NSW Cup

The New South Wales Cup consists of 13 teams, 11 from New South Wales, and 1 each from Auckland and from Australian Capital Territory. The league operates on a single group system, with no divisions or conferences and no relegation and promotion from other leagues. A number of clubs in the New South Wales Cup have an affiliation with a team in the Australian national competition, the National Rugby League, with most of the clubs in the being reserve grade teams to the senior grade teams of the NRL.

New South Wales Cup
Rugby League Club	Est.	Joined*	City/Town	State/Territory	Stadium/s†	Titles (Last)	NRL Affiliate
Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles	1962	2017	Sydney	NSW	H.E. Laybutt Field	0 (None)	Sea Eagles
Canberra Raiders reserves	1982	2021	Canberra	A.C.T	Raiders Belconnen	1 (2003)	Raiders
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs reserves	1935	2021	Sydney	NSW	Belmore Sports Ground	10 (2018)	Bulldogs
Newcastle Knights reserves	1988	2012	Newcastle	NSW	McDonald Jones Stadium,	2 (2015)	Knights
New Zealand Warriors reserves	1995	2023	Auckland	Auckland	Mt Smart Stadium	0 (None)	Warriors
Newtown Jets	1908	2014	Sydney	NSW	Henson Park	8 (2019)	Sharks+
North Sydney Bears	1908	2003	Sydney	NSW	North Sydney Oval	8 (1993)	Storm
Parramatta Eels reserves	1947	2020	Sydney	NSW	Ringrose Park	8 (2007)	Eels
Penrith Panthers reserves	1966	2014	Sydney	NSW	Penrith Stadium	4 (2022)	Panthers
St. George Illawarra Dragons reserves	1999	2018	Sydney, Wollongong	NSW	Collegians Sports Complex Ron Costello Oval	1 (2001)	Dragons
South Sydney Rabbitohs reserves	1908	2019	Sydney	NSW	Redfern Oval	21 (2023)	Rabbitohs
Sydney Roosters reserves	1908	2023	Sydney	NSW	Wentworth Park	11 (1986)	Roosters
Wests Magpies	1908	2018	Sydney	NSW	Campbelltown Stadium, Lidcombe Oval, Leichhardt Oval	3 (1981)	Tigers

Bold indicates it is the club's highest level of competition.
*: The season the team joined competition in its current form and consecutive tenure.
+: Current affiliation between Cronulla and Newtown since 2015.

†:Does not include games played as NRL Curtain raisers

Of the 26 former clubs in the 21st century, 1 was each based in Australian Capital Territory, Queensland and Victoria, 2 were based in Auckland Region and the other 23 former clubs were based in New South Wales.

New South Wales Cup
Colors	Club	Est.	First Season	Last Season	City/Region/Town	State/Territory	Stadium/s	Titles	Last	Reason/s
	Auckland Vulcans		2008	2013	Auckland	Auckland				Departed
	Balmain Ryde Eastwood Tigers		2005	2012	Leichardt	N.S.W				Departed
	Bankstown City Bulls	2008	2008	2009	Bankstown	N.S.W				Folded
	Central Coast Centurions		2010	2011	Central Coast	N.S.W				Departed
	Central Newcastle Rebels	2008	2008	2008	Newcastle	N.S.W				Departed
	Cronulla Cobras	2008	2008	2008	Cronulla	N.S.W				Folded
	Illawarra Cutters	2012	2012	2017	Wollongong	N.S.W				Folded
	Manly Sea Eagles		1947/2011	2008/2016	Brookvale	N.S.W				Departed
	Melbourne Storm	1997	2010	2010	Melbourne	Victoria				Departed
	Mount Pritchard Mounties	1927	2012	2022	Sydney	N.S.W		0		Departed
	New Zealand Warriors		2014	2020	Auckland	Auckland				Departed
	Shellharbour City Dragons		2009	2010	Shellharbour	N.S.W				Departed
	Wentworthville Magpies		2013	2018	Wentworthville	N.S.W				Departed
	Windsor Wolves		2008	2013	Windsor	N.S.W				Departed
	Wyong Roos		2005	2018	Wyong	N.S.W				Departed
* Central Coast Bears returned to North Sydney after the failure of the Northern Eagles joint-venture

Of the 24 former clubs in the 20th century, 1 was based in Auckland Region, South Australia and Western Australia, 3 were based in Queensland and the other 20 former clubs were based in New South Wales.

