2026 NRL – Round 9: Women’s State of Origin Game 1 and the changing landscape of the NRL

 

 

A mini rave

Let’s start with the Broncos’ B-side who were mightily impressive in their win over (it has to be said) a very disappointing Bulldogs side on Friday night. One for the books alright! With the cool head of Reynolds guiding them around and a commitment to defence that wins games 9 times out of 10, this group of almost ‘Nevilles’ played with energy, flair and true grit. Those two points, together with their unexpected win over the Wests Tigers the previous week, will be like a gold, 4-point deposit in the bank vault of competition points as the season wears on. Well done, Broncos, and well done, Madge. I’ve seldom been happier to get a tip wrong!

But I’d be remiss if I didn’t also give kudos to Kieran Foran and his Sea Eagles who have now won four out of four under Foran and gone quite some way to showing that it’s not necessarily a case of ‘no Turbo, no Manly’. The transformation has been remarkable.

 

Women’s State of Origin, Game 1

State of Origin returns tomorrow night when the women’s reigning champs, the NSW Blues, meet the Queensland Maroons at Newcastle in Game 1 of their 2026 series. The Blues will start as very hot favourites after naming an imposing, experienced side. The start of a period of dominance? By contrast, Queensland have a new look side due to a host of retirements and injury. A transitional period up north? But any side with Tamika Upton and Lauren Brown in it has to be taken seriously. Nevertheless the spread and depth of talent in the NSW team should see them home comfortably. To see the respective teams click here.

 

Round 8

Wests Tigers got back on the winning list with a solid win over the Raiders. I’m not yet convinced that the Tigers are the real deal but I am getting to the point where I think the Raiders will not feature in finals footy this year. They lack discipline, cohesion and spirit at times, so ‘Sticky’ really has his work cut out to drag them out of this sorry start to the season. The Cowboys and Sharks played touch footy to rack up a combined 80 points before the Cows emerged with a win, but not one to convince anyone of anything. The Sharks? It’s getting to the stage where Cronulla is spelt ‘i-n-c-o-n-s-i-s-t-e-n-t’. The Broncos were the big story of the weekend but among the ‘bad news’ items was the sorry effort by the Doggies. Again, they lost focus once they fell behind and seemed more interested in trying to assert strong-arm tactics than playing with their latent flair and strength. Focus, lads, focus! The traditional Anzac Day clash between the Roosters and the Dragons was a fizzer, as probably expected by most. The Dragons did cop a few dud decisions in the first half but you can’t deny that the final scoreline was an accurate reflection of the run of play. The Warriors and Dolphins put on a thriller over the ditch with the game decided by a  single defensive lapse late on in the second half. Have the Warriors learnt how to win the close ones? Or is it a case of the Dolphins not knowing how to ice a game when they’re in front? The very public humiliation of the Storm continued with their first loss to the Rabbitohs in Melbourne this century. Never was it truer to say, ‘how the mighty have fallen’! How good were the Rabbitohs? Pretty good but let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. But, boy, can that Tallis Duncan play! The Panthers, with Dylan Edwards leading from the rear, were clinical against the fading Knights. The latter were very ordinary and seem destined to the lower levels of the ladder this year. And then the Sea Eagles wrapped up the weekend with their first home win this year in front of an ‘eagle rocking’ Brookie crowd. The Eels were competitive at times but lacked the full team effort of the hosts.

 

Round 9

This weekend features a series of ‘hard to call’ match-ups which will test the tippers! We start with the Bulldogs up against the Cowboys. Yes, the Cowboys won last week but are they convincing? Not if you leak 34 points! But at least they did win. The Bulldogs have fallen away of late and look like being without Kikau for a while. Jacob Preston is a bit of a one-man effort recently. But the Cowboys are away from home and the Doggies will,. have massive support at home. So I’ll tip inversely and go for the Bulldogs. The late game has the ‘competitive but can’t quite get over the line’ Dolphins taking on the sorry Storm, a game where form says the Dolphins but you’re left with a nagging doubt about the possibility of Melbourne losing 7 games in a row. I don’t even know how to analyse this one to try to find a decisive argument to tip either way. Toss of the coin: Dolphins. (Both sides have cost me many tipping points this year!)

Saturday afternoon footy kicks off with the Titans at home to the Raiders, another case of two underwhelming teams trying to find relevance. The Titans are fresh off a bye while Canberra is reeling after another mediocre effort. Yet again I have to ask if you are convinced about either outfit? I don’t know why but I’ll go for the Titans. Then the Eels meet the Warriors. On paper this is probably the clearest outcome of the weekend with the Warriors coping with most challenges thrown their way while the Eels have flashes of form but can’t put it all together enough to seriously compete. I’ll be on the Warriors. The late game is the clash of the round with the Roosters meeting the Broncos in Sydney. The Roosters looked great against the Dragons but that’s the problem – it was just the Dragons. Can Brisbane repeat last week’s effort? They get Carrigan and Walsh back but both are short of a run against a side that does just that – run – very well. I think the Roosters are running into some decent form while Brisbane are still a bit of a week to week proposition. I’ll go with the Roosters.

The first of three games on Sunday is Newcastle v South Sydney with recent form suggesting that the Bunnies will continue on their winning way. It’s hard to mount an argument against that perception. And yet I’m still not on the Bunnies bandwagon even though I can see that they have the potential. But Newcastle have bigger problems although the return of Ponga and Best should provide something of a boost. Nevertheless I’ll tip the Rabbitohs. The Sharks host the Wests Tigers in yet another game where form says the Tigers but the Sharks are a much better team at home and are due for one of their better performances. I must be in a stubborn frame of mind because I can’t get on the Benji bandwagon yet either, but they’re getting better, more consistent results than their opponent this week, so I’ll have to go with the Wests Tigers. Finally, the Panthers meet the Sea Eagles in the other contender for match of the round. Can Foran get even more out of his lads against the almost invincible Panthers? I don’t think so. Panthers.

The demoralised Dragons have the bye.

In other news, Luai and AJ will sign with the PNG Chiefs to get their squad of players off to a good start. Just watch the coverage of these two signings: one will be portrayed as ‘the revered son of the nation coming home to honour his heritage in his final contribution to the code’; the other may well cop it for being seen to trash his current contract to chase the tax free dollars on offer with the promise of being the inaugural captain thrown in as further inducement. Would either designation be far off the mark?

 

Tipping

A creditable 6/8 last week – but then who didn’t do well? No progress up that ladder for me. Top marks to Peter Fuller (8/8) who merely dabbles in the NRL as a ‘resigned to non-success’ supporter of Carlton. I suppose you have to take a win wherever you can get it, Peter!

 

The Round 

To see the who, when and where of Round 9 click here.

 

Competition

Entries close this week as our search for a generic Almanac rugby league logo continues. Forward entries to [email protected] 

 

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