Jersey Flegg Cup

The Jersey Flegg Cup is a junior rugby league competition played in New South Wales, Australia, contested among teams made up of players aged 21 or under. The competition is administered by the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL), and is named for Eastern Suburbs foundation player and prominent administrator of the game, Harry "Jersey" Flegg.

Jersey Flegg Cup

Sport	Rugby league
First season	1961
Owner(s)	NSWRL
CEO	David Trodden
No. of teams	14
Countries	Australia, New Zealand, Fiji
Most recent champion(s)	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (2024)
Most titles	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (12 titles)
Related competitions	NRL Under-20s Hastings Deering Colts
Official website	Jersey Flegg

History

The Jersey Flegg Cup began in 1961 as an under-19 age group competition and was originally played over 9–12 weeks early in the season, alongside the S. G. Ball Cup and Harold Matthews Cup during the NSWRL's junior representative season. In 1998, with the advent of the National Rugby League (NRL), the competition switched to the current under-20 age limit and was played over a full season, running alongside the senior NRL competition and culminating with the Grand Final held on the same day as the NRL Grand Final.^[1]

The competition ceased at the end of the 2007 season to make way for the NRL-administered under-20 competition, the National Youth Competition (NYC), which commenced in 2008.

In 2016, the NRL announced that the National Youth Competition would be discontinued after the 2017 season, in favour of state-based under-20 competitions, administered by the Queensland Rugby League (QRL) and New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL).^[2]

On 1 February 2018, the NSWRL officially announced the reintroduction of the Jersey Flegg Cup for the 2018 season after a 10-year absence.^[3]

Jersey Flegg Cup teams

The Jersey Flegg Cup consists of 10 teams, 11 from New South Wales, 1 each from Auckland, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and Fiji . In 2019, the Canberra Raiders and South Sydney Rabbitohs returned to the competition after using their New South Wales Cup affiliates in 2018, while the Victoria Thunderbolts joined after spending the last four seasons in QRL-based competitions.^[4][5][6]
Most of the clubs being colts grade teams to the reserve grade teams of the New South Wales Cup and the senior grade teams of the NRL.

Current teams

Jersey Flegg Cup
Rugby League Club	City/Town	State/Territory	Home Venue/s[7]	Est.	Title/s	Recent	NRL affiliate
Canberra Raiders	Canberra	Australian Capital Territory	GIO Stadium	1982	2	1993	Raiders
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	Belmore	New South Wales	Belmore Sports Ground	1934	10	2023	Bulldogs
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	Woolooware	New South Wales	PointsBet Stadium	1967	1	2018	Sharks
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	Brookvale	New South Wales	Brookvale Oval	1947	3	1987	Sea Eagles
Melbourne Storm	Melbourne	Victoria	AAMI Park	2015	0	-	Storm
Newcastle Knights	Newcastle	New South Wales	McDonald Jones Stadium	1988	2	1992	Knights
New Zealand Warriors	Auckland	Auckland	Mt Smart Stadium	1995	0	-	Warriors
North Sydney Bears	North Sydney	New South Wales	North Sydney Oval	1908	1	1998	None
Parramatta Eels	Wentworthville	New South Wales	Ringrose Park	1947	3	1990	Eels
Penrith Panthers	Penrith	New South Wales	BlueBet Stadium	1967	5	2022	Panthers
South Sydney Rabbitohs	Redfern	New South Wales	Redfern Oval	1908	9	2019	Rabbitohs
St George Illawarra Dragons	Sydney, Wollongong	New South Wales	WIN Stadium	1998*	1^	2005	Dragons
Sydney Roosters	Sydney	New South Wales	Allianz Stadium	1908	3	2004	Roosters
Wests Tigers	Campbelltown	New South Wales	Campbelltown Stadium	1999*	0^	-	Tigers
* denotes that the club was formed as a joint-venture of former existing clubs.
^ denotes that previous clubs making up the joint venture had won premierships prior to merging, which are not included in this tally.
Alternate Home Venue/s for Canberra Raiders; Raiders Belconnen, Belmore Sports Ground, McDonalds Park.
Alternate Home Venue/s for Manly Sea Eagles; HE Laybutt Field.
Alternate Home Venue/s for Melbourne Storm; Seabrook Reserve, Gosch's Paddock, Comely Banks Recreation Reserve.
Alternate Home Venue/s for Newcastle Knights; Newcastle Knights Centre of Excellence.
Alternate Home Venue/s for South Sydney Rabbitohs; Accor Stadium.
Alternate Home Venue/s for Sydney Roosters; Wentworth Park.

