2018 NRL Finals Series

2018 NRL season v t e
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	B	PF	PA	PD	Pts
1	Sydney Roosters	24	16	0	8	1	542	361	+181	34
2	Melbourne Storm	24	16	0	8	1	536	363	+173	34
3	South Sydney Rabbitohs	24	16	0	8	1	582	437	+145	34
4	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	24	16	0	8	1	519	423	+96	34
5	Penrith Panthers	24	15	0	9	1	517	461	+56	32
6	Brisbane Broncos	24	15	0	9	1	556	500	+56	32
7	St. George Illawarra Dragons	24	15	0	9	1	519	472	+47	32
8	New Zealand Warriors	24	15	0	9	1	472	447	+25	32
9	Wests Tigers	24	12	0	12	1	377	460	−83	26
10	Canberra Raiders	24	10	0	14	1	563	540	+23	22
11	Newcastle Knights	24	9	0	15	1	414	607	−193	20
12	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	24	8	0	16	1	428	474	−46	18
13	North Queensland Cowboys	24	8	0	16	1	449	521	−72	18
14	Gold Coast Titans	24	8	0	16	1	472	582	−110	18
15	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	24	7	0	17	1	500	622	−122	16
16	Parramatta Eels	24	6	0	18	1	374	550	−176	14

Melbourne qualified for their 8th straight finals series. Sydney qualified for their 2nd straight final series. South Sydney qualified for their first finals series since 2015. Cronulla-Sutherland qualified for their 4th straight finals series. Penrith qualified for their 3rd straight finals series. Brisbane qualified for their 5th straight finals series. St George Illawarra qualified for their first finals series since 2015. New Zealand qualified for their first finals series since 2011.

The matches of the 2018 NRL finals series were contested at four venues in three different states around the country.

Melbourne's AAMI Park hosted 2 matches, Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium hosted one match and Sydney hosted the remaining 6 matches, which were played at Allianz Stadium and ANZ Stadium.

Melbourne	Sydney (two venues) Brisbane Melbourne	Sydney
AAMI Park		Allianz Stadium
Capacity: 30,050		Capacity: 45,500
Brisbane		Sydney
Suncorp Stadium		ANZ Stadium
Capacity: 52,500		Capacity: 83,500

The system used for the 2018 NRL finals series was a final eight system. The top four teams in the eight received a "double chance" when they played in week-one qualifying finals, such that if a top-four team lost in the first week it still remained in the finals, playing a semi-final the next week against the winner of an elimination final. The bottom four of the eight played knock-out games – only the winners survived and moved on to the next week. Home-state advantage went to the team with the higher ladder position in the first two weeks, to the qualifying final winners in the third week.

In the second week, the winners of the qualifying finals received a bye to the third week. The losers of the qualifying final played the elimination finals winners in a semi-final. In the third week, the winners of the semi-finals from week two played the winners of the qualifying finals in the first week. The winners of those matches moved on to the grand final at ANZ Stadium in Sydney.

	Qualifying and elimination finals					Semi-finals						Preliminary finals					Grand Final
	8 Sep, Sydney Football Stadium
	1	Sydney	21
	4	Cronulla-Sutherland	12			14 Sep, Sydney Football Stadium
						Cronulla-Sutherland		21
	8 Sep, Stadium Australia					Penrith		20				22 Sep, Sydney Football Stadium
	5	Penrith	27									Sydney		12
	8	New Zealand	12									South Sydney		4			30 Sep, Stadium Australia
																	Sydney		21
	9 Sep, Lang Park											21 Sep, Melbourne Rectangular Stadium					Melbourne		6
	6	Brisbane	18									Melbourne		22
	7	St George Illawarra	48			15 Sep, Stadium Australia						Cronulla-Sutherland		6
						South Sydney		13
	7 Sep, Melbourne Rectangular Stadium					St George Illawarra		12
	2	Melbourne	29
	3	South Sydney	28