2011 NRL season
The 2011 NRL season was the 104th season of professional rugby league football club competition in Australia, and the fourteenth and last run by the National Rugby League's partnership committee of the Australian Rugby League and News Ltd. The NRL's main championship, called the 2011 Telstra Premiership due to sponsorship from Telstra, was contested by sixteen teams for the fifth consecutive year. Alongside was the fourth season of the Toyota Cup taking place.
The season's Premiership title was awarded to the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles who took out their 8th title, only three years after their previous title, defeating the New Zealand Warriors in the grand final.
Season summary
The 2011 competition draw was announced on Thursday, 7 October 2010, with the season's first match between NRL teams to be played on Friday, 11 March. The first round of the premiership season became the highest attended round in NRL history, with 201,212 fans attending.However, the first NRL match of the year was the second annual NRL All Stars vs Indigenous All Stars game played at Skilled Park on the Gold Coast on 12 February. The annual ANZAC Test was also held at Skilled Park, on 6 May, with City vs Country Origin held on the same night at the Lavington Sports Ground in Albury. The Test match was to have been held at Christchurch in New Zealand, but was moved due to the destruction wrought on that city by the earthquake in February 2011.
Byes began on 6 May, being the day of those representative matches, and continued throughout the 2011 State of Origin series, covering in total rounds 9 to 18.
Themed rounds included the Heritage Round, Women in League Round, and Rivalry Round.
The regular 26 round season finished with the Melbourne Storm winning the J. J. Giltinan Shield for being the minor premiers. However the [|grand final match-up] ended up between the second placed Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the sixth placed New Zealand Warriors in which the Sea Eagles sought victory and claimed their 8th premiership title.
The coveted Dally M Medal award for player of the year in 2011 was awarded to Melbourne Storm fullback Billy Slater, who becomes the second Storm player to be given the award.
Records set in 2011
- Canberra Raiders equalled their longest losing streak with 8-matches.
- Brisbane Broncos round-26 match was the biggest ever regular home game crowd for the Broncos at Suncorp Stadium with 50,859.
- South Sydney Rabbitohs winger Nathan Merritt equaled the club record for the most tries in a match with 5-tries against the Parramatta Eels in Round 22.
- Manly Warringah Sea Eagles set the record for the most points scored in a half of finals football when they scored 42 unanswered points against the North Queensland Cowboys.
- Sea Eagles halves Kieran Foran and Daly Cherry-Evans became the youngest halves pairing to win a grand final since Brett Kenny and Peter Sterling in 1981
Teams
| Brisbane Broncos 24th season Ground: Suncorp Stadium Coach: Anthony Griffin Captain: Darren Lockyer | Image:Canterbury Bulldogs home jersey 1997.svg|75px|centerCanterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 77th season Ground: ANZ Stadium Coach: Kevin Moore→Jim Dymock Captain: Andrew Ryan | Canberra Raiders 30th season Ground: Canberra Stadium Coach: David Furner Captain: Alan Tongue | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 45th season Ground: Toyota Stadium Coach: Shane Flanagan Captain: Paul Gallen |
