2006 NRL season

The salary cap for the 2006 season was A$3.366 million per club for their 25 highest-paid players.[3] The New Zealand Warriors were investigated by the National Rugby League over alleged salary cap breaches committed by the team's previous administrators. The club admitted to inflating its salary cap to the tune of nearly $1 million during the 2005 season. The National Rugby League fined the Warriors $430,000 and ordered the team to start the season with a four premiership point deficit. It was the first time in 99 years of rugby league in Australia that a team has started a season on less than zero premiership points.

The Warriors appealed the decision by the NRL to deduct the four competition points but accepted the financial penalty. Prior to the beginning of the season, the National Rugby League confirmed that the points penalty would stand. The penalty would prove the decisive factor in the Warriors missing the finals for the third year in succession.

Sixteen stadiums regularly hosted National Rugby league matches, with a further six hosting at least one match in season 2006.

Stadium name [7]	City	Host club(s)	Capacity [8]
Suncorp Stadium	Milton, Brisbane, Qld	Brisbane Broncos	52,500
Canberra Stadium	Bruce, Canberra, ACT	Canberra Raiders	25,000
Olympic Park Stadium	Melbourne, Vic	Melbourne Storm	18,500
EnergyAustralia Stadium	Newcastle, NSW	Newcastle Knights	26,200
Aussie Stadium	Moore Park, Sydney, NSW	Sydney Roosters	41,159
Brookvale Oval	Brookvale, Sydney, NSW	Manly Warringah Sea Eagles	22,000
Campbelltown Stadium	Campbelltown, Sydney, NSW	Wests Tigers	20,000
Leichhardt Oval	Leichhardt, Sydney, NSW	Wests Tigers	20,000
Oki Jubilee Stadium	Kogarah, Sydney, NSW	St George Illawarra Dragons	20,541
Parramatta Stadium	Parramatta, Sydney, NSW	Parramatta Eels	20,500
CUA Stadium	Penrith, Sydney, NSW	Penrith Panthers	21,000
Telstra Stadium	Homebush, Sydney, NSW	Bulldogs South Sydney Rabbitohs Wests Tigers	83,500
Toyota Park	Cronulla, Sydney, NSW	Cronulla Sharks	21,500
Dairy Farmers Stadium	Kirwan, Townsville, Qld	North Queensland Cowboys	25,000
Mt Smart Stadium	Penrose, Auckland, New Zealand	New Zealand Warriors	25,000
WIN Stadium	Wollongong, NSW	St George Illawarra Dragons	20,000
Hindmarsh Stadium	Hindmarsh, Adelaide, SA		15,500
Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium	Gosford, Central Coast, NSW		20,059
Jade Stadium	Christchurch, New Zealand		36,500
Carrara Stadium	Carrara, Gold Coast, Qld		22,000
Waikato Stadium	Hamilton, New Zealand		26,350
Sydney Cricket Ground	Moore Park, Sydney, NSW		43,562

In 2006 the NRL and their advertising agency MJW Hakuhodo stayed with the Hoodoo Gurus' "That's My Team" soundtrack for a fourth year, producing a treatment aimed to appeal to the fundamental hope of all players and fans: that it would be ‘their team’ who would win the Grand Final.

Capitalising on the enthusiasm generated by the Wests Tigers triumph of 2005 in only their sixth season, the campaign line and song chorus was changed to ‘That’s My Dream’.

All fifteen NRL club captains featured heavily in the television and outdoor ads holding aloft the Telstra trophy. Eight young real life fans also featured in the TV commercial reflecting the origins of the game from backyard football scenes to Sydney beaches. Each was a fan of one of eight clubs who had not till then won the Telstra Premiership trophy and four different broadcast versions of the ad told the stories of their love of the game and each's dream of their own team's victory.

The Dally M Awards were introduced in 1980 by News Limited. The most prestigious of these awards is the Dally M Medal which is awarded to the Player Of The Year. The other prestigious award is the Provans Summons Medal which is the season's best player as voted by the public. As well as honouring the player of the year the awards night also recognises the premier player in each position, the best coach, the best captain, representative player of the year and the most outstanding rookie of the season. The awards night and Player of the Year medal are named in honour of Australian former rugby league great Herbert Henry "Dally" Messenger.

