New-look teams bound for Bendigo

27 Jul 2026

Bendigo’s Red Energy Arena will host the exciting 2026 CODE Sports NBL Blitz in September.

By

NBL.com.au

The 2026 edition of the CODE Sports NBL Blitz is only a few weeks away, which will see all 10 exciting teams head to Bendigo for a hoops extravaganza.

From September 2-6, Bendigo’s Red Energy Arena will host five days of non-stop hoops action, in which each of the teams will hit the hardwood on two occasions.

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With all the teams starting to take some serious shape, this tournament, which was won by the New Zealand Breakers in NBL26, acts as the final hit-out before the official Hungry Jack’s NBL27 campaign tips off.

One person who is looking forward to the growing annual tournament is 2018 NBL champion Pete Hooley.

“I’m really excited to see some of the new faces that are coming down,” Hooley said to the Bendigo Times.

“[The] Brisbane Bullets just signed a guy out of the G League, Nate Hinton, [while] seeing Joe Ingles running around in a jersey for the first time at Melbourne United [is something everyone will want to see].

“With every year, teams are starting to change a little bit on how they go about approaching the Blitz. In years gone by, the timing of it hasn’t been great as it’s right before the season now, whereas if it’s too early, you don’t always see teams roll out the best roster.

“Now we are at a point where they only play a couple of games, and these are the last hit-outs before it’s real.

“[Now] teams are thinking, let’s get our rotations right, let’s get our starting five out there, albeit if everyone is healthy, and let’s make a couple of these games as in-season as possible, so when round one hits, we’re already flying, and we don’t have to catch up to anybody else.”

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Cairns and Perth will tip off this year’s tournament on Wednesday, September 2, with tickets still available here.