THE NRL is edging closer to expanding the premiership by an extra round next season and it may not be the only radical change on the long-term agenda, as officials plan to investigate the prospect of playing matches over three 30-minute periods.
Officials are in the final stages of costing the plan for an extra round - to be played entirely in south-east Queensland - and a decision is likely to be contingent on meetings with the Queensland government next week.
If the proposal, which was tabled by Manly chief executive Grant Mayer last month, gets the go-ahead, it would result in each side playing 25 regular-season games next year.
In return, clubs would each receive an extra $100,000 in revenue.
While the extra round could be in place by 2009, officials have also formulated a number of revolutionary concepts which they believe could make the NRL more attractive to broadcasters down the track.
As well as the prospect of playing games over three periods, discussion will also take place over a return to Saturday afternoon football.
The number of teams and the prospect of a return to Adelaide and Perth - measures which could generate more revenue for cash-strapped clubs - will also be investigated.
The concepts will be discussed by a special committee formed to review the game's structure in the lead-up to negotiations over the next television deal - the present deal ends in 2012.
"Nothing is off the table," said Mayer, who is on the committee.
"The parameters have been set. There were about 50 ideas or concepts put up that have to be looked at.
"That was one of them."
There is a school of thought that the game needs a shake-up if it is to survive, particularly given the financial pressure on Sydney clubs and the threat from overseas, both in rugby league and rugby union.
Sonny Bill Williams' decision to join French rugby union rammed home that point.
The ongoing effect of the poker machine tax in Sydney has also put the squeeze on Sydney clubs, prompting renewed speculation over their future.
Some consider rationalisation and relocation the only answer. That school of thought will be thoroughly investigated by the committee, which includes Mayer, St George Illawarra's Peter Doust and North Queensland's Peter Parr.
When it comes to its next television negotiation, the NRL will also investigate the feasibility of adopting the NFL model.
In the NFL, games are broadcast across a host of commercial stations. Commercial rights to NRL games are held by Channel Nine, although it may be forced to share them with another network when the rights are re-negotiated at the end of 2012.
