NRL officials are poised to meet with the NSW government in an 11th-hour bid to save the game's stadium strategy and keep the grand final in Sydney.
The ARL Commission met on Monday morning to discuss the venue for this year's decider and the possibility of moving the match out of NSW.
Ultimately the commissioners decided to defer a decision until later this week, allowing for further talks between the NRL and state government.
Those discussions were due to begin as early as Monday afternoon, after a week-long public feud between ARLC chairman Peter V'landys and NSW premier Dominic Perrottet.
There was some hope that a compromise could potentially be reached on the matter that would suit the two parties.
The NRL had initially signed a deal with the NSW government to keep the grand final in Sydney until 2042 with an $800 million upgrade of Accor Stadium.
That rebuild was put off in 2020, and a portion of that money was to be redirected to suburban grounds.
Some $300 million has already been pledged to Penrith, but the NRL believed they had a handshake deal on around $250 million upgrades across other grounds before being told it was no longer a priority last week.
V'landys himself has made it clear in recent days he would still prefer to keep the grand final in Sydney, but a decision would ultimately rest with the entire commission.
"There are two reasons for that (desire)," V'landys told AAP recently.
"One: We honour our agreements. We gave our word, we have a legally-binding agreement (with the NSW government).
"So in order for us to protest those rights we have to continue providing the requirements we have.
"And the second thing is: I don't want to punish the fans of NSW because of the government."
A decision will likely have to be made by the end of this week so tickets can go on sale for the October 2 event.
