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Newcastle & Hunter Rugby League

Sport	Rugby league
Formerly known as	Lower Hunter
Instituted	2006
Inaugural season	2007
Number of teams	55
Country	Australia
Premiers	Dora Creek Swampies (2022)
Most titles	Dora Creek Swampies (4 titles)
Website
Broadcast partner	Bar TV Sports (Australia)

Newcastle & Hunter Community Rugby League is the governing body of second tier rugby league in the Newcastle and Hunter region. Formed in 2006 after a merger between the Maitland & Coalfields Rugby League and Lower Hunter Rugby League Competitions. It is now the largest senior Rugby League competition in the world. Newcastle & Hunter Rugby League competitions consists of five senior men's divisions, A Grade, B Grade, C Grade, Northern Conference & Southern Conference, as well as two Ladies League Tag divisions and Ladies Tackle. Currently there are over 50 men's teams, as well as 18 Ladies League Tag teams and 8 Ladies Tackle teams.

History

The inaugural season of Newcastle & Hunter Rugby League was 2007 after the amalgamation of the Lower Hunter Rugby League and the Hunter Valley Rugby League. 23 clubs (24 teams) entered 3 grades in the first season.

Current Clubs

Club	Year Entered	City/Region	Ground
A-Grade
Dudley Magpies	1981	Lake Macquarie	Dudley Park
Kotara Bears		Newcastle	Hudson Park
South Newcastle Lions	2022	Newcastle	Townson Oval
Swansea Swans RLFC	1967	Lake Macquarie	Parbury Park
University of Newcastle Seahorses		Lake Macquarie	Bernie Curran Oval
Windale	1962	Lake Macquarie	Mick Bird Oval
Woodberry Warriors		Maitland	Fred Harvey Oval
B-Grade
Awabakal United	2018	Lake Macquarie	Walters Park
Glendale Gorillas	1967	Lake Macquarie	Bower Oval
Maitland Pickers	2022	Maitland	Maitland Sportsground
Northern Lakes Warriors	1976	Central Coast	Northern Lakes RLFC
Raymond Terrace Magpies		Port Stephens	Lakeside Complex
Wangi Wangi Warriors		Lake Macquarie	Wangi Oval
Waratah Mayfield		Newcastle	Waratah Oval
West Wallsend Magpies		Lake Macquarie	Les Wakeman Oval
C-Grade North
Aberglasslyn Ants	2017	Maitland	McKeachies Paddock
Abermain-Weston Hawks	1910	Cessnock	Kurri Kurri Sportsground
Dungog Warriors	1930	Dungog	Bennett Park
Fingal Bay Bomboras	1998	Port Stephens	Fingal Bay Oval
Kurri Kurri Bulldogs		Kurri Kurri	Kurri Kurri Sportsground
Kearsley Crushers	2017	Cessnock	Jeffrey Park
Maitland United	2017	Maitland	Coronation Park
Thornton-Beresfield Bears		Newcastle	Somerset Park
C-Grade South
Budgewoi Bulldogs	2019	Central Coast	Hallakulani Oval
Dora Creek Swampies (C-Grade)		Lake Macquarie	Neville Thompson Oval
Hamilton Ducks	2019	Newcastle	Learmont Park
Lakes United Seagulls	1947	Lake Macquarie	Cahill Oval
Morisset Bulls		Lake Macquarie	Gibson Oval
Northern Lakes Warriors (C-Grade)	1976	Central Coast	Northern Lakes RLFC
Shortland Devils		Newcastle	Tuxford Park
Wallsend Maryland Tigers		Newcastle	The Grange
Northern Conference
Clarence Town Cobras	1975	Dungog	Clarence Town Park
Gloucester Magpies		Gloucester	Bert Gallagher Oval
Karuah Roos		Port Stephens	Lionel Morten Oval
Paterson River		Maitland	Paterson Showground
Raymond Terrace Magpies (2nd)		Port Stephens	Lakeside Complex
Stroud Raiders		Stroud	Stroud Showground
Tea Gardens Hawks		Tea Gardens	Myall Park
Waratah Mayfield (2nd North)		Newcastle	Waratah Oval
Southern Conference
Cardiff Cobras	1934	Lake Macquarie	Cardiff Oval
East Maitland Griffins		Maitland	King Edward Park
Glendale Gorillas	1967	Lake Macquarie	Bower Oval
Hinton Hornets		Maitland	Stuart Park
Morpeth Bulls		Maitland	Ray Lawler Reserve
Stockton Sharks		Newcastle	Lynn Oval
Waratah Mayfield (2nd South)		Newcastle	Waratah Oval
West Wallsend Magpies (2nd)		Lake Macquarie	Les Wakeman Oval
League Tag only teams
Central Charlestown Butcher Boys		Newcastle	St John Oval

