My god, I'm contributing to the discussion because I have knowledge of how it works. Can we just avoid the personal rubbish for once?
For clarity on what I mean - Fox Sports published the full draw inadvertently on their website last year, instead of ONLY the dates and times for the first 20 rounds, on the morning it was released last November. It was deleted quickly.
Then, when the last six rounds were "revealed" at the end of June, there were a total of around 6 or 7 differences across the 48 games from the list that Fox had accidentally published. All the changes were within each network, i.e. Fox Sports timeslots were switched among themselves (Sat 3pm and 5:30pm for example were switched for a couple of the rounds), and I think 1 or 2 Ch 9 timeslots between themselves (A Friday swapping with a Sunday for example). No games changed from 9 to Fox and vice versa, from my recollection.
So yes, it's a common misconception that the rounds are "decided" mid-season. They're done well in advance by the NRL and networks - and are merely tinkered with come June-July when it's time to make it public.
