How to watch the 2025 NRL online for free

TL;DR: Live stream the 2025 NRL for free on 9Now. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

There are few other sports that can compete with rugby league when it comes to physicality and skill. It’s clever handling and outrageous trickery combined with absolute brutality, and that’s why love it.

And if you’re looking for all of that and more on a weekly basis, you should check out the NRL. It’s an electric competition featuring some of the best players and teams in the world.

If you want to watch the 2025 NRL for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

What is the NRL?

The National Rugby League (NRL) is a professional rugby league competition in Australasia, including clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory, and New Zealand.

Each team plays 24 matches in the regular season, with the first-placed team at the end awarded the minor premiership. This is followed by a finals series contested between the eight highest-placed teams from the regular season, culminating in the NRL Grand Final.

The defending champions are the Penrith Panthers.

When is the 2025 NRL?

The 2025 NRL season is the 118th edition of professional rugby league in Australia and the 28th season run by the National Rugby League. This season runs from March 2 to Sept. 7.

How to watch the 2025 NRL for free

The 2025 NRL season is available to live stream for free on 9Now. This free streaming service is offering live coverage of three matches per round, exclusive coverage of the Grand Final, and the State of Origin series.

9Now is geo-restricted to Australia, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in Australia, meaning you can unblock free live streams of the NRL from anywhere in the world.

Live stream the 2025 NRL from anywhere in the world by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in Australia

4. Visit 9Now

5. Live stream the 2025 NRL for free from anywhere in the world

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free-trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch the 2025 NRL without actually spending anything. This clearly isn’t a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream select NRL fixtures before recovering your investment.

What is the best VPN for 9Now?

ExpressVPN is the best service for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on 9Now, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries including Australia

• Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is always secure

• Fast connection speeds

• Up to eight simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. This plan also includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee.

Live stream the 2025 NRL for free with ExpressVPN.