{"id":894638,"date":"2026-09-16T23:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T23:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/894638\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T23:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T23:28:15","slug":"nrl-confirm-preliminary-finals-schedule-create-grand-final-unfair-advantage-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/894638\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL confirm preliminary finals schedule, create grand final unfair advantage concern"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NRL<\/a> have confirmed the path to the grand final across both the NRL<\/a> and NRLW<\/a> competitions, with concerns about an unfair advantage for the deciding match of the season created for a second year in a row.<\/p>\n

For the second year in a row, the men’s competition will see its grand final qualifiers played across Friday evening and Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Typically, recent decades have seen the matches played on a Friday and Saturday; however, 2025 saw a break from that tradition after the minor premiers – then the Canberra Raiders<\/a> – opened the finals on a Sunday.<\/p>\n

Related Coverage<\/p>\n

The same thing has happened this year, with the Penrith Panthers<\/a> playing their opening final on a Sunday, while the second-placed New Zealand Warriors<\/a> played on Saturday afternoon, given that time zones stopped them from opening the finals.<\/p>\n

With the Warriors losing their opening match, and the Sydney Roosters<\/a> to host the other semi-final this weekend, it meant there was no feasible way for a Friday game in Week 2.<\/p>\n

The Roosters and Sharks are instead playing this weekend on Saturday evening, with the winner of that game to clash with the Dolphins<\/a> on Friday, September 25.<\/p>\n

It could mean the Roosters, if they win, face two six-day turnarounds in a row leading into the preliminary final, although they would then have an extra 48 hours than their opposition for the grand final.<\/p>\n

That second preliminary final will be played on Sunday afternoon at Accor Stadium between the Penrith Panthers<\/a> and the winner of the New Zealand Warriors<\/a> and Newcastle Knights<\/a> semi-final that is played this Sunday at Eden Park.<\/p>\n

The winner of that game will then face the shorter turnaround heading into the decider, although it didn’t impact the Brisbane Broncos<\/a> last year, who took out the grand final against the Melbourne Storm<\/a>, who had won their preliminary final 48 hours earlier.<\/p>\n

In the NRLW<\/a>, the Sydney Roosters<\/a> will host the first preliminary final against the lowest-ranked winner of this weekend’s finals on Saturday, September 26, while the Gold Coast Titans<\/a> will host the second preliminary final against the other Week 1 finals winner on Sunday, September 27.<\/p>\n

NRL finals schedule
\nWeek 2 (semi-finals)<\/p>\n

Semi-final 1: Sydney Roosters<\/a> vs Cronulla Sharks<\/a>, Saturday, September 19, 7:50pm (AEST) at Allianz Stadium, Sydney
Semi-final 2: New Zealand Warriors<\/a> vs Newcastle Knights<\/a>, Sunday, September 20, 4:05pm (AEST) – 6:05pm (NZST) at Eden Park, Auckland<\/p>\n

Week 3 (Preliminary finals)<\/p>\n

Preliminary final 2: The Dolphins<\/a> vs Sydney Roosters<\/a>\/Cronulla Sharks<\/a>, Friday, September 26, 7:50pm (AEST), at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Preliminary final 1: Penrith Panthers<\/a> vs New Zealand Warriors<\/a>\/Newcastle Knights<\/a>, Sunday, September 28, 4:05pm (AEST), at Accor Stadium, Sydney<\/p>\n

Week 4 (grand final)<\/p>\n

Grand final: Penrith Panthers<\/a>\/New Zealand Warriors<\/a>\/Newcastle Knights<\/a> vs The Dolphins<\/a>\/Sydney Roosters<\/a>\/Cronulla Sharks<\/a>, Sunday, October 4, 7:30pm (AEDT), at Accor Stadium, Sydney<\/p>\n

NRLW finals schedule
\nWeek 1 (Elimination finals)<\/p>\n

Elimination final 1: Wests Tigers<\/a> vs Canberra Raiders<\/a>, Friday, September 18, 7:50pm (AEST), at Campbelltown Sports Stadium, Campbelltown
Elimination final 2: Brisbane Broncos<\/a> vs Newcastle Knights<\/a>, Saturday, September 19, 4:05pm (AEST), at Totally Workwear Stadium, Brisbane<\/p>\n

Week 2 (Preliminary finals)<\/p>\n

Preliminary final 1: Sydney Roosters<\/a> vs lowest-ranked Week 1 winner, Saturday, September 26, 7:50pm (AEST), at Allianz Stadium, Sydney
Preliminary final 2: Brisbane Broncos<\/a> vs Highest ranked Week 1 winner, Sunday, September 27, 1:05pm (AEST), at CBus Super Stadium, Gold Coast<\/p>\n

Week 3 (Grand Final)<\/p>\n

Grand final: Winner preliminary final 1 vs Winner preliminary final 2, Sunday, October 4, 3:50pm (AEDT), at Accor Stadium, Sydney<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NRL have confirmed the path to the grand final across both the NRL and NRLW competitions, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":894639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-894638","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\/894638","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=894638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/894639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=894638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=894638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=894638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}