NRL NRL Draw 2017

[Aucklander]

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Preparations for next season can officially get underway after NRL CEO Todd Greenberg launched the 2017 Telstra Premiership draw on Thursday morning in front of NRL members and fans.

With defending premiers the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks set to kick off the season against heavyweights the Brisbane Broncos, rugby league fans should expect one of the tightest competitions on record.

Speaking to media following the draw announcement outside Rugby League Central, Greenberg announced a 39 per cent drop in five-day turnaround from 31 in 2016 to just 19 next season in a move that will help alleviate player burnout.

Paying special tribute to the Rugby League Players' Association, he also indicated that number could fall in future years as the NRL continues to look after player welfare.

"The draw looks to me like it's going to be a wonderful mix of games in different slots, and I think fans can be rightfully very excited about what's coming," Greenberg said.

"Ultimately we try to minimise the disruption of players as best we can, and we've made a really strong statement today that player welfare is very important to us.

"We thank the RLPA in particular because they've worked really close with us to reduce that, and we've reduced it significantly from last year which I'm really pleased about."

Warriors have done alright.

 

[balmainforever]

no trip to NZLD, no trip to MELB, no trip to CANB.
no five day breaks.

can't really complain.

 

[nobbyiscool]

Raiders have a brutal season coming up. The teams they play twice are, for the most part, teams who've been pretty good in the last 1-2 seasons. And with 4 FTA games in the first 20 rounds there hasn't really been any benefit for the big improvements in style and in results that were achieved last season.

The good news for me personally is that they're in Melbourne in Round 26, but given the Raiders have a pretty up and down recent history who knows whether the game will even matter.

 

[Bomberboyokay]

6pm AEDT/AEST Friday timeslot has "one year" written all over it. It's an awkward time for TV and the big city clubs are going to despise hosting them. Why they didn't just shift the Monday night games to Sunday night, I have no ****ing idea. But I'd pen in 'Sunday Night Football' for 2018.

 

[robbieando]

6pm AEDT/AEST Friday timeslot has "one year" written all over it. It's an awkward time for TV and the big city clubs are going to despise hosting them. Why they didn't just shift the Monday night games to Sunday night, I have no ******* idea. But I'd pen in 'Sunday Night Football' for 2018.

It allows the Queensland clubs to host Friday Night Games on FTA at the start of the season regardless of form because of the time difference caused by day light savings and then afterwards to suit Fox Sports. Increases the amount of Friday Night games the Warriors can play in "their" prime time and cuts downs the amount 5 day breaks caused by the Thursday Night game. The clubs are happy and so are FOX who asked for it