In order to facilitate the appointments process, the Development and Appointments Committee (DAC) divides the members doing senior matches into seven tiers.
Before looking at the two documents below, please watch the 2026 Grading and Appointments Process video above.
The Grading matrix aligns with the Rugby Australia Match Official Framework and further sub-divides it in order to most closely describe the attributes of referees within each Tier. While you may not agree with every descriptor within the Tier that you’ve been assigned, it is the closest match that the DAC has determined.
Junior grading for NSWRRA members is managed by the NSWRU Referee Department, through Jack Jones. As a general guide you will be assigned a tier as follows, if you can referee ALL the games within that particular tier:
| Tier | Capable of refereeing all matches up to and including: |
| 1 | Open A Boys |
| 2 | U15B Boys |
| 3 | U13A Boys |
| 4 | U12A |
| 5 | U11B |
| 6 | Minis or ungraded (must be appointed with a MOD) |
Referees under the age of 17 cannot referee age groups within two of their own age (e.g. U15 referees can referee up to and including U13s).