THE Broncos say they have been assured by the NRL they will receive Sunday afternoon home football next year and hope for more than one game.

Brisbane played all home matches at night in 2017 and none on a Sunday, largely because they are a preferred team of Channel 9 for one of its Thursday and Friday telecasts.

The NRL’s promise of recent years that they “will take back the draw’’ from telecast networks in 2018 will have its acid test with next month’s draw, with Canberra and Newcastle and smaller Sydney clubs wanting more free-to-air exposure than in recent years.

“We are hoping the draw is a little kinder to us next year – four Thursday night home games didn’t help (with 2017 crowds),’’ Broncos chairman Dennis Watt said.

“Sunday games are family friendly and we’d like some for our fans next year. Todd Greenberg (NRL CEO) said he would look to try and have some Sunday games for us – we’d certainly expect more than one.’’

The NRL also needs to provide matches for Nine and Fox League, which deliver consistently good ratings and also set the groundwork for maintaining the sport’s rights values from 2023-27.

That NRL grand final on Sunday was watched by 380,000 fewer people than the 2016 title decider.

Like all major spectator sports the game is subject increasingly to fracturing of its audience, which has more ways to watch a match on their devices.

Broncos coach Wayne Bennett said they would not play another World Club Series match in England next February if asked.

The English Rugby Football League is having trouble raising Australian interest, with clubs wary of adding pre-season games for players who will contest the World Cup until as late as December 2.

“We have played games in England the last three years. We made a decision we probably won’t go over — we will take a bit of a different direction with it,’’ Bennett said.

Bennett said the Broncos would play trial games at venues to be announced, but would be outside Brisbane.

Grand finalists Melbourne and North Queensland have booked a testimonial trial in February to benefit Cameron Smith and Johnathan Thurston and the Storm may play as many as two trials against the Warriors, one at the Sunshine Coast and one in New Zealand.

Preliminary finalists Brisbane would have been a welcome WSC opponent, but the World Club Challenge trophy could only be contested by the Storm, as premiers.

The Storm and Cowboys declined the chance to play WSC matches in 2017 as preliminary finalists, with the Broncos losing to Warrington and Cronulla defeated in the WCC by Wigan.

Broncos CEO Paul White has made plain in the past two years their interest in hosting an English club in a WSC match at Suncorp Stadium.

“We’ve done a lot of the heavy lifting for it (the WSC) over the years, playing it three times,’’ Watt said.