Penrith coach Ivan Cleary has long championed the cause for a shorter regular season, and on Tuesday morning pushed for a 19-game competition for each side.

Abdo confirmed later on Tuesday a shorter season was possible, as one of several potential considerations for the NRL.

"Expansion gives us more options," Abdo said.

"As you add and think about expanding with more teams, you can think quite strategically around what the structure of the competition looks like.

"And it's possible there may be less rounds going forward.

"For us it's about the quality of the competition and the quality of the whole season structure.

"The pre-season, the premiership, the finals series, State of Origin and the international game, which is incredibly important to the commission as well."

Any decision around season structure will likely have a significant influence on broadcasters, with the next TV rights deal due in 2028.

NRL clubs have played at least 24 games in a season since 1998, while playing 26 in 2000 and 2001 when there were only 14 clubs.

But a 19-game season for each club in a 20-team competition would still allow for 190 regular-season matches, just shy of the 192 played as recently as 2022.

Other options such as wildcard finals rounds could also be considered by the NRL, adding extra knockout games while keeping more clubs in finals contention.

Cleary has previously pushed for a shorter season that allows the NRLW to take centre stage, concerned by the workload on the game's elite players.