Loved: The Easter Monday classic and the Tigers’ resurgence
Starting in 2014, the Easter Monday game between Parramatta and the Wests Tigers has become one of the traditional fixtures of the Easter long weekend, along with the South Sydney vs Canterbury-Bankstown Good Friday game.
Over 29,000 watched this year’s Easter Monday game, and the Parramatta fans were fired up when Luke Laulilii was sin binned for a dangerous tackle on Bailey Simonsson (which unfortunately ruled Simonsson out for the season with a dislocated ankle).
Laulilii’s binning ignited the game, with Apa Twidle’s double on debut tying the scores at 18-18, before Mitchell Moses and Jock Madden traded penalty goals to send the game into Golden Point. An offside penalty four minutes into the first Golden Point period was enough for Madden to kick the winning penalty goal.
The halves combination of Adam Doueihi and new PNG signing Jarome Luai is working so far, with Jahream Bula and Api Koroisau rounding out an exciting spine. Showing their new resilience under Benji Marshall, the Tigers rebounded from a close Round 7 loss against Brisbane to hammer Canberra at Leichhardt Oval.
Tigers fans celebrated the win with the now-common parody of the Raiders' iconic 'Viking Clap' and and some cheeky NSFW chants about the Raiders.
The challenge now is to keep the machine humming in the face of Luai's imminent departure to the PNG Chiefs in 2028.
While there are still 17 games left to prove their longevity, Wests are in a great position to break their finals drought. A potential home final at Leichhardt Oval (ideally on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon) would be a fitting way to welcome the Tigers back to finals footy.
Loved: The Wahs making history
After their poor finish to 2025, the NZ Warriors have defied expectations so far in 2026. More importantly, they’re winning without key half Luke Metcalf, with Chanel Harris-Tavita and Tanah Boyd the new halves combination.
One of those wins was an important drought-breaker at AAMI Park in Round 6. Not only was it their first win against the Storm in 17 games (first since 2015 and first in Melbourne since 2014), but it stopped a two-game losing streak that threatened to derail their strong start to the season.
Melbourne scored two tries in seven minutes for a 14-12 lead, but Nick Meaney’s conversion in the 24th minute would be their last points. Even when the Warriors were well ahead, they continued turning up in defence: the 38-14 scoreline was a commanding reflection of their dominance. Did they take notice of Canberra and Cronulla’s defence in the Perth games earlier that day? The Raiders nearly squandered two big leads (24-4 and 36-22) and the Sharks let a 22-6 lead slip against Easts.
While AAMI Park was sold out and obviously pro-Storm, the sizable contingent of Warriors fans made the most noise as the game went on.
Asked if the hoodoo was discussed pre-game, Warriors coach Andrew Webster said the team "wanted to get back and play at our best football … and if we got rid of the streak - not the voodoo, I call it the streak - that’d be a bonus.”
There had been some horrible losses in that 17-game run: 42-0 in 2016, 50-10 in 2018, 50-6 in 2020, 70-10 in 2022, and 42-14 in 2025. The heart-breaker – and the one that should have ended the streak – was in 2024. The Warriors led 26-18 with eight minutes left before tries to Ryan Papenhuyzen, and Xavier Coates’ Superman effort (which won Dally M Try of the Year), sealed another Melbourne win.
Loved: The Roosters, Warriors, and Bunnies winning on Anzac Day
Anzac Day is always one of the biggest days of the sporting calendar in Australia, and thanks to it falling on a Saturday in 2026, the afternoon and evening was shared by all four football codes.
The NRL has the balance perfect, with three games across Australia and New Zealand, all featuring solemn and respectful pre-game ceremonies.
This year kicked off with St George Illawarra vs Easts at Allianz Stadium, then the Warriors hosting the Dolphins at a sold out Hnry Stadium in Wellington, before the day finished off with Melbourne and South Sydney at AAMI Park.
While Easts and Souths won by 46 and 42 points respectively, both games had significant moments.
It was St George Illawarra's first game under Dean Young (in his second stint as the Dragons' interim coach), Kade Reed's debut, Angus Crichton's 150th game for Easts, and Sam Walker won his third Ashton-Collier Medal.
Souths' win over the Storm was their first in Melbourne in 21 attempts (including Olympic Park and AAMI Park). It continued their excellent start to the season and showed what they can do with close to their best 17 available: the Latrell Mitchell-Alex Johnston left edge combination set up the win in the opening 20 minutes. Cameron Murray said hailed the win as "pretty special (especially) to break the drought like that. On Anzac Day it’s a pretty special day for our club and for our country.”
Mitchell won the Spirit of Anzac medal, but head coach Wayne Bennett was keen to praise the team effort, asserting that "a number of players could have won that award tonight.”
Storm coach Craig Bellamy was forthright about the Storm’s sixth straight loss, blasting his players' "lack of effort" as "embarrassing", particularly on such an iconic day.
The closest game was Warriors vs Dolphins in Wellington, with the Warriors defending a 20-18 lead for the last 17 minutes. After 15 years of the Warriors playing in Melbourne, commemorating Anzac Day with a game in New Zealand makes sense (whilst it also means New Zealanders don’t have to stay up until midnight to watch the Wahs).