| Gold Coast Titans 5th season Ground: Skilled Park Coach: John Cartwright Captain: Scott Prince | Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 62nd season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Des Hasler Captain: Jamie Lyon & Jason King | Melbourne Storm 14th season Ground: AAMI Park Coach: Craig Bellamy Captain: Cameron Smith | Image:Newcastle Knights home jersey 2008.svg|75px|centerNewcastle Knights 24th season Ground: Ausgrid Stadium Coach: Rick Stone Captain: Kurt Gidley |
| Image:New Zealand Warriors home jersey 2009.svg|2009|80px|centerNew Zealand Warriors 17th season Ground: Mt. Smart Stadium Coach: Ivan Cleary Captain: Simon Mannering | North Queensland Cowboys 17th season Ground: Dairy Farmers Stadium Coach: Neil Henry Captain: Johnathan Thurston & Matt Scott | Parramatta Eels 65th season Ground: Parramatta Stadium Coach: Stephen Kearney Captain: Nathan Hindmarsh | Penrith Panthers 45th season Ground: Centrebet Stadium Coach: Matthew Elliott→Steve Georgallis Captain: Petero Civoniceva |
| South Sydney Rabbitohs 102nd season Ground: ANZ Stadium Coach: John Lang Captains: Roy Asotasi & Michael Crocker | Sydney Roosters 104th season Ground: Sydney Football Stadium Coach: Brian Smith Captain: Braith Anasta | Image:St. George Illawarra Dragons home jersey 1999.svg|75px|centerSt George Illawarra Dragons 13th season Ground: Jubilee Oval & WIN Stadium Coach: Wayne Bennett Captain: Ben Hornby | Wests Tigers 12th season Grounds: Campbelltown Stadium & Leichhardt Oval Coach: Tim Sheens Captain: Robbie Farah |
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 Broncos | NQL −2 | CAN +16 | GCT +6 | PEN +8 | NEW +11 | SYD +18 | WTI +13 | CBY +8 | MEL −7 | PEN −23 | X | MAN −24 | CRO +18 | CAN +1* | SGI +7 | SOU −4 | PAR +4 | X | GCT +20 | MEL −20 | CRO +30 | NZL +1 | NQL +18 | NEW +20 | SOU +12 | MAN +8 | NZL +30 | SGI +1* | MAN −12 | |
| Canberra Raiders | CRO +28 | BRI −16 | WTI −10 | GCT −1* | PEN −26 | NQL −8 | NEW −10 | WTI −37 | MAN −20 | MEL +8 | CBY +8 | X | NQL −16 | BRI −1* | X | PAR +13 | SYD +26 | CRO −14 | MEL −26 | SGI +5 | NZL −19 | NEW −32 | SOU −29 | GCT −8 | PEN −1 | CBY −14 | ||||
| Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | WTI +10 | SOU +9 | SYD +4 | MEL −14 | SGI −19 | PAR +20 | SOU +12 | BRI −8 | X | SGI −5 | CAN −8 | GCT +22 | MAN −34 | X | CRO −16 | WTI +10 | PEN −14 | MEL −10 | NZL −24 | PAR +1* | SYD −4 | NQL +8 | CRO +7 | MAN −11 | NEW +10 | CAN +14 | ||||
| Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | CAN −28 | SGI +6 | PEN +32 | NZL −8 | MAN −6 | NEW −4 | NQL −18 | SOU −19 | X | SYD +14 | PAR −34 | MEL −6 | BRI −18 | X | CBY +16 | GCT +24 | SOU +22 | CAN +14 | SGI −30 | NEW −18 | BRI −30 | GCT −4 | CBY −7 | SYD −11 | NQL −8 | WTI −8 | ||||
| Gold Coast Titans | SGI −9 | MEL −28 | BRI −6 | CAN +1* | NQL −10 | WTI +6 | PAR −4 | SYD +11 | NZL −20 | MAN −4 | X | CBY −22 | PEN −13 | SGI +14 | SOU −23 | CRO −24 | X | NZL −16 | BRI −20 | NQL −8 | NEW −30 | CRO +4 | MEL −24 | CAN +8 | WTI −29 | PAR −20 | ||||
