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How to stream 2021 NRL season live online

Never miss another try with our complete guide to NRL streaming in HD live and on demand.

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Matt Sayer

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Chris Stead
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This week's matches

RoundDateMatchStadiumKick-off (AEST)How to watch
Round 14Monday, 14 JuneBulldogs vs DragonsANZ Stadium3:30 PMKayo Sports, Foxtel
Round 15Thursday, 17 JuneBroncos vs RabbitohsSuncorp Stadium7:00 PMKayo Sports, Foxtel Channel 9
Round 15Friday, 18 JuneCowboys vs SharksQueensland Country Bank Stadium5:00 PMKayo Sports, Foxtel
Round 15Friday, 18 JunePanthers vs RoostersPanthers Stadium7:50 PMKayo Sports, Foxtel Channel 9
Round 15Saturday, 19 JuneKnights vs WarriorsMcDonald Jones Stadium2:30 PMKayo Sports, Foxtel
Round 15Saturday, 19 JuneDragons vs RaidersWIN Stadium4:55 PMKayo Sports, Foxtel
Round 15Saturday, 19 JuneStorm vs Wests TigersAAMI Park7:20 PMKayo Sports, Foxtel
Round 15Sunday, 20 JuneEels vs BulldogsBankwest Stadium1:30 PMKayo Sports, Foxtel
Round 15Sunday, 20 JuneTitans vs Sea EaglesCbus Super Stadium4:00 PMKayo Sports, Foxtel Channel 9

Watching the NRL on free-to-air TV can be a pretty lousy experience. Not only are you chained to the couch, but you also miss out on more than half the action every round. Only a handful of matches from the regular rounds are broadcast on traditional TV and they're broken up by ads. Plus some teams are favoured more than others. Channel 9 does at least show every NRL finals game and the grand final exclusively live.

Until recently, the only alternative has been shelling out for a Foxtel subscription, a costly solution if you're only going to use it for watching sport. Fortunately, the advent of online streaming has brought about a better option: Kayo Sports. This dedicated sports streaming service and app includes all of the Fox Sports content, without having to install a set-top box or pay for non-sporting channels.

Live stream every NRL game on Kayo: 14-day free trial

Watch the NRL live on free-to-air TV

If you're a casual NRL fan, free-to-air coverage might be enough to satisfy your cravings. You can watch three games per round on the Nine Network. This includes one Thursday night match, one Friday night fixture and a Sunday afternoon clash. One additional game per round on Saturday night was traditionally shown for the last five rounds of the season, but that is not the case this year in the revamped schedule following the pandemic. Nine also broadcasts every game of the finals series including the grand final.

Stream the NRL with Kayo Sports

Kayo Sports has access to all the Fox Sports content, as well as everything coming into the country through beIN SPORTS and ESPN. It includes over 50 sports live and on demand, plus all the supplementary programming such as chat shows and news. Notably, everything from the Fox League channel is available to watch on replay, live or in highlights packages. The streaming platform also offers every game of the finals. The grand final isn’t available to stream live, as it is exclusive to free-to-air, but a replay will be on Kayo Sports.

Kayo Sports really stands out from the crowd not only for the quality of its HD streaming, but also thanks to some rather excellent sport-specific viewing features. This includes SplitView (four sports at once on the same screen), Interactive Stats, No Spoilers (hide scores mode), Key Moments (a timeline of important events in a game you can jump to), picture-in-picture mode, choose your own camera and plenty more. You can see all of the details in our Kayo Sports review.

Kayo works with Macs and PCs, as well as iOS and Android smartphones and laptops. It can also be watched on a TV via Chromecast, Apple TV, Android TV, Telstra TV, Sony Bravia TV and Samsung TV (2017 or later). You can choose a $25/month subscription to be able to watch on two screens at the same time or pay $35/month to enjoy three simultaneous streams.

A 14-day free trial is available for new customers, which is easy to sign up for and cancel.

Live stream NRL with Foxtel

Foxtel broadcasts every game of the NRL Telstra Premiership, with the exception of the grand final. To tune in, you will need the Sports HD and Foxtel Plus packs, for a combined cost of $74/month.

Once that’s done, you will be able to stream matches with your laptop or mobile device via the Foxtel GO app. The app is free with your Foxtel subscription. All you have to do is download it from Google Play or the App Store and enter your Foxtel ID. To stream on your laptop, check out the Foxtel website.

