Greater Northern League Returns For 2026

Published Tue 07 Apr 2026

The Greater Northern League returns for season 2026 this weekend, with action taking place across McKenna Park and the Northern Hockey Centre.

In the Men’s competition, the Burnie sides will begin the year as the teams to beat after their strong 2025 campaigns, culminating in them occupying the top two spots on the ladder and Burnie Baptist ultimately downing South Burnie 7-5 in a thrilling derby to decide the premiership.

The defending champions Burnie Baptist have Launceston City first up, who are looking to close the gap to the top side this season, whilst South Burnie take on a Tamar Churinga side looking to climb from the bottom of the table.

South Launceston Suns begin their bid to return to finals action, following a fifth-place finish in 2025 against West Devonport. The Suns took a step back last season after a dominant few seasons that saw them winning 3 premierships and 65 of their 72 regular-season matches across the 2020-2024 seasons.

The Queechy Penguins enter the season following back-to-back fourth-place finishes and take on a City Marians side that will look to continue to build from an improved showing in 2025, which saw them climb up to a sixth-place finish. Smithon will have to wait till week 2 for their campaign to begin, with a first-round bye.

Burnie Baptist claimed the 2025 Premiership- Click The Pic

The Women’s competition will get underway with a rematch of last season's semi-final, when the Queechy Penguins play host to City Marians. The pair were the top two on the ladder at the end of the 2025 season, though Marians ultimately didn’t advance to the grand final after falling to South Burnie in the Preliminary Final. Queechy have been the dominant force in the league in recent years, winning the past two titles after a trio of grand final heartbreaks in the 3 years prior at the hands of the South Launceston Suns.

The Suns have fallen out of the finals picture the past two years, following their threepeat and will start their bid for a return to the final four when they take on West Devonport, who will look to bounce back after dropping from 3rd in 2024 to 8th last season.

South Burnie will begin their bid to go one better this season in a game they will start as favourites in, as they take on Tamar Churinga, who will be looking to find some more goalscoring firepower to allow themselves to climb the ladder in 2026.

The final game of the round sees Launceston City taking on Smithton. City made a highly successful return to the GNL in Season 2025, making the finals in their first season back, whilst Smithton rode defensive improvements to a sixth-place finish.