2018 NRL Touch Premiership Season
The 2018 NRL Touch Premiership season is the inaugural season of the NRL Touch Premiership in Australia, and coincided with matches in the 2018 NRL season. The premiership was launched in partnership with Touch Football Australia and the National Rugby League, and was made up of a three round regular season split into two conferences - Queensland and New South Wales - with the first-placed teams in both conferences progressing to the grand final.
| 2018 NRL Touch Premiership Season | |
|---|---|
| League | NRL Touch Premiership |
| Teams | 6 |
Teams
The premiership included six teams in its inaugural season, extracted from the 2018 Elite 8 Series. Each team was aligned to a current NRL club, and was made up of players selected by Queensland Touch Football and NSW Touch Football based on their performances at the 2018 National Touch League.[1]
| Colours | Team | NRL-Aligned Club | Season | Home ground | Men's | Women's | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Head Coach | Assistant Coach | Manager | Captain(s) | Coach | Assistant Coach | Manager | Captain(s) | |||||
 |
QLD Cowboys | North Queensland Cowboys | 1st season | 1300SMILES Stadium | Phil Gyemore | Tim Villalba | Justin Mitchell | Daniel Withers | Swain Rovelli | Mitch Smith | Anita Hagarty | Rylie Seamark |
 |
QLD Titans | Gold Coast Titans | 1st season | Cbus Super Stadium | Chris Loth | Tristan Mana | Brendan Jones | Peter Norman | Renee Murphy | Leasha Thouard | Brenda Rackemann | Marikki Watego, Ashleigh Kearney |
 |
QLD Broncos | Brisbane Broncos | 1st season | Suncorp Stadium | Jason Boyd | John Beesley | Tyrone Bruce | Lucas Feldman | Craig Morrow | Michael Baartz | ||
 |
Parramatta Eels | Parramatta Eels | 1st season | ANZ Stadium | Mark Boland | Jason Martin | Ricky Hetherington | Barry Gibson | Anthony Dudeck | Christian Browne | ||
 |
Newcastle Knights | Newcastle Knights | 1st season | McDonald Jones Stadium | Joel Willoughby | Karley Banks | Andrew Wise | Michael Moussa | Brooke Playford | Sheralee Langbridge | ||
 |
Wests Tigers | Wests Tigers | 1st season | ANZ Stadium | Tony Trad | Dave Nolan | Robert Barakat | Paul Sfeir | Matt Scranage | Kim Solman | ||
Regular season
The regular season was broken into two conferences, consisting of three teams each - Cowboys, Titans, and Broncos in the Queensland conference and Eels, Knights, and Tigers in the NSW conference.[2]
Round 1
| Conference | Home | Away | Venue | Date | Men's | Women's | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Score | Referees | Time | Score | Referees | |||||
| NSW | Parramatta Eels | Wests Tigers | ANZ Stadium | Friday, 18 May | 3:55 pm | 4-7 | Kim Skelly*
Tony Calabria* Robert Bowen* |
4:40 pm | 4-3 | Kim Skelly
Tony Calabria Luke Saldern* |
| QLD | QLD Cowboys | QLD Titans | 1300SMILES Stadium | Saturday, 19 May | 3:05 pm | 7-4 | Luke McKenzie*
Brett Freshwater* Michael Littlefield* |
3:50 pm | 5-8 | Luke McKenzie
Brett Freshwater Denise Weier* |
Round 2
| Conference | Home | Away | Venue | Date | Men's | Women's | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Score | Referees | Time | Score | Referees | |||||
| NSW | Newcastle Knights | Parramatta Eels | McDonald Jones Stadium | Saturday, 30 June | 5-4 | David Baggio, Tony Calabria, Kim Skelly | 4-3 | Kim Skelly, Rob Bowen, Luke Saldern | ||
| QLD | QLD Broncos | QLD Cowboys | Suncorp Stadium | Saturday, 30 June | 7-2 | Anthony Smith, Brad Smith, Luke McKenzie | 4-3 | Anthony Smith, Brad Smith, Amanda Sheeky | ||
Round 3
| Conference | Home | Away | Venue | Date | Men's | Women's | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Score | Referees | Time | Score | Referees | |||||
| QLD | QLD Titans | QLD Broncos | Cbus Super Stadium | Sunday, 15 July | 2-0 | 7-8 | ||||
| NSW | Wests Tigers | Newcastle Knights | ANZ Stadium | Saturday, 21 July | 4-3 | 9-5 | ||||
(*) Denotes referee debut
Grand Final
The grand final is played between the first-placed team in the Queensland conference, and the first-placed team in the New South Wales conference.[3]
| QLD Conference Team | Score | NSW Conference Team | Venue | Date | Time | Referees | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Women's | QLD Broncos | 2-4 | Wests Tigers | Cbus Super Stadium | Saturday, 29 July | noon | Tony Calabria
Brett Freshwater Amanda Sheeky |
| Men's | QLD Broncos | 6-5 | Wests Tigers | 12:45 pm | David Baggio
Kim Skelly Luke McKenzie |
References
- "NRL Touch Premiership team lists – Touch Football Australia". touchfootball.com.au. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
- "NRL Touch Premiership 2018 Draw – Touch Football Australia". touchfootball.com.au. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
- "NRL announces historic Touch football premiership competition". National Rugby League. 2018-04-18. Retrieved 2018-05-21.