The 2005 National Rugby League season consisted of 25 weekly regular season rounds starting in March, followed by four weeks of play-offs that culminated in a grand final on 2 October.
The National Rugby League's 2005 finals series ran from 9 September to 2 October 2005, as eight teams vied to win the NRL Premiership in the Grand Final after the 2005 season.
The Grand Final, played on 2 October, was won by the Wests Tigers who claimed their first-ever NRL premiership.
The better a team finishes in the home-and-away season ladder, the easier their route through to the grand final.
In the first week, twos are paired off as such by rank (games are played at the home ground of the higher seed): Once all four games ave been played, teams are grouped into winners and losers, and then ranked based on their home-and-away season standings, for example: ...Losers #3 and #4 are immediately eliminated, while Winners #3 and #4 will face Losers #1 and #2 (in other words, a "double chance" for the two highest-ranked losers).