Season structure

Regular season

The Jersey Flegg Cup follows the same regular season format as the NSW Cup, with games usually played as curtain-raisers to the senior fixtures. Beginning in early March, a round of regular season games is then played almost every weekend for twenty-one weeks, ending in late August. Unlike the NSW Cup, the Jersey Flegg Cup features three full rounds where every team receives a bye. These rounds are scheduled in to accommodate university exam periods.^[8]

Teams receive two competition points for a win, and one point for a draw. The bye also receives two points; a loss, no points. Teams on the ladder are ranked by competition points, then match points differential (for and against) and points percentage are used to separate teams with equal competition points. At the end of the regular season, the club which is ranked highest on the ladder is declared minor premiers.

Finals series

The eight highest placed teams at the end of the regular season compete in the finals series. The Jersey Flegg follows the same finals format as the NRL and the NSW Cup. The system consists of a number of games between the top eight teams over four weeks in September, until only two teams remain.

These two teams then contest the Grand Final, which is played in late September at a suburban Sydney stadium (for example, Leichhardt Oval^[9]), as a curtain-raiser to the NSW Cup Grand Final.

Premiership winners

Year	Age	Premiers	Score	Runner-up	Minor Premiers	Wooden Spooners	Reference
1961	U17	Manly Sea Eagles	23–5	Wests Magpies	Knock Out Competition		[10][11][12]
1962	U17	Souths Rabbitohs	14–9	Parramatta Eels			[13][14][15]
1963	U17	Canterbury Bulldogs	10–0	Newtown Jets			[16][17]
1964	U17	Souths Rabbitohs	10–4	St George Dragons			[18][19]
1965	U17	Wests Magpies	12–4	Balmain Tigers			[20][21]
1966	U17	Souths Rabbitohs	10–4	Balmain Tigers	Balmain Tigers	Norths Bears	[22][23][24][25][26]
1967	U17	Souths Rabbitohs	8–2	St George Dragons	St George Dragons	Norths Bears	[27][28][29][30]
1968	U17	Souths Rabbitohs	13–7	Parramatta Eels	St George Dragons	Norths Bears	[31][32][33][34][35]
1969	U18	Souths Rabbitohs	6–0	Canterbury Bulldogs	Souths Rabbitohs	Norths Bears	[36][37][38][39][40]
1970	U18	Parramatta Eels	7–6	Souths Rabbitohs	Souths Rabbitohs	Easts Roosters	[41][42]
1971	U18	Canterbury Bulldogs	11–8	Souths Rabbitohs	Canterbury Bulldogs	Norths Bears	[43][44]
1972	U18	Souths Rabbitohs	15–5	Wests Magpies	Souths Rabbitohs	Norths Bears	[45][46]
1973	U18	Balmain Tigers	10–7	Penrith Panthers	Parramatta Eels	Canterbury Bulldogs	[47][48]
1974	U18	Manly Sea Eagles	8–7	Parramatta Eels
1975	U18	St George Dragons	14–10	Wests Magpies
1976	U17	Canterbury Bulldogs	18–10	Parramatta Eels
1977	U17	Penrith Panthers
1978	U18	Souths Rabbitohs	12–10	Balmain Tigers	12 teams split into 2 zones of 6 teams. Semi-Finals were Zone 1 1st-place vs Zone 2 2nd-place, and Zone 2 1st-place vs Zone 1 2nd-place.		[49]
1979	U18	Canterbury Bulldogs	22–12	Souths Rabbitohs			[50]
1980	U18	Balmain Tigers	26–7	Newtown Jets			[51]
1981	U18	Wests Magpies	12–7	Souths Rabbitohs			[52]
1982	U18	Balmain Tigers	12–10	Cronulla Sharks	Wests Magpies	Easts Roosters	[53][54]
1983	U18	Canterbury Bulldogs	26–6	Balmain Tigers	Balmain Tigers	Newtown Jets	[55][56]
1984	U18	Balmain Tigers	10–0	Penrith Panthers	Balmain Tigers	Easts Roosters	[57][58]
1985	U19	Parramatta Eels	10–7	Manly Sea Eagles	Balmain Tigers	Newtown-Campbelltown Jets	[59][60]
