3 replies to this topic

[Southstander13]

Apologies If this is a stupid question, I put it on the main forum but then thought it would be better placed here.

Does the NRL do a full season draw with all the fixtures in place at the start of the year?

Ive seen the fixtures in this forum, but the reason I ask is that ive heard comments on podcasts etc about how they dont think mapping out the whole seasons fixtures would work, or that it would work. They reference the Premier League here as an example of how it doesnt seem to affect anything to have all the fixtures in place.

I wasnt sure if they were referring to the actual season fixtures, or if they were talking about the tv schedule and that the actual matches are known, but the day the game is played over that weekend isnt until further on in the year? So you might know for example that if you were a Manly fan that you were playing at home to Melbourne on the weekend of 6th-9th July, but you wouldnt know what day on that weekend you were playing until 4-5 weeks before it?

Its confused me so trying to understand how it works!

[G Las D]

The NRL fixture list is drawn up before the season starts. The early rounds are in precise detail with day, date, venue.
The later rounds are just announced as that weekend's games in a group. The date, time and venue for the later rounds are announced as the season progresses.
Currently the full details are mapped out up to Round 9.

As for the draw it can't be a straight case of playing everyone else home and away as there aren't enough rounds in a season to do that - there are currently 16 teams so 30 regular rounds would be needed for that.

Maybe someone else can explain the way teams get their opponents - sometimes home and away sometimes just at home or away.

Storm for example play these:

Home and away - Raiders, Titans, Cowboys, Bulldogs, Warriors, Panthers, Sharks, Broncos, Tigers
Home only - Rabbitohs, Roosters, Knights
Away only - Sea Eagles, Eels, Dragons
Byes - 2

[Southstander13]

The NRL fixture list is drawn up before the season starts. The early rounds are in precise detail with day, date, venue.
The later rounds are just announced as that weekend's games in a group. The date, time and venue for the later rounds are announced as the season progresses.
Currently the full details are mapped out up to Round 9.

As for the draw it can't be a straight case of playing everyone else home and away as there aren't enough rounds in a season to do that - there are currently 16 teams so 30 regular rounds would be needed for that.

Maybe someone else can explain the way teams get their opponents - sometimes home and away sometimes just at home or away.

Storm for example play these:

Home and away - Raiders, Titans, Cowboys, Bulldogs, Warriors, Panthers, Sharks, Broncos, Tigers
Home only - Rabbitohs, Roosters, Knights
Away only - Sea Eagles, Eels, Dragons
Byes - 2

Thanks for that! I get that now, they know the fixtures but not what day they are playing over that weekend. That explains why they were moaning about the game basically being run by the TV stations as they dictated which games they wanted on free to air channels and then pay tv etc. Guess the same happens here except we have specific dates already in place that are "subject to change".

Im not too hung up on how they work out who plays who each time although now you've mentioned it im intrigued. Ive always known that not everyone plays each other home and away, and it means the play offs are the only way to decide who the best team in the comp is. If they want to cut the number of games here I think this is the best option without starting to cut the number of teams etc

[G Las D]

The fixtures for the season ahead are worked out by using the final league position of each team in the previous season.
So where the clubs finished after Round 26 in 2011 decided which group they would be in, who they would play less etc.