Almanac Rugby League – NRL 2025 Round 1: Let’s get this show on the road!

 

 

The preliminaries are done and dusted; the wait is over; let’s get this show on the road! And how better to encapsulate all of that than to kick it off in the show biz capital of the world, Las Vegas. For the second year in a row, the NRL has chosen to showcase the opening games of Round 1 in the potentially huge American market. It seemed to work a treat last year, so why not go again? PVL has had the audacity to invite the President himself to take in the game in person. That’s what mutual mates like Rupert Murdoch make it possible to even contemplate. What a marketing ploy! It’s MAGA all over again – Make Australia’s Game Available to the great unwashed and try to get a foothold into the most lucrative sports market in the world.

 

What’s that I hear the ground level fan back home saying? Something like, “where’s the money for the grassroots game here?” That’s besides the mooted gazillion bucks to be spent on a specially constructed players’ compound in PNG to help make a licence there viable. Meanwhile local clubs in regional and country areas are starved of those same dollars (in spite off what NRL Central says) and still have to rely on the magnanimity of local stalwarts to keep the code alive in the bush. Is that what you call a double speed code?

 

Back to the program in LV.  The week actually begins on Wednesday (LA time) with preliminary hoopla plus the first competitive match when the USA men’s team takes on the Greece men’s team in the evening. On Thursday and Friday, the NRL 9s tournament takes centre stage during the day. Friday night features the USA women’s team up against the Greece women’s team to be followed by a return match between the respective men’s teams. In essence, Saturday daytime is fans day with promotional activities galore to draw in the masses. Up until this point, all of the events and activities from Wednesday to Saturday are free to enter but the sales push will be ginormous.

 

Then we get down to business! In AEDT times, the first game, the Super League clash between Wigan and Warrington, begins at 8.30am. It will be followed at 11.00am by the NRL Raiders v Warriors match. Then comes the international women’s clash between the Jillaroos and England at 1.00pm. Finally, the NRL Panthers v Sharks showdown is set to start at 3.30pm. For a detailed insight into how the week will unfold in Las Vegas click HERE.

 

I’ll be honest and admit to complete ignorance of the merits of the Wigan v Warrington match. It’s very early in the season ‘over there’ so form doesn’t tell us much. The only question of significance is whether or not Sam Burgess is allowed into the country to coach his team. Let’s just take it in and see what we think.

 

The Jillaroos will be hot favourites to take out the Test match against England. With the grounding of several seasons of the benchmark NRLW behind them, the Australians are expected to be too big, too strong and too fast (to use the first cliché of the season). That’s hard to argue against. Perhaps rustiness will be their biggest hurdle to overcome. But bear in mind that the UK version of our NRLW started a year earlier than ours. So they’re no slouches. No condescension here, please. The teams haven’t met for several years and previous clashes were feisty, to say the least. So I’m expecting a very competitive game where, in the end, the Jillaroos will prevail. See the Jillaroos line-up here.

 

Predicting the NRL games is a less than exact science a see begin a new season. Here’s a look of the line-ups before we try to pick the winners.

 

The Raiders v Warriors game is the harder to sort out. The Raiders have a more settled look about them in that it’s more experienced side overall and probably at full strength given their 2025 squad. Throw in ‘Sticky’ Stuart on the sideline and you can forget about the mid-week fracas. Come game day, Young and Smithies will be aiming their energies against a common foe in the Warriors. The latter, although solid on paper, will struggle to overcome the challenge of being a comparatively new combination. Additionally, they haven’t got Johnson to organise them this year and DWZ is out injured. I’ll go with the Raiders.

 

Then it’s the Panthers v the Sharks. Who’d be silly enough to pick against the Penrith powerhouse? Their forward pack is just so intimidating! The backs aren’t just too bad either, are they, with Cleary and Edwards always ready to sniff out an opportunity? The Sharks will win a lot more than they lose this year with the squad they have. AFB is a big plus to their pack but they look more workmanlike up front than the big, mobile and skilful opposition set of forwards they’ll face this weekend. Their backs, likewise, are capable of good things but probably lack the potential for pizzazz that’s needed to rack up a winning score against Penrith. Penrith.

 

Get set for a long Sunday to start the new season!

 

To read our library of rugby league stories click HERE.

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To see the full 2025 season draw for the NRL click HERE.

To see the full 2025 season draw for the NRLW click HERE.

To see the details for State of Origin in 2025 click HERE.

 

Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.

 

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