Brad Fittler has urged the NRL to resist tinkering with the finals format and throw out the wildcard weekend proposal.

The NRL has floated the idea of extending the finals series by a week to what would essentially be a 10-team format.

Under the plan put forward by NRL head of football Graham Annesley, teams one through six will be given the first weekend off, with teams seven, eight, nine and 10 involved in play-off matches for the final two spots.

It would be the biggest shake-up of the NRL’s finals system since the much-maligned McIntrye system was scrapped in 2011.

In the first major blow to the proposal, NSW coach Fittler voiced his opposition, saying there was no need to tinker with something that wasn’t broken.

“At the moment it’s pretty good,” Fittler, also a Channel Nine commentator, said.

“The last couple of years the finals have rated well, they’ve been great games.

“I’ve been really happy with how the semi-finals have run the last couple of years.”

Many critics of the idea believe it is a distraction designed to divert attention away from the game’s horror off-season, while the NRL said it is considering it in earnest.

The NRL argues there were 36 “dead games” in the final rounds last year in which neither side was in finals contention and had nothing on the line.

However, last season was an anomaly in which there was a six-point gap between eighth and ninth and the top eight was all but decided the round after the conclusion of State of Origin.

In seasons previous to 2018 the finals often haven’t been confirmed until the latter rounds.

“So 10 teams make the semi-finals and (six) miss out. I’d have to look into that a little bit closer but at the moment I’m pretty happy with how it is,” Fittler said.