NRL hit back at Broncos legend over “diabolical” finals schedule claim

The NRL have hit back through CEO Andrew Abdo at claims from Brisbane Broncos great Corey Parker that the finals schedule is 'diabolical'.

The 2025 NRL finals have featured a mixed finals schedule, with the NRL deviating from its usual structure for when games are played for the first time in decades.

Sparked by the minor premiers, the Canberra Raiders, requesting the Sunday afternoon game in Week 1, the NRL originally revealed that games in Week 2 - the semi-finals - would be played on Saturday and Sunday.

Despite that, the Raiders, who lost a 94-minute thriller to the Broncos on Sunday, are forced to play the earlier of the two semi-finals and will have just a six-day turnaround before clashing with the Cronulla Sharks at home.

The Canterbury Bulldogs host the other semi-final on Saturday evening against the Penrith Panthers.

It was thought the move was made so that the two preliminary finals could be held on Friday and Saturday as they have for years, with the Melbourne Storm avoiding clashing with the AFL Grand Final by hosting either the Raiders or Sharks on the Friday evening.

That will still be the case, but instead of the Broncos hosting either the Bulldogs or Panthers on the Saturday, the game has been shuffled back to the Sunday.

It means the winners of that preliminary final in the Queensland capital will have just seven days to prepare for the grand final, compared to either the Storm, Raiders or Sharks, who will have nine days.

Corey Parker, speaking on SEN Radio, said it puts one side of the draw at a major disadvantage, and pointed at the number of commitments for players during grand final week, as well as the fact a Sydney team - if they make it instead of the Broncos - wouldn't be back in Sydney until after midnight on Sunday which will cut further into their recovery time.

“It's diabolical,” the SEN Radio commentator said.

“If the Broncos, Panthers or Bulldogs win, their first training session will be on the Tuesday because you can't expect them to turn up on the Monday after the game on the Sunday.

“If they have a charter flight, Penrith or the Bulldogs will get home at midnight or 1am, and they have recovery. There's the Dally M Awards in that week and there's commitments the NRL oblige you to do, that being fanfare engagement, and you have to train as well and recover.

“It has been absolutely poorly put together, and the NRL has not considered player welfare, nor what the grand final week looks like from a preparation point of view. And they bang on about player welfare from that perspective, I think they have missed the mark.

“It has an enormous effect on recovery, especially if you have an injury. If you are a Sydney player, you have to fly home and that affects your injury recovery.

“You have to fit in the recovery, the preparation, the video, massages, diet and family, all of these fall into what will be a really short week compared to the teams that play on Friday night.

“I just think it's wrong. The players need to buy in together and say this is not acceptable.

“I don't think they will do that, but it's (grand final) the greatest week of a player's career.

“Some guys may only play in one grand final and this is how they've set up the prelims, it's not right.”

Criticism has not just come from Parker, with the Raiders facing two six-day turnarounds, although they were well aware that was a prospect when asking for a Sunday qualifying final.

Despite the criticism, NRL CEO Andrew Abdo pointed to the atmosphere of a day game and confirmed the NRL had consulted with the clubs in making the call.

“We have consulted the clubs that will be impacted by that, and they have been pretty supportive,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“We have looked at multiple issues and how we can support them in terms of high performance.

“It's a seven-day turnaround, so that helps, the extra day for those teams that would have played the week before is another factor here.

He also suggested to the publication that there is no issue during the regular season with teams having varying recovery times, using byes as a prime example of teams potentially gaining an advantage.

“Throughout the regular season, some teams play against a team coming off a bye, so one team may have not played for 10 or 14 days.

“That's the nature of professional sport. You will never get equal scheduling, it's the nature of playing a competition from Thursday to Sunday.

“When it comes to finals, we want to make sure that there's minimums in place and a seven-day turnaround into the grand final, everyone is comfortable with that.

“It's more how we support the teams travelling and we are working behind the scenes on how we do that.”