NRL 2025: Graham Annesley reveals how head office handled freak storm

Samoa booked its spot in the Pacific Championships final with a stunning 34-6 victory over their rivals at Suncorp Stadium but only after a 90-minute delay after heavy rain, hail and constant lightning lashed the area.

Players were called from the field with about 20 minutes remaining in the contest with Samoa ahead 16-0, with fears from fans that the game might be abandoned.

“That was never something that was contemplated. Our objective was always to complete the game,” NRL head of football Graham Annesley told the NewsWire.

“Storm cells always pass, so it’s just a matter of how long it takes them to pass. We were at a first-class venue with lights and we were in constant contact with the players, the team management and the stadium, and I was even in contact with Andrew Abdo even though he’s overseas.

“Everyone was across it and there was never any contemplation of not completing the game.”

Wild weather has wreaked havoc in the past, with this year’s NRLW Magic Round affected by lightning in the area.

It’s why the NRL has protocols in place for events like this, with Annesley wasting no time in calling the players off once the conditions became unsafe for them and the almost 45,000 fans in attendance.

“I gave the instruction that the players needed to come off the field, so we went straight to a touch judge and told him to verbally tell the referee through their communication equipment that he needed to stop the game and mark the spot on the field where the tackle was completed so they could recommence from the correct spot once the lightning had cleared,” he explained.

“The storm cell passed directly over the stadium, so there was lightning all around us. The reason it probably took a bit longer than normal was once the main cell passed, there were a number of smaller cells that were trailing it that also had lightning.

“The equipment that the stadium uses is state-of-the-art meteorological equipment that can detect live lightning.

“They were also in direct contact with a meteorologist who was monitoring the speed of the cell, which was travelling at 40km/h at one point.

“We knew it was passing but we just had to wait for the safety of the players and for the fans. We can play in all sorts of weather, but the one thing we can’t play in is lightning because it can be dangerous for anyone in the vicinity.”

Players were updated in the sheds about what was going on, with the Suncorp Stadium facilities enabling them to warm up before they were given an additional 10 minutes on the field to prepare on a day the NRL knew something wild was coming.

“We monitor the weather and knew that there were storms predicted,” Annesley said, with the ground’s excellent drainage allowing both teams to attack as if it hadn’t rained at all.

“I spent a fair bit of time in the control room at Suncorp Stadium where they’ve got a live weather map on a very big screen. It shows exactly where the lightning is striking.

“The storm cell was being tracked and for quite a long time yesterday it looked like it was going to pass south of Brisbane and miss the stadium, but within a very short period of time, it took a left-hand turn and headed straight for Brisbane and was literally right over the stadium.

“Generally speaking, it’s not considered ideal to keep playing when there are live lightning strikes within 10km of a venue, but it changed so quickly that by the time we took the players off the field, we were having lightning strikes within 1km of the stadium.”

Click here to read article