The National Rugby League is committed to continuing its reconciliation journey and last year launched its second ‘Elevate’ Reconciliation Action Plan during National Reconciliation Week on the lands of the Gadigal and Bidjigal people.
Being the first national sporting organisation to create a RAP, from its inception, the NRL has maintained a strong connection and a proud history with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities.
Rugby league has served as a platform for the sharing of history, culture, inclusivity, passion and pride, and as one of the leading governing sports bodies in Australia, the NRL fully supports its stakeholders in its sphere of influence as they embark on their Reconciliation journeys.
There are ; Reflect, Innovate, Stretch and Elevate, which allow organisations to continuously develop their Reconciliation commitments.
Three clubs in particular – The Dolphins, Newcastle Knights and Brisbane Broncos – made significant progress during the 2025 season on their Reconciliation journeys, engaging with and developing their Reconciliation Action Plans. For more information about RAPs, visit .
The first stop on the Reconciliation Roadshow is The Dolphins.
Four years after the club’s successful bid to join the National Rugby League, the Dolphins launched the club’s first 'Reflect' Reconciliation Action Plan in March this year.
The RAP was created and implemented by their RAP committee, while the club also works alongside local Elders and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members on relevant club activities.
The club holds great pride in playing a small role in the career of one of the greatest First Nations icons Australian sport has produced, Arthur Beetson.
In 1975, the NRL Hall of Fame inductee became the first Aboriginal man to captain an Australian national team after he was discovered by the club in rural Queensland and began his senior rugby league career in Dolphins’ colours some 60 years ago.
The Dolphins recognise the continuing impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have played in both their club and in their wider community and have committed to starting the second RAP stage by creating their 'Innovate' RAP.
The club hopes to launch their 'Innovate' RAP next season, alongside a program focused on activating in high First Nations community to promote healthy lifestyles.
Next stop is down to the Hunter where the Newcastle Knights have established an Aboriginal Advisory Group (AAG) to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices are not only heard, but embedded in decision-making at the highest level.
Reconciliation at the Newcastle Knights and Wests Group Australia is treated as a living, ongoing practice woven into the very fabric of the organisation.
As part of their ‘Innovate’ Reconciliation Action Plan, the creation of the AAG will help provide cultural governance and accountability, ensuring that reconciliation commitments are not only aspirational, but actively lived.
Some of the key responsibilities of the AAG include:
- Guiding RAP deliverables, including the design and implementation of cultural ceremonies and events.
- Advising on Indigenous Round, Welcome to Country protocols, and jersey allocations to ensure cultural integrity.
- Shaping community engagement and youth pathways programs in alignment with Aboriginal cultural values and priorities.
- Holding the organisation accountable to cultural law, protocol, and community expectations
Next steps for the Knights include utilising the AAG to play a central role in embedding the 2025–2027 'Innovate' RAP across the Knights and Wests Group.
Some future priorities include strengthening youth mentoring and cultural pathways and walking alongside Elders, community leaders, and young people to ensure decisions are grounded in cultural law and Country.
For the final stop in this Reconciliation Roadshow, we return to Queensland to check in with dual 2025 NRL and NRLW premiership winners, the Brisbane Broncos.
In 2025, the club’s RAP Committee, the Executive Leadership Team and then all staff committed to elevating the Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country across the club.
The club sought to not only highlight significance of a Welcome or Acknowledgment, but also embrace the creative potential such an opportunity presents. Focusing on this also highlighted how the various versions could resonate differently for different contexts and audiences.
The game day and official club Welcome to Country was created by a local First Nations production company and incorporated animation and special effects overlayed with aerial footage mixed with club and community elements and narrated by a highly respected local Elder.
Additionally, through the club’s Future Voices Leadership program, students were run through a workshop by Toowoomba First Nations man, Stephen Robinson, on the creation of their own unique Acknowledgments.
These were then used by the young people during events such as the Beyond the Broncos graduation and in front of the Nation’s leaders at the club’s Canberra Showcase held at the Parliamentary Courtyard of Speaker of the House Milton Dick.
Currently at the stretch phase of their RAP, the Broncos have a club-wide workforce of approximately 30 percent First Nations staff, including more than 80 percent in the Community and Social Impact team. As a result, Brisbane seriously committed to their reconciliation journey.
