NRL releases key matches for 2018

The NRL has completed the 2018 schedule the earliest in several years with CEO Todd Greenberg promising to give the fans and players what they want.

The clubs biggest gripe with the scheduling in recent seasons has been the amount of five-day turnarounds and Greenberg believes the game’s ruling body has done everything in its power to give players as much rest as possible.

“Two years ago there were more than 45 five-day turnarounds, we’ve been able to halve that number over these two year so, we’re into the twenties now. No team will experience too many of those five-day turnarounds,” said Greenberg.

Highlights from round one include:

• The grand final replay between the Storm and North Queensland will be played on Thursday March 22 in Melbourne.
• The Easter weekend will be a festival of football including four matches shown live on Channel Nine.
• NRL teams will take a weekend off for stand-alone State of Origin match played on Sunday June 24 meaning NRL teams will be less impacted by the Origin period with only two rounds affected as opposed to six rounds in years gone by.