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Live stream the NRL in HD with Kayo's FREE TRIAL and no lock-in contract

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Stream NRL on Foxtel Now

League fans can also stream NRL matches with Foxtel Now. To get FOX League, you will need the Sport pack, which costs $29/month. Subscribers also need the Essentials pack to be able to access sports content, which costs $25/month and comes with a great selection of Pop and Lifestyle channels. Consequently, you will pay a minimum of $54/month to stream NRL games with Foxtel Now.

The streaming service is available on PCs/Macs, mobile devices, Chromecast/AirPlay, PS4, Telstra TV and the Foxtel Now box.

NRL grand final details

The 2021 grand final is scheduled for Sunday 3 October at Stadium Australia, formerly known as ANZ Stadium. The only way to watch the big game live is on Channel 9. You can also live stream the game on the 9Now app. It is then replayed on Foxtel and Kayo Sports.

Stream NRL matches from outside Australia

If you’re outside Australia when your favourite team is playing, you can still stream NRL matches live or on demand with Watch NRL. The platform is only available outside the country and it comes with three subscription options.

During the regular rounds, a weekly pass costs $20, a monthly subscription is $39 and membership for an entire year is available for $199. During the finals, the weekly pass rises to $25, or you can get the entire finals series for $85. For the grand final, the weekly pass is abolished altogether and the $33 monthly pass is the best you can get.

You can watch on your laptop, on the Watch NRL website or download the app to your mobile device. Watch NRL is also compatible with Chromecast and AirPlay.

Travelling abroad? Watch the NRL finals live for as little as $33

Travelling abroad? Watch the NRL finals live for as little as $33 from Watch NRL

If you're travelling outside of Australia, you can stream the NRL Premiership on PC, iPhone, Android or TV (using Chromecast or AirPlay) with Watch NRL's app. Sign up now.

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Stream NRL matches with NRL Live Pass

The NRL Live app serves as your gateway to the world of NRL streaming. You can download the app for free on Apple, Android and Windows mobile devices. Without forking over a cent you'll have access to live scores and statistics, match highlight videos and up-to-date news and reports.

To get the full NRL Live experience, though, you'll need to subscribe to the NRL Live Pass which lets you live stream all Telstra Premiership matches, including representative games and the finals series, as well as all Nines and All Stars events. Live streams of the NRL grand final and the State of Origin series are not available via the NRL Live Pass, though you can watch full match replays of these after the fact.

However, NRL Live Pass has one giant problem. You're limited on the display size you can watch on. NRL Live Pass is only compatible with displays of seven inches or less. You can't Chromecast, AirPlay or try and HDMI tricks to get it onto your TV.

If you're a Telstra mobile customer then you will have access to the service for free. That is at least until May 31, 2021. After that the service is being made redundant. All existing Live Pass members for May 31 can will be offered to transfer over to a Kayo Sports subscription for just $5 per month.

So while you will need to eventually pay to watch rugby league, you will at least get Kayo for 80% off, no limited screen size and access to over 50 sports rather than just a few. You can see the full details of the Telstra and Kayo Live Pass agreement here.

Why are there bye rounds in the NRL?

In response to the demands of State of Origin on the regular season competition, bye rounds were introduced. This takes the pressure off the teams during the State of Origin period, where the elite players are removed from the competition. It also gives players a bit of extra time mid-season to get any niggling injuries under control.

When is State of Origin in 2021?

The coronavirus pandemic forced last year's Origin series into a season-ending event in November. But like the rest of the schedule, it is back to its usual place in winter in 2021.

The series gets started at Melbourne's MCG on 9 June. Brisbane will host game 2 at Suncorp Stadium on 27 June with the finale at Stadium Australia on 14 July. Queensland are the defending champions.

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Picture: Brett Taylor/Flickr

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2 Responses

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    brendanFebruary 28, 2018

    Hi, regarding live streaming NRL games live, I notice on a different website the tablet needs to b a certain size and brand, is this true? Or as long as it’s running Android 4.2 or above? I’m not a Telstra customer…can I live stream the games with Wi-Fi at home without maxing out my data? Cheers

    Reply
      Avatarfinder Customer Care
      MattFebruary 28, 2018Staff

      Hi Brendan,

      Thanks for your question. You don’t need a specific brand of tablet to stream NRL games live, though the tablet must be less than 7 inches in size (measured diagonally across the screen).

      If you’re streaming games on your home Wi-Fi connection, the average match is going to use up approximately 900MB of data if you’re on a tablet, and approximately 400MB of data on a smaller phone. Whether this will max out your data will depend on how large your home broadband data cap is.

      I hope this helps!

      Regards,

      Matt

      Reply
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