Former clubs

Club	First Season	Last Season	Home Ground	Region
Belmont Sharks			Barton Field	Lake Macquarie
Belmont North Broncos			Lenaghan Oval	Lake Macquarie
Belmont South Rabbitohs	2011		Leneghan Oval	Lake Macquarie
Bolton Point	1997	?	?	Lake Macquarie
Booragul Bears	?	1996	Tulkaba Park	Lake Macquarie
Bulahdelah Woodchoppers				Mid North Coast
Carrington Pirates			Connelly Oval	Newcastle
Cessnock Cutters		2014		Cessnock
Elermore Vale Miners	1995	1998		Newcastle
Gateshead Zebras	1972	2013	Alan Davis Oval	Lake Macquarie
Hamilton Pumas			Learmonth Park
Lakeside Hawks			Lakeside Sports Complex	Port Stephens
Lambton Kingfishers	1998	2016	Ford Oval	Newcastle
Mallabula Panthers		Port Stephens	Vince Woodman Field
Merewether Storm	1998	1998	Empire Park	Newcastle
Mt Hutton Mountain Lions				Lake Macquarie
North Newcastle Blue Bags	1989	2018	Passmore Oval	Newcastle
Ourimbah-Wyoming Magpies		2022	Bill Sohier Park	Central Coast
Tall Timbers Timber Cutters	2019	Central Coast	Bill Sohier Park
Thornton Beresfield Bears	2010	2020		Maitland
Warners Bay-Mt Hutton	1997	1997	Mt Hutton Oval	Lake Macquarie
Williamtown/Hexham Jets			Hexham Oval	Port Stephens
West Maitland Wallaroos			Coronation Oval	Maitland
Westlakes Wolves	1998	2002	Tulkaba Park	Lake Macquarie

Major Grades

Lake Macquarie Forklift Services A Grade Premiers

Season	Grand Finals				Minor Premiers
	Premiers	Score	Runners-up	Venue
A Grade – Lower Hunter Rugby League
1990	West Wallsend Magpies	23–10	Raymond Terrace Magpies		Raymond Terrace Magpies
1991	Hexham		Swansea-Caves Beach Swans		Swansea-Caves Beach Swans
1992	Hexham	31–8	Windale Eagles		Windale Eagles
1993	Raymond Terrace Magpies	20–18	Hexham		Hexham
1994	Windale Eagles	18–16	Hexham		Windale Eagles
1995	Windale Eagles	24–20	Raymond Terrace Magpies		Raymond Terrace Magpies
1996	Woodberry	30–20	Dora Creek Swampies	Harker Oval	Woodberry
1997	Cardiff Cobras	19–16	Raymond Terrace Magpies		Raymond Terrace Magpies
1998	Raymond Terrace Magpies	21–16	Cardiff Cobras	Passmore Oval	Raymond Terrace Magpies
1999	Lambton Kingfishers	20–16	Raymond Terrace Magpies		Lambton Kingfishers
2000	Lambton Kingfishers	13–4	Cardiff Cobras		Lambton Kingfishers
2001	Dudley Magpies	22–0	Cardiff Cobras		Cardiff Cobras
2002	Dudley Magpies	36–14	University		Dudley Magpies
2003	Unknown
2004	Unknown
2005	Dudley Magpies	32–2	Dora Creek Swampies
2006	Dora Creek Swampies	31–24	Shortland Devils		Shortland Devils
A Grade – Newcastle & Hunter Rugby League
2007	Cardiff Cobras		Mallabula Panthers		Cardiff Cobras
2008	Unknown
2009	Wyong	42–22	Cardiff Cobras	St John Oval	Wyong
2010	Wangi Wangi	38–18	West Wallsend Magpies	Harker Oval	Wangi Wangi
2011	Windale Eagles	20–16	Mallabula Panthers	Lakeside Ground	Windale Eagles
2012	Wallsend-Maryland Tigers	44–16	Windale Eagles	Cahill Oval	Windale Eagles
2013	Wallsend-Maryland Tigers	35–16	Belmont South Rabbitohs	Harker Oval	Wallsend-Maryland Tigers
2014	Cardiff Cobras	16–14	Windale Eagles	Kurri Kurri Sportsground	Belmont South Rabbitohs
2015	Belmont South Rabbitohs	34–10	Tea Gardens Hawks	Lakeside Ground	Belmont South Rabbitohs
2016	Windale Eagles	18–10	Shortland Devils	Harker Oval	Windale Eagles
2017	Fingal Bay Bomboras	31–26	Shortland Devils	No1 Sportsground	Dora Creek Swampies
2018	Shortland Devils	36–4	Stockton Sharks	No1 Sportsground	Stockton Sharks
2019	Dora Creek Swampies	44–4	Belmont South Rabbitohs	Waratah Oval	Dora Creek Swampies
2020	Thornton Beresfield Bears	22–18	Dora Creek Swampies	St John Oval	Dora Creek Swampies
2021	Dora Creek Swampies				Dora Creek Swampies

