Rivalries in the National Rugby League

This is a list of rivalries in the National Rugby League. == Traditional NSW Rivalries == === Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs vsParramatta Eels === The rivalry between Canterbury and Parramatta is one of the fiercest in the NRL.The two clubs have been geographically close throughout their whole histories.In the 1980s, Canterbury and Parramatta both won four premierships each and played against each other in two grand finals (1984,1986).In the 1990s, at the height of the Super League war, Parramatta signed four of Canterbury's star players, Jarrod McCracken, Dean Pay, Jim Dymock and Jason Smith, which helped Parramatta reach the finals for the first time in eleven years.In the 1998 preliminary final, Parramatta were winning against Canterbury 18–2 with less than 10 minutes to play when Canterbury staged one of the biggest finals comebacks, defeating Parramatta 32–20 in extra time.In 2009, Parramatta defeated Canterbury in the preliminary final to cap off a remarkable run to the grand final.The crowd that attended the match was a non-grand final record of 74,000 fans.Speaking of the rivalry in 2015, former Canterbury player James Graham said: "As soon as I came to this club, I was told that they were the closest club to us and that there was no love lost between players and fans".Andrew Ryan, who played for both clubs, said, "Both clubs do speak about the rivalry, in the change room and leading into the clashes, they always want to get the wood on their rival, I went for Canterbury when I was a kid, but then got my first opportunity in first grade to play for Parramatta.

Source: Wikipedia — Rivalries in the National Rugby League (CC BY-SA 4.0)