Expansion of the National Rugby League

The National Rugby League is the top level rugby league competition in Australia and New Zealand . It was formed in 1998 after the merger of the Australian Super League and the Australian Rugby League. It originally contained twenty teams but this was cut down to 14 by 2000. Expansion increased this number back up to 16.

The Australian Super league and the ARL combined had 22 teams. When the NRL was formed in 1998 it was decided that there would only be 20 teams. The Melbourne Storm were the first expansion club, added for the 1998 season. This meant that the NRL would have to remove three teams: the WA Reds, the South Queensland Crushers and the Hunter Mariners. In 1999 the Adelaide Rams and the Gold Coast Chargers were also removed from the competition. The same fate happened for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in 2000

In addition, the NRL achieved further reduction in the number teams through mergers of established Sydney clubs - St. George Dragons merged with Illawarra Steelers, Western Suburbs Magpies merged with Balmain Tigers, and Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles merged with North Sydney Bears.

The South Sydney Rabbitohs were re-admitted to the competition for the 2002 NRL season after a legal battle with the NRL over their expulsion in the 2000 season.

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