Group 9 is a rugby league competition based in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia, and surrounding areas. The competition is played in five grades, with these being Under 18s, Women's Tackle, Women's League-Tag, Reserve-Grade and First-Grade.
Currently a home and away season consisting of sixteen rounds is played. The best four teams then play-off according to the Page–McIntyre system, culminating in the Group 9 Grand final, which is traditionally held at Geohex Park at the Equex Centre in Wagga Wagga.
History 1920s–1950s: Foundations Group 9 Rugby League was formed at a meeting at the Grand Hotel, Harden, following a four-hour meeting on 26 April 1923, which finished at 12:20 am the following morning. The foundation clubs were Harden, Murrumburrah, Binalong, Young, Wambanumba, Monteagle, Bendick Murrell, Cootamundra, Junee, Wagga Wagga, Gundagai, Tumut, Adelong, West Wyalong, Barmedman, Griffith, Temora, Leeton, Ariah Park and Mildil.
Competition in the early years of Group 9 consisted of various challenge type matches, and it was not until 1933 that regular inter-club competition commenced.
1960s–1980s: Murrumbidgee Breakaway and Reformation
In 1966, the rebel Murrumbidgee Rugby League broke away from the competition due to years of competition boundary disputes, leading to four years of reshuffled competitions from 1967 to 1970. The Murrumbidgee Rugby League was renamed to Riverina Zone 3 in 1969-70.
Given that a number of the Group 9 clubs (including Gundagai, Junee, Tumut) joined the five clubs who broke away from Group 20 to form the new competition (Batlow, Tumbarumba, Turvey Park, Wagga Magpies and Wagga Kangaroos), Group 9 was severely weakened in the 1966 season.
Therefore, the remaining Group 9 clubs were divided up and put into neighbouring competitions. Barmedman, Temora and West Wyalong joined the Group 20 during this period, leading to the 9/20 name, while Harden, Young and Wyangala Dam joined Group 8. To honour the additions of the clubs, the competitions were renamed to Group 9/20, Group 8/9 respectively.
In 1970, when the Group 9 body regained control of football in the district and the Murrumbidgee Rugby League/Riverina Zone 3 returned to the competition, West Wyalong remained in Group 20, while Harden, Temora and Young returned from their respective competitions.
1990s–present: Absorption of Group 13, Peak and Decline
After the Group 13 Rugby League competition collapsed in 1991, the Albury Blues (renamed Albury Rams upon entry due to Tumut already being the Blues), Wagga Brothers, a merged outfit from Adelong and Batlow formed The Adelong-Batlow Bears, and Tumbarumba Greenies, joined the competition.
However, the competition declined from a peak of 14 clubs in the late 1990s to 9 clubs in 2022. Clubs to leave in this period included Adelong-Batlow (folded), Harden-Murrumburrah (George Tooke Shield), Tumbarumba (folded, then joined Murray Cup) and Cootamundra (George Tooke Shield). Turvey Park and Wagga Magpies also merged in 2005 to form the South City Bulls.
Albury Thunder, the successor to Albury Blues, Albury Rams and Lavington Panthers, won a threepeat of titles from 2012 to 2014.
Group 9's crisis became even more apparent following powerhouse Junee's decision not to field a First Grade team in 2021 and 2022. However, this strategy paid off as the club won the Reserve Grade title in 2022, with plans to return to First Grade football in 2023. Their return to the premier grade was offset by the loss of the Wagga Brothers to the exact same fate for the 2023 season.
Brothers returned to first grade in 2024, while Cootamundra also re-joined the competition in 2025, winning the Under 18s premiership in that season.
Current clubs Town Nickname Home groundYears Titles Premiership Years AlburyThunder Greenfield Park, Albury1992– 3 2012–14 Cootamundra BulldogsLes Boyd Oval1923–2019; 2025–91947–48, 1950–51, 1954, 1982, 1988, 1990, 2005 GundagaiTigers ANZAC Park, Gundagai1923– 9 1946, 1963, 1983, 2015, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2025, 2026 JuneeDieselsLaurie Daley Oval, Junee1923– 21964, 1986 South CityBulls Harris Park, Wagga Wagga2005– 3 2011, 2016–17 TemoraDragons Nixon Park, Temora1923– 9 1957–59, 1961, 1977, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2006 TumutBlues Twickenham, Tumut1923– 10 1940, 1949, 1970, 1973, 2003, 2007–08, 2010, 2019, 2023 Wagga WaggaBrothers Geohex Park, Wagga Wagga1980; 1993– 1 1995 Wagga WaggaKangaroos Geohex Park, Wagga Wagga1967–1991; 1993– 12 1968–69, 1971, 1978–79, 1985, 1987, 1994, 1999-2000-01, 2009 YoungCherrypickers Alfred Oval, Young1923– 10 1941, 1952–53, 1955–56, 1968, 1974, 1984, 1991, 2024
