1981 New South Wales Rugby Football League
Teams	12
Premiers	Parramatta (1st title)
Minor premiers	Eastern Suburbs (15th title)
Matches played	138
Points scored	4,160
Attendance	1,312,977
Top points scorer(s)	Steve Rogers (194)
Rothmans Medal	Kevin Hastings
Top try-scorer(s)	Terry Fahey (16)
← 1980 1982 →

The 1981 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 74th season of Sydney's professional rugby league football competition, Australia's first. Twelve clubs, including six of 1908's foundation teams and another six from around Sydney competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and Wills Cup during the season, which culminated in a grand final between the Parramatta and Newtown clubs. NSWRFL clubs also competed in the 1981 Tooth Cup and players from NSWRFL clubs were selected to represent the New South Wales team.

In 1981 the "sin-bin" was introduced to rugby league in Australia, enabling referees to send players from the field for five or ten minute periods for minor or deliberate technical offences.^[1] Newtown hooker Barry Jensen became the first player to be sent from the field in this manner.

Midway through the season, players contracted to NSWRFL clubs were selected to represent the New South Wales team in two games against the Queensland team in 1981. After that the experimental 1981 State of Origin game was played, and for the second time in history NSWRFL clubs' players were able to represent Queensland.

Twenty-two regular season rounds were played from March until August, resulting in a top five of Easts, Newtown, Parramatta, Cronulla and Manly who battled it out in the finals.

Eastern Suburbs' halfback Kevin Hastings won the 1981 season's Rothmans Medal as well as Rugby League Week's Player of the Year award. The Dally M Award went to Cronulla-Sutherland centre, Steve Rogers.

This was to be the final year that the NSWRFL premiership was an all-Sydney competition, with the introduction of teams from Canberra and Illawarra in 1982 starting a new era of expansion which would see the League transform into a national, then international competition.

Balmain 74th season Ground: Leichhardt Oval Coach: Frank Stanton Captain: Allan McMahon→Neil Whittaker	Canterbury-Bankstown 47th season Ground: Belmore Oval Coach: Ted Glossop Captain: Mark Hughes & Garry Hughes	Cronulla-Sutherland 15th season Ground: Endeavour Field Coach: Greg Pierce Captain: Steve Rogers	Eastern Suburbs 74th season Ground: Sydney Sports Ground Coach: Bob Fulton Captain: Royce Ayliffe
Manly-Warringah 35th season Ground: Brookvale Oval Coach: Ray Ritchie Captain: Max Krilich	Newtown 74th season Ground: Henson Park Coach: Warren Ryan Captain: Tommy Raudonikis	North Sydney 74th season Ground:North Sydney Oval Coach: Ron Willey Captain: Mark Graham	Parramatta 35th season Ground: Cumberland Oval Coach: Jack Gibson Captain: Steve Edge
Penrith 15th season Ground: Penrith Park Coach: Len Stacker Captain: Tim Sheens	South Sydney 74th season Ground: Redfern Oval Coach: Bill Anderson Captain: Nathan Gibbs→Mitch Brennan	St. George 61st season Ground: Kogarah Oval Coach: Harry Bath Captain: Craig Young	Western Suburbs 74th season Ground: Lidcombe Oval Coach: Roy Masters Captain: Warren Boland

Bold – Home game
X – Bye
Opponent for round listed above margin

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Eastern Suburbs	22	16	0	6	385	225	+160	32
2	Newtown	22	14	2	6	326	268	+58	30
3	Parramatta	22	14	1	7	398	246	+152	29
4	Cronulla	22	13	1	8	339	337	+2	27
5	Manly	22	12	2	8	350	317	+33	26
6	Western Suburbs	22	11	1	10	311	352	-41	23
7	North Sydney	22	9	0	13	322	355	-33	18
8	St. George	22	8	1	13	320	399	-79	17
9	South Sydney	22	8	1	13	322	423	-101	17
10	Canterbury	22	8	0	14	340	344	-4	16
11	Penrith	22	8	0	14	305	350	-45	16
12	Balmain	22	6	1	15	293	395	-102	13

• Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top 5.
• Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.
• Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished 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
1	Eastern Suburbs Roosters	0	2	4	6	8	8	10	12	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	24	26	26	26	28	30	32	32
2	Newtown Jets	0	1	3	3	5	7	9	11	11	11	13	15	17	17	19	21	22	24	24	24	26	28	30
3	Parramatta Eels	2	4	6	6	6	8	10	10	12	12	12	12	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	26	28	28	29
4	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	0	2	4	6	8	10	10	10	10	12	13	13	15	17	19	19	21	23	25	25	25	25	27
5	Manly Warringah Sea Eagles	2	4	4	4	4	4	6	8	8	8	10	10	12	14	14	14	15	17	19	21	23	25	26
6	Western Suburbs Magpies	0	1	1	3	3	5	7	9	11	13	13	13	13	15	17	17	17	19	19	19	21	21	23
7	North Sydney Bears	2	2	2	4	6	6	6	6	8	10	10	10	12	12	14	14	14	14	16	16	16	16	18
8	St. George Dragons	2	4	4	4	6	6	6	8	8	10	10	10	12	12	12	14	14	14	16	17	17	17	17
9	South Sydney Rabbitohs	0	0	0	0	2	4	4	4	4	4	5	7	7	9	9	11	11	13	13	15	15	17	17
10	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	0	0	2	4	4	6	6	6	6	6	8	8	8	8	8	10	10	10	12	12	14	16	16
11	Penrith Panthers	2	2	4	6	6	6	6	8	8	10	10	10	10	10	10	12	14	14	14	16	16	16	16
12	Balmain Tigers	2	2	2	2	2	2	4	4	4	4	6	6	6	6	6	6	8	8	8	9	9	11	13

