The National Rugby League (NRL) today released the 2026 NRL Telstra Premiership schedule, with more early blockbusters and rivalries, fewer five-day turnarounds and enhanced bye distribution, giving the biggest sport in Australia and the Pacific another record-breaking platform for 2026.
Following a season of records in 2025, the 2026 NRL Telstra Premiership will begin with a bang, with the Las Vegas matches followed by a Round One full of rivalries.
Round One will begin with the much-anticipated Las Vegas matches on February 28 (US), with Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs facing St George Illawarra Dragons, alongside the clash between Newcastle Knights and North Queensland Cowboys.
The round will then continue the following week, with matches in Australia launched at AAMI Park on Thursday, March 5, with the clash between Melbourne Storm and Parramatta Eels. Premiers Brisbane Broncos play Penrith Panthers on Friday night at Suncorp Stadium, in a rematch of the epic Preliminary Final, and following the match between the Warriors and Sydney Roosters.
Round One continues on Saturday with two rivalry games - Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks facing Gold Coast Titans at Sharks Stadium, with new Titans coach Josh Hannay facing his old Club, followed by Manly Warringah Sea Eagles clashing with Canberra Raiders with Jamal Fogarty making his Sea Eagles debut.
On Sunday, Kristian Woolf's Dolphins face off with Wayne Bennett's South Sydney Rabbitohs.
The massive games continue across the early rounds of the draw.
Round Two features the traditional rivalry between foundation Clubs Sydney Roosters and South Sydney Rabbitohs, on Friday, March 13. Round Three features a rematch of the 2025 Grand Final - Melbourne Storm against Brisbane Broncos at AAMI Park on Friday, March 20. Round Four includes the Battle of Brisbane - the Broncos against the Dolphins - on Friday, March 27 at Suncorp Stadium, along with the Battle of the West - Parramatta Eels against Penrith Panthers - on Saturday, March 28 at CommBank Stadium.
The traditional Easter round (Round 5) will once again include the South Sydney Rabbitohs v Bulldogs (Friday) and Parramatta Eels v Wests Tigers (Monday), while ANZAC Round's feature matches in Round 8 will be St George Illawarra Dragons v Sydney Roosters, Melbourne Storm v South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Warriors up against the Dolphins (in Wellington) on ANZAC Day.
Matches will be played in eastern, western and central Australia, as well as the north and south islands of New Zealand. Round 6 will feature a Perth double header at Optus Stadium, featuring South Sydney Rabbitohs against Canberra Raiders and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks v Sydney Roosters, as well as a match in Darwin between the Dolphins and Penrith Panthers in Round 7. On top of playing in Wellington, the Warriors will take a home match (against North Queensland Cowboys) to Christchurch in Round 16. Melbourne Storm will face Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in Perth (at HBF Park, the future home of the Perth Bears), in Round 23.
Daly Cherry-Evans only has to wait until Round 4 to face Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles for the first time, playing for his new Club Sydney Roosters, as part of a Thursday night primetime blockbuster at 4Pines Park. Dylan Brown's Newcastle Knights will face his old team Parramatta Eels in Round 13 at McDonald Jones Stadium.
The NRL has worked to reduce five-day turnarounds as well as repeat fixtures within a short timeframe, while also improving bye parity across Clubs. The 2026 schedule will feature:
- The least number of 5-day turnarounds in NRL history (down from 21 in 2025 to 12 in 2026)
- No team having more than one five-day turnaround
- No return match-ups within four weeks (down from 7 in 2025) and five weeks (down from 8 in 2025)
- All teams have at least one bye during a stand-down period (i.e., pre-State of Origin) or reduced round (i.e., post-State of Origin)
- No team has three home games during stand-down rounds to minimise the commercial impact on clubs.
The NRL has used Fastbreak AI's industry-leading scheduling software platform to optimise operational efficiency and improve competitive balance across the competition.
"No draw is ever perfect, but with the use of new software and a record number of inputs and constraints, the 2026 schedule is finalised and fans have a great deal to get excited about," NRL CEO Andrew Abdo said.
"We have focused on fans, player wellbeing and balancing competitive elements. The reduction of five-day turnarounds to no more than one per Club and the distribution of byes were important outcomes to achieve.
"I'd like to thank our broadcast partners Channel Nine, Fox Sports, Sky Sports New Zealand and naming rights partner Telstra for their investment and support of the game."
The NRL has once again released the schedule alongside an interactive hub designed to take fans closer than ever to their teams.
The draw hub features analysis of every team, including win-loss records against all opponents, and is available at https://draw-hub.nrl.com/
The full 2026 NRL Telstra Premiership schedule can be found at https://www.nrl.com/draw/
