After their all-conquering 2025 New South Wales Cup season, the One New Zealand Warriors will launch their title defence with consecutive Friday night games at Go Media Stadium.
Their round one encounter with the Sydney Roosters will be the curtain-raiser to the club’s NRL clash against the star-studded Roosters on what will be a season-launching Friday night blockbuster.
And the Warriors will be back for a second taste of Friday night footy when they host the Canberra Raiders a week later.
The David Tangata-Toa coached side is coming off a year of unprecedented success after becoming the club’s first senior team to win a premiership as well as taking out the NSW minor premiership and the NRL State Championship.
The treble-winning squad will have a vastly different look this year as even more younger players come up through the club’s burgeoning pathways programme to play alongside first graders not selected in any given week.
That follows a number of 2025 squad members departing – Kalani Going, Tom Ale, Freddy Lussick, Toby Crosby and Patrick Moimoi to the Penrith Panthers, Moala Graham-Taufa and Edward Kosi to the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Bunty Afoa to Wests Tigers and Setu Tu to St George Illawarra.
The New South Wales Cup has expanded to 14 teams this year with the Melbourne Storm coming into the competition.
That results in the regular season being reduced to 22 games from 24 with each club having four byes. Each team plays the other 13 sides once and nine of them twice.
The teams the Warriors face twice will be the Raiders, Storm, Magpies, Jets, Dragons, Sea Eagles, Panthers, Knights and Bulldogs while they’ll play once against the Roosters, Eels, Bears and Rabbitohs.
2026 NSW Cup draw
| 1 | Fri Mar 6 | 5.15pm | v Roosters | Go Media Stadium, Auckland |
| 2 | Fri Mar 13 | 5.15pm | v Raiders | Go Media Stadium, Auckland |
| 3 | Sat Mar 21 | 12.30pm | v Knights | McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle |
| 4 | Fri Mar 27 | 5.15pm | v Magpies | Go Media Stadium, Auckland |
| 5 | Sat Apr 4 | 3.00pm | v Jets | Henson Park, Sydney |
| 6 | Sat Apr 11 | 4.45pm | v Storm | AAMI Park, Melbourne |
| 7 | Sat Apr 18 | 2.15pm | v Sea Eagles | Go Media Stadium, Auckland |
| 8 | Sat Apr 25 | 12.00pm | v Bears | Go Media Stadium, Auckland |
| 9 | Sat May 2 | 1.00pm | v Eels | James Hardie Centre of Excellence, Sydney |
| 10 | Bye | |||
| 11 | Sun May 17 | 1.00pm | v Storm | North Sydney Oval, Sydney |
| 12 | Sat May 23 | 3.10pm | v Dragons | Jubilee Stadium, Sydney |
| 13 | Sat May 30 | 12.00pm | v Panthers | Parker Street Reserve, Penrith |
| 14 | Bye | |||
| 15 | Sat Jun 13 | 5.15pm | v Jets | Go Media Stadium, Auckland |
| 16 | Sun Jun 21 | 1.30pm | v Bulldogs | One New Zealand Stadium, Christchurch |
| 17 | Sun Jun 28 | 11.40am | v Raiders | GIO Stadium, Christchurch |
| 18 | Bye | |||
| 19 | Sat Jul 11 | 2.00pm | v Magpies | Lidcombe Oval, Sydney |
| 20 | Sat Jul 18 | 2.45pm | v Dragons | Go Media Stadium, Auckland |
| 21 | Sat Jul 25 | 1.15pm | v Bulldogs | Belmore Sports Ground, Sydney |
| 22 | Bye | |||
| 23 | Fri Aug 7 | 5.15pm | v Panthers | Go Media Stadium, Auckland |
| 24 | Sat Aug 15 | 1.00pm | v Sea Eagles | 4 Pines Park, Sydney |
| 25 | Sat Aug 22 | 1.30pm | v Rabbitohs | Redfern Oval, Sydney |
| 26 | Sun Aug 30 | 11.20am | v Knights | Go Media Stadium, Auckland |
