The 2021 NRL season was the 114th of professional rugby league in Australia and the 24th season run by the National Rugby League.
Regular season
All times are in AEDT (UTC+11:00) up until the 4th of April and AEST (UTC+10:00) from then on.
Round 1
Cronulla won their first Round 1 game since 2013. The Roosters winning margin is the biggest win in a Round 1 game since 2002.
Round 2
Penrith became the first NRL side ever to hold teams to 0 points in the first 2 rounds in a season. Heavy rain and flooding impacted attendances at games held in Sydney and Gosford.
Round 3
The Brisbane Broncos ended their 13-game losing streak in their win against Canterbury. The Gold Coast Titans recorded their largest ever score. In the same game, North Queensland suffered their biggest home defeat since Round 14, 2007. New Zealand recorded their biggest ever comeback after trailing Canberra 31–10 at the 48 minute mark.
Round 4
Penrith tied the NRL record for the longest away winning streak. Manly suffered their biggest ever loss at Brookvale Oval, surpassing a 39–0 loss to St George in Round 6, 1963. Canterbury became just the second side in NRL history (alongside Cronulla in 2014) to fail to score a point in three consecutive matches. They also lost their first four games to start the season for the first time since 1971. The Cronulla vs North Queensland and Gold Coast vs Canberra games were both moved to Netstrata Jubilee Stadium from the Sunshine Coast Stadium and Cbus Super Stadium respectively, due to COVID concerns in South East Queensland. In addition, the starting times of both games were altered. Cronulla's 48 Points against the Cowboys was their most of all time against the Cowboys.
Round 5
A moments silence was held prior to all matches in this round as a tribute to Tommy Raudonikis, who died a day before the first game of the round. South Sydney's 143 points scored in the first 5 rounds is their most all-time. Penrith's 5 wins from 5 is the best start to a season in club history. Penrith became the first team in NRL history to win 20 straight regular season games. Canterbury recorded their worst start to a season since 1964. John Morris coached his last game for the Cronulla Sharks after not being offered an extended contract.
Round 6
Penrith became the first team to win 21 straight regular season games. Penrith won 11 straight away games, the most in NRL history. Jack Hetherington of Canterbury was sent off at the 55th minute mark in the Bulldogs game against North Queensland. The Eels won in Canberra for the first time since 2006.
Round 7 (ANZAC Round)
The crowd of 12,056 for the Parramatta vs Brisbane match at TIO Stadium is the highest club rugby league match attendance in Darwin's history. Canterbury became the first team to use the 18th man since it was introduced several weeks earlier, after having two players ruled out with concussion during their game against Cronulla. The crowd of 37,620 is the highest crowd for an NRL game during the pandemic and the highest since the 2019 NRL Grand Final. Penrith became the first team to win 22 straight regular season games.
Round 8
Brisbane recorded their biggest ever comeback after being down 22–0 during the 1st half of their game against the Gold Coast Titans. Penrith became the 4th ever NRL team since the NRL era (1998) to be undefeated after the first 8 games in the season.
Round 9
South Sydney recorded their worst loss since Round 16, 2006.
Round 10 (Magic Round)
Round 11
Brisbane won their first game outside of Queensland since Round 16, 2019, ending a 13-game losing streak. Penrith became just the 4th side in NSWRL/ARL/NRL history to start a season with 11 wins and no losses. They were also the first side to accomplish this feat since Manly-Warringah in 1995.
Round 12
Round 13
Due to a COVID-19 lockdown in Victoria, the Melbourne vs Gold Coast match was moved from AAMI Park to the Sunshine Coast Stadium. Penrith's loss against the Tigers was their first regular season loss since June 12, 2020.
Round 14
Penrith's loss to the Sharks marked their first back to back losses since August 23, 2019.
Round 15
The Melbourne vs Wests Tigers game was moved from AAMI Park to the Sunshine Coast Stadium due to uncertainty regarding the aftermath of the lockdown in Victoria.