The elimination semi-final between Newtown and Manly-Warringah will always be remembered for the notorious all-in brawl, with the main combatants Newtown's Steve Bowden and Manly hardman Mark Broadhurst. Bowden was marched for the incident and was unable to take part in the preliminary final against Eastern Suburbs or the grand final against Parramatta.^[2]

Home	Score	Away	Match information
			Date and time	Venue	Referee	Crowd
Qualifying Finals
Newtown	8–10	Parramatta	5 September 1981	Sydney Cricket Ground	John Gocher	17,265
Cronulla-Sutherland	11–14	Manly-Warringah	6 September 1981	Sydney Cricket Ground	Greg Hartley	21,635
Semi-finals
Eastern Suburbs	8–12	Parramatta	12 September 1981	Sydney Cricket Ground	Greg Hartley	27,600
Newtown	20–15	Manly-Warringah	13 September 1981	Sydney Cricket Ground	John Gocher	22,440
Preliminary final
Eastern Suburbs	5–15	Newtown	19 September 1981	Sydney Cricket Ground	Greg Hartley	25,243

	Qualifying final					Major semi-final					Preliminary final					Grand final
						1	Eastern Suburbs	8								Parramatta		20
							Parramatta	12								Newtown		11
	2	Newtown	8								Eastern Suburbs		5
	3	Parramatta	10			Minor semi-final					Newtown		15
						Newtown		20
	4	Cronulla-Sutherland	11			Manly		15
	5	Manly	14

Newtown had reached their first grand final in twenty-six years. Parramatta led 7–6 at half-time, but the Jets looked set to spring a major upset when tough half back Tommy Raudonikis crashed over to score early in the second-half. Then the Eels' brilliant backline exploded into action. The combination of Brett Kenny, Mick Cronin, Peter Sterling, Eric Grothe and Steve Ella dominated and would go on to feature in five grand finals and four premierships by the end of 1986.

Steve Edge became the first player to captain two different sides to premiership victory having captained St. George to a win over the Eels in season 1977.

Master coach Jack Gibson had just six words for a packed Parramatta Leagues Club auditorium, who had just witnessed the Eels' first ever premiership since their 1947 entry to the competition. "Ding, dong, the witch is dead," he said before the thunderous chants of the success-starved blue and gold army of fans.

27 September 1981

Newtown Jets	11 – 20	Parramatta Eels
Tries: Graeme O'Grady 1 Brian Hetherington 1 Tommy Raudonikis 1 Goals: Paul Morris 1/3	1st: 6 - 7 2nd: 5 - 13 Report	Tries: Brett Kenny 2 Graeme Atkins 1 Steve Ella 1 Goals: Mick Cronin 4/6

Sydney Cricket Ground Attendance: 57,333 Referee: Greg Hartley Player of the Match: Bob O'Reilly[a]

In the resultant celebrations at Parramatta with a large group of supporters having gathered at the Eels homeground of Cumberland Oval, subsequently lit a fire that burned the grandstand to the ground. In late 1984 a construction contract was signed by the NSW Government, with the new Parramatta Stadium being opened on 5 March 1986 by Queen Elizabeth II. Parramatta Stadium itself was knocked down along with the adjacent public pools, in 2017. The new stadium, the Western Sydney Stadium was opened on 14 April 2019.

The following statistics are as of the conclusion of Round 22.

Top 5 point scorers Points Player Tries Goals Field Goals 183 Steve Rogers 13 72 0 183 Steve Gearin 13 72 0 164 Mick Cronin 6 73 0 142 Mark Ross 8 59 0 138 Ron Giteau 5 61 1 Top 5 try scorers Tries Player 15 Terry Fahey 13 Steve Ella 13 Steve Rogers 13 John Gibbs 13 Steve Gearin

Top 5 goal scorers Goals Player 73 Mick Cronin 72 Steve Rogers 72 Steve Gearin 61 Ron Giteau 59 Mark Ross

• Rugby League Tables – Season 1981
• 1981 Grand final at eraofthebiff.com
• Results:1981-90 at rabbitohs.com.au
• 1981 J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup at rleague.com^{[dead link‍]}
• NSWRFL season 1981 at rugbyleagueproject.com