Who will your NRL club play twice in 2020?

We look at the double fixtures set to be played this season 👇

STAFF WRITER | May 11, 2020 - 10:10am

There are 14 NRL fixtures that look set to take place twice in a significantly reduced NRL season in 2020, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.

Broadcasters and the NRL will sit down over the coming weeks to finalise a fixture ahead of the season restart.

Latrell Mitchell will face his old teammates twice, Wayne Bennet looks set to coach against the broncos on two occasions and the Canberra Raiders will get two chances to exact Grand Final revenge on the Roosters.

Clubs are awaiting the NRL's decision regarding the new-look 2020 fixture as the NRL and its broadcast partners attempt to put together a fixture that considers broadcast preferences, ratings, rivalries and competition fairness when allocating the five teams that each side will have to play twice.

Under the current broadcast arrangement, Channel Nine gets 65 picks of the 192 game season - selections that were made last August in preparation for the 2020 draw. That is expected to be largely reduced due to the length of season. The NRL also picks 10 free-to-air games, while Fox Sports gets to provide its preferred time slot for certain games.

Channel nine had declared 12 fixtures strong enough to have both encounters aired on free-to-air, these didn't include the Grand Final replay as these decisions are submitted pre finals the year ahead.

The NRL later added to Nine's schedule by the NRL, who is given the authority to select 10 free-to-air games on top of Nine's 65.

Nine tend to like broadcasting games between teams from two different states to maximise television ratings by reaching a wider audience.

Other games outside of the original non-negotiable that will likely be seen twice are the returning Valentine Holmes against the Sharks as well as the traditional ANZAC Day fixture between the Dragons and Roosters.