Is it unfair that Melbourne Storm, as minor premiers, get a day less to prepare for a grand final than their opponents, Cronulla or North Queensland? Certainly some fans on social media refused to believe they would be assigned a Saturday night final – for that reason – until it was confirmed late last Friday. Set of Six can reveal the NRL's thinking in this regard. One, a six-day break for Canberra from qualifying semi-final to preliminary final was deemed as potentially far more unfair.

Secondly, the NRL believes turnarounds cease being a consideration when the period is more than a week anyway. And thirdly, Melbourne gave the league the impression they were comfortable with a Saturday night preliminary final because they have no AFL match to compete against. All of which should add up to no complaints ... but this being rugby league, someone will blow up.

In their image

Former Australia captain Brad Fittler made a salient point on the Sunday Footy Show: those in charge of refereeing should look at Friday's North Queensland-Brisbane epic and "try to find a way to make games look more like that every weekend". Turns out, NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg is thinking the same way. "…a lack of what I think is real niggle in the play-the-ball," Greenberg said. "A lack of players running at referees to question decisions. It was played tough and hard, as you would expect our game to be played, but it was played with great respect. I remember the grand final being the same last year. It does give us a bit of a blueprint for what the game can achieve if we do things together."