2023 NSW Cup season

The 2023 season of the New South Wales Cup was the 117th season of the premier state rugby league competition in New South Wales.

2023 New South Wales Cup
Duration	3 March - 24 September
Teams	13
Premiers	South Sydney Rabbitohs (21st title)
Minor premiers	North Sydney Bears
Matches played	150
Top points scorer(s)	Ronald Volkman (197)
Player of the year	Dean Hawkins
Top try-scorer(s)	Clayton Faulalo (29)
← 2022 2024 →

Season summary

The 2023 season of the New South Wales Cup commenced on the 3 March. Teams played 26 regular competition rounds, with the top five teams qualifying for the final series in September.

Round 10 will be only played at 2 grounds as part of magic round that being North Sydney Oval and HE Laybutt Field^[1]

Teams

There are 13 teams competing in the competition in 2023, with eleven based in New South Wales itself, as well as one in the Australian Capital Territory and one from New Zealand.

Colours	Club	Home ground(s)	Head coach
	Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles	4 Pines Park & HE Laybutt Field	Greg Boulous
	Canberra Raiders	GIO Stadium & Raiders Belconnen	Justin Giteau[2]
	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Belmore Sports Ground & Stadium Australia	David Tangata-Toa
	Newcastle Knights	McDonald Jones Stadium	Michael Monaghan
	Newtown Jets	Henson Park	George Ndaira
	New Zealand Warriors	Mount Smart Stadium	Slade Griffin
	North Sydney Bears	North Sydney Oval	Jason Taylor
	Parramatta Eels	Kellyville Oval & CommBank Stadium	Nathan Cayless
	Penrith Panthers	BlueBet Stadium	Ben Harden
	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Ironmark High Performance Centre & Stadium Australia	Joe O'Callaghan
	Sydney Roosters	Wentworth Park	Anthony Barnes
	St. George Illawarra Dragons	WIN Stadium & Netstrata Jubilee Stadium	Bronx Goodwin
	Western Suburbs Magpies	Lidcombe Oval	Wayne Lambkin

Regular Season

Ladder

2023 NSW Cup
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	North Sydney Bears	24	16	0	8	2	637	474	+163	36
2	South Sydney Rabbitohs	24	15	0	9	2	584	533	+51	34
3	New Zealand Warriors	24	14	1	9	2	630	470	+160	33
4	Canberra Raiders	24	14	1	9	2	554	476	+78	33
5	Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles	24	13	2	9	2	629	524	+105	32
6	Newtown Jets	24	13	1	10	2	644	511	+133	31
7	Penrith Panthers	24	13	0	11	2	564	482	+82	30
8	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	24	11	3	10	2	569	501	+68	29
9	Parramatta Eels	24	11	1	12	2	480	683	-203	27
10	St. George Illawarra Dragons	24	9	1	14	2	572	624	-52	23
11	Western Suburbs Magpies	24	8	2	14	2	508	685	-177	22
12	Newcastle Knights	24	8	0	16	2	516	749	-233	20
13	Sydney Roosters	24	5	0	19	2	492	667	-175	14

Source:^[3]

Finals series

The top five teams qualified for the finals series, with these being Norths, Souths, New Zealand, Canberra and Blacktown.

Home	Score	Away	Match Information
			Date and Time	Venue	Referee(s)	Crowd
QUALIFYING AND ELIMINATION FINAL
Canberra Raiders	24 – 22	Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles	Saturday 2 September, 1:00pm	North Sydney Oval		1,000
South Sydney Rabbitohs	26 – 12	New Zealand Warriors	Saturday 3 September, 3:00pm
SEMI-FINALS
New Zealand Warriors	49 – 6	Canberra Raiders	Saturday 9 September, 1:00pm	Leichhardt Oval		3,000
North Sydney Bears	24 – 30	South Sydney Rabbitohs	Saturday 9 September, 3:00pm
PRELIMINARY FINAL
North Sydney Bears	28 – 24	New Zealand Warriors	Saturday 16 September, 3:00 pm	Leichhardt Oval		3,000
GRAND FINAL
South Sydney Rabbitohs	22 – 18	North Sydney Bears	Sunday 24 September, 3:00pm	CommBank Stadium		10,173

	Qualifying and elimination finals					Semi-finals					Preliminary final					Grand final
						1	North Sydney	24								South Sydney		22
							South Sydney	30								North Sydney		18
	2	South Sydney	26								North Sydney		28
	3	New Zealand	12								New Zealand		24
						New Zealand		49
						Canberra		6
	4	Canberra	24
	5	Blacktown	22

Grand Final

Both Souths and Norths went into the Grand Final with lengthy droughts, at 40 and 30 years respectively. The two sides also met in a NSW Cup Grand Final for the first time in 97 years (1926).

2023 The Knock-On Effect NSW Cup Grand Final

Sunday, 24 September 15:00 AEST (UTC+10)

South Sydney Rabbitohs	22 – 18	North Sydney Bears
Tries: 4 Mitchell  14' O'Neill  32' Carr  51' Munro  75' Goals: 4 Hawkins  16', 34', 76' (3/4)	1st: 12–12 2nd: 10–8 Report	Tries: 3 Smalley  5' Marschke  25' Porter  68' Goals: 3 Hayman  27', 40', 70' (2/3)

CommBank Stadium, Sydney Attendance: 10,173 Player of the Match: Dean Hawkins

NRL State Championship

See also: 2023 NRL Grand Final

As premiers of the NSW Cup, the South Sydney Rabbitohs will face Queensland Cup premiers Brisbane Tigers in the NRL State Championship match.

2023 NRL State Championship

Sunday, 1 October 13:20pm AEDT (UTC+11)

South Sydney Rabbitohs	42 – 22	Brisbane Tigers
	1st: 12 – 6 2nd: 30 – 16

Accor Stadium, Sydney Referee: Wyatt Raymond Bunker: Chris Butler Touch judges: Tyson Brough, Cameron Paddy

Awards

• Player of the Year: Dean Hawkins
• Top Tryscorer: Clayton Faulalo (29)
• Top Pointscorer: Ronald Volkman (197)

Team of the Year

Position	Nat	Winner	Club
Fullback		Isaiah Iongi	Penrith Panthers
Wing		Clayton Faulalo	Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles
Centre		Kayal Iro	Newtown Jets
Centre		Ali Leiataua	New Zealand Warriors
Wing		Fetalaiga Pauga	North Sydney Bears
Five-eighth		Jesse Marschke	North Sydney Bears
Halfback		Dean Hawkins	South Sydney Rabbitohs
Prop		Liam Henry	Penrith Panthers
Hooker		Peter Mamouzelos	South Sydney Rabbitohs
Prop		Trey Mooney	Canberra Raiders
Second-row		Clay Webb	Canberra Raiders
Second-row		Kalani Going	New Zealand Warriors
Lock		Zach Dockar-Clay	North Sydney Bears

See also

• 2023 New South Wales Rugby League