NRL Minor Premiership :1991-2017

The regular season winner is overshadowed by the grand final victor. Some could not recall who were best during the regular rounds, yet it shows which were the consistent performers during the year. So here is a reminder of the best team for that part of each season going back to 1991.

How I arrived at the rewards part is the top four from each season have been recognised. Six points for the minor premiers, three for runner up, third got two points and fourth a solitary score. In the case of 1997, there were two competitions and I didn't feel that merited double points. Therefore for that year the winners of each were allocated four points and the runners up two. That gave all the years from 1991 to 2017 twelve points per season.

I have also ignored the fiasco of how the NRL handled Melbourne Storm's salary cap breach. They stripped three minor premiership wins from them without handing the titles on to the team coming second. I wondered how to handle that but decided to give Melbourne back their wins. This was on the basis that were unable to collect any points for this competition in 2010 and were fined nearly $1.7 million, a strong response. To also take three minor premiership and two grand final wins was excessive. I hope the NRL one day follows suit and returns the titles.

In the chart below, the periods where teams were not competing in order to gain points are shaded yellow. Illawarra merged with St George and North Sydney - after a short stint with Manly - now play in the NSW Cup. North Queenland, New Zealand and Melbourne have started up during this period. South Sydney had a brief break from the elite competition.

With six minor premierships, Melbourne are the most successful club, albeit controversially. The Sydney Roosters have four as have Brisbane when including the Super League win of 1997. In all, ten sides have taken the top spot at least once over the twenty seven year period below.

R	Club	T	17	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	09	08	07	06	05
1	Melbourne Storm	47	6	6	1		2	3	6		1	6	6	6
2	Brisbane Broncos	42	2		3				2					2	2
3	Sydney Roosters	37	3		6	6	6					1
4	Manly Sea Eagles	35				3	1	1	3			3	3
5	Canterbury Bulldogs	32						6			3			3
6	St George Dragons	21								6	6				3
7	Penrith Panthers	18				1				3
8	Paramatta Eels	17	1												6
9	Newcastle Knights	14												1
9	Cronulla Sharks	14		2								2
11	Canberra Raiders	12		3
12	North Sydney	7
12	New Zealand	7											1
12	South Sydney	7				2	3	2
15	Nth Queensland	5		1	2								2
16	Wests Tigers	4							1	2					1
17	Gold Coast Titans	3								1	2
18	Illawarra Steelers	2
	Club	04	03	02	01	00	99	98	97	96	95	94	93	92	91
	Melbourne Storm						2	2
	Brisbane Broncos	2		2		6		6	4	3	2			6
	Sydney Roosters	6	3	1		3	1			1
	Manly Sea Eagles								4	6	6	1	1		3
	Canterbury Bulldogs	3	2		3							6	6
	St George Dragons												3	3
	Penrith Panthers	1	6			1									6
	Paramatta Eels				6		3	1
	Newcastle Knights			3	2	2		3	2					1
	Cronulla Sharks				1		6		2		1
	Canberra Raiders		1								3	2	2		1
	North Sydney									2		3			2
	New Zealand			6
	South Sydney
	Nth Queensland
	Wests Tigers
	Gold Coast Titans
	Illawarra Steelers													2