Rugby league is back! On Thursday evening, the newly-named pre-season challenge will kick-off with the New Zealand Warriors set to take on the Wests Tigers in Auckland.

The 17 NRL clubs - including new entrant the Dolphins - will be joined by St Helens over the next two weeks for the pre-season challenge, with $100,000 in prize money available per team.

All squads are allowed to name up to 28 players this weekend, and 26 players next weekend with the name of the game still to get ready for the season proper, which kicks off in the first week of March.

Set to the backdrop of looming strike action over the non-negotiation collective bargaining agreement, this weekend will also feature the men's and women's All Stars, meaning we will have 11 games to be played between Thursday night and Sunday afternoon.

The pre-season challenge games will feature rules designed to favour attacking rugby league, with teams able to accumulate competition points through the following methods:

12 points for a win
6 points for a draw
1 bonus point for 5 or more tries
1 bonus point for 5 or more line breaks
1 bonus point for 10 or more offloads

Here are the teams and officials for all of the Week 1 fixtures.

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New Zealand Warriors vs Wests Tigers

Kick-off: Thursday, February 9, 6pm (AEDT)
Venue: Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland
Referee: Belinda Sharpe

New Zealand Warriors

1. Taine Tuaupiki 2. Marcelo Montoya 3. Brayden Wiliame 4. Viliami Vailea 5. Edward Kosi 6. Luke Metcalf 7. Te Maire Martin 8. Bunty Afoa 9. Freddy Lussick 10. Tom Ale 11. Jackson Ford 12. Demitric Sifakula 13. Michael Sio
Interchange: 14. Maiu'u Zyon 15. Sanele Aukusitino 16. Ali Leiataua 17. Jacob Laban 18. Moala Graham-Taufa 20. Kalani Going 21. Eiden Ackland 22. Ben Farr 23. Isaiah Vagana 24. Solomon Vasuvulagi 25. Paul Roache

Wests Tigers

1. Charlie Staines 2. Junior Tupou 3. Asu Kepaoa 4. Tommy Talau 5. Liam Scolari 6. Triston Reilly 7. Brandon Wakeham 8. Stefano Utoikamanu 9. Jake Simpkin 23. Alex Seyfarth 11. Brandon Tumeth 12. Fonua Pole 13. Justin Matamua
Interchange: 10. Aistasi James 14. Jahream Bula 15. Jordan Hill 16. Trey Peni 17. Josh Feledy 18. Christopher Faagutu 19. Sione Vaihu 20. Zane Camroux 21. Sione Fainu 22. Ruatapu Ngatikaura 24. Tanous Sukkar

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