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NRL on Nine: Guide

Friday Night Football begins on Nine this week surrounded by the NRL Footy Show, The Sunday Footy Show and Sunday Roast.

Nine’s commitment to the 2011 NRL season gets underway from tomorrow night with The Footy Show and rolls out across its match coverage plus The Sunday Footy Show and Sunday Roast.

Only on Channel Nine can league fans catch all the passion, rivalry and heart-stopping action of the 2011 Telstra Premiership Live on free-to-air television, starting this week with Friday Night Football.

In its 20th year of rugby league premiership broadcasts Nine will continue to showcase all the action, with unrivalled coverage of sport on Australian television.

The 2011 NRL Telstra Premiership will have a fresh look on Nine as fans see every pass, every tackle and every try each Friday night and Sunday afternoon.

The season kicks off with an adrenaline-charged Friday Night Football lineup. The Sydney Roosters meet the South Sydney Rabbitohs to continue the rivalry that has raged for over a century. Superstar Greg Inglis will turn out for Souths for the first time while the Roosters look to go one better in 2011 after last year’s heat-breaking grand final loss. Catch the match live from Sydney Football Stadium at 7.30pm AEDT on Nine.

The Brisbane Broncos play the North Queensland Cowboys in game two of the Friday Night Football opener at 9.30pm on Nine from Suncorp Stadium. The stadium, which has hosted so many rugby league epics, has fully recovered after being underwater in the devastating Queensland floods just weeks ago.

Captain Darren Lockyer enters his 17th rugby league season determined to give new Broncos coach Anthony Griffin a game to remember with his first win in the NRL. And in their opening match, the Cowboys will field a new co-captain pairing of Johnathan Thurston and Kangaroo prop Matt Scott.

Then on Sunday at 4.00pm Nine will feature the showdown between the Penrith Panthers and the Newcastle Knights. The Panthers are poised to strike after injuries wrecked their final hopes in 2010, while the Knights will be looking to a host of young signings to star on the field in 2011 in a season that could signal the beginning of a new era for the club.

In 2011 Nine will again broadcast top NRL clashes every Friday night and Sunday afternoon, plus every game in the Telstra Premiership Finals Series live, culminating with the Grand Final on October 2.

The top names in league will present Nine’s match coverage each week. The voice of rugby league, Ray Warren, heads into his 45th year calling the game, with Andrew Voss again in support. Joining them in commentary will be Peter Sterling and Phil Gould while Paul Vautin, Andrew Johns, Brad Fittler and Wally Lewis head up the expert panel.

Nine will also present the three-game Harvey Norman State of Origin 2011 Series – a series the Blues are determined to win to put an end to the Maroons’ total domination in recent years. Origin game one will be broadcast live on Wednesday, May 25, game two live on Wednesday, June 15, and game three live on Wednesday, July 6.

In addition, Nine will broadcast the VB Trans-Tasman Test between Australia and New Zealand at Skilled Park live on Friday, May 6. The test will be followed by the annual AAMI City v Country match to be played in Albury.

The Sunday Footy Show returns this Sunday at 11.00am with three of the greats: Peter Sterling, Andrew Johns and Brad Fittler, who will be joined by a guest host each week. The panel will discuss all things league, including the highlights, sensations and news from each round.

The Sunday Roast, hosted by Andrew Voss, Phil Gould, Terry Kennedy and Mark Geyer, follows The Sunday Footy Show at midday. It will be packed with characters and controversy as the boys tackle the big issues on and off the field with their irreverent brand of humour and style.

ROUND 1
Friday 11th March
Sydney Roosters v South Sydney Rabbitohs
Sydney Football Stadium
1930 LIVE (SYD) 2130 (BRIS)

Brisbane Broncos v North Queensland Cowboys
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
1930 LIVE (BRIS)
2130 (SYD)

Sunday 13th March
Penrith Panthers v Newcastle Knights
Centrebet Stadium, Penrith
1600 (SYD & BRIS)

ROUND 2
Friday 18th March
Parramatta Eels v Penrith Panthers
Parramatta Stadium
1930 LIVE (SYD)
2130 (BRIS)

Canberra Raiders v Brisbane Broncos
Canberra Stadium
1930 LIVE (BRIS) 2130 (SYD)

Sunday 20th March
Sydney Roosters v Manly Sea Eagles
Sydney Football Stadium
1600 (SYD & BRIS)

ROUND 3
Friday 25th March
Parramatta Eels v South Sydney Rabbitohs
ANZ Stadium, Sydney
1930 LIVE (SYD)
2130 (BRIS)

Gold Coast Titans v Brisbane Broncos
Skilled Park, Robina
1930 LIVE (BRIS) 2130 (SYD)

