NRL hands Broncos Sunday afternoon preliminary final against Panthers or Bulldogs

The NRL will schedule the Brisbane Broncos preliminary final at Suncorp Stadium on a Sunday afternoon, with the commission opting for daytime semi-final football.

The NRL has decided to give the Broncos a Sunday afternoon grand final qualifier, which would also give their opponents - either Canterbury or Penrith - a seven-day turnaround heading into the match instead of a six-day turnaround and the customary Saturday night time slot.

Complicating the situation for the NRL, however, is the fact the Melbourne Storm are all but guaranteed to play their preliminary final against either Canberra or Cronulla on a Friday night.

That would give the winner of that game a nine-day turnaround into a grand final compared to a seven-day gap for the winner of the match set to be played at Suncorp Stadium.

The NRL held talks with all relevant clubs on Monday afternoon, and the clubs are comfortable with the NRL’s decision. The NRL will organise charter flights so the Sydney teams can return home on Sunday night.

A Saturday night fixture would have prohibited the teams from returning to Sydney until Sunday anyway.

The Broncos celebrate victory.Credit: Getty Images

The reason the NRL is reluctant to play the Storm at AAMI Park on Saturday night and reduce the turnaround time for the winner of that game to eight days is because of the AFL grand final.

The AFL grand final will be played on that Saturday afternoon, with Collingwood and Geelong the favourites to progress to the decider.

Collingwood are based next door to AAMI Park, and a potential victory for the Magpies would create chaos in the precinct and limit access to the facility. The same goes with Sunday afternoon, with a parade scheduled for Sunday if the Magpies win the flag.

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The success of the Sunday afternoon qualifying final between the Raiders and Broncos at GIO Stadium is only adding weight to the commission’s push for daytime semi-finals after what was arguably the most entertaining finals game in NRL history.

It was reflected in the free-to-air television numbers, with an average audience of 1.054 million tuning in to watch the extra-time thriller between the Raiders and Broncos.

It was the highest-rated free-to-air game of all NRL matches over the opening weekend of the finals and higher than the free-to-air ratings for the two AFL games played over the weekend.

The NRL has tinkered with tradition for week two of the finals, and have scheduled the all-Sydney blockbuster between the Bulldogs and Panthers at Accor Stadium for this Sunday afternoon. The other week two final between Canberra and Cronulla will be played on Saturday night.

Traditionally, the NRL has played its week two finals on Friday and Saturday night.

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