Rugby league in New South Wales is the most popular spectator sport in the state, with the attendance and television audiences exceeding that of the various other codes of football.

Origin legends include: James Tedesco, Jarryd Hayne, Andrew Ettingshausen, Eric Grothe, Laurie Daley, Brad Fittler, Andrew Johns, Phil Gould, Bradley Clyde, Paul Sironen, Ben Kennedy, Glenn Lazarus, Paul Harrogan, Danny Buderus, Steve Roach, Boyd Cordner, Michael O'Connor and Brett Kenny.

[3] Clive Churchill, Bob Fulton, John Raper, Reg Gasnier, Graeme Langlands, Dally Messenger, Frank Burge and Dave Brown have been bestowed the title rugby league "Immortals".

The Sydney Shield is the NSWRL's fourth-tier men's competition, feeding into the Ron Massey Cup for both emerging and senior players.

The Tarsha Gale Cup is a women's junior rugby league competition played in New South Wales, between teams made up of players aged under 18.

The Harold Matthews Cup is a junior rugby league competition played in New South Wales, between teams made up of players aged under 16.

The hand crafted silver and oak designed shield was donated to the NSWRL by the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales in its first year of competition.

Leading journalist Claude Corbett wrote in Sydney, Sun, newspaper on, 1 May 1914, "The Royal Agricultural Society Shield, which was presented at the inception of the League's first grade competition has been won outright by Eastern Suburbs, who upset all calculations by winning the premiership three years in succession.

The two new inclusions were from the Australian Capital Territory – the Canberra Raiders – as well as a team from the southern New South Wales region – the Illawarra Steelers.

Based on John O’Gready's world famous photograph of Norm Provan (St George) and Arthur Summons (Wests) after the 1963 Grand Final, the trophy represented the premiership pinnacle for players in the Winfield Era.

[citation needed] The Winfield Cup captured these and many other enduring things about league in its primary image, "The Gladiators" and the famous trophy, like the JJ Giltinan Shield, remains an important part of the game's heritage.

In 1988, two Queensland teams joined the competition, with the inclusions of the Brisbane Broncos and the Gold Coast-Tweed Giants seeing the game move beyond the outer borders of New South Wales.

The Winfield Cup competition was handed over to the control of the Australian Rugby League for the 1995 season, with the inclusion of teams from North Queensland, Western Australia and New Zealand.

It is played before the Rugby League State of Origin series and is often referred to as a selection trial for the New South Wales Blues team.

The annual State of Origin series between the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons is the most popular sporting event in NSW.