1986	U19	Penrith Panthers	48–6	Illawarra Steelers	Penrith Panthers	St George Dragons	[61]
1987	U19	Manly Sea Eagles	20–0	Balmain Tigers	Souths Rabbitohs	Wests Magpies (White)	[62][63]
1988	U19	Balmain Tigers	19–10	Newcastle Knights
1989	U19	Canberra Raiders	26–8	Balmain Tigers	Canberra Raiders	St George Dragons	[64][65]
1990	U19	Parramatta Eels	22–8	Cronulla Sharks	Parramatta Eels	St George Dragons	[66][67]
1991	U19	Newcastle Knights	28–12	Canberra Raiders	Newcastle Knights	Easts Roosters	[68][69]
1992	U19	Newcastle Knights	26–12	Wests Magpies	Newcastle Knights	Canterbury Bulldogs	[70]
1993	U19	Canberra Raiders	28–6	St George Dragons
1994	U19	Balmain Tigers	34–26	St George Dragons
1995	U19	Sydney City Roosters	29–16	Manly Sea Eagles
1996	U19	St George Dragons	22–10	Manly Sea Eagles	St George Dragons	Sydney Tigers
1997	U20	Balmain Tigers		Sydney City Roosters
1998	U19	Norths Bears	28–12	Parramatta Eels	Norths Bears	Canberra Raiders	[71]
1999	U20	Canterbury Bulldogs	18–12	Newcastle Knights	St George Dragons	Wests Magpies	[72][73]
2000	U20	Canterbury Bulldogs	22–8	Wests Magpies	Canterbury Bulldogs	Souths Rabbitohs	[74][75]
2001	U20	Canterbury Bulldogs	12–10	Cronulla Sharks	Canterbury Bulldogs	Souths Rabbitohs	[76][77] a
2002	U20	Sydney Roosters	23–22	St George Illawarra Dragons	St George Illawarra Dragons	Balmain Tigers	[78]
2003	U19	Canterbury Bulldogs	32–22	Cronulla Sharks	Cronulla Sharks	Central Coast Rip	[79][80][81]
2004	U20	Sydney Roosters	14–13	Cronulla Sharks	Sydney Roosters	Central Coast Rip	[82]
2005	U20	St George Illawarra Dragons	30–20	Parramatta Eels	St George Illawarra Dragons	Central Coast	[83]
2006	U20	Penrith Panthers	22–20	Newcastle Knights	Newcastle Knights	Central Coast	[84]
2007	U20	Penrith Panthers	19–14	Parramatta Eels	Penrith Panthers	Central Coast Storm	[85]
2018	U20	Cronulla Sharks	22–12	Penrith Panthers	Newcastle Knights	Wests Tigers	[86]
2019	U20	Souths Rabbitohs	16–14	Canberra Raiders	Cronulla Sharks	Manly Sea Eagles	[87]
2020	Season was suspended and then cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[88]
2021	U21	Season was suspended and then cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[89]
2022	U21	Penrith Panthers	19–18	Newcastle Knights	Sydney Roosters	Souths Rabbitohs	[90]
2023	U21	Canterbury Bulldogs	22–20	Sydney Roosters	Sydney Roosters	Wests Tigers

• NOTE = Not held between 2008 and 2017

Premiership tally

No.	Club	Seasons
1	Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs	10 (1963, 1971, 1976, 1979, 1983, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2023)
2	South Sydney Rabbitohs	9 (1962, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1978, 2019)
3	Balmain Tigers	8 (1973, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1994, 1997)
4	Penrith Panthers	5 (1977, 1986, 2006, 2007, 2022)
5	Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles	3 (1961, 1974, 1987)
5	Parramatta Eels	3 (1970, 1985, 1990)
5	Sydney Roosters	3 (1995, 2002, 2004)
8	St George Dragons	2 (1975, 1996)
8	Canberra Raiders	2 (1989, 1993)
8	Newcastle Knights	2 (1991, 1992)
11	Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks	1 (2018)
11	St George Illawarra Dragons	1 (2005)
11	North Sydney Bears	1 (1998)
11	Western Suburbs Magpies	1 (1965)

See also

• Sports portal

• NRL Under-20s
• Harold Matthews Cup
• S. G. Ball Cup
• Hastings Deering Colts
• Rugby League Competitions in Australia
• Rugby League Competitions in New South Wales
• Rugby League Competitions in New Zealand