Penrith Panthers bewildered by NRL scheduling of their preliminary final match
The Penrith Panthers have lost just one game this year and are runaway favourites to win the premiership. Yet the NRL have handed them a huge disadvantage.
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They are the runaway minor premiers and the first team to advance to the preliminary final.
But Penrith Panthers have been left disappointed by the NRL’s decision to leave them waiting until last for the chance to qualify for this year’s grand final.
The Panthers made a formal request to the NRL last weekend to play their preliminary final against either Parramatta or South Sydney at ANZ Stadium next Friday, October 16.
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They felt as minor premiers and first team through to the preliminary final, they deserved to be the first team to potentially qualify for the decider, while also earning a valuable advantage in recovery time.
Instead, the NRL has scheduled the Panthers to play on Saturday night, October 17 handing the Melbourne Storm the opportunity to play 24 hours earlier aginst the Sydney Roosters or Canberra Raiders.
Penrith CEO Brian Fletcher said he contacted the NRL in the wake of their qualifying final victory over the Roosters last Friday.
And while Fletcher said his club would handle any draw thrown at them, he said the Panthers would have the shortest turnaround from the preliminary final to the grand final on October 25, should they qualify.
“The NRL said that was just the process that they went with,” Fletcher said.
“If we’re good enough to win the preliminary final, our draw into the grand final ultimately gives the opposition another day’s advantage ... You’d think you’d get the pick of it.”
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Data provided by the NRL confirmed that, since the introduction of the current finals format eight years ago, it has been evenly split with the minor premiers playing four times on Friday night and four times on Saturday night in week three.
The good news for the Panthers is, on three of those four occasions the minor premiers played on Saturday night, they went on to win the premiership.
The NRL also said decisions are made year by year based on winning and losing teams in week one, in an attempt to even out turnaround times as much as possible.
The NRL added the Panthers will have a 15-day turnaround from week one, providing maximum opportunity to prepare for their grand final qualifier.
“Look, we’ll be ready either way, but any advantage at this time of year to keep advancing to a grand final is obviously paramount and we think the minor premiers deserve that right,’’ Fletcher said.
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