NRL 2026 League Standings

The 2026 league has been concluded. How have the clubs fared? Here's my assessment.

17: St George Dragons. No dragon slaying here. Wooden spoon winners and dropped two places from last year. Worse points differential too so absolutely got what they deserve.   

16: Gold Coast Titans. A better roster than the outcome. Points difference higher than the two above, which indicates they should have finished higher. 

15: Wests Tigers. Started the season strongly but imploded as the season progressed. Off field dramas didn't help. 

14: Brisbane Broncos. Fourth in the league and grand final winners in 2025. What a debacle this season! A rubbish effort and underachieved badly.

13: Parramatta Eels. Not a bad roster but dropping two places from 2025 was a poor result with the potential they have. 

12: Canterbury Bulldogs. Third in 2025 and started 2026 well but imploded. This was well short of where they should be. A season to forget.

11: Canberra Raiders. From league winners to eleventh was a shock. Probably overachieved in 2025 and underachieved this season.

10: Melbourne Storm. The worst result since 2010 when they were barred from winning points. 2002 was in fact the last time they finished lower in normal circumstances. They are expected to be in the finals.

9: Manly Sea Eagles. Same as last year and have found their level. Started well and then the wheels fell off.

I will do the top eight teams with the finals review coming soon.

NRL Attendances : 2026 & Much More

Attendances for 2026 are up 1.9% on the complete 2025 figure, and up 28.3%  when compared to the previous years, going back to 2000. A positive result, especially the historical one. The averages below for each club exclude Magic Weekend matches but the total average includes it. 

The Dolphins are an anomaly, due to the fact that some of their games are played at their home ground, which is a small suburban one, and the rest that are played at Suncorp Stadium, which is very large. They are also the newest club in the competition, currently in their fourth year. 

Another recent issue is playing a few games in the USA. The Roosters and Sea Eagles benefitted in 2024 (40,746 attendance), Raiders and Panthers in 2025 (45,209), Bulldogs and Knights in 2026 (45,719). This can throw up short term variances. 

Overall, not a great result compared to 2025. Perth come in next year and the 20,000 average is the same as their full capacity. Therefore, unless they sell out every match, won't quite help the average grow. Of course, the benefit to the code is far more important than that single metric. 

NRL Offer to SL

I'll try to make sense of where it is now.

UK Objective: UK's Super League needs help and the Australian Rugby League commission (ARLC) put itself forward as the deliverer. 

ARLC Objective: To strengthen the game of RL and take it to another level globally. 

Initial Offer: Approximately £6 million per season over five years. The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) wants its stake in the Super League's commercial arm increasing 10% each year until they hold a 50% share. That gives the ARLC virtually all control of the game internationally.

UK perspective: They are pretty much giving up control for minimal gain from what they have already.

ARLC perspective: They are taking on something that isn't strong, so they're not offering much for it.

Possible outcome: Unless the offer is somewhat better, it isn't happeneing. I feel that initial comments by the ARLC would have given the UK SL/RFL hope of quite a bit more. The first offer now made may just be to lower UK expectations. 

Conclusion: The whole concept has merit but the ARLC's first offer isn't good enough. What is the ARLC's primary objective? I believe it is to increase the game's international profile and increase revenue. 

If the UK is an integral part of that, then maybe the ARLC has to accept that cutting a deal with SL needs to be done. The expansion of revenue in future won't be in Australia or the UK but new media deals elsewhere. The initial offer suggests the ARLC wants to take the game over in the UK with as little outlay as possible. For the game in the UK, giving up so much needs to have a bigger carrot.