From Jimmy Barnes to … Jimmy Barnes? The best and worst of the NRL grand final entertainment

Well, it’s almost that time of the year again when NRL executives realise the grand final is just around the corner, which means they probably need someone to provide the entertainment, so can someone please get the intern to Google: Musicians touring Australia, October 2025?

This year, it turns out the answer is American soul and country singer Teddy Swims, who will entertain 80,000 rugby league fans at the 2025 NRL and NRLW grand finals. Swims who was nominated for Best New Artist at this year’s Grammy Awards, will headline the pre-game event, before touring Australia and New Zealand.

“I am so excited to be performing at the 2025 NRL grand final,” he said.

“Australia has always been a second home to me. Every time I am there I am overwhelmed by how welcoming the people are. I fall more in love with the culture, and just everything about it. So, to be welcomed to perform one of the biggest nights in Australia is a huge honour.”

When he takes to the stage, Teddy (Mr Swims?) will become the latest in a long line of artists brave enough to try and win over a most difficult crowd: rugby league fans whose cultural barometer stops at Jimmy Barnes belting out Khe Sanh.

Throughout history, the NRL grand final entertainment has offered up a mixed bag, and with the big dance less than a month away, the time has come to revisit the good, the bad, the ugly and the plain odd.

The Good (aka Simply The Best)

1993, Tina Turner, Simply The Best

Who doesn’t miss the era when sports competitions could be named after (and sponsored by) Big Tobacco? As the voice and face of the NSW Rugby League, Tina Turner set the 1993 Winfield Cup grand final alight with a stunning rendition of Simply The Best. Rocking leather pants and a trademark perm, Turner delivered a performance that wasn’t just good, it was better than all the rest.

2007, Hoodoo Gurus, That’s My Team

In the post-Tina Turner era, the NRL enlisted The Hoodoo Gurus to take over anthem duties with That’s My Team. While the rockers have done grand final day a few times, nothing compares to their 2007 hit out. Not only did the group perform That’s My Team, but they were joined by two other icons in Shannon Noll and Vanessa Amorosi. Finally, a lineup that no one has to explain to Dad.

2017, Macklemore, Same Love

Fast forward 10 years and things were a little different. In 2017, the year the same-sex marriage debate dominated the national conversation, the famously progressive National Rugby League booked American artist Macklemore – a vocal supporter of same-sex marriage – as its half-time act to perform his same-sex anthem, Same Love.

Naturally, this rankled some high-profile footy fans with definitely-not-Lebanese MP Bob Katter and former prime minister Tony Abbott, both demanding Macklemore be pulled from the lineup. He wasn’t and instead delivered one of the most powerful grand final performances in history.

The Bad

2002, Billy Idol, White Wedding

As if the Sydney Roosters winning the premierships isn’t bad enough, the 2002 grand final will be best remembered for the performance that wasn’t. UK rocker Billy Idol entered the playing field for the half-time entertainment on a hovercraft to the intro of White Wedding, of which he managed to sing only two words before a power failure ended the performance.

1999, Hugh Jackman, This Is The Moment

Spare a thought for the poor person at NRL HQ who figured booking Hugh Jackman to sing This Is The Moment from the musical Jekyll & Hyde would be a good idea.

We all love Hugh Jackman, a real triple threat, but musical theatre and rugby league don’t really gel and the longer this performance went on the less it felt like the moment at all.

2010, Jessica Mauboy, Get Em’ Girls

The 2010 grand final had a stellar lineup with You Am I, Jessica Mauboy, Justice Crew, Dan Sultan and Phil Jamieson all getting a look in. However, the low point came when Mauboy, who is so good at singing she literally came second in a nationwide singing competition, decided to lip synch the words to her hit single, Get Em Girls.

Mauboy was joined by Justice Crew and the spectacle itself wasn’t bad, but watching someone pretend to sing was almost as bad as watching the Sydney Roosters pretend to play rugby league that day. (St George won the match 32-8, UP THE DRAGONS.)

The Barnsey

Jimmy Barnes has saved grand final day so many times at this point he deserves his own category.

Much like the actual game of rugby league, Barnesy was created in Europe but feels deeply Australian which probably explains why he’s the go-to man for entertainment.

At last count Barnes has performed on the final day of the season FIVE times (either solo or with Cold Chisel), including the 1997 ARL grand final, again in 1998 with son David Campbell, 2001 with daughter Mahalia Barnes, 2015 with Cold Chisel and once more in 2022 with an assortment of other artists.

Barnsey loves it so much that he even put his hand up to do it again this year. In August, Barnes told Triple M’s breakfast show that he would keep the date free. “They haven’t called me yet. But the 40th anniversary of Working Class Man at the NRL would be a killer wouldn’t it?” Barnes remarked.

Instead, the NRL went with Teddy Swims, but whether he sinks (or swims) remains to be seen.

Find more of the author’s work here. Email him at thomas.mitchell@smh.com.au or follow him on Instagram at @thomasalexandermitchell and on Twitter @_thmitchell.