Pre-season, 2006 premiers the
Brisbane Broncos travelled to England to play the
Super League champions in the
2007 World Club Challenge. The 2007 NRL Season kicked off on Friday 16 March 2007 with eight games to be played in each round. The 2007 season saw the return of
Monday Night Football, which helped the NRL to set new first round aggregate attendance record of 174,475. The opening round also saw two matches at Brisbane's
Suncorp Stadium, one featured reigning champions Brisbane playing fellow Queensland side the Cowboys, while the second match introduced the newest club to be admitted to the competition, the
Gold Coast Titans. The North Queensland Cowboys'
Jason Smith was the NRL's oldest player in 2007 at 35 years and 186 days. Teams had fewer byes in 2007 than in the 2006 competition. With an odd number of teams contesting between 2002 and 2006, the draw meant that at least one team would have to have a bye each weekend. With the inclusion of the 16th team for the 2007 season, the National Rugby League had the option of reverting to the system used between 2000 and 2001 in which every team played in each round. However, this option was not chosen. In 2007, teams had just a single bye during the year, grouped in periods that will assist clubs around representative fixtures. The top eight was not settled until the final round as the
Brisbane Broncos and
Wests Tigers were both on 24 points in 8th and 9th position respectively, with the Broncos ahead on points differential. Both teams lost their final regular season match and as a result of this, the
South Sydney Rabbitohs made the top eight for the first time since 1989. The
New Zealand Warriors secured a home final: the second match in the history of the National Rugby League Finals played outside of Australia. The first was the Warriors' victory over the
Canberra Raiders at
Mt Smart Stadium while on their way to the 2002 Grand Final. On the other end of the ladder, the
Newcastle Knights and
Penrith Panthers were both in contention for the
Wooden Spoon – the traditional label for last place. The Knights performed well in their last match and denied the Wests Tigers a spot in the top eight, winning by two points, whereas the Panthers were defeated by the New Zealand Warriors, seeing them finish last. The year 2007 saw a total of over 3 million spectators attend regular season matches for only the second time in history.
Records set • The
Brisbane Broncos recorded their biggest win in the club's history (65 points) with a 71–6 win over the
Newcastle Knights at
Suncorp Stadium in round 11. It's also the Newcastle Knights biggest ever loss. •
New Zealand Warriors prop forward
Steve Price ran 4,515 metres with the ball in 2007, more than any other forward in history.
Advertising The National Rugby League kept use of the
Hoodoo Gurus' "That's My Team" for a fifth consecutive season, with their advertising agency MJW Hakuhodo reworking the track "What's My Scene" and the "That's My Dream" slogan. With a design change for the Telstra Premiership logo (after months of off-season deliberation on whether Telstra would sponsor the code again), the commercial was a fast-paced action clip, with key players from all teams superimposed to appear as if they are playing in front the famous landmarks of their team's area. They are as follows: •
Brisbane Broncos –
Darren Lockyer in front of the
Story Bridge. •
Bulldogs –
Andrew Ryan and
Luke Patten in
Sydney Olympic Park. •
Canberra Raiders –
Phil Graham in front of
Parliament House. •
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks – on the steps of
North Cronulla Beach. •
Gold Coast Titans –
Luke Bailey taking a hit-up on
Surfers Paradise' Beach. •
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles – on the
Manly Beach Boulevarde. •
Melbourne Storm – running across
Federation Square. •
Newcastle Knights –
Danny Buderus scoring a try on the Newcastle Waterfront. •
North Queensland Cowboys – streets of
Townsville. •
New Zealand Warriors –
Steve Price in front of the city skyline of
Auckland. •
Parramatta Eels –
Eric Grothe, Jr. running down Church Street. •
Penrith Panthers – players on
Mulgoa Road. •
St George Illawarra Dragons –
Mark Gasnier running along the
Seacliff Drive. •
South Sydney Rabbitohs –
Roy Asotasi taking a hitup in the
Sydney Harbour Tunnel. •
Sydney Roosters – players in front of the
pavilion at
Bondi Beach. •
Wests Tigers –
Robbie Farah in
Sydney Olympic Park. As with previous seasons, all team captains featured prominently in the ads, holding aloft the premiership trophy as the advertisement closes, replicating the 2006 equivalent. Only weeks after it was put to air,
Newcastle Knights captain
Andrew Johns' career was ended by a neck injury.
Sponsorship Telecommunications giant
Telstra once again held the naming rights to the premiership season and for the seventh season the competition was known as the "Telstra Premiership". For the second time, however, a change was made to the Telstra Premiership Logo to align with the telco's own new logo. Spirit producers
Bundaberg Rum sponsored Monday night football – as
Bundaberg Monday Night Football. Electronics wholesaler
Harvey Norman continued their support of the State of Origin Series, The insurer AAMI sponsored the City vs Country Origin. ==Teams==