The NRL finals series works as a four-week elimination tournament involving the top eight teams from the regular season. It consists of several stages:
- Week 1: Two Qualifying Finals (1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd) and two Elimination Finals (5th vs 8th and 6th vs 7th). Winners of qualifying finals get a bye to Week 3, while winners of elimination finals advance to Week 2. Losers of elimination finals are out.
- Week 2: Semi-Finals where elimination final winners face the losers of the qualifying finals. Losers are eliminated, winners advance to Preliminary Finals.
- Week 3: Preliminary Finals where Week 1 qualifying final winners play Week 2 semi-final winners. Losers are out, winners go to Grand Final.
- Week 4: Grand Final between the two Preliminary Final winners for the NRL Premiership.
This system rewards teams finishing in the top four with a second chance if they lose in Week 1, while teams ranked 5th-8th face sudden-death elimination from the start.