It also allows for a floating sixth side to play the Warriors during the triple-header, which means as many clubs as possible can be involved in this special day.
Hated: Disruptor confusion
Just when the Six Again chaos was finally settling down, the crackdown on the 'disruptor tackle' has cropped up as the next referee interpretation issue.
The NRL website defines the 'disruptor tackle' as consisting of the following:
- players arriving early
- players not having their eyes on the ball but purely on the man
- players who jump through a contest and throw an arm out.
Three controversial penalties in Round 6 showed just how subjective the Disruptor is. There were two in the Brisbane vs North Queensland game and one in the Cronulla-Sutherland vs Sydney Roosters game.
With the scores tied 24-24 midway through the second half, Ezra Man put up a bomb, with Josiah Karapani and Scott Drinkwater competing. Though Drinkwater turned his back on the ball (seemingly in self-preservation), it was ruled as a disruptor tackle.
A few minutes later, with Brisbane ahead 30-24, Brendan Piakura looked to have scored off a Thomas Duffy bomb that the Cowboys’ Tom Chester dropped. It looked fine until Gehamat Shibasaki was ruled to have disrupted Chester’s attempt to catch it as he “stopped competing” for the bomb. Had the try stood, the Broncos would have led by 12 and seemingly secured the win. The Cowboys recovered to win 35-31.
But the biggest blunder was during the Perth double header: with Cronulla leading 16-6, Robert Toia and Samuel Stonestreet were contesting a Daly Cherry-Evans kick, and Toia scored after Stonestreet dropped the ball. Though Toia was ruled to have touched Stonestreet’s right arm and the try was disallowed.
While it’s easy to blame the referees, it’s not entirely their fault: they’re trying to adjudicate the game according to the current interpretation. The Piakura and Toia tries were both awarded on field before the Bunker intervened, and the NRL said the Toia and Drinkwater decisions were incorrect.
While the disruptor seemed to have disappeared in rounds 7 and 8, who knows if it will return as part of another random crackdown?
Hated: The Dragons’ doldrums
On Monday 20 April, Shane Flanagan was sacked as St George Illawarra’s coach. It came after their Round 7 loss to South Sydney: the Dragons’ seventh loss for 2026 and their 11th straight loss since Round 23, 2025, with Dean Young appointed as interim coach. While we’ve seen Kieran Foran revive Manly’s season after replacing Anthony Seibold (with four straight wins under “Fozball”), it’ll be a fair effort for the Dragons to avoid their first wooden spoon as a joint venture club.
Young’s first move was bringing in Kade Reed to replace Kyle Flanagan, as Flanagan’s partnership with Daniel Atkinson clearly wasn’t working and wasn’t settled enough, with Flanagan and Atkinson switching between five-eighth and halfback (while Lyhkan King-Togia played five-eighth against North Queensland when Flanagan was out). After such a big call, Young appears to be sticking with Reed and giving him time to develop as a first-grade halfback.
While they have an ageing roster (Damien Cook, Clinton Gutherson, Valentine Holmes, and Josh Kerr are all in their 30s), Keaon Koloamatangi’s and Scott Drinkwater’s arrival in 2027 should give the Dragons some extra class.
Younger players like Toby and Ryan Couchman, King-Togia, Tyrell Sloan, Hamish Stewart, Jacob Halangahu, and Hayden Buchanan could lead the eventual rebuild. So, it’s not all doom and gloom for Dragons fans.
Hated: Injury crises across the NRL
Brisbane and Parramatta lead a laundry list of star players on the sidelines across the first eight rounds.
At the end of Round 8, Parramatta had nine players out and Brisbane 11. These names include Jonah Pezet, Isaiah Iongi, Ryley Smith, J'maine Hopgood, and Bailey Simonsson for Parramatta; and Reece Walsh, Ben Hunt, Payne Haas, and Jesse Arthars for Brisbane.
Sitting 15th after eight rounds, Parramatta have conceded 50 twice this season but have also beaten Brisbane at Lang Park and had an unexpected win over Canterbury. Mitch Moses has played all eight games, although even he can only do so much to keep Parramatta’s season alive.
Brisbane is seventh, with Adam Reynolds using every bit of his experience to keep them afloat until their stars return, with five wins from their last six.
The introduction of the Perth Bears and the PNG Chiefs will shape future seasons, along with the upcoming broadcast deal. While common sense says that everyone should only play each other once, with a longer mid-season rep/Origin window, the desire for constant NRL content suggests the season length stays between 24 to 27 rounds.
Then there’s the end-of-season Pacific Championships and World Cup, which features a lot of NRL players representing Australia or their heritage nations.
Regardless of how long the season is, the increasing pace of the game and the varying interpretation of the Six Again rule (leading to the ball being in play for longer and greater fatigue from fewer stoppages) means injuries will be inevitable.
Brisbane and, to a lesser degree Parramatta, have shown that these absences can be navigated.