Australian Rugby League Commission Chairman Peter V’landys has confirmed the NRL have narrowed it down to two remaining options to restart the season on May 28.

V’landys revealed the competition will be held in either a 17 or 20 round format with the hope of having a final decision confirmed in the next two days.

He also confirmed State of Origin will be played at the conclusion of the season to ensure each club can utilise its entire squad once it resumes.

V’Landys told The Continuous Call Team the format of the season is all about maintaining the integrity of the competition.

“Ultimately we make the decision on how many rounds there is and the main criteria for that is to make the competition as authentic and as credible as possible,” V’landys said.

“At this stage it rests between 17 rounds and 20 rounds and that decision will be made tomorrow or Tuesday.

“We do have to consult the players, we do have to consult the clubs.

“This isn’t a unilateral decision, this has to be done by everybody.

“I think it’s pretty well safe to say the State of Origin will be played after the grand final and the reason for that is because it’s a shortened competition and it gives all teams their players for the competition.”

The 2020 NRL season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 23 after two completed rounds.

While V’landys also said the long term NRL CEO’s job is acting CEO and Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Abdo’s to lose after Todd Greenberg stepped down earlier this week.

“Absolutely, Andrew Abdo is a brilliant operator, he’s one of the best commercial people I’ve come across,” V’landys said.

“All these revenues the NRL has generated over the past four or five years, Andrew has been front and centre of it.

“We need a commercial operator right at the moment, we need to look at the cost structure, our cost structure for the whole game is not sustainable.

“We need to maintain our revenues, so at the moment I think Andrew is the right man for the role and I think he will drive us forward and it’s certainly his to lose.”

Click ‘PLAY’ to hear the full interview below.

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