Women's Tackle Premiers

Season	Grand Finals				Minor Premiers
	Premiers	Score	Runners-up	Venue
2019	Berkeley Vale Panthers	32–4	Waratah Mayfield Cheetahs	Waratah Oval	Berkeley Vale Panthers
2020	Berkeley Vale Panthers	24–14	Aberglasslyn Ants	Lakeside Sporting Complex	Berkeley Vale Panthers

Ladies League Tag Division One

Season	Grand Finals				League Premiers
	Premiers	Score	Runners-up	Venue
2016	Umina Bunnies	20–0	University She Horses	Harker Oval	Umina Bunnies
2017	Aberglasslyn Ants	18–0	University She Horses	No1 Sportsground	Aberglasslyn Ants
2018	Aberglasslyn Ants	18–4	University She Horses	No1 Sportsground	Aberglasslyn Ants
2019	Aberlgasslyn Ants	20–0	University She Horses	Waratah Oval	Aberglasslyn Ants
2020	Aberlgasslyn Ants	14–2	University She Horses	St John Oval	Aberlgasslyn Ants

Minor Grades

B Grade Premiers

Season	Grand Finals			League Premiers
	Premiers	Score	Runners-up
2007	Windale Eagles	20 – 16	Morisset Bulls	Windale Eagles
2008
2009	Tea Gardens	26 – 24	Wangi Wangi	Central Wyong
2010	Mallabula	16 – 12	Raymond Terrace	Woodberry
2011	Tea Gardens	30 – 28	Raymond Terrace	Raymond Terrace
2012	Stockton	44 – 18	Raymond Terrace	Raymond Terrace
2013	Shortland	22 – 14	Morisset Bulls	Morisset Bulls
2014	Cessnock Cutters	34 – 26	Tea Gardens	University
2015	Mallabula	16 – 6	Waratah Mayfield	Lambton Kingfishers
2016	Fingal Bay	28 – 24	West Wallsend	West Wallsend
2017	Dudley	14 – 10	Kotara	Kotara
2018	Woodberry	46 – 10	University	Woodberry
2019	West Wallsend	18 – 16	University	Morpeth Bulls
2020	Waratah Mayfield	8–4	Aberglasslyn	Waratah Mayfield

C Grade Premiers

Season	Grand Finals			League Premiers
	Premiers	Score	Runners-up
2009	Thornton-Beresfield	32 – 16	Hinton	Thornton-Beresfield
2010	Dungog	28 – 20	Dora Creek	Dungog
2011	Swansea	24 – 18	Paterson River	Swansea
2012	Dudley	17 – 16	Fingal Bay	Fingal Bay
2013	Gateshead Zebras	28 – 24	Stroud	Gateshead Zebras
2014	Raymond Terrace	18 – 12	Waratah Mayfield	Waratah Mayfield
2015	Paterson River	24 – 4	Morisset Bulls	Paterson River
2016	Carrington Pirates	24 – 18	Dungog Warriors	Carrington Pirates
2017	Waratah Mayfield	42 – 28	Abermain-Weston Hawks	Abermain-Weston Hawks
2018	Windale Eagles	24 – 16	East Maitland Griffins	East Maitland Griffins
2019	Tall Timbers	30 – 12	Aberglasslyn Ants	Aberglasslyn Ants
2020	Budgewoi Bulldogs	22 – 12	Hamilton Ducks	Budgewoi Bulldogs

D Grade Premiers

The competition was split into Northern & Southern Conferences in 2018 and 2019.

