{"id":287692,"date":"2025-11-16T06:01:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T06:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/287692\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T06:01:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T06:01:11","slug":"raiders-boss-accuses-nrl-of-favouring-broncos-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/287692\/","title":{"rendered":"Raiders boss accuses NRL of favouring Broncos – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canberra Raiders<\/a> boss Don Furner has publicly blasted the NRL<\/a> over the 2026 premiership draw, accusing the league of favouring the Brisbane Broncos<\/a> by \u201corchestrating\u201d a schedule that gives them a clear advantage.<\/p>\n

The outburst came after the NRL<\/a> released its 2026 fixture list, which sees the reigning premiers enjoy an extraordinary 14 games at Suncorp Stadium, including being listed as the \u2018away team’ for Magic Round<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Furner labelled the arrangement a \u201cdream draw\u201d for Brisbane and argued that the league consistently grants them scheduling privileges.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they end up playing 14 games at home because they also play Redcliffe there,\u201d Furner told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are very, very lucky, but I can’t wait for the year they miss out on Magic Round<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NRLLAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 01: Matthew Timoko (L) of the Canberra Raiders scores a try as teammate Xavier Savage celebrates during the round one NRL match between the Raiders and the New Zealand Warriors at Allegiant Stadium on March 01, 2025, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The Raiders CEO highlighted the stark imbalance between clubs, revealing that the Raiders were forced to travel 14,960 kilometres across 10 away games during the first 17 rounds of the 2025 season, while the Broncos only travelled 6,200 kilometres in the same stretch.<\/p>\n

Furner also took aim at the league’s handling of Magic Round<\/a>, where the Broncos once again benefit from playing at their home ground, even when technically listed as the visiting team.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, that’s orchestrated for them,\u201d he said when asked if the situation was a surprise.<\/p>\n

He added that the situation was \u201cdisappointing\u201d for Canberra’s Queensland-based fans but couldn’t resist a jab, calling the Raiders \u201ceveryone’s second favourite team in Queensland.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SYDNEY,SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – OCTOBER 05: Adam\u00a0Reynolds and Billy Walters of the Broncos hold aloft the Provan-Summons Trophy as the team celebrates after winning the NRL Grand Final match between the Melbourne Storm at Brisbane Broncos at Accor Stadium on October 05, 2025, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Furner’s comments were echoed by Queensland legend Corey Parker<\/a>, who expressed his own frustration with the NRL’s Magic Round<\/a> scheduling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m having a dig at the NRL<\/a>,\u201d Parker said on SEN.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe minor premiers, the best team, the most consistent team throughout the course of the season last year, are not there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s an absolute disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NRL<\/a> has yet to respond to Furner’s claims, but the debate adds further fuel to ongoing criticisms that the Broncos, one of the league’s biggest commercial draws, receive preferential treatment in scheduling decisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canberra Raiders boss Don Furner has publicly blasted the NRL over the 2026 premiership draw, accusing the league…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":204773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-287692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}