With Leichhardt Oval out of action, Tigers in talks to take home game to New Zealand

Read the original at The Sydney Morning Herald ↗
Cite

Nicolussi, C. (2026, October 23). With Leichhardt Oval out of action, Tigers in talks to take home game to New Zealand. The Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/with-leichhardt-oval-out-of-action-tigers-in-talks-to-take-home-game-to-new-zealand-20261023-p6182i.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

The Sydney Morning Herald · collected 2026-10-23 · by Christian Nicolussi

Quick Summary

The Wests Tigers are considering playing a home game at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand, while their Leichhardt Oval undergoes a $40 million renovation scheduled for completion by 2028. Talks between the club and Dunedin officials aim to capitalize on interest from both the city and potential fans, with discussions also involving other venues like Christchurch and Hamilton. The article focuses on how this move could benefit regional New Zealand’s push to be part of the NRL and attract more Australian supporters.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-23, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

As Leichhardt Oval undergoes a $40m renovation, the Wests Tigers are considering taking a home game to Dunedin, New Zealand, next year. Sources confirmed that discussions with Forsyth Barr Stadium officials are ongoing for the Tigers to play there. The idea initially came from Christchurch's push to be included as the NRL’s 20th team. Other cities like Hamilton and Wellington also showed interest but Dunedin presented a strong proposal recently. Playing in New Zealand would help promote these regions and could attract Australian fans traveling for other events.

Written for “Tigers Game Move To New Zealand” on 2026-10-23, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Tigers Game Move To New Zealand
Sports · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
17
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 17 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
61/100
The Sydney Morning Herald's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Sports
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-23 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Sydney Morning Herald · 4791 article(s) · 11 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 11 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Christian Nicolussi
37 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 The sources confirmed the Tigers had originally been approached about playing a game in Christchurch, which would help promote the region and its push to be included as the NRL’s 20th team.
🔮 Keaon Koloamatangi will finish the World Cup and move straight to Wollongong with his young family, and says he wants to use his Australian performances to inspire his future St George Illawarra teammates.
🔮 He may not be able to weigh in with his trademark barnstorming runs on the field, but Eli Katoa is playing an inspirational and key role for Tonga behind the scenes during the World Cup.
🔮 Fresh from celebrating the NRL premiership with the Sydney Roosters, where he was an assistant to Trent Robinson, Cheika will finish up in rugby league at the end of the World Cup.
🔮 Walsh also confirmed he was prepared to pay “top dollar” to visit any specialist who could help prevent him from vomiting in the middle of games, like he did again after scoring a breathtaking try to help seal Australia’s opening World Cup match with a 24-22 win over New Zealand.
🔮 To the untrained eye there was little indication Ka Ying Rising would go on to become the fastest horse on the planet, a winner of $30 million in prizemoney, a Hong Kong hero – an international racing rock star – and the raging favourite for Saturday’s Everest at Royal Randwick.
🔮 Samoa coach Ben Gardiner said another aspect that could not be ignored was most of the players had featured in the World Cup final loss to Australia four years ago.
🔮 Tyson Frizell revealed Benji Marshall had asked him to join the Wests Tigers on several occasions, and said there was no reason his new club could not enjoy instant success after Newcastle turned a wooden spoon into a grand final within 12 months.
🔮 Kiss said the Wallabies would try to be at Allianz Stadium on Thursday, where 40,000 fans are expected to watch the Rugby League World Cup opener between the Kangaroos and New Zealand, before the Wallabies take on the All Blacks on Saturday.
🔮 As for his own plans, Tedesco told this masthead he would give it serious thought once his World Cup commitments were finished. “There’s no rush, I don’t think I’ll be chased by other teams for a contract — and I wouldn’t really go anywhere else,” Tedesco said.
2026-10-09 · assertive framing · Tedesco lays out plan for Roosters swansong
Also by Christian Nicolussi
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 37 articles by Christian Nicolussi →

