NRL 2026 Draw Release
The National Rugby League draw dropped today and for content teams, this moment is a sprint, not a stroll. Fans see the finished piece. What they don’t see is the timeline.
Clubs get the draw days in advance. Everyone is pivoting, rewriting, rethinking, and rescoping in real time. Not everyone has the same resources but everyone is trying to turn raw fixtures into something that cuts through a quiet patch of the year without burning people out even further.
It’s not about ranking who “won” or who “went biggest”.
It’s about seeing how clubs use a tight window to express identity, collaborate well & choose the right creative tools for their fanbase.
A few pieces caught my eye for very specific reasons
✨One NZ Warriors x Creative Taro
This is what happens when a club chooses the right collaborator. A pasifika thrift creator reworking jerseys into a vest; filmed through the Mt Smart tunnel; “At Last” as the emotional throughline. It’s cultural, crafted, intentionally understated and so deeply Warriors. It doesn’t try to be a joke or a spectacle. It is felt.
✨Wests Tigers x The Tasteless Baker
A chaotic cobb-loaf roast of every opponent as a welcome gift from Hindy for KPP. Extremely online, extremely specific, and exactly why creator partnerships matter. The club didn’t sand down his edges, they let him lean into his tone, and that’s why it works.
✨Canberra Raiders
A clever, scripted use of Swysh shoutouts where rival players unknowingly “announce” Canberra’s rounds. Recognisable, disruptive, and built for shareability. It’s smart because the moment players across the league recognise themselves, it clicks, they’ll comment, tag teammates, repost, and amplify it far beyond Canberra’s own channels.
✨Dolphins NRL
A warm, family-first play using a Bluey-inspired animation that’s instantly recognisable. Simple, clean, and emotionally on-brand. And the clever part is how many parents will share it with their kids - the rewatch factor alone gives it a longer life than a standard draw release.
Draw releases have shifted from “here’s the fixture” to something far more strategic.
✨identity: who you choose to be when every club posts the same information
✨ collaboration: creators as co-authors of the story, not add-ons
✨ cultural fluency: speaking in the worlds your fans are already in
✨Tone-setting: signalling the emotional feel of your season before it even starts
‼️‼️But underneath all of this sits a bigger truth, one I’ll unpack properly in a separate deep-dive: There’s no real “off-season” for digital teams. Expectations keep growing. The pace keeps accelerating. The emotional labour of storytelling is heavy. moments like this, while creatively exciting, also expose how stretched small teams already are.
For now, though, credit to the clubs who didn’t just chase attention. They understood the value of collaboration, the cost of craft, and the cultural nuance required to make fans feel seen.