A turf war between the AFL and NRL is brewing over ANZ Stadium finals fixtures

THE NRL's turf war with AFL is headed for September as the rival codes face-off over ANZ Stadium.

NRL finals

THE NRL's turf war with AFL is headed for September as the rival codes face-off over ANZ Stadium.

The preliminary final weekend on September 21-22 is shaping as a flashpoint for renewed hostilities, this time over prime-time occupancy of the 85,000-seater.

Both codes are committed to Friday and Saturday night fixtures, but there's a possibility of three Sydney games on that weekend given Canterbury, Souths and the Sydney Swans could all host grand final qualifiers.

Should the respective NRL and AFL pecking order remain unchanged over the final month of regular season fixtures, the trio will win home games in the first week of finals. Because the NRL has a Sunday time-slot available for that weekend, ANZ Stadium could comfortably accommodate all the matches in a 72-hour footy fiesta.

But there could be a tricky hang-over between the codes, venue and their broadcast partners should the Bulldogs, Rabbitohs and Swans all earn a direct pass to the penultimate weekend.

NRL operations manager Nathan McGuirk last night confirmed the Channel 9 broadcast deal stipulates rugby league's preliminary finals must be held on Friday and Saturday night.

AFL spokesman Patrick Keane said the Aussie Rules had an identical schedule - to guarantee both winners a seven-day turnaround ahead of the grand final on September 29.

Although ANZ Stadium wants all three matches, that would not be possible should both codes insist on avoiding a less TV-friendly Sunday afternoon start.

"Those talks are being held at the moment," a stadium spokesman said. "Should the stars align, we're confident of coming to an arrangement."

But should one not be forth-coming, it appears the AFL would be least likely to budge because it has no viable alternative with the SCG limited to 25,000-capacity through redevelopment works.

NRL could relocate to neighbouring Allianz Stadium, but the 45,000-seater would almost certainly lead to fans being locked-out given the Bulldogs and Rabbitohs boast the largest ticketed memberships of all Sydney clubs.

That would also cost the NRL financially, with 40,000 additional fans capable of delivering around a $1 million of additional revenue.

Sunday afternoon preliminary finals at ANZ have been proven crowd-drawers - the 1999 Dragons-Sharks blockbuster attracted nearly 60,000 fans and held the record for a decade.

McGuirk confirmed discussions about finals matches with both ANZ and Allianz Stadiums were underway.

However, the NRL is adopting a flexible approach.

"Because we've got a new finals system, the games don't need to played in any particular order."