New South Wales Cup
Colors	Club	Est.	First Season	Last Season	City/Region/Town	State/Territory	Stadium	Titles	Last	Reason/s
	Enfield	1908	1908	1908	Enfield	N.S.W				Folded
	Belmore	1910	1910	1910	Belmore	N.S.W				Folded
	Banksia	1911	1911	1911	Banksia	N.S.W				Folded
	Waverley	1912	1912	1912	Waverley	N.S.W				Folded
	South Sydney Federals	1908	1910	1912	South Sydney	N.S.W				Folded
	Western Sydney	1912	1912	1913	Western Sydney	N.S.W				Folded
	Mosman	1910	1910	1914	Mosman	N.S.W				Folded
	Redfern	1911	1911	1914	Redfern	N.S.W				Folded
	Grosvenor	1911	1911	1915	Sydney	N.S.W				Folded
	Marrickville	1911	1911	1915	Marrickville	N.S.W				Folded
	Sydney	1908	1908	1916	Sydney	N.S.W				Folded
	Randwick	1915	1915	1916	Randwick	N.S.W				Folded
	Surry Hills	1912	1912/15	1912/16	Surry Hills	N.S.W				Folded
	Annandale Dales	1910	1910	1920	Annandale	N.S.W				Folded
	Glebe Dirty Reds	1908	1908	1929	Sydney	N.S.W	Wentworth Park	5	1921	Folded
	Sydney Uni. Students	1920	1920	1937	Sydney	N.S.W				Departed
	Brisbane Broncos	1988	1988	1996†	Brisbane	Queensland	Lang Park*			Departed
	Western/Perth Reds	1992	1995	1996	Perth	W. Australia				Folded
	South Queensland Crushers	1992	1995	1997	Brisbane	Queensland	Lang Park			Folded
	Adelaide Rams	1996	1997	1998†	Adelaide	S. Australia				Folded
	Auckland Warriors	1992	1995	1998†	Auckland	Auckland				Departed*
	Gold Coast-Tweed Giants	1988	1988	1999	Gold Coast	Queensland	Seagulls Stadium*			Folded
	Gold Coast Seagulls	1988	1988	1999	Gold Coast	Queensland	Seagulls Stadium*			Folded
	Gold Coast Chargers	1988	1988	1999	Gold Coast	Queensland	Seagulls Stadium*			Folded
	Illawarra Steelers	1982	1982	1998	Wollongong	N.S.W	Wollongong Showground*			Merger
	St George Dragons	1921	1921	2000	Kogarah	N.S.W	Kogarah Oval*			Merger
	Balmain Tigers	1908	1908	1999	Leichhardt	N.S.W	Leichhardt Oval*			Merger
	North Queensland Cowboys	1992	1992	2001	Townsville	Queensland	Willows Sports Complex*			Departed
	Central Coast Bears	2000	2000	2001	Central Coast	N.S.W	Central Coast Stadium*			Departed*
	Central Coast Storm	1992	1992	2001	Central Coast	N.S.W	Morrie Breen Oval			Departed
	St Marys-Penrith Cougars		2003	2005	Penrith, St Marys	N.S.W	St Marys Stadium*			Departed
	Penrith Pumas		2007	2007	Penrith	N.S.W	Panthers Stadium*			Departed

• Gold Coast-Tweed Giants from 1988-1989, Gold Coast Seagulls from 1990-1995, Gold Coast Chargers from 1996-1999.