Season	Grand Finals			League Premiers
	Premiers	Score	Runners-up
2009	Gateshead	19 – 18	Fingal Bay	Fingal Bay
2010	Stroud	32 – 18	Clarence Town	Stroud
2011	Gloucester Magpies	38 – 24	Morisset Bulls	Gloucester Magpies
2012	Abermain-Weston Hawks	34 – 26	Hinton	Abermain-Weston Hawks
2013	Carrington Pirates	22 – 18	Thornton Beresfield	Carrington Pirates
2014	Williamtown	25 – 18	Karuah	Williamtown
2015	Clarence Town	30 – 20	Kotara Bears	Kotara Bears
2016	Karuah	24 – 20	Hinton	Hinton
2017	Glendale	44 – 30	Cardiff Cobras	Glendale

Northern Conference

Season	Grand Finals			League Premiers
	Premiers	Score	Runners-up
2018	Paterson River	42 – 16	Gloucester Magpies	Gloucester Magpies
2019	Dungog	22 – 16	Stroud	Clarence Town
2020	Kearsley Crushers	18 – 12	Kotara Bears	Kotara Bears

Southern Conference

Season	Grand Finals			League Premiers
	Premiers	Score	Runners-up
2018	Abermain-Weston Hawks	18 – 6	Cardiff Cobras	Kotara Bears
2019	Hamilton	26 – 14	Kotara	Swansea

Ladies League Tag Division Two

Season	Grand Finals			League Premiers
	Premiers	Score	Runners-up
2017	Cardiff Cobras	8–6	West Wallsend Magpies	No title
2018	Mallabula Black Cats	8–0	Swansea Swans	Mallabula Black Cats
2019	West Wallsend	32–0	Wangi Wangi	Tea Gardens
2020	Shortland Devils	10–6	Dungog Warriors	Shortland Devils

Ladies League Tag C Grade

Season	Grand Finals			League Premiers
	Premiers	Score	Runners-up
2019	Stroud	12 – 4	Dungog	Stroud

References

1. "Cessnock Cutters v Tea Gardens Hawks grand final: Photos". 16 September 2014.
2. "Panthers grand final success | Pictures". 22 September 2015.
3. "Bomboras claim premiership | Video, photos". 12 September 2016.
4. "Raymond Terrace Magpies claim premiership with 18–12 victory: PHOTOS". 14 September 2014.
5. "44-year drought broken with Paterson River winning league grand final". 21 September 2015.
6. "Dungog Warriors fall at last hurdle | PHOTOS". 12 September 2016.
7. "Karuah Roos claim first title since 1975". 12 September 2016.

External links

v t e Country Rugby League (NSWRL)
Federation	Country Rugby League (former) New South Wales Rugby League (current)
Representative Teams	Country Origin (City vs Country Origin)
CRL Divisions	Canberra George Tooke Shield Central Coast Illawarra Macarthur Newcastle Northern Rivers Western
CRL Groups	Region 1: (2, 3) Region 2: (4, 19, 21) Region 3: (9, 20) Region 4: (10, 11, 14) Region 5: (7, 16)
CRL Cups	Barwon Darling Hastings Mid West Newcastle & Hunter Outback Western Riverina Woodbridge
Illawarra Teams	Berkeley Eagles Collegians Corrimal Cougars Dapto Canaries Helensburgh Tigers Thirroul Butchers Wests Red Devils
Newcastle Teams	Central Charlestown Butcher Boys Cessnock Goannas Kurri Kurri Bulldogs Lakes United Seagulls Macquarie Scorpions Maitland Pickers South Newcastle Lions The Entrance Tigers Western Suburbs Rosellas Wyong Roos
Group 7 Teams	Albion Park-Oak Flats Eagles Berry-Shoalhaven Heads Magpies Gerringong Lions Jamberoo Superoos Kiama Knights Milton-Ulladulla Bulldogs Nowra-Bomaderry Jets Shellharbour Sharks Stingrays of Shellharbour Warilla-Lake South Gorillas
Other Cups	Clayton Cup Presidents Cup NSW Challenge Cup
Former Competitions	Groups: (1, 5, 12, 13, 18, 19 (Southern Tablelands), 19 (Canberra)) Crookwell Kennedy
Related Articles	List of CRL clubs Maher Cup

• Rugby league competitions in New South Wales