Not even four teams flying halfway around the world can stop the New Zealand Warriors from having the worst travel schedule in the NRL yet again in 2024.
Zero Tackle have crunched the numbers following the release of the 2024 NRL draw to determine who will spend more time in the air than any other - and the Warriors will reach an unwanted milestone this year, with over 100 hours spent either in the air or waiting for a connecting flight.
That comes with the Warriors flying out of Auckland for 14 games this season - 12 away games, magic round as a home game, and a home game in Christchurch.
Surprisingly though, the four teams who are flying to Las Vegas don't make up the next four spots, with the North Queensland Cowboys and Melbourne Storm both spending considerable time in the air to break up the run.
At the other end of the table, the St George Illawarra Dragons, who miss a trip for magic round with the bye, have the NRL's most favourable travel schedule. They start off with two games in south east Queensland, but then don't travel again until they play the Broncos in Round 19, with just one other trip to Melbourne slated for the back end of the season.
The Penrith Panthers are the other team who check in at under 20 hours, while the Parramatta Eels have only four trips, but their time in the air is blown out by a trip to Darwin.
The worst of the Sydney teams not travelling to Las Vegas are the Cronulla Sharks.
NRL teams time on planes in 2024
| Team | Number of trips | Time in air |
| Warriors | 14 | 104hr 5m |
| Broncos* | 9 | 66hr 20m |
| Cowboys | 12 | 60hr 5m |
| Roosters* | 6 | 55hr 40m |
| Sea Eagles* | 6 | 55hr 30m |
| Storm | 13 | 53hr 35m |
| Rabbitohs* | 6 | 49hr 45m |
| Dolphins | 10 | 46hr 25m |
| Raiders | 7 | 37hr 20m |
| Titans | 9 | 30hr 20m |
| Sharks | 7 | 26hr 25m |
| Knights | 7 | 24hr 5m |
| Bulldogs | 6 | 24hr 15m |
| Eels | 4 | 21hr 40m |
| Tigers | 5 | 20hr 15m |
| Panthers | 4 | 14hr 25m |
| Dragons | 4 | 12hr 5m |
* = trip to Las Vegas.
Note: Flight time relates to the scheduled time of a flight by the quickest route possible, including connections where necessary.
Flights were mainly used for interstate travel, as well as to locations such as Tamworth and Bundaberg. Flights were not used between Sydney and Canberra or Sydney and Newcastle, as well as some other regional games. For games marked with venues still to be announced, it was assumed that they would played in the home team's region.
It was also assumed that teams would fly home after each away game, whereas sometimes they may hold a training camp if playing multiple away games in the same area back-to-back.
Scott,
I think it is even worse than that.
Last time I checked, airlines still say “be there 3 hours before departure for an international flight, and be there at least an hour before a domestic flight.”
If you were to factor in the hours that the players have to wait at the airport before the flight leaves, those teams with many away flights suffer an even greater drain on their time. This is particularly true for the Warriors, because most of their flights will be international flights.