1986 NSWRL season
| 1986 New South Wales Rugby League | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 13 |
| Premiers |
 Parramatta (4th title) |
| Minor premiers |
Parramatta (3rd title) |
| Matches played | 163 |
| Points scored | 5212 |
| Attendance | 1705156 |
| Top points scorer(s) |
 Terry Lamb (210) |
| Player of the year |
 Mal Cochrane (Rothmans Medal) |
| Top try-scorer(s) |
Phil Blake (13) Garry Schofield (13) |
The 1986 New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the seventy-ninth season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Thirteen clubs competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup during the season, which culminated in a grand final between the Parramatta Eels and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs which featured the introduction of the Clive Churchill Medal. This season, NSWRL teams also competed for the 1986 National Panasonic Cup.
This season saw the opening of the new, 30,000 capacity Parramatta Stadium as the home ground for the Parramatta Eels and on 29 June the final game was played at the old Sydney Sports Ground: Eastern Suburbs Roosters v North Sydney Bears.
In total twenty-six regular season rounds were played from March till September, resulting in a top five of Parramatta, South Sydney, Canterbury-Bankstown (the defending premiers), Manly-Warringah and Balmain who battled it out in the finals (after Balmain had defeated North Sydney in a playoff for 5th spot). Parramatta completed a perfect season, winning the pre-season competition, the midweek Panasonic Cup, finishing the regular season as minor premiers, winning the Grand Final and farewelling their international long time stars Mick Cronin and Ray Price as victorious champions.
The 1986 season's Rothmans Medallist was Manly-Warringah hooker, Mal Cochrane. Parramatta's halfback, Peter Sterling won the Dally M Award as well as Rugby League Week's player of the year award. The Coca-Cola Rugby League Coach-of-the-Year award was given to George Piggins who took South Sydney to the finals in his first year as coach.
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