Came across this when I was looking for something else. As has been discussed previously, the now unbelievable timeslot for not just NRL but even RL World Cup on FTA in Melbourne just 17 years ago, 12am (and a strange take from a newspaper writer too):
What Ch 9 had on instead (note the daytime epic as well):
And Ch 7 and Ch 10 for good measure:
November 2008. And a sad reminder of how times have changed 