The NRL has confirmed that the annual All Stars match will be played in Townsville on February 16 in 2024.
The confirmation of the All Stars game comes with the NRL pre-season schedule also being included.
The All Stars game, which will be played on a Friday night at Queensland Country Bank Stadium, comes on a day when there are no other NRL pre-season matches scheduled.
RELATED: Full NRL pre-season schedule
This is a change from last year, when the All Stars match, which was played in New Zealand for the first time, was played on a Saturday around other pre-season matches.
Times for the February 16 double-header - which will see both men's and women's Indigenous against Maori games - are yet to be confirmed, however, it's expected that the men's game would be played in prime time with a kick-off of around 8 pm (AEDT), with the women's game approximately two hours earlier.
“After a successful match in New Zealand in 2023, All Stars returns to Townsville to kick off the 2024 season," NRL CEO Andrew Abdo said on the announcement of the fixture.
“The full week of community engagement, education and cultural activities is unique and unrivalled in sport. There is no better way to celebrate the start of our season.”
The All Stars game, which will be broadcast on Fox Sports, Channel 9, Kayo Sports, Sky Sports New Zealand and Watch NRL for international viewers, is the 13th instalment of the All Stars match, having first been played in 2010, and not held in 2014 and 2018.
The game has been played between an Indigenous and Māori side since 2019, with it sitting at two wins a piece and a draw - that draw came the last time it was held in Townsville in 2021 in front of over 20,000 fans.