The 2006 National Rugby League season consisted of 25 weekly regular season rounds starting on 11 March, followed by four weeks of play-offs that culminated in a grand final on 1 October.
Regular season
Round 1
Round 2
Many records were broken in this round. The Cowboy's Matt Sing scores his 150th try in first-grade, the sixth player to do so. Canterbury's Hazem El Masri scored 34 points, a club record. The extremely hot conditions on the Sunday afternoon of this round affected two games in particular. In Wollongong, a slow-moving, somewhat sloppy game saw St George Illawarra in their first ever period of golden point extra time, going down to Penrith 13-12. On the other hand, at Canberra, an all-time premiership record 102 points were scored between Newcastle and Canberra. This surpasses the previous record of 97 points scored in St. George's 91-6 defeat of Canterbury in 1935.
Round 3
The Newcastle Knights has scored 116 points in the last two weeks with a 46-22 win over the Canterbury Bulldogs The Brisbane Broncos have won their first back to back wins since rounds 18 and 19 of the previous season. The Raiders have conceded 126 points in their last 2 games after a 56-20 loss to the Roosters.
Round 4
Cronulla Sharks won their first game of the season win a 24-22 win over the South Sydney Rabbitohs The Panthers became the first team to play back to back Golden Point matches.
Round 5
It was a Grand Final rematch between the North Queensland Cowboys and the Wests Tigers, this time the previous season's runners-up North Queensland taking the game 32-12. The Bulldogs became the first team to win after a Bye this year with a comprehensive 12-30 drubbing of the Raiders in Canberra
Round 6
A very rare event occurred in Round 6 – a referee was injured during a match. In the 28th minute of the Newcastle vs Nth Qld match, referee Paul Simpkins blew time off and made his way off the field with an injured calf muscle. A replacement referee was organised – Tony De Las Heras, who had refereed the Jersey Flegg (third-tier competition) match earlier, was brought onto the field to take control of the rest of the match. Coincidentally, De Las Heras was the subject of the next instance a referee was injured in an NRL match, in Round 19, 2009.
Also, for the first time in 8 years, first grade competitive rugby league returned to Adelaide after the Adelaide Rams were excluded from the competition after the 1998 season. The Penrith Panthers hosted the Melbourne Storm at Hindmarsh Stadium, which was won by Melbourne 40-18. However, Rugby league officials were hoping for an attendance of at least 10,000, and were disappointed with the attendance of only 7,017.
Round 7
Round 8
Brisbane Broncos recorded their biggest comeback in the club's history when they came from 18-0 down at halftime to win 30-28 against the Canberra Raiders at Suncorp Stadium.
Round 9
Round 10
Round 11
Parramatta played their first game under stand-in coach Jason Taylor, following Brian Smith's resignation earlier in the week. Following this announcement, star Parramatta players Mark Riddell and Tim Smith were fined $5000 each and relegated to Premier League by Parramatta after turning up to Monday morning training intoxicated. All six home teams won their respective matches over the weekend.
Round 12
Cronulla Sharks hooker Tevita Latu is stood down from the club on Monday 22 May after claims from 19-year-old Brooke Peninton that the player punched her in the face. After being arrested on late on Monday, he was granted police bail to face Sutherland Local Court on 15 June. He was later sacked by the Cronulla club and deregistered by the National Rugby League the following Wednesday. For just the 3rd time since its inception in 2003, there were 2 Golden Point games in the same round.
Round 13
It took 70 minutes to score a point in the St. George Illawarra Dragons and Parramatta Eels game with Parramatta's five-eighth John Morris popped over a field goal to make it 1-0 to Parramatta. But eventually St. George Illwarra found their rhythm to go out 8-1 winners.
Round 14
The South Sydney Rabbitohs were able to record their first victory for the 2006 season, taking advantage of Brisbane's depleted line-up due to State of Origin commitments to prevail 34-14 at Telstra Stadium. A crowd of just 6,537, the smallest crowd to date in 2006, braved the cold, wet weather to witness this intriguing game. It was also the Rabbitohs' first victory over Brisbane in 17 years.
