Saturday afternoon footy will experience a renaissance in 2014, with the practice of playing two games at 7.30pm with one televised on delay consigned to the scrapheap.
In the 20 rounds scheduled so far, 11 rounds will feature three consecutive live Saturday afternoon games, with the first game generally kicking off at 3pm. The other nine rounds, including all the bye-affected rounds, feature two live Saturday games.
In rounds one and three the first game will start at 4:30pm daylight savings time, with the third game of the evening to kick off in Townsville at 8pm local time (9pm AEDT).
Round one will feature the Panthers versus Knights from Centrebet Stadium at 4:30pm, followed by the massive Manly v Melbourne blockbuster from Brookvale at 7pm, with the Cowboys hosting the Raiders at 8pm local time (9pm AEDT).
In round 2, the first game, Warriors v Dragons at Eden Park, kicks off at 5pm local time, or 3pm AEDT.
But genuine Saturday afternoon footy is back in Round 5 when the Sharks host the Warriors at Remondis Stadium at 3pm, with more Saturday afternoon footy at Canberra Stadium in Round 6 when the Raiders and Knights kick off at 3pm.
Round 8 (Sharks v Panthers at Remondis), Round 10 (Eels v Dragons at Pirtek Stadium), Round 19 (Roosters v Panthers at Allianz Stadium) and Round 20 (Panthers v Sharks at Centrebet Stadium) also see 3pm Saturday kick-offs.
Round 13 will also see three live games starting from 5:30pm, with the third game to take place at NIB Stadium in Perth between the Rabbitohs and Warriors.
