| Year: | 1981 |
| Competition: | Brisbane Rugby League |
| Duration: | March 28 – September 20, 1981 |
| Teams: | 8 |
| Premiers: | Southern Suburbs |
| Minor Premiers: | Southern Suburbs |
| Matches: | 88 |
| Points: | 2858 |
| Top Point Scorer: | Shane McNally (200) |
| Top Try Scorer: | Bruce Astill (15) |
| Player Of The Year: | Chris Phelan (Rothmans Medal) |
| Prevseason Year: | 1980 |
| Nextseason Year: | 1982 |
The 1981 Brisbane Rugby League premiership was the 74th season of Brisbane's professional rugby league football competition. Eight teams from across Brisbane competed for the premiership, which culminated in a grand final match between the Southern Suburbs and Redcliffe clubs.
Teams played each other three times, with 21 rounds of competition played. It resulted in a top four of Redcliffe, Southern Suburbs, Wynnum-Manly and Eastern Suburbs.
| Club | Home ground | Coach | Captain | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greg Holben | ||||
| Ross Strudwick | ||||
| Bishop Park | Mark Murray | |||
| Corbett Park | Wayne Bennett | Jay Hoffman | ||
| Arthur Beetson | ||||
| Bruce Astill | ||||
| John Lohman | Norm Carr | |||
| Des Morris |
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southern Suburbs (P) | 21 | 14 | 1 | 6 | 352 | 147 | +205 | 29 | |
| 2 | Redcliffe | 21 | 14 | 0 | 7 | 413 | 274 | +139 | 28 | |
| 3 | Wynnum-Manly | 21 | 14 | 0 | 7 | 410 | 382 | +28 | 28 | |
| 4 | Eastern Suburbs | 21 | 11 | 0 | 10 | 411 | 307 | -104 | 22 | |
| 5 | Fortitude Valley | 21 | 10 | 1 | 10 | 308 | 305 | +3 | 21 | |
| 6 | Northern Suburbs | 21 | 8 | 0 | 13 | 270 | 396 | -126 | 16 | |
| 7 | Western Suburbs | 21 | 6 | 1 | 14 | 275 | 415 | -140 | 13 | |
| 8 | Past Brothers | 21 | 5 | 1 | 15 | 309 | 422 | -113 | 11 |
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=17% | Date and Time | width=17% | Venue | width=11% | Referee | width=7% | Crowd | ||
| Semi-finals | |||||||||
| align=left | Wynnum-Manly | 20-9 | align=left | Eastern Suburbs | 30 August 1981 | Lang Park | Eddie Ward | ||
| align=left | Redcliffe | 21-10 | align=left | Southern Suburbs | 6 September 1981 | Lang Park | Stan Scamp | ||
| Preliminary Final | |||||||||
| align=left | Southern Suburbs | 16-12 | align=left | Wynnum-Manly | 13 September 1981 | Lang Park | Eddie Ward | ||
| Grand Final | |||||||||
| align=left | Redcliffe | 9-13 | align=left | Southern Suburbs | 20 September 1981 | Lang Park | Stan Scamp | 30,000 | |
Southern Suburbs 13 (Tries: B. Sully, M. Reardon. Goals: M. Meninga 3. Field Goal: K. Spencer.)
Redcliffe 9 (Tries: I. Pearce. Goals: I. Pearce 3.)[1] [2]