| Manly Warringah Sea Eagles | MEL −12 | SYD +11 | NEW +14 | SOU −2 | CRO +6 | NZL +10 | PEN +6 | NQL −2 | CAN +20 | GCT +4 | X | BRI +24 | CBY +34 | NQL +20 | PAR +4 | SGI −18 | X | SOU +14 | NEW +22 | PEN +4 | WTI −2 | SYD +28 | PAR +6 | CBY +11 | MEL +14 | BRI −8 | NQL +34 | X | BRI +12 | NZL +14 |
| Melbourne Storm | MAN +12 | GCT +28 | NQL −28 | CBY +14 | PAR +38 | PEN +15 | NZL −4 | NEW +30 | BRI +7 | CAN −8 | X | CRO +6 | SOU +10 | SYD +17 | WTI +8 | NZL +8 | X | CBY +10 | CAN +26 | BRI +20 | PAR +4 | PEN +20 | GCT +24 | SGI +2 | MAN −14 | SYD −32 | NEW +10 | X | NZL −8 | |
| Newcastle Knights | PEN +34 | NQL +12 | MAN −14 | SGI −2 | BRI −11 | CRO +4 | CAN +10 | MEL −30 | X | NZL −9 | SYD −2 | PAR +2 | WTI −1* | X | PEN +4 | SYD +8 | SGI +4 | NQL −10 | MAN −22 | CRO +18 | GCT +30 | CAN +32 | NZL −8 | BRI −20 | CBY −10 | SOU +16 | MEL −10 | |||
| New Zealand Warriors | PAR −6 | WTI −8 | SGI −13 | CRO +8 | SYD +12 | MAN −10 | MEL +4 | PEN +8 | GCT +20 | NEW +9 | SOU +6 | X | SYD −7 | WTI −4 | NQL −20 | MEL −8 | X | GCT +16 | CBY +24 | SOU +32 | CAN +19 | BRI −1 | NEW +8 | PEN +14 | SGI −4 | NQL +12 | BRI −30 | WTI +2 | MEL +8 | MAN −14 |
| North Queensland Cowboys | BRI +2 | NEW −12 | MEL +28 | PAR −2 | GCT +10 | CAN +8 | CRO +18 | MAN +2 | SGI −14 | PAR +14 | X | SYD +14 | CAN +16 | MAN −20 | NZL +20 | PEN −10 | X | NEW +10 | WTI −20 | GCT +8 | PEN +12 | CBY −8 | BRI −18 | SOU −2* | CRO +8 | NZL −12 | MAN −34 | |||
| Parramatta Eels | NZL +6 | PEN −14 | SOU −14 | NQL +2 | MEL −38 | CBY −20 | GCT +4 | SGI −30 | X | NQL −14 | CRO +34 | NEW −2 | SGI 0* | X | MAN −4 | CAN −13 | BRI −4 | WTI +16 | PEN −1* | CBY −1* | MEL −4 | SOU −50 | MAN −6 | WTI −19 | SYD −1* | GCT +20 | ||||
| Penrith Panthers | NEW −34 | PAR +14 | CRO −32 | BRI −8 | CAN +26 | MEL −15 | MAN −6 | NZL −8 | X | BRI +23 | WTI −2 | SOU +12 | GCT +13 | X | NEW −4 | NQL +10 | CBY +14 | SYD −8 | PAR +1* | MAN −4 | NQL −12 | MEL −20 | WTI −14 | NZL −14 | CAN +1 | SGI −20 | ||||
| South Sydney Rabbitohs | SYD −11 | CBY −9 | PAR +14 | MAN +2 | WTI −24 | SGI −16 | CBY −12 | CRO +19 | X | WTI +11 | NZL −6 | PEN −12 | MEL −10 | X | GCT +23 | BRI +4 | CRO −22 | MAN −14 | SYD +1* | NZL −32 | SGI +10 | PAR +50 | CAN +29 | NQL +2* | BRI −12 | NEW −16 | ||||
| St. George Illawarra Dragons | GCT +9 | CRO −6 | NZL +13 | NEW +2 | CBY +19 | SOU +16 | SYD +14 | PAR +30 | NQL +14 | CBY +5 | X | WTI +6 | PAR 0* | GCT −14 | BRI −7 | MAN +18 | NEW −4 | X | CRO +30 | CAN −5 | SOU −10 | WTI −2 | SYD −8 | MEL −2 | NZL +4 | PEN +20 | WTI −9 | BRI −1* | ||
| Sydney Roosters | SOU +11 | MAN −11 | CBY −4 | WTI +18 | NZL −12 | BRI −18 | SGI −14 | GCT −11 | X | CRO −14 | NEW +2 | NQL −14 | NZL +7 | MEL −17 | X | NEW −8 | CAN −26 | PEN +8 | SOU −1* | WTI −7 | CBY +4 | MAN −28 | SGI +8 | CRO +11 | PAR +1* | MEL +32 | ||||
| Wests Tigers | CBY −10 | NZL +8 | CAN +10 | SYD −18 | SOU +24 | GCT −6 | BRI −13 | CAN +37 | X | SOU −11 | PEN +2 | SGI −6 | NEW +1* | NZL +4 | MEL −8 | CBY −10 | X | PAR −16 | NQL +20 | SYD +7 | MAN +2 | SGI +2 | PEN +14 | PAR +19 | GCT +29 | CRO +8 | SGI +9 | NZL −2 | ||
| 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 – Home game
X – Bye
* – Golden point game
Opponent for round listed above margin