† The club also competed in the second grade/reserve grade of the 1997 Super League competition

*= First grade club ground/ largest ground in the area

The New South Wales Cup, run by the NSWRL, has been known by a variety of names and operated in several different ways since the inception of the NSWRL Premiership in 1908. Between 1908 and 1996, the competition was known as Reserve Grade and was competed for almost exclusively by reserve squads of each of the NSWRL Premiership Clubs, competing with that Club's name and colours. With the advent of the Super League war, and the resultant split competition in 1997, the NSWRL reconfigured the competition as the Presidents Cup. From 2002 until 2007, the competition was known as the NSWRL Premier League until it was reorganised into its present form as the New South Wales Cup in 2008.

With the competitions having merged back together, and with six NSWRL Premiership clubs having merged or became joint-ventures into three new NRL clubs (St. George Dragons and Illawarra Steelers; North Sydney and Manly; Balmain Tigers and Western Suburbs) the competition became known as the First Division and included these sides competing under their original name and colours.

The inclusion of these non-NRL clubs (along with the return of the Newtown Jets in 2000) in the competition signalled a move away from the 'reserve squad' competition it had become and became increasingly differentiated from the NRL competition with games played at non-NRL venues such as North Sydney Oval, Marrickville's Henson Park and Western Weekender Stadium at St Marys.

Another trend that began during this period was the phenomenon of NRL clubs outsourcing competing teams, with several NRL clubs choosing not to field sides in this competition and rather field either merged entities (as in the St Marys Penrith Cougars and Balmain Ryde Eastwood Tigers, both formed with NSWRL Jim Beam Cup sides) or form agreements with another club to take their place in the competition, those players being eligible for NRL selection, such as the agreement between Newtown Jets and Sydney Roosters for the 2006 season.

In 2007, Bartercard Cup club Auckland Lions joined the competition.

In 2008 and 2009, Jersey Flegg Cup club Central Coast Storm fielded a team in the competition. The team was based on the NSW Central Coast but acted as a feeder club to the Melbourne Storm.[1] In addition the Panthers were replaced by the Windsor Wolves and the Sharks were replaced by the Cronulla-Sutherland Cobras. The Canberra Raiders withdrew from the competition on 1 August 2007. The Newcastle Knights also announced a joint venture with the Central Charlestown. The team used the original Central Newcastle Rebels Name.[2] The Parramatta Eels also formed a joint-venture with the Wentworthville Magpies to act as their Feeder Club in the competition from 2008 onwards.[3] The Saints decided to no longer run a Reserve Grade Side, but would use the St George District Rugby League & the Illawarra District Rugby League competitions instead as their Feeder Team/s.

Two new teams have been added to the competition. These two new teams will have both previously played in the Jim Beam Cup. The Shellharbour City Dragons, previously known as the Shellharbour Marlins, will be the St George-Illawarra Dragons feeder side. The Bankstown Bulls, who were known as the Sydney Bulls, will act as the Canterbury Bulldogs feeder side. Bankstown will still field a team in the Jim Beam Cup. The Manly Sea Eagles have withdrawn from the competition and will have a feeder team in the Queensland Cup. Newcastle had also withdrawn from the competition, discontinuing the link with the Central Newcastle Rebels.

Season 2012 saw the return of feeder clubs for NRL teams St George Illawarra and Canberra. The Illawarra Steelers, in partnership with Illawarra Coal and the Illawarra Leagues Club re-entered a team into the league, the Illawarra Cutters. They previously acted as a feeder club to the Dragons. A Mounties Rugby League Club also entered the NSW Cup this season and is the Raiders' feeder club.

The 2013 season saw Wyong Roos enter a team in the NSW Cup for the first time. It will not be a feeder team to any NRL team. 2013 was also the first time in Rugby League history that teams with the names Western Suburbs and Balmain will not field a team in the cup, they played as the Wests Tigers. There is a current state of ambiguity surrounding this joint venture, and it is suggested that both Wests and Balmain will return as two separate clubs once financial requirements are met.

In 2014 the Auckland Vulcans were replaced by a side from the New Zealand Warriors.[4] The Penrith Panthers will also be returning to the competition in 2014, replacing Windsor, who remain in the Ron Massey Cup.

