After a successful – and controversial – NRL Nines tournament, NRL CEO Todd Greenberg has already greenlit an ambitious new version, with a lot more Nines footy for fans to enjoy.
Beginning in 2021, the ‘NRL Super Nines’ will feature 20 teams: the current 16 NRL sides plus the Brisbane Bombers, Perth’s West Coast Pirates, the North Sydney Bears and the Adelaide Rams.
The 20 sides will be split into two conferences:
CONFERENCE A: Melbourne, South Sydney, Parramatta, Cronulla-Sutherland, Wests Tigers, Newcastle, NZ Warriors, St. George-Illawarra, West Coast Pirates, Adelaide Rams.
CONFERENCE B:Sydney Roosters, Canberra, Manly-Warringah, Brisbane Broncos, Penrith, Canterbury-Bankstown, North Queensland, Gold Coast, Brisbane Bombers, North Sydney Bears.
Each team will play 28 games: eighteen home and away conference games, and an extra 10 games against the other conference.
There will be 20 Super Nines games played per weekend, with each NRL game having a double-header curtain-raiser (16 games). The final four games will be played as a mini-carnival at either Perth’s HBF Park, Adelaide’s Hindmarsh Stadium or North Sydney Oval, to accommodate the Pirates, Rams, and Bears’ home games.
The 28 Super Nines rounds will take 14 weeks, with the top top five teams from each conference playing a massive 10-team finals series, held over two days at Suncorp Stadium during the NRL’s bye round, ending in a special ‘Super Nines Bowl’ between the conference winners.
FINALS DAY ONE
Conference A Minor Preliminary Semi-Final: 4 v 5.
Conference A Major Preliminary Semi-Final: 2 v 3.
Conference A Minor Preliminary Semi-Final: 4 v 5.
Conference A Major Preliminary Semi-Final: 2 v 3.
Conference A Minor Semi-Final: Loser Major Preliminary Semi-Final v Winner Minor Preliminary Semi-Final.
Conference B Minor Semi-Final: Loser Major Preliminary Semi-Final v Winner Minor Preliminary Semi-Final
Conference A Major Semi-Final: 1 v Winner Major Preliminary Semi-Final.
Conference B Major Semi-Final: 1 v Winner Major Preliminary Semi-Final.
FINALS DAY TWO
Conference A Preliminary Final: Loser Major Semi-Final v Winner Minor Semi-Final.
Conference B Preliminary Final: Loser Major Semi-Final v Winner Minor Semi-Final.
Conference A Final: Winner Major Semi-Final v Winner Preliminary Final.
Conference B Final: Winner Major Semi-Final v Winner Preliminary Final.
SUPER NINES BOWL
Winner Conference A Final v Winner Conference B Final.
The Super Nines has a few new features:
Winning teams receive two points, and one point each for a draw (due to time constraints, there is no Golden Try)
Teams will receive one bonus point for winning a half, one for losing by six points or less, and one for scoring more Bonus Zone tries than their opponents
There will be one on-field referee, and the Bunker will be used
All games will be telecast live on Fox League and Kayo (Channel Nine didn’t bid as the early start would impact their scheduled lead-in programming).
“Footy fans love the Nines, so we’re given them as much Nines as they can handle. The two-day finals carnival will be amazing. The Super Nines will feature specialist Nines players: mainly youngsters looking to break into first grade, and recently retired players looking to extend their career by a few more years. Bringing in four new teams will test the expansion market too,” said Greenberg.
“Hopefully the Super Nines will become as big as rugby union’s World Sevens or the global Twenty20 cricket leagues.”
Greenberg is also looking to extended the Super Nines format to the NRLW competition.
The Forward Pass is a fictional and deliberately ridiculous look at the NRL. References to real people is for satirical purposes only. Check it out on Twitter @thefwdpass
