Saturday afternoon NRL wins

BLOCKBUSTER Saturday afternoon TV ratings have reignited the debate for a daytime NRL grand final.

The Penrith v Melbourne cliffhanger preliminary final on Saturday afternoon attracted almost two million viewers on Nine, Fox Sports, Foxtel Go and Kayo – a far bigger audience than Friday night’s Manly Sea Eagles v South Sydney Rabbitohs game (1.5 million).

ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys (pictured) and NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo say they will review the scheduling with broadcasters Channel 9 and Fox Sports at the end of the season.

The overall audience on Saturday afternoon was up more than 30 per cent on the same game last year, which was played in the 7.50pm timeslot. Obviously, being in lockdown helps.

For Foxtel it was their highest-rating finals game in history.

V’landys was blown away by the figures.

“We’ll talk to our broadcast partners, listen to our fans and review it with everything else during the off-season,” V’landys said. “It was a fantastic game of football.”