Intrust Super Premiership Logo from 2016 to 2018

On 29 January 2016 it was announced that Intrust Super had secured naming rights for the competition for a three-year agreement[5] The name would have been decided not to be confused with the Queensland-based competition the Intrust Super Cup.

On 5 July 2016, it was announced that starting the following season, the Blacktown Workers will become the feeder club for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in a joint-venture agreement.[6] The Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles made their NSW Cup debut in Round 1 of the 2017 Season with a defeat to the Newtown Jets, before finishing 10th in the regular season and subsequently missing a post-season berth.

In September, Intrust Super extended their naming rights partnership with the New South Wales State Cup through to the end of the 2018 season.[7]

On 27 October 2017, it was announced that Illawarra would be replaced by The St George Illawarra Dragons for The 2018 Intrust Super Premiership NSW season as part of a restructure in the competition.[8]

In late November 2017 it was announced that as part of a re-brand, the Western Suburbs Magpies will enter the competition from the following season acting as a feeder club to the Wests Tigers, who had previously competed under their own brand.[9]

On 2 March 2018, it was reported that the board of the Wyong Roos, feeder to Sydney Roosters since 2014, voted to cut all ties with the club at end of the 2018 season.[10] As a result, the Wyong Roos did not take part in the 2019 Intrust Super Premiership. On 5 September 2018, it was announced that the North Sydney Bears would assume the status as the official feeder club to the Roosters NRL side[11] until at least the end of the 2023 season, with Jason Taylor, a former North Sydney player and assistant coach to the Roosters, appointed head coach.[12] Taylor, after leading the Bears to a third-place finish at the end of the regular season, was announced to have signed a two-year extension on 5 November 2019.[13]

On 7 March 2019, it was announced that apparel company Canterbury of New Zealand won the rights to be the new naming partner of the NSW Cup competition which was renamed the Canterbury Cup NSW. The deal was announced to run to the end of the 2024 season. The NSWRL also announced that the new Western Sydney Stadium would host the grand final in each of those seasons under the deal.[14]

South Sydney, having had a previous feeder relationship with North Sydney, would then field their own team in the Intrust Super Premiership,[15] keeping the number of competing teams at 12.

On 10 October 2018, it was reported that the Parramatta Eels would field a team in the Intrust Super Premiership starting 2020, thus ending their relationship with the Wentworthville Magpies at this time.[16] It was announced that former Wyong Roos coach, Rip Taylor, would coach the Magpies in their final season.[17]

On Friday, 27 March 2020, after round one of the season was completed, the 2020 Canterbury Cup NSW competition was suspended, and subsequently cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with no premiers being crowned.[18]

On 8 June 2020, the New Zealand Warriors and Redcliffe Dolphins announced a partnership agreement, effectively withdrawing the Warriors from the Canterbury Cup competition. Through this initiative a number of players from outside the Warriors’ NRL squad will appear for the Dolphins in the Intrust Super Cup each week.[19]

On 28 August 2020, the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs announced a joint venture with the Mount Pritchard Mounties for two years.[20] As part of the joint venture, the Mounties will represent Canterbury-Bankstown in the Canterbury Cup, ending their nine-year relationship with the Canberra Raiders. At the time the Canberra Raiders were set to go it alone in 2021 rather than form an affiliation with a NSW Cup side[21]

On 10 November 2020, the NSWRL confirmed that the NSW Cup would return in 2021 with a 10-team competition, however Canterbury would no longer hold naming rights. A a new naming rights partner is expected to be revealed prior to season launch on 3 March 2021.[22]

On 28 January 2021, it was announced that the Canberra Raiders would be returning to the competition, fielding their own team or the first time since the 2007 season, thus increasing the number of competing teams to 11 in 2021. The competition is due to commence 13 March 2021.[23]

On 3 March 2021, a new naming rights sponsor, The Knock-On Effect, was named at the launch of the 2021 season. The new partnership will be in place for the next three years replacing the previous sponsor, Canterbury NZ.[24]

