While the NRL world is preparing for the start of the 2026 season in Las Vegas, one club is still celebrating a premiership victory.
Five days after winning the Pre-Season Challenge, Parramatta’s celebrations are finally winding down.
“Mate, it’s been a crazy week!” said one anonymous Eels player. “The boys cracked open the champagne as soon as the Titans-Storm game was done and we’ve kept going ever since! It was a tough campaign for the boys: we got the two big wins and had a nervous wait as the Titans tried to chase us down.”
Peter Hart, who hosts the Eels fan podcast Parramatta DOES Matta!, arranged an emergency podcast on Sunday morning to celebrate the premiership.
“The two hour episode covered the two wins, the genius of the Pre-Season Challenge concept, and why this is just as important as our last premiership in 1986! And the NRL can’t take this one away like they did with the Nines trophy! The Broncos used last year’s Pre-Season Challenge win as a springboard to a premiership, so I believe our boys can do the same this year!”
The club held a fan day at CommBank Stadium on Monday afternoon, with fans receiving a free showbag with a DVD (full replays of their Pre-Season Challenge wins over Cronulla-Sutherland and the Sydney Roosters), a ‘Pre-Season Challenge 2026 Champions’ t-shirt, cap, and water bottle.
“The boys were a bit dusty on Monday, but we turned up for our fans. They deserve to celebrate this milestone premiership,” said another anonymous player.
And Parramatta has big plans for the $100,000.
“We’re gonna renovate our trophy cabinet so we can put the Pre-Season Challenge trophy in there. The old one’s a bit dusty,” said one anonymous staff member.
