League: Two tests 'not ideal' for NZRL

Chairman of the New Zealand Rugby League board Scott Carter. Photo / Martin Sykes

It's not quite batten down the hatches time but the NZRL is bracing for a couple of lean financial years.

With just two test matches - home and away against the Kangaroos - on the calendar this season followed by a World Cup next year, opportunities for the national body to earn revenue are limited.

"Look, it's not ideal," NZRL chairman Scott Carter said of the lean test schedule. "But this is the hand we got dealt. We always knew 2013 was going to be tough. Just like with union, in league countries like New Zealand suffer when the majority of the income goes to the World Cup.

"And 2012 became problematic when the Australians in particular didn't want a heavy schedule in the year between the Four Nations and the World Cup."

While the NZRL was "still exploring options" - presumably a test against a Pacific nation - it seems likely the Kiwis will play just three or four matches between now and the November 2013 World Cup.

The Northern Hemisphere calendar, by comparison, is bristling with pre-World Cup representative fixtures.

With Australia unwilling to commit to a Four Nations-style tournament due to concerns over player welfare, there were hopes England could be persuaded to tour New Zealand at the end of this season. However England refused to waver from its preference for an inbound Kiwis tour.

While there are no real concerns the Kiwis will head into the world cup underdone, there are lean times ahead for a national body that earns the bulk of its revenue from Kiwis fixtures. Carter, though, said he expected to shortly announce strong financial results from the last 15 months of operations.

"The bottom line is that it has set us up, up until and including the world cup," he said.

"While it will be tougher going we are comfortable we are living within our means and can deliver all that we expected to."