For the second consecutive year, the competition was cancelled on 10 August 2021, after completion of 15 out of 24 scheduled rounds, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[25]

On 29 October 2021, it was announced that the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs would be running their own team in the NSW Cup in 2022, in addition to continuing their partnership with Mounties for a further season due to contractual obligations[26]

The draw for the 2022 season was released on 17 December 2021, and announced a revision to the finals-system to a top five, a decrease from the previous top eight.[27]

On 17 August 2022, the New Zealand Warriors announced they would be re-joining the NSW Cup after a three-year absence, ending their partnership with the Redcliffe Dolphins.[28]

On 9 November 2022, the Sydney Roosters announced they would field their own team in the NSW Cup commencing in the 2023 season, ending their partnership with the North Sydney Bears from 2024 onwards.[29]

The 2023 season broadcast deal features:

• One game per week on Fox League/Kayo Sports at either Saturday or Sunday 12:30pm
• Two games per week on NSWRLTV
• One final per week on Fox League/Kayo with another on Nine.

SWR Triple 9 FM broadcast two games a month during the season plus some finals matches.

Hawkesbury Radio broadcast Penrith Panthers' matches online during the season when played on non-NRL game days, selected other matches and all the finals matches.

Triple H Radio broadcast selected North Sydney Bears' matches during the year plus selected finals matches.

There is also additional radio coverage of the finals series on 2GB Radio and 702 ABC Sydney.

The NSWRL website upload highlights of every game of the NSW Cup. It also gives half time and full-time scores of the other games.

Twice a week one NSW Cup match is LIVE on Facebook.

• Team names in bold are the teams currently playing in the New South Wales Cup

No.	Club	Number of Premierships
1	Souths	21
2	Balmain	16
3	Canterbury-Bankstown	10
4	Easts/Sydney City/Sydney	9*
5	Norths	8
5	Parramatta	8
5	Newtown	8
8	St. George	6
9	Glebe	5
9	Manly-Warringah	5
10	Penrith	4
11	Wests	3
11	Cronulla-Sutherland	3
14	Newcastle	2
15	Brisbane	1
15	St. George Illawarra	1
15	Canberra	1
15	Wentworthville	1
15	Bankstown City/Sydney	1
15	Illawarra (Cutters)	1

• Team names in bold are the teams currently playing in the New South Wales Cup

No.	Club & Total number of Premierships
1	Souths – 1913, 1914, 1917, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1929, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1943, 1945, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1966, 1968, 1983, 2023
2	Balmain – 1915, 1916, 1928, 1930, 1933, 1941, 1944, 1946, 1950, 1957, 1958, 1965, 1967, 1978, 1982, 1984
3	Canterbury-Bankstown – 1939, 1971, 1972, 1980, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2010, 2011, 2018
4	Easts/Sydney City/Sydney – 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1935, 1937, 1949, 1986, 2004*
5	Norths – 1940, 1942, 1955, 1959, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993
5	Parramatta – 1975, 1977, 1979, 1997, 1999, 2005, 2006, 2007
5	Newtown – 1922, 1947, 1948, 1951, 1970, 1974, 2012, 2019
8	St. George – 1938, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1976, 1985
9	Glebe – 1912, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1921
9	Manly-Warringah – 1954, 1960, 1969, 1973, 1988
10	Penrith – 1987, 2014, 2017, 2022
11	Wests – 1936, 1961, 1981
11	Cronulla-Sutherland – 1994, 1996, 2013
14	Newcastle – 1995, 2015
15	Brisbane – 1990
15	St. George Illawarra – 2001
15	Canberra – 2003
15	Wentworthville – 2008
15	Bankstown City/Sydney – 2009
15	Illawarra – 2016

• Illawarra Cutters (2016)
• Penrith Panthers (2017)
• Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (2018)
• Newtown Jets (2019)
• Penrith Panthers (2022)
• South Sydney Rabbitohs (2023)