZ Stadium | Ashley Klein Gavin Badger | 23,086 | |
| SEMI FINALS | |||||||||
| align=left | Manly Warringah Sea Eagles | 24 - 18 | align=left | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 20 September 2013, 7:45pm | Allianz Stadium | Shayne Hayne Ashley Klein | 23,837 | |
| align=left | Melbourne Storm | 16 - 18 | align=left | Newcastle Knights | 21 September 2013, 7:45pm | AAMI Park | Ben Cummins Gerard Sutton | 19,649 | |
| PRELIMINARY FINALS | |||||||||
| align=left | South Sydney Rabbitohs | 20 - 30 | align=left | Manly Warringah Sea Eagles | 27 September 2013, 7:45pm | ANZ Stadium | Ben Cummins Gerard Sutton | 44,546 | |
| align=left | Sydney Roosters | 40 - 14 | align=left | Newcastle Knights | 28 September 2013, 7:45pm | Allianz Stadium | Shayne Hayne Ashley Klein | 37,752 | |
See main article: article and 2013 NRL Grand Final.
The following statistics are of the conclusion of round 26.Top 5 point scorers
| width=50 | Points | width=200 | Player | width=30 | Tries | width=30 | Goals | width=30 | Field Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 230 | James Maloney | 9 | 97 | 0 | |||||
| 210 | Jamie Lyon | 14 | 77 | 0 | |||||
| 204 | Adam Reynolds | 4 | 93 | 2 | |||||
| 177 | Shaun Johnson | 10 | 67 | 3 | |||||
| 170 | Cameron Smith | 2 | 81 | 0 |
| width=50 | Tries | width=200 | Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | James McManus | ||
| 19 | David Williams | ||
| 19 | David Simmons | ||
| 18 | Jorge Tafua | ||
| 17 | Michael Jennings | ||
| 17 | Sam Perrett | ||
| 17 | Billy Slater |
| width=50 | Goals | width=200 | Player |
|---|---|---|---|
| 97 | James Maloney | ||
| 93 | Adam Reynolds | ||
| 81 | Cameron Smith | ||
| 77 | Jamie Lyon | ||
| 75 | Aidan Sezer |
| Coach | 2012 Club | 2013 Club | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mick Potter | Super League: Bradford Bulls | Wests Tigers | |
| Trent Robinson | Super League: Catalans Dragons | Sydney Roosters | |
| Ricky Stuart | New South Wales | Parramatta Eels |