A Complete History of the NRL (nerd edition)
Last year, I did a report on each NRL club featuring a bit of history, a few statistics and some graphs. The series didn’t do super well in terms of clicks but also didn’t take a lot of effort to produce.
One thing I did enjoy putting together were the class graphs. These use a slow moving Elo rating system called Eratosthenes to track the long term performance of clubs. You can see a full listing of all current ratings here.
If you’ve got the right kind of stuff between your ears (that is, if you’re a massive nerd), each picture tells each team’s thousands of words history in the NRL. To that end, I’ve updated all sixteen clubs’ graphs to the end of the 2017 season for your nerdy consumption.
Jump ahead
Brisbane Broncos
Canberra Raiders
Canterbury Bulldogs
Cronulla Sharks
Gold Coast Titans
Manly Sea Eagles
Melbourne Storm
Newcastle Knights
New Zealand Warriors
North Queensland Cowboys
Parramatta Eels
Penrith Panthers
South Sydney Rabbitohs
St George Illawarra Dragons
Sydney Roosters
Wests Tigers
Brisbane Broncos
Canberra Raiders
Canterbury Bulldogs
Cronulla Sharks
Gold Coast Titans
Manly Sea Eagles
*Manly’s ill-fated merger with North Sydney, as the Northern Eagles, lasted from 2000 to 2002. The Eagles’ stats are included as part of Manly’s history.
Melbourne Storm
Melbourne were famously stripped of the 2007 and 2009 premierships and the 2006, 2007 and 2008 minor premierships for salary cap breaches uncovered in 2010. They were stripped of all competition points for that season.
Newcastle Knights
New Zealand Warriors
The statistics accumulated as the Auckland Warriors are incorporated into the New Zealand Warriors’ stats.
North Queensland Cowboys
Parramatta Eels
Penrith Panthers
South Sydney Rabbitohs
St George Illawarra Dragons
Sydney Roosters
Wests Tigers
