The reason that the NSW cup is played before the NRL GF is because the NSWRL is alligned with, and comes under the same umbrella as, the ARL who are currently co-owners of the NRL. The QRL however are a somewhat independently run entity because they think that the whole world is against them and they have a very strong "everyone hates QLD" victim mentality. This was also the reason why the rest of the country had to wait nearly 2 years for the Independent Commission idea to start developing as the QRL had to sign off on it, and as this meant that they would have to align themselves with the rest of the country they were very opposed to the idea.
This is also the reason that there will be no 'Reserve Grade' NRL competition in the near future. Such an idea would be seen by the QRL as an attack by NSW to cripple and rape the proud history and strength of the Queensland competition.