Team of the Year

• Clinton Schifcofske ran 3,741 metres with the ball in 2006, more than any other player in the competition.[9]
• The Brisbane Broncos set a club record for their biggest comeback win when they came from 18-0 down at half time to win 30-28 against Canberra Raiders in round 8.
• The Melbourne Storm set a club record for their longest winning streak with 11 games from Round 12 to Round 23.
• New Zealand Warriors defeated South Sydney Rabbitohs 66–0 in Round 16. This set new records for New Zealand's greatest winning margin and South Sydney's greatest losing margin.
• The Newcastle Knights and Canberra Raiders set the league record for the highest aggregate score in a match, with a total of 102 points scored in Newcastle's 70–32 win in Round 2. The previous record (97 points, between St George and Canterbury-Bankstown) had stood since 1935.
• The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks set a then-club record for longest losing streak with 10 matches from Round 17 to Round 26.
• Nathan Merritt became the first player to top the try scoring chart from the wooden spoon winning side.[10]

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	F	A	PD	Pts
1	Melbourne	24	20	0	4	2	605	404	+201	441
2	Bulldogs	24	16	0	8	2	608	468	+140	36
3	Brisbane	24	14	0	10	2	497	392	+105	32
4	Newcastle	24	14	0	10	2	608	538	+70	32
5	Manly Warringah	24	14	0	10	2	534	493	+41	32
6	St. George Illawarra	24	14	0	10	2	519	481	+38	32
7	Canberra	24	13	0	11	2	525	573	-48	30
8	Parramatta	24	12	0	12	2	506	483	+23	28
9	North Queensland	24	11	0	13	2	450	463	-13	26
10	New Zealand	24	12	0	12	2	552	463	+89	242
11	Wests Tigers	24	10	0	14	2	490	565	-75	24
12	Penrith	24	10	0	14	2	510	587	-77	24
13	Cronulla-Sutherland	24	9	0	15	2	515	544	-29	22
14	Sydney	24	8	0	16	2	528	650	-122	20
15	South Sydney	24	3	0	21	2	429	772	-343	10

¹The Melbourne Storm were later stripped of this minor premiership due to gross salary cap breaches.
²The New Zealand Warriors were deducted 4 competition points due to gross salary cap breaches.

• Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 8.
• Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.
• Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished in last place on the ladder in that round
• Underlined numbers indicate that the team had a bye during that round.

	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
1	Melbourne	2	4	4	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	16	18	20	22	24	26	28	30	32	34	36	38	40	40	42	44
2	Bulldogs	0	2	2	4	6	8	8	10	12	14	16	16	18	18	20	20	24	24	26	28	30	32	34	34	34	36
3	Brisbane	0	2	4	4	6	8	10	12	12	14	16	18	20	20	20	22	22	24	26	26	26	26	26	28	30	32
4	Newcastle	2	4	6	6	8	8	8	10	12	14	16	16	16	18	18	18	20	20	20	22	24	26	26	28	30	32
5	Manly-Warringah	0	0	2	4	6	6	8	10	10	10	12	14	16	18	18	18	18	20	22	24	24	26	28	30	32	32
6	St. George Illawarra	0	0	2	4	4	6	8	8	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	26	26	26	26	26	26	28	30	32
7	Canberra	2	2	2	4	4	6	8	8	10	10	10	12	14	16	16	18	18	18	20	22	22	24	26	28	28	30
8	Parramatta	0	2	2	2	2	4	6	6	6	6	6	8	8	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	26	28	28	28
9	North Queensland	2	4	6	8	10	12	12	12	14	14	16	16	16	16	16	16	18	20	20	22	22	22	22	22	24	26
10	New Zealand	-4	-4	-2	0	0	0	2	2	4	4	6	6	6	8	10	12	14	14	14	16	16	18	20	22	24	24
11	Wests	2	2	2	4	4	6	6	8	10	10	10	12	14	14	16	16	16	18	18	18	20	20	20	20	22	24
12	Penrith	2	4	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	10	12	12	12	12	14	16	16	18	20	20	22	22	22	24	24	24
13	Cronulla-Sutherland	2	2	2	4	4	4	6	8	10	12	12	14	16	18	20	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22
14	Sydney	2	2	4	4	6	6	6	8	8	10	12	12	12	12	12	12	14	14	16	16	18	18	20	20	20	20
15	South Sydney	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	6	8	10	10	10	10