If they are going to stick with a 6pm Friday game the crowd needs to be compensated. They should have massive discounts and promote it as the cheap family friendly game.
But they won't, we have never tried to grow our crowds or the sport in general so let's just put games on and hope people turn up.
Well, I did advocate in a previous post that like what Cricket Australia have done with day/night test matches over the past 2 summers, the clubs should offer half-price tickets for those who can only attend the 2nd half. Allow entry in after the half-time siren at approx 6:45-50pm.
During the daylight saving period in the first 5 rounds, the 2nd (Ch9) Friday night game held in QLD (Brisbane/Gold Coast/Nth QLD) allows the possibility of the 6pm match in NSW/Canberra/Melbourne being pushed back to about 6:45-7pm, which allows the QLD game to kick off at 7:45-8pm (8:45-9pm in NSW), which would be a win-win situation for maximising crowd attendances for both matches. Ch9 telecast would begin at 8:30pm (7:30pm QLD). The NZ Friday night games at 6pm (8pm NZ time) should be after daylight saving is finished.
So, I would suggest if the NRL is going to persist with the 6pm/8pm Friday night match combination, to have it altered to 6:45-7pm/8:45pm for the first few rounds during daylight saving, with the 6:45pm game in NSW/Canberra/Melbourne and the 2nd game in Brisbane/Gold Coast/Townsville. After that, when it reverts back to 6/8pm from April onwards, to introduce the half-price ticket option for the 6pm game (excluding NZ, where it is already at a suitable time of 8pm)
Regarding the Thursday night game, it definitely needs to be held earlier than 8:05-10pm. 7:40-45pm would be the latest kick-off I'd have
