The National Rugby League's main competition, named the 2013 Telstra Premiership after major sponsors Telstra Corporation, was contested by sixteen teams during the regular season, which lasted from March to September, and resulted in the top eight finishing teams, who went on to contest the finals.

The season culminated in the Grand Final, in which the Sydney Roosters defeated the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 26-18 to win their first NRL premiership since 2002.

[1] Despite the off-field controversy, the Sharks were still able to reach the NRL finals for the second consecutive year, losing to eventual grand finalists Manly in the second week.

[2] For the second year the NRL uses the finals system previously implemented by the ARL competition from the 1990s (also used as the AFL final eight system) to decide the grand finalists from the top eight finishing teams.

Both the seventh-placed Newcastle Knights and minor premiers Sydney Roosters return the finals after last featuring respectively in 2011 and 2010, whilst the other six teams (Bulldogs, Storm, Rabbitohs, Sea Eagles, Cowboys & Sharks) were featured in the preceding finals series.