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Time zones, turnarounds cause finals headaches for NRL
Scott Bailey, AAP • September 1st, 2026 12:09 pm
NZ Warriors celebrate Jacob Laban's one of two tries against the Newcastle Knights in Round 26 | Photo: Andrew Cornaga/Photosport
The NRL could be forced to flip the script on its own finals series, with an elimination match likely to kick them off for the first time under the current format.
League officials have attempted to begin working through the puzzle that is the finals schedule, with top two, top four and top eight already locked in.
The only matter of real consequence still undecided will be who takes a home final out of South Sydney and Newcastle, with the Rabbitohs needing a win this week.
If Souths do beat their arch-rivals the Sydney Roosters on Friday night, they are happy for the NRL to hold their home final at either Accor Stadium or Allianz.
A battle still looms with Cronulla, who remain adamant they want to play their home final at Shark Park, despite the NRL holding the power to dictate venues.
But bigger challenges loom for the NRL in terms of the actual schedule.
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Penrith will host a qualifying final, but given the Panthers play their final-round game this Sunday, they cannot back up to kick off the playoffs the following Friday.
The Warriors will host the other qualifying final, but time zones mean they have to feature in either the first Saturday game or Sunday match in week one.
It means one of the elimination finals is expected to be played on the Friday night, with the other likely to be the late game on the Saturday.
The NRL must then begin piecing together weeks two and three of the finals, where the preference is to have matches played on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons.
Complicating matters again is the fact the Warriors have earned the right to host in either week two or three, and cannot do so on Friday nights due to time zones.
If the NRL could play the Warriors' second home final on a Sunday without forcing a five-day turnaround, that would make logical sense.
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Alternatively, the Warriors could host a final on Saturday night in New Zealand if needed, making it an afternoon game in Australia.
Head office takes into account a number of matters when determining finals, including managing turnarounds, broadcaster preferences and clubs' requests.
The Warriors hosted a week-one finals match last year, which was played on a Saturday evening in Auckland.
Prior to that, they have only played one other home finals match in New Zealand since 2009, which was played on the Saturday evening of week two in 2023.
The Warriors also hosted a home final on a Friday night in 2008, with Nine opting to show the match on a one-hour delay. That would not be feasible in the modern age.
The NRL can at least take comfort in the fact they no longer use the McIntyre system, which offered no flexibility over the order of week-one fixtures.
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