Shark Park in Sydney’s south on a Friday night in early February is as far from the bright lights of Las Vegas as you can get – even further from a grand final in front of 80,000 fans at Accor Stadium in October.
But here the story begins.
Friday the 7th of February 2025.
Cronulla and the New Zealand Warriors.
In front of family, two friends and a dog.
It’s a far cry from the good old days of the Tooheys Challenge and matches spread far and wide across regional New South Wales.
Tomorrow night, Penrith and Canberra will trot out at the same venue.
All four teams already have one eye on their trip to Vegas for the NRL’s second sugar rush in the entertainment capital of the world.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if it’s Shark Park, Tom Knight Oval or the local IGA – rugby league is back!
The NRL Pre-season Challenge isn’t perfect but nobody is going to care in a few months, anyway.
Let’s take a look back at rugby league pre-season through the years.
NRL ALL STARS
The NRL All Stars versus Indigenous All Stars was introduced in 2010 with the original concept featuring the Indigenous side against the likes of Darren Lockyer, Cameron Smith, Benji Marshall and Sam Burgess who had just arrived from England to play for South Sydney.
Wendell Sailor scored the first try of the game with the Indigenous winning 16-12.
WORLD SEVENS
There was something magical about the World Sevens at the old Sydney Football Stadium. Shiny jerseys, the blue seats bathed in sunshine, Coca-Cola advertising all over the shop and the footy itself which included teams from USA, Russia, Canada and England.
The World Sevens ran from 1988 to 2004.
TOOHEYS CHALLENGE CUP
There have been several different pre-season competitions over the years, but the Tooheys Challenge is probably most fondly remembered for two of the biggest upsets in history.
The powerhouse Brisbane Broncos were hot favourites in 1992 and 1994 respectively after winning the tournament in 1991.
Wayne Bennett’s star-studded side would also win it in 1995.
But in ’92 and ’94, the Broncos went down to the Illawarra Steelers and South Sydney respectively in two huge boil overs.
WHEN THE LUNG BUSTER RULED RUGBY LEAGUE
Long before the Winfield Cup, the pre-season competition was sponsored by W.D. & H.O. Wills which saw the tournament called the Wills Cup and then the Craven Mild Cup.
During its time, this version of the pre-season cup lobbed up some cracking finals including Easts versus Balmain in 1977, Newtown and St George in 1973 and Souths against fierce rivals Easts in 1972.
Incredibly, in the corresponding game two years later, Easts would destroy the Rabbitohs 43-0 in the final with Pat Kelly scoring a hat-trick.
Sadly, Kelly would die just a few short years later after a motorcycle accident.
NRL NINES
The Nines format was a runaway success from its inaugural showing at Eden Park in 2014 with retired legends like Brad Fittler and Steve Menzies coming out of retirement for the event.
It was shifted to Perth for the 2020 season.
Due to a heavy pre-season schedule, the NRL banished the Nines in 2021 and is yet to return.