Previous clubs
Post-1966 Schism Club Nickname No. of Premierships Premiership Years Notes Adelong-Batlow Bears 1 1996 Merger of Adelong and Batlow following the demise of Group 13, disbanded early 2000s BarmedmanClydesdales 0NoneMoved to Group 20 in 1967, then moved to Group 9 Second Division in 1972 CowraMagpies 11939Moved to Group 10 in 1955 GrenfellGoannasNoneMoved to Group 9 Second Division in 1972 Harden-Murrumburrah Hawks 2 1962, 1981 Amalgamated with Binalong to form South West Brahmans in the George Tooke Shield. The clubs have separated and each field teams in the Shield Turvey Park Lions 4 1972, 1975–76, 1993 Amalgamated with Wagga Magpies to form South City Bulls in 2005 Tumbarumba Greens 1 1997 Recess then moved to Murray Cup Wagga WaggaKangaroos-Brothers 0NoneFormed after Brothers joined from the defunct Group 13. De-amalgamated after one season (1992) and reformed as Wagga Brothers and Wagga Kangaroos Wagga Wagga Magpies 3 1980, 1989, 1992 Amalgamated with Turvey Park Lions to form South City Bulls in 2005 West Wyalong Mallee Men 4 1938, 1960, 1965–66 Moved to Group 20 in 1967
Pre-1966 Schism
Adelong Ariah Park Bendick Murrell Boorowa Griffith Leeton Mildil Monteagle Wambanumba Wyangala Dam
First Grade Grand Finals SeasonPremiersScoreRunners-upRefereeJohn Hill MedalVenueDateReportGroup 9 Premiership 1933 Leeton Greens 23 – 7 Cowra Magpies Mr. Poplin Temora 17 September 1933 1934 Leeton Greens (2) 14 – 6 Tumut Blues Mr. Moreghan Leeton 26 August 1934 1935 – 1937: Various Challenge Cups contested only 1938 West Wyalong Mallee Men 34 – 14 Temora Dragons H. Thomas West Wyalong 31 July 1938 1939 Cowra Magpies 13 – 7 Young Cherrypickers 1940 Tumut Blues 15 – 10 West Wyalong Mallee Men C. Gardiner Junee 15 September 1940 1941 Young Cherrypickers 18 – 12 Gundagai Tigers Young 3 August 1941 1942 – 1945: Suspended due to World War II 1946 Gundagai Tigers 15 – 3 West Wyalong Mallee Men W. Lawrence Temora 15 September 1946 1947 Cootamundra Bulldogs 50 – 10 Young Cherrypickers M. Ibbotson Roberts' Park Murrumburrah 31 August 1947 1948 Cootamundra Bulldogs (2) 14 – 9 Young Cherrypickers Fisher Park Cootamundra 1 August 1948 1949 Tumut Blues (2) 11 – 10 Griffith Black & Whites M. Ibbotson Cootamundra 28 August 1949 1950 Cootamundra Bulldogs (3) 11 – 5 Junee Diesels M. Ibbotson Cootamundra Showground 1 October 1950 C 1951 Cootamundra Bulldogs (4) 16 – 13 West Wyalong Mallee Men Mr. Boyton Temora 14 October 1951 1952 Young Cherrypickers (2) 14 – 11 Temora Dragons Temora 12 October 1952 1953 Young Cherrypickers (3) 9 – 7 Cootamundra Bulldogs Mr. Boyton Roberts' Park Murrumburrah 20 September 1953 1954 Cootamundra Bulldogs (5) 21 – 7 Temora Dragons Fisher Park Cootamundra 3 September 1954 1955 Young Cherrypickers (4) 38 – 5 West Wyalong Mallee Men 1956 Young Cherrypickers (5) 52 – 2 Tumbarumba Greens 1957 Temora Dragons 13 – 7 Gundagai Tigers Mr. Boyton Cootamundra 8 September 1957 1958 Temora Dragons (2) 46 – 9 Harden-Murrumburrah Hawks 1959 Temora Dragons (3) 25 – 8 Harden-Murrumburrah Hawks 1960 West Wyalong Mallee Men (2) 18 – 7 Harden-Murrumburrah Hawks 1961 Temora Dragons (4) 19 – 4 Junee Diesels Cootamundra 1962 Harden-Murrumburrah Hawks 18 – 10 West Wyalong Mallee Men 1963 Gundagai Tigers (2) 18 – 5 Tumut Blues 1964 Junee Diesels 17 – 7 Harden-Murrumburrah Hawks 1965 West Wyalong Mallee Men (3) 17 – 12 Tumut Blues 1966 West Wyalong Mallee Men (4) 23 – 2 Temora Dragons Group 9/20 Premiership1967 Griffith Waratahs32 – 2 Leeton Greenies1968 West Wyalong Mallee Men (5)15 – 4 Griffith Waratahs1969 Griffith Waratahs (2)18 – 9 Griffith Black & Whites1970 West Wyalong Mallee Men (6)19 – 18 Temora DragonsGroup 8/9 Premiership1967 Queanbeyan United Blues14 – 6 Goulburn United RoostersB. ChapmanSeiffert Oval Queanbeyan24 September 19671968 Young Cherrypickers (6)8 – 8 Queanbeyan United BluesK. LyonsSeiffert Oval Queanbeyan22 September 19681969 Queanbeyan Kangaroos8 – 2 Queanbeyan United BluesB. ChapmanSeiffert Oval Queanbeyan14 September 19691970 Queanbeyan Kangaroos (2)12 – 0 Queanbeyan United BluesB. ChapmanSeiffert Oval