{"id":453996,"date":"2026-02-02T17:33:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T17:33:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/453996\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T17:33:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T17:33:22","slug":"the-2026-nrl-preseason-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/453996\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2026 NRL Preseason Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The 2026 NRL season is less than a month away, and every team is fine-tuning their lineups in order to mount a serious challenge to the reigning premier Broncos.<\/p>\n<p>Editor&#8217;s Picks<a name=\"&amp;lpos=story:editorspicks:inline:1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com.au\/nrl\/story\/_\/id\/47793054\/nbl-match-s-confirmed-las-vegas-opening-round-bulldogs-vs-dragons-knights-vs-cowboys\" class=\"img-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/r1299763_1296x1296_1-1.jpg&#038;w=130&#038;h=130&#038;scale=crop&#038;location=center.jpeg\" width=\"65\" height=\"65\"\/><\/a><a name=\"&amp;lpos=story:editorspicks:inline:2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com.au\/nrl\/story\/_\/id\/47773660\/zac-lomax-parramatta-eels-nrl-saga-explained-terms-release-r360-court-battle\" class=\"img-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770053600_460_r1607720_1296x1296_1-1.jpg&#038;w=130&#038;h=130&#038;scale=crop&#038;location=center.jpeg\" width=\"65\" height=\"65\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>1 Related<\/p>\n<p>Return to this page for the latest scores, match reports and any injury news to come out of the Preseason Challenge.<\/p>\n<p>WEEK 1<\/p>\n<p>Saturday, February 7<\/p>\n<p>Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs vs. North Queensland Cowboys<br \/>5:30pm (AEDT) &#8211; Jubilee Oval, Kogarah<\/p>\n<p>St George Illawarra Dragons vs. Newcastle Knights<br \/>7:30pm (AEDT) &#8211; Jubilee Oval, Kogarah<\/p>\n<p>WEEK 2<\/p>\n<p>Thursday, February 12<\/p>\n<p>Dolphins vs. Gold Coast Titans<br \/>8pm (AEDT) &#8211; Kayo Stadium, Redcliffe<\/p>\n<p>Friday, February 13<\/p>\n<p>Canberra Raiders vs. Melbourne Storm<br \/>5:30pm (AEDT) &#8211; Seiffert Oval, Queanbeyan<\/p>\n<p>North Queensland Cowboys vs. Penrith Panthers<br \/>8pm (AEDT) &#8211; BB Print Stadium, Mackay<\/p>\n<p>Saturday, February 14<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand Warriors vs. Manly Warringah Sea Eagles<br \/>1:40pm (AEDT) &#8211; McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle<\/p>\n<p>Wests Tigers vs. Sydney Roosters<br \/>3:50pm (AEDT) &#8211; McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle<\/p>\n<p><img class=\" lazyload lazyload\" data-image-container=\".inline-photo\" height=\"320\" width=\"570\"\/>Daly Cherry-Evans will be keen to hit the ground running for the Roosters.\u00a0Jason McCawley\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Newcastle Knights vs. Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs<br \/>6pm (AEDT) &#8211; McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle<\/p>\n<p>St George Illawarra Dragons vs. South Sydney Rabbitohs<br \/>8:10pm (AEDT) &#8211; WIN Stadium, Wollongong<\/p>\n<p>Sunday, February 15<\/p>\n<p>Cronulla Sutherland Sharks vs. Parramatta Eels<br \/>1:40pm (AEDT) &#8211; Henson Park, Sydney<\/p>\n<p>WEEK 3<\/p>\n<p>Friday, February 20<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand Warriors vs. Dolphins<br \/>6pm (AEDT) &#8211; Leichhardt Oval, Sydney<\/p>\n<p>Wests Tigers vs. Penrith Panthers<br \/>8:10pm (AEDT) &#8211; Leichhardt Oval, Sydney<\/p>\n<p>GET YOU NRL FIX WITH ESPN<img decoding=\"async\" data-lazyload=\"true\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/r1589538_608x342_16-9.png\" class=\"round lazyload\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Stay across all the big NRL news &#8212; sign up to our weekly newsletters here!<\/p>\n<p>SUBSCRIBE<\/p>\n<p>Saturday, February 21<\/p>\n<p>Cronulla Sutherland Sharks vs. Canberra Raiders<br \/>3:50pm (AEDT) &#8211; Polytec Stadium, Gosford<\/p>\n<p>Sydney Roosters vs. Parramatta Eels<br \/>6pm (AEDT) &#8211; Polytec Stadium, Gosford<\/p>\n<p>Melbourne Storm vs. Gold Coast Titans<br \/>8:10pm (AEDT) &#8211; Sunshine Coast Stadium<\/p>\n<p>Sunday, February 22<\/p>\n<p>South Sydney Rabbitohs vs. Manly Warringah Sea Eagles<br \/>4pm (AEDT) &#8211; Glen Willow Oval, Mudgee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 NRL season is less than a month away, and every team is fine-tuning their lineups in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-453996","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\/453996","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=453996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}