NRL 2021: Melbourne Storm’s preliminary final has been moved after the club fumed at an AFL grand final clash
The Melbourne Storm’s preliminary final game was set to clash directly with the AFL grand final, and Storm officials weren’t happy.
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The NRL has backflipped and moved Melbourne Storm’s preliminary final to the afternoon after chief executive Justin Rodski said the decision to schedule the match at the same time as the AFL grand final was a “missed opportunity”.
Storm was due to face the winner of this week’s Penrith versus Parramatta semi-final at 7.50pm on Saturday, September 25.
That start time was 35 minutes after the ball is bounced for the AFL grand final in Perth, with two Melbourne teams – the Demons and Bulldogs – facing off.
But on Monday the NRL changed its mind, and the game will now be played at 4pm.
“Rugby League is about the fans who have made it clear across the weekend that they are disappointed about having to choose between the Preliminary Final and the AFL Grand Final which is scheduled to play at a similar time,’’ NRL CEO Andrew Abdo said.
“We pride ourselves on being agile and listening to our fans. It’s clear that a small change to the schedule provides the best outcome for our fans in Melbourne who have been incredibly loyal throughout the pandemic.”
The NRL’s head of football Graham Annesley said the decision was made in consultation with the league’s broadcast partners.
“It’s a matter of ensuring that all fans who want to watch both events can do that,” Annesley said at his press briefing on Monday.
“The reason why it’s being played on the same day in a different timeslot is that our games are played in the finals series to try and even out as much as possible the turnaround times for teams from one week to another.
“Moving game day from one day to another has a very significant impact on changing that quality of turnaround times.
“The decision to change the time of the kick-off is a decision that’s been reached between the commission (the Australian Rugby League Commission) and our broadcast partners in the best interest of our fans.”
With the majority of Storm fans coming from Victoria, and the likelihood most of the audience share will watch the AFL’s biggest game, Rodski said the NRL had initially refused to move their clash to accommodate Victorian viewers.
“Yeah, we’re disappointed for our fans most importantly,” Rodski said on SEN’s Whateley on Monday morning.
“For sports fans in Melbourne and across Victoria, it’s a missed opportunity.
“With good planning and good scheduling, it could have been avoided, and we did raise this with the NRL last week.
“We think it’s a missed opportunity. We would have preferred to be playing on the Friday night, and if not the Friday night, we would have preferred a different timeslot.
“We suggested to the NRL a four o’clock start at Suncorp Stadium, a twilight game leading into the news for Channel 9.
“Unfortunately, they came back to us and said, ‘No, we’re going to stick to the schedule as is, and you’ll be playing at 7.50 up against the AFL grand final’.
If the Storm wins their preliminary final, they will enter their sixth grand final across the last 10 years.
In other news, the coaching panel that assists Melbourne head coach Craig Bellamy and has guided the club to a seventh consecutive NRL preliminary final has been locked in for at least the next two seasons.
The four coaches – Marc Brentnall, Stephen Kearney, Aaron Bellamy, and Ryan Hinchcliffe – have long-term links with the Storm that predate their coaching involvement, including Kearney and Hinchcliffe being life members and premiership winners with the club.
Their contract extensions follow on from Bellamy’s decision last month to commit to the Storm for a further five seasons, including as head coach again in 2022.
Originally published as NRL 2021: Melbourne Storm’s preliminary final has been moved after the club fumed at an AFL grand final clash
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