Topics

Dunedin NRL New Zealand Tigers Warriors

Subjects

Tigers ORG · 7× NRL ORG · 4× Warriors ORG · 3× Dunedin GPE · 2× New Zealand GPE · 2× Parramatta GPE · 2× Sydney GPE · 2× Canterbury ORG · 1× the New Zealand Warriors ORG · 1× the Wests Tigers ORG · 1×

Narrative

New recruit Tyson Frizell is playing with Tonga, but with his involvement in Newcastle’s grand final campaign, and the fact he is a veteran player, which means he is entitled to extra leave, the forward will only have a few weeks of pre-season training before returning to Vegas for a second straight year.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-23
🔮 The sources confirmed the Tigers had originally been approached about playing a game in Christchurch, which would help promote the region and its push to be included as the NRL’s 20th team.
2026-10-23 · The Sydney Morning Herald
With Leichhardt Oval out of action, Tigers in talks to take home game to New Zealand · assertive framing

Claims (17 extracted, 0 hedged)

As Leichhardt Oval undergoes a much-needed $40m revamp, the Wests Tigers are exploring the possibility of taking a home game to the deep south of New Zealand next year. asserted
Tigers → undergo → Zealand
Sources with knowledge of the situation not authorised to speak publicly confirmed the Tigers have been deep in discussion with Dunedin officials about playing a “home game” at Forsyth Barr Stadium. asserted
Tigers → authorise → Stadium
Canterbury and the New Zealand Warriors played an NRL game at the same venue, which includes a glass roof, in 2017. asserted
which → play → 2017
The sources confirmed the Tigers had originally been approached about playing a game in Christchurch, which would help promote the region and its push to be included as the NRL’s 20th team. asserted
which → confirm → team
There was even talk about playing the game against the Warriors in the middle of June when Origin II takes over the Warriors’ Auckland backyard for the first time. asserted
II → be → time
The idea was for travelling Australian fans to spend a few extra days on local soil to take in a club game. asserted
fans → travel → game
The Tigers fielded similar interest from stadium officials in Hamilton, then Wellington, before Dunedin put together a strong proposal in the last fortnight. asserted
Dunedin → field → fortnight
The club was not commenting when approached for comment, while representatives at Forsyth Barr Stadium did not return calls. asserted
representatives → comment → calls
The sources confirmed the stadium was also in talks with two powerhouse out-of-Sydney NRL clubs playing a pre-season trial in late February. asserted
stadium → confirm → February
A refurbished Leichhardt, which includes a new northern grandstand, and significant improvements to the main western grandstand, will be ready for the Tigers at the start of the 2028 season – but the club is now working through its potential venues for next year. asserted
club → refurbish → year
Campbelltown, the club’s other spiritual base in south-western Sydney, will host up to six games before it gets its own renovation in 2028. asserted
it → host → 2028
Parramatta’s CommBank Stadium is expected to host as many four games, even though fans have shown a reluctance to embrace the home of their bitter western Sydney rivals Parramatta, while the Tigers enter the final year of taking a “home” game to Suncorp Stadium for Magic Round. asserted
Tigers → expect → Round
They will be the away team when they meet Melbourne in Las Vegas. asserted
they → meet → Vegas
Regional NSW, especially Mudgee, has been prepared to pay decent money for clubs to take NRL games to their towns, but the appetite from the other side of the Tasman is growing, especially with the interest in the Southern Orcas – not to mention the excitement and success of the Warriors. asserted
appetite → pay → Warriors
Tigers coach Benji Marshall remains hugely popular with New Zealand sports fans on both islands. asserted
Marshall → remain → islands
The Tigers on Thursday confirmed gun back-rower Samuela Fainu had inked a two-year extension, tying him to the club until the end of 2029. asserted
Fainu → confirm → 2029
New recruit Tyson Frizell is playing with Tonga, but with his involvement in Newcastle’s grand final campaign, and the fact he is a veteran player, which means he is entitled to extra leave, the forward will only have a few weeks of pre-season training before returning to Vegas for a second straight year. asserted
forward → play → year
💬Give feedback
🕘History 🎫Support