NRL 7 Tackle Set: Round 1 winners and losers, Vegas 2026 – and will the NRL buy Super League?

The NRL returned to Australia after the Vegas vacation, and, like so many before them crashing down from Sin City, it was with a bad headache.

Though the enthusiasm of Round 1 was undimmable, this was not a classic to kick off the year. All the teams you’d expect to win won, and by a fair few points as well. The two games that were close were only so because both teams were rubbish.

Cyclone Alfred put paid to footy in Queensland, with the Dolphins’ home opener switched with South Sydney, and speaking of getting whacked by a storm, Parramatta’s new coach Jason Ryles started with a disastrous defeat in Melbourne.

The table already looks like it will in September: the Storm are top, with Brisbane, Manly, Canterbury and, of course, the Panthers in the top six. 

Canberra are the interlopers as a result of their win at Allegiant Stadium, but plenty would be surprised if that were the case come the wash-up. 

Even a bad NRL weekend is a good weekend, especially when you’ve been starved of local action – so let’s get into it.

A good week for…

Attacking footy, with several teams hitting the heights with the ball. Often, the first few weeks seem like an excuse to include the word ‘clunky’ in every post-match interview, but that wasn’t the case for some of the contenders.

Brisbane put 50 on the Roosters to look very ominous, only for Manly to go even better with a full on beatdown of the Cowboys on Saturday night. 

It is easy to point at the 17 that Easts put out and mark the Broncos down accordingly, as they weren’t required to be excellent to win, but that wasn’t the case on Saturday on the Northern Beaches, where the Sea Eagles hit their straps within seconds.

Ominous is the word if Tom Trbojevic, Haumole Olakau’atu and Daly Cherry-Evans can keep this form: their combinations looked good as they ever have and should only get better. 

Throw in a bulked up Jason Saab, Lehi Hopoate getting better every game and encouraging solidity in the middle and this is a side that can put on points with the best of them.

A bad week for…

The bottom half of the NRL. 

Alternatively, a good week for readers (and writers…) of the Love Rugby League NRL previews, which foreshadowed that the good would largely stay good and the bad would get a lot worse.

Newcastle and Souths at least won – though they played fellow stragglers and, of course, someone has to. The Knights would have lost to anyone else but the Tigers and the Bunnies benefitted from a cyclone forcing a move to Sydney from Redcliffe, with three key Phins not travelling.

The Roosters were miles off it, Parra were even worse and while the Dragons scoreline didn’t look bad, that was thanks to some garbage time tries to add respectability.

The feeling that this is going to be an uneven comp in 2025 only grew this weekend.

Standout…

Xavier Coates. Or was it Ryan Papenhuyzen? Melbourne were stunning to start the season, blowing away Parramatta on Sunday afternoon, beating the clock to halftime while somehow also leaving points out there.

Coates looks to have spent the offseason in the gym – as does Manly’s Jason Saab – and attacked the Eels all over the field, producing a typically miraculous putdown on the left but also marauding all the way around to the right on one occasion.

Papi is the difference between a good Storm and a great one, as his speed and fearlessness with the ball can unlock everything else, especially on the left with Coates and Rugby League Keanu Reeves, Jack Howarth. 

We can’t read much into this because Parra were so horrendous. Andrew Voss described it as men against boys, and while that was a mitigation of some sorts given the lack of experience in yellow and blue jumpers, it was still well below the expected levels.

If this Storm form is continued elsewhere against tougher tests, however: watch out.

Washout…

There’s a fair few poor performances to pick, but perhaps the most disappointing of all was the Cowboys. 

They actually finished above Manly last year, but were lightyears off their opponents on Saturday night – leaving coach Todd Payten staring down the barrel already.

A fifth place finish in 2024 is fairly fresh in the memory but the Cowboys ended with a points difference of just +89 from a 15-9 record. Their success was wide but shallow, which is either the sign of a good mentality in tight games or proof of variance going their way, whichever you prefer. The eye test lends towards the latter.

Payten’s men run into Cronulla, Brisbane, Canberra and Penrith next. An 0-5 start is not off the table.

Everyone is talking about…

Vegas, still. 

The plans for next year are well underway, as are the arguments about the success or otherwise of the venture. 

Some will tell you that it still hasn’t cut through in America, others will dispute whether that was the point at all. That the NRL footed the bill for most of the journos to go is taken as a sign that good publicity is somewhat bought and paid for. 

If the idea was to give the NRL (and Super League) a shot in the arm, then mission accomplished.

The Dogs and Dragons have already put their hands up for 2026, North Queensland think they’re going too and it’ll be a massive surprise if Melbourne don’t play.

But nobody mentions…

The purchase of Super League by the NRL. There has been some chatter on it, placed in the sort of outlets that suggest that the NRL would very much like to float the idea and see how the commentariat reacts, but in truth, for such a seismic decision it has flown largely under the radar.

Certainly the pure scale of such a move, arguably the biggest thing to happen to the game since professionalism in the mid-1990s, seems lost on Australians. 

Naturally, most of it revolves around whether this is good for Australia, not England, much like it did around the Papua New Guinea expansion team.

We are in the early stages of this and talk will undoubtedly grow as interest firms. One can hope that, with more concrete developments, the import will filter through.

Forward pass

There’s a whole other round, of course, but standout fixtures are thin on the ground with Round 1 losers playing Round 1 winners in what could be another one-sided affair.

Broncos believers are out in force after a solid first outing, so an away fixture against a rested and buoyant Canberra stands out, while sickos are already pencilling in a trip to Parramatta for a Spoonbowl rematch with the Tigers.

Traditionalists will get their fill on Sunday night at Belmore Sports Ground as the Bulldogs return to their spiritual home to face the only team we haven’t seen so far, the Titans. 

Real purists, however, will be on the hill at Henson Park for the home opener of the Newtown Jets in the NSW Cup – with Will Pryce’s Newcastle Knights as the visitors.

MONDAY’S READS ON LRL

👉🏻 Super League Team of the Week: Wigan Warriors and Hull KR rule roost with six clubs represented

👉🏻 Super League attendance watch: Wigan post huge number but low figures elsewhere

👉🏻 The Super League players facing bans including Wigan Warriors and Leeds Rhinos stars

👉🏻 NRL 7 Tackle Set: Round 1 winners and losers, Vegas 2026 – and will the NRL buy Super League?