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Footy boss Peter V’landys has confirmed that the NRL will use artificial intelligence for the first time in its history to assemble the fixture list for the 2026 season.
It comes as the ARLC chairman also revealed that league bosses are also considering moving the Grand Final back to a daytime slot.
Any schedule switch-up would have to wait until the 2028 season, when the NRL’s new broadcasting deal will come into effect.
The NRL draw, meanwhile, is an unbelievably complex process to complete, with the league, clubs, broadcasters and other competing factors all have a vested interest in what games are played where and when.
League chiefs currently outsource the NRL draw to a Canadian company called Optimal Planning Solutions, the same company that also schedules the NFL season and other top football leagues in France, Scotland and the USA.
‘We had a big workshop on the draw because it’s so complicated,’ V’landys explained, when talking through the complexities of the current system.
Peter V'landys has revealed that the NRL will be using AI to plan out its fixtures for the 2026 season
Footy chiefs are in discussion about hosting future NRL Grand FInals in Sunday afternoon slots, instead of playing the showpiece event at its usual 7.30pm slot
However, it appears that the league will be trusting in a new AI system to schedule the 32-week season, and the software has left V’landys’ jaw on the floor.
‘I’ve never seen anything quite like it, the variables that are in it. The broadcasters get a pick, the clubs get a pick, there’s the Magic Round, there’s Vegas, there’s all these different [factors],’ he said.
‘What we’ve done this year, we’ve got a program that uses AI because of all the different requests and algorithms. And the State of Origin is naturally a major factor in it.’
The footy chief confirmed that this will be the inaugural year that the league has used the new system, with the footy boss adding that the AI is being operated by a new firm.
‘I think it’s American now, so there’s a bit of a tariff on it, but that’s all right,’ he explained.
Sunday’s Grand Final between the Brisbane Broncos and Melbourne Storm at the Accor Stadium is due to kick off at 7.30pm, and will do so for the next two years.
And the league has been reaping the rewards from its bumper viewing figures in recent months.
Week two of finals saw the Panthers thump the Bulldogs by 20 points on Sunday, September, 21, and a whopping two million viewers tuned in to catch the game across Fox, Sky and Channel 9’s coverage. The NRL says it was the most-watched semi-final of all time.
The move to alter the Grand Final schedule comes after the league has seen bumper viewing numbers during this year's finals, for games that have been shown on late Sunday afternoon slots
V'landys (right) explained that league chiefs had considered looking into switching around Grand Final timings last year (Andrew Abdo, pictured right)
Meanwhile, the Broncos ended Penrith’s hopes of reaching their sixth-straight Grand Final on Sunday with an epic two-point comeback win at The Suncorp Stadium. And Sunday afternoon footy appears to have struck gold again among TV viewers, with Channel 9 amassing a whopping 3.113million viewers nationally.
Both games kicked-off late in the afternoon and V’landys admitted that the league could look to move future Grand Finals back to this time, from their classic 7.30pm kick-off slot, in order to capitalise on heightened viewing interest.
'It's certainly part of the consideration,' V'landys said. 'I think it's proven that Sunday afternoon football is very successful.
'We looked at it last year and I said to our management team, we've got to move to Sunday afternoon [for finals]. They all looked at that strange, but the beauty about Sunday afternoons, it's a premium time.
'It's also clean air, so you've got nothing else on at that particular point in time. Our games have been so good that it's attracted more people in the prime time.
'All credit goes to the players, and they've lifted to a level that is unbelievable. Some of these games and the efforts they've put in are extraordinary.
‘The thing is Sunday afternoon has certainly proven to be a winner, and we’re going to have to convince a lot of people, including the broadcasters, that Sunday afternoon was the way to go. Now they’ve seen it for themselves, it might make it a bit easier.’
