- Messages
- 101,006
It's confusing, but the NRL doesn't have split rounds, only bye rounds.I was telling people Wynnum were playing Easts this week only to realise yesterday that it is the following week.
All I can think is that this is part of mirroring the NRL a week ahead. With the same final eight system in place this year (ridiculous), the Qld Cup started a week before the NRL and have their GF a week before the NRL one.
If the NRL has one bye round and one split round, the Qld Cup needs to as well to keep in sync.
Basically, QRL made the decision to use a single split round (R19) rather than bye rounds, thereby reducing the competition to 23 rounds. The competition has been otherwise in sync with the NRL up til now, and from Round 19(b) onwards will no longer be in sync the rest of the season.
It's nothing to do with the finals system - there's no difference in how long a Top 8 and a Top 5 or 6 finals series run for.