Footy’s back and what better way to kick off the 2026 Witzer Pre-Season Challenge than the four teams bound for Las Vegas strutting their stuff in a Jubilee Oval double-header.<\/p>\n
First up it’s the Bulldogs and Cowboys squaring off before the Dragons and Knights look to blow out the cobwebs.<\/p>\n
The Dragons were runners-up in last year’s Witzer Pre-Season Challenge and will be out to go one better in 2026 before making the journey to Vegas to take on the Bulldogs.<\/p>\n
Follow all the action from Round 1 of the 2026 Witzer Pre-Season Challenge on NRL.com’s live blog.<\/p>\n
Bulldogs v Cowboys at Jubilee Oval<\/p>\n
Kick-off:\u00a0We are back for the second half, with Cowboys coach Todd Payten turning to a number of his emerging players after an impressive opening 40 from his veterans. Zac Herdegen has slotted into halfback, with Liam Sutton moving to five-eighth. The Bulldogs have also injected a number of youngsters, with Aaymon Fitzgibbon entering the fray.\u00a0Bulldogs 6 – Cowboys 28.<\/p>\n
Half-time:\u00a0That is the end of a superb half of football by the Cowboys, with a host of big names standing tall. Halfback Jake Clifford was pulling the strings, winger Robert Derby scored a double and Heilum Luki crashed over for a try in his first match since 2024. There were some bright spots late in the half for the Bulldogs, with Justin Matamua crossing to score his side’s first points of 2026.\u00a0Bulldogs 6 – Cowboys 28.\u00a0<\/p>\n
38th minute:\u00a0The Bulldogs are on the board. A string of set restarts allowed the hosts to work into attacking territory and while the Cowboys tried valiantly to defend their line, the fatigue eventually proved too great. Justin Matamua was the man to break through, the forward stepping past some tired defenders to slam the ball down.\u00a0Bulldogs 6 – Cowboys 28<\/p>\n
27th minute:\u00a0Jake Clifford has another try assist, hitting Kai O’Donnell on a short ball. The back-rower looked to have been wrapped up by the Bulldogs defence but somehow wrestled his way out of the grasp of three defenders to sneak over the try line. Bulldogs 0 – 28<\/p>\n
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Robert Derby 2nd Try<\/p>\n
24th minute:\u00a0Robert Derby has his second as the Cowboys continue to flex their muscle here at Kogarah. The visitors produced a slick right-edge move to expose the Bulldogs defence and while Derby made it slightly more difficult than it could have been, the winger slammed the ball down to continue his side’s dominance. Bulldogs 0 – Cowboys 22<\/p>\n
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Zac Laybutt Try<\/p>\n
18th minute:\u00a0Cowboys five-eighth Jaxon Purdue has now got in on the action, producing a towering bomb that Bulldogs fullback Taye Cochrane was unable to secure. North Queensland centre Zac Laybutt was on the spot to extend his side’s lead.\u00a0Bulldogs 0 – Cowboys 16.<\/p>\n
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Robert Derby Try<\/p>\n
16th minute:\u00a0Robert Derby has extended his side’s lead, winning the race for a Jake Clifford grubber, latching on to the ball and slamming it down to score the second try of the night. Clifford has been excellent in the No.7 jumper tonight as has looks to prove he belongs in the Cowboys halves alongside Tom Dearden.\u00a0Bulldogs 0 – Cowboys 10.<\/p>\n
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It’s all happening here<\/p>\n
10th minute:\u00a0We’ve had a second Captain’s Challenge, with the Bulldogs successfully arguing an early tackle. The penalty handed Canterbury their first chance to attack and while they threatened the line, an errant pass brought an end to the opportunity.\u00a0Bulldogs 0 – Cowboys 6.<\/p>\n
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Heilum Luki Try<\/p>\n
6th minute:\u00a0Heilum Luki has crashed over for the opening points of the game. The punishing edge forward is playing in his first match since September 2024 after tearing his ACL at training last pre-season. The 24-year-old is set to make a key difference to the Cowboys attack this season and will be on the plane to Las Vegas if he can get through the next two weeks unscathed.\u00a0Bulldogs 0 – Cowboys 6.<\/p>\n
3rd minute:\u00a0It’s taken just three minutes for our first Captain’s Challenge of the year, with Thomas Mikaele lodging an appeal after he was ruled to have dropped the ball in the play the ball. The skipper has come up trumps, North Queensland awarded a penalty for ruck interference. The Cowboys will have the first attacking opportunity of the match.\u00a0Bulldogs 0 – Cowboys 0.<\/p>\n
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Payten has some good headaches<\/p>\n
Kick-off:\u00a0Rugby league is officially back for 2026. Jonathan Sua has kicked off and the Cowboys will have first use of the ball. Both coaches have opted to field young squads filled with stars of the future. A number of off-season recruits will also make their first appearances for their new clubs, with Gordon Chan Kum Tong headlining the list for Canterbury. Bulldogs 0 – Cowboys 0.<\/p>\n
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The Doggies are ready to go!<\/p>\n
Late Mail:\u00a0The final teams are in for the opening game of 2026, with the Bulldogs making one late change. Daniel Suluka-Fifita drops out of the squad, with Fletcher Baker moving from the bench to the starting side in his first match in Canterbury colours. Suluka-Fifita is not injured and is expected to line up next weekend against the Knights. No late changes for the Cowboys, who will start the match 1-13.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dragons v Knights at Jubilee Oval<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Footy’s back and what better way to kick off the 2026 Witzer Pre-Season Challenge than the four teams…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-463966","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\/463966","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=463966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}