Sunday 27th March
Manly Sea Eagles v Newcastle Knights
Brookvale Oval
1600 (SYD & BRIS)

ROUND 4
Friday 1st April
South Sydney Rabbitohs v Manly Sea Eagles
Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
1930 LIVE (SYD)
2130 (BRIS)

Brisbane Broncos v Penrith Panthers
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
1930 LIVE (BRIS) 2130 (SYD)

Sunday 3rd April
Sydney Roosters v Wests Tigers
Sydney Football Stadium
1600 (SYD & BRIS)

ROUND 5
Friday 8th April
Wests Tigers v South Sydney Rabbitohs
Sydney Football Stadium
1930 LIVE (SYD)
2130 (BRIS)

North Queensland Cowboys v Gold Coast Titans
Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville
1930 LIVE (BRIS) 2130 (SYD)

Sunday 10th April
St George Illawarra Dragons v Canterbury Bulldogs
WIN Jubilee Stadium, Kogarah
1600 (SYD & BRIS)

NB: Matches and times are subject to change.
Other states please check local guides.

25 Responses

  1. ahh crap!
    nine have 2 friday night penrith games in the first 4 rounds

    wonder if there is a live stream I can find on the net
    since it isn’t shown live in melbourne

    oh and to who eva said nine dont show the SOO live in mexico, actually they did last year for the first two.. then played the 3rd at 1am…

    all in glorious SD

  2. Still like Nine’s coverage, but it’s very lousy of them that it won’t be seen in HD.

    Why don’t they try a bit of nostalgia for one week only – revert back to 4:3 or even black & white? Better be careful what I say because Nine might actually do it and use it for good.

  3. Thanks for the response David,

    I find it astounding that Channel 9 have made GEM their high definition station, when their strongest lineup of programming is on the main channel.

    It’s a waste of time promoting Freeview when you can’t even watch major sport in high definition.

  4. i love that foxtel are going to have a show on sunday night after the sunday games. but why do they have to have warren smith as a host. he is annoying. jessica yates would be perfect, instead of having her as a reporter for the show

  5. thankgod for foxtel nine are pathetic and dont dserve the rights they are so hopless that they cant even show a grand final without ads it is a shame that there cant be dual rights meaning that foxtel and 9 can show the same games at the same time

  6. Re: Phoenix..

    Ray has said calling the 2012 Olympics would be a good way to go out, meaning he might retire after the 2012 season. I think ONE/Ten would be more likely to go after Warren Smith from fox sports.

  7. @sammy that was for you. do you think 7 would commit to those things you said? i have very high doubts they would

    brisbane play a lot of friday night games. 3/4 of their games are friday night game

  8. Hi David,

    Do you know what happened to the original plan that was announced when GEM was launched which stated that GEM would broadcast sporting events such as NRL in HD?

    1. Aaron: Sort of…. Nine indicated that was their plan when it was announced but everything is subject to change in the fluctuating landscape that is TV.

      My feeling is they would prefer to drive viewers to the main channel.

  9. Hopefully WIN will air that Canberra/Brisbane game live into Canberra instead of delayed at 9.30. They did that for one of the Raiders games last year.

  10. “unrivalled”

    A) no HD coverage
    B) only one of three games is live
    C) if you live outside an NRL state, you only get one game per week shown after midnight. Live SoO? Forget about that too.

    The only thing Nine do really well is the Sunday Roast. But then I’m too cheap to pay $70 per month for foxtel…

  11. Um what has this story got to do with 7 .? Get on topic..

    So NRL fans get 1 live game per week out of 8 on the “Nine commitment”… Wow..

    So NRL fans get 3 total games per week out of 8 on the “Nine commitment”..Wow

    Thank god for foxtel (8/8 games shown – 4 live)… and they actually know what HD is…

  12. Sadly for viewers you still only get 1,yes 1 game (sort of) live.

    So much spin,so little substance.

    Also not in HD….anywhere.

    Another classic FTA epic fail,cannot wait to hear what they propose in next tv deal.

  13. I like how they’re packaging the Footy Show & 9 as the only ‘real’ NRL coverage on TV… as opposed to ONE who will deliever 2 no nonsense straight down the line 1 hour show completely devoted to the sport.

    That’s if their AFL shows are anything to go by because I’ll happily watch them any day of the week before I’ll watch the Footy Show on 9.

    I’m not a fan of NRL but I’m glad ONE is making a proper move to cover it for QLD & NSW. Heck I might even watch.

    I have one question, if Ten got the NRL rights do you think Ray Warren would retire or move over to Ten?

  14. if 7 want the nrl. they’re going to have to bite the bullet and put the nrl on live on friday nights. if they refuse, they won’t get them rights

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