The NRL's preliminary final scheduling clash with the AFL grand final is a "huge missed opportunity", according to Storm CEO Justin Rodski.
Melbourne were hopeful of a twilight fixture for their grand final qualifier on Saturday week at Suncorp Stadium against the winner of the Penrith-Parramatta semi-final.
Instead they are scheduled to kick off just 35 minutes after the first bounce of the AFL grand final in Perth.
The AFL decider is traditionally an afternoon affair at the MCG but the COVID-19 forced relocation to Perth changed the timeslot to 5.15pm local time - 7.15pm AEST.
With two Victorian teams - Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs - featuring in the September 25 final, the NRL will have a near impossible task drawing viewers in the southern state.
Rodski said while it wouldn't affect their on-field performance it was a disappointing outcome as his club tried to grow the game.
"We're disappointed for our fans," he told SEN Radio on Monday.
"With good planning and good scheduling, it could have been avoided, and we did raise this with the NRL last week.
"Ultimately, it doesn't impact us from a football point of view ... but a big part of this for us is ensuring we continue promote the game of rugby league in Victoria and our fans and members can watch our team play.
"While they still can, we just think it's a huge missed opportunity to be scheduling our game up against the AFL grand final with two Melbourne teams playing."
Rodski said the defending premiers requested to play Friday night or the earlier timeslot of 4pm on Saturday.
The NRL's decision to play Melbourne's week-one final against Manly last Friday night impacted the timing of the preliminary final.
Under the NRL's finals system, the league offers seven-day turnarounds for the winners of games in week two before their preliminary finals.
"They're trying to manage the equity from a football perspective, so the first mistake that was made was scheduling our game for the qualifying final on a Friday night, knowing the AFL grand final was going to be in Perth, and a night game in the eastern market," Rodski said.
He said the NRL switched the start time of a final in 2012 to avoid a clash but couldn't be convinced this time.
Meanwhile, Melbourne announced they had re-signed all of coach Craig Bellamy's assistants - Marc Brentnall, Stephen Kearney, Aaron Bellamy and Ryan Hinchcliffe - for at least the next two years.
