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On the road again: How long will each NRL team spend in the air during 2024?

The Warriors will spend almost 40 more hours in the air than the second-worst travel schedule.

Published by
Scott Pryde

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.

Published by
Scott Pryde