The Warriors may be drawn against back-to-back champions Penrith next week – but they will definitely get at least two cracks at the NRL finals series.
The Warriors – who rested a bunch of frontliners in their 34-10 loss to the Dolphins on Saturday with one eye on the playoffs – finished fourth in the NRL season standings.
They face the Panthers – grand final winners in 2021 and 2022 – in a qualifying final at Penrith’s BlueBet Stadium.
The NRL is yet to announce whether that game will be played on Friday or Saturday, but in past years the 1 v 4 game has been the Friday encounter.
Under the four-week NRL playoffs format, both teams will get a second shot at finals footy no matter the outcome in Penrith. That is a privilege accorded to the top-four regular season clubs.
The winner of the Penrith-Warriors game – dubbed Qualifying Final 1 – will get a bye through to a preliminary final in week three.
NRL PHOTOS
Warriors fans – pictured in Brisbane for Saturday’s game against the Dolphins – will get to see their team in at least two NRL finals series matches, starting with next weekend’s visit to the Penrith Panthers.
The loser will host a sudden-death semifinal on September 15 or 16.
If the Warriors lose to Penrith, they will return to Auckland to play the winner of this weekend’s elimination final between the Knights and the eighth-placed team (yet to be determined, but likely to be either the Raiders or the Roosters).
The competition then becomes sudden-death for all combatants in week three at the preliminary final stage with the two winners advancing to the grand final in Sydney on October 1.
The NRL will confirm the final match-ups and kickoff dates and times for the first round of the finals after the last round-robin games are completed on Sunday evening.
Whatever the decision, it will be a level playing ground for the Warriors and the Panthers, who both played their final round-robin games on Saturday.
“We would rather have a seven-day turnaround, but we don’t complain, we haven’t complained all year,’’ Webster said after the Dolphins game.
“Whatever we are given, we are given. We will win, no matter what, that’s what we’ve got to go after. We’ve got to be positive about it not negative about it.”
Penrith beat the Cowboys 44-12 on Saturday to win the J T Giltinan Shield as top regular-season (minor premiership) team for the third time in the last four seasons.
Andrew Cornaga/Photosport
Captain Tohu Harris – expected to return for the Penrith clash – and coach Andrew Webster will lead the Warriors into the finals series.
NRL FINALS FORMAT
Eight teams – the Panthers, Broncos, Storm, Warriors, Knights, Sharks, Roosters and Raiders – have qualified for the NRL finals, with the final 6 to 8 rankings to be decided after the last round-robin games on Sunday night.
The four-week finals format has been in existence since 2012.
Week 1: Friday, September 8- Saturday September 9
Qualifying final 1 (QF1): Panthers (1) v Warriors (4); BlueBet Stadium, Penrith.
Qualifying final 2 (QF2): Broncos (2) v Storm (3); Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane.
Elimination final1 (EF1): Knights (5) v Eighth-qualifier, TBC); Newcastle.
Elimination final 2 (EF2): (6) v (7), TBC.
Week 2: Semifinals: Friday September 15-Saturday September 16 (home teams first)
SF 1: Loser QF1 v Winner EF1
SF 2: Loser QF2 v Winner EF2
Week 3: Preliminary finals: Friday September 22-Saturday September 23)
PF1: Winner QF2 v Winner SF1
PF2: Winner QF1 v Winner SF2
Week 4: Grand Final: Sunday October 1 (Stadium Australia, Sydney)
Winner PF1 v Winner PF2.
