{"id":329305,"date":"2025-12-05T11:30:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T11:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/329305\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T11:30:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T11:30:26","slug":"bulldogs-set-to-feature-surnames-on-jerseys-in-2026-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/329305\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulldogs set to feature surnames on jerseys in 2026 &#8211; NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p2\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/canterbury-bankstown-bulldogs\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs<\/a> have made a bold leap in the realm of rugby league jerseys, answering the call of many desperate fans wanting to change.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">The Belmore-based club announced on Friday that they will wear player names on the back of their jerseys when they take the field in Las Vegas for Round 1 next year, marking a major first for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NRL<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">The initiative will see each player&#8217;s surname displayed on their jersey for the historic American double-header, and for the first time, fans can purchase official jerseys featuring the same personalised names and numbers.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-213103\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"NRL Rd 22 - Bulldogs v Raiders\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" data-lazy- data-lazy- data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2165185399-scaled.jpg.webp.webp\"\/>SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA &#8211; AUGUST 04: Stephen Crichton of the Bulldogs celebrates scoring a try during the round 22 NRL match between Canterbury Bulldogs and Canberra Raiders at Belmore Sports Ground, on August 04, 2024, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Jeremy Ng\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">Bulldogs CEO Aaron Warburton said the move was about honouring players&#8217; heritage while giving fans a stronger connection to the team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">\u201cA player&#8217;s surname represents their family, their heritage and their journey,\u201d Warburton said. \u201cWhen our players run out in Vegas, those names should be visible for the world to see.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">The Bulldogs will become the first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NRL<\/a> club to retail personalised player-name jerseys, a move Warburton said aligns with global sporting standards across the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">\u201cWe&#8217;re taking rugby league to America, where every major sport uses player names,\u201d he said in a club statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">\u201cWe&#8217;re adapting smartly to present our game properly to a new audience, while giving our fans what they&#8217;ve been asking for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">According to Warburton, 93% of Bulldogs fans supported having player names visible, while the initiative has also been backed by KFC, the club&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NRL<\/a> Upper Back Partner, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/rugby-league\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rugby League<\/a> Players Association.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\">RLPA CEO <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/clint-newton\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Clint Newton<\/a> praised the Bulldogs for their innovation, calling it \u201ca benchmark that shows the incredible value of player IP and creates new products for fans.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have made a bold leap in the realm of rugby league jerseys, answering the call&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-329305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}