Australian cricket might be riding high after returning to the winners’ circle and dashing to a two-nil lead in this summer’s Ashes series, but the country’s two big winter football codes of AFL and NRL still rule the roost when it comes to big TV broadcast bucks.

The NRL’s newly signed deal with Nine Entertainment returns the code to its pre-COVID-19 rights perch after it was forced to renegotiate with its broadcast partners and discount rights for the past two seasons because of the pandemic.