NRL Draw

Quick Hitters

• The Eels open their account with a brutal month facing premiership heavyweights in the Storm, Broncos and Panthers.
• That brutal opening month includes and then gives way to a monstrous window of opportunity as the Eels enjoy an almost unheard of 5-game home and away stretch at CommBank Stadium as they face the Dragons (H), Panthers (A), Tigers (H), Titans (H) and Bulldogs (H).
• With the club’s annual Darwin fixture concluded, Parramatta have a much kinder travel schedule and will spend the vast majority of the second half of the draw in or around Sydney.
• Home and away fixtures with traditional rivals in Canterbury, Penrith, Manly and Wests are a given but the Eels also double up with North Queensland, St George Illawarra, South Sydney and Melbourne.
• The Eels forfeit a home game to Magic Round for the first time ever as they host Melbourne at Suncorp in Round 11.
• A balanced bye schedule leaves Parramatta with 3 games between each mid-season bye (Round 12, Round 16, Round 20). It also means that the Eels will not lose players to State of Origin for Game 1.

General Thoughts

The NRL has embraced the AI revolution and handed Skynet I mean the algorithm they keys to the 2026 draw…and you know what? Despite a few quirks, the Parramatta Eels have emerged with one of their better schedules in recent seasons.

Naturally, eyes will be immediately drawn to the murderers’ row the club faces in Rounds 1, 2 and 4. The Eels get the rare honour of facing both grand finalists on the road to open their campaign before they blink and have the twilight of the Penrith dynasty on their door step.

There is no two ways about it, this is just about as tough as it ever gets in opening month of the NRL. If the Eels can emerge from this gauntlet with 2-wins to their name it should be considered a victory. 3 or more wins would be a colossal triumph and have them poised to make a mega run towards Magic Round.

While fans might grumble about the prospect of traveling to Melbourne in Round 1 for the second straight year, Jason Ryles will surely be relishing another opportunity to end Craig Bellamy’s legendary Round 1 winning streak. The Eels were in the midst of seismic changes under their new coach to start season 2025 and worse – were crippled by injuries in key positions – as the Storm completely dismantled the Blue & Gold.

With a much improved squad from that day that is also forearmed and forewarned heading into 2026 – this could be the perfect chance to announce their lofty intentions to both the Storm and the wider NRL.

A five game home (and away) stand at CommBank Stadium gives Parramatta a rare bastion of logistical consistency to build through the second month of the competition. This is a gilded opportunity to bank a potential glut of wins and the Eels need to be ruthless against the likes of the Dragons, Tigers, Titans and even Bulldogs.

A tone setting victory in Round 1 could be all the more crucial given that the Eels also host the Storm in Magic Round in Round 11. Magic Round has not been a happy hunting ground for Parramatta in general but when it comes to the Storm the Eels have some horror memories over their two previous encounters (2019; 64-10, 2024; 48-16). As much as you can argue about past trauma for both Rounds 1 and 11, the chance to purge those memories and make things right could be genuine lightning rod moments for the club.

From there, right through the Origin window and all the way up to the final round the Eels enjoy what appears to be an incredibly well balanced draw. There are key games against the likes of the Bulldogs, Raiders, Roosters and Panthers but based on recent form it would seem that Parramatta are facing an extended run against mid-table sides. Of course, plenty can change between seasons and we should expect both the rise of teams outside the 2025 Top 8 as well as the fall of some incumbent finals teams.

Still, you can’t really ask for much more and given some of Parramatta’s brutal draws in recent years this is shaping up as a mega opportunity to take a stranglehold on a premium position on the ladder.

NRLW Draw

Quick Hitters

• Did our girls get a…normal draw after years of quirky variants?
• Parramatta open their season at home against the Wests Tigers with a huge chance to start the season on the front foot.
• Home games against the Broncos, Warriors and Cowboys mean they are only required to travel outside of NSW just the solitary time to face the Titans in Round 3.
• A balanced set of home and away splits means the Eels are only on the road for consecutive games across Rounds 2 and 3. Although Magic Round in Wagga Wagga arguably could be spun as on the road for Rounds 4 and 5.

General Thoughts

What more is there to say? The Parramatta Eels are finally the beneficiary of a normal draw in the NRLW. No weird home-away splits. No awkward extended road trips. No farming out home games to weird neutral (or worse) venues. This is just a normal draw. And it is beautiful for all its plain Jane goodness.

Steve Georgallis gets an ideal window to ignite the team’s season with an opening slate featuring the Tigers, Dragons and Titans. The toughest consecutive splits of the season project to be Round 5 and 6 where the Eels host the Newcastle Knights before traveling across Sydney to face the Roosters.

The Eels will host the reigning premiers in the Broncos in Round 9 in a blockbuster match at CommBank stadium before a pair of winnable games against the Raiders and Cowboys round out their regular season.

Parramatta will obviously need to minimise the self inflicted wounds they suffered in 2025 but the 2026 draw represents the perfect platform to push for the club’s first finals appearance since 2022.

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