The post-Vegas section of NRL Round 1 delivered three scrappy cliff-hangers and three blistering blowouts, with some teams staking an immediate top-four claim and others left reeling after just one outing.
Points galore
The overwhelming opening-round trend in the NRL is close contests, but that went out the window in 2025 courtesy of a trio of mismatches.
Brisbane’s 50-14 rampage against Sydney Roosters, Manly’s 42-12 beatdown of North Queensland and Melbourne’s 56-18 flex against Parramatta represented the first time a Round 1 docket has featured three 30-plus margins since 2002.
Meanwhile, it was the first time two teams have scored 50-plus points in Round 1 in premiership history. Famously, no team has won the competition after conceding a half-century – which rules a hypothetical historical line through the Roosters and Eels already.
Grasping for positives, the Roosters showed a bit of late fight after trailing 40-4, while the Cowboys (down 42-0 after 55 minutes) and Eels (who actually won the second half after trailing 46-6 at the break) both scored the only two tries in the last quarter of their matches.
All six favourites saluted over the weekend, with only Newcastle – 10-8 winners at Campbelltown against Wests Tigers – failing to cover.
On the attack
Defence wins premierships, as the rugby league adage goes. Penrith, Melbourne and Sydney Roosters conceding an average of 12 points in taking out the last eight NRL grand finals between them lends further weight to the idiom.
But if attacking enterprise can break up the Panthers-Storm duopoly, the early-season indications are Brisbane and Manly shape as genuine title contenders in 2025.
The Broncos blew the Roosters off Allianz Stadium 50-14 on Friday night in a sizzling nine-try onslaught, while the Sea Eagles lapped North Queensland Cowboys 42-12 at a sold-out 4 Pines Park after posting seven tries to none in the first 55 minutes.
Ben Hunt was sensational in his first game back in the Brisbane strip, while Adam Reynolds, Payne Haas and Reece Walsh – none of whom managed more than 14 games in 2024’s downturn – were back to their untouchable best.
Selwyn Cobbo cashed in with a hat-trick back in his more familiar wing role, while promoted hooker Cory Paix and fill-in centre Gehamat Shibasaki were lower-profile heroes of sensational team effort.
Meanwhile, Manly’s speed and skill on the edges – with Haumole Olakau’atu, Lehi Hopoate and Jason Saab having a field day – on the back of a superb forward platform and tied together by the brilliance of Tom Trbojevic and Daly Cherry-Evans put the rest of the competition on notice.
Just as crucially, particularly for the Michael Maguire-hardened Broncos after conceding more than 25 points a game last year, they both produced an outstanding defensive showing against two of the top three highest-scoring teams of 2024.
The Broncos lurk on the third line of premiership betting at $6, while the Sea Eagles’ price has been slashed to $11.
Half measures
The dearth of genuine top-shelf halves in the NRL was thrust into the spotlight throughout Round 1, starting with the struggles of fledgling Warriors combination Luke Metcalf and Chanel Harris-Tavita in Las Vegas.
Veteran recruit Chad Townsend and Sandon Smith were ineffective for Sydney Roosters against the Broncos, while the biggest handbrake to St George Illawarra – plucky in defeat to Canterbury – returning to the finals already shapes as entrusting Kyle Flanagan and Lachlan Ilias to steer the ship.
Tom Duffy endured a tough debut opposite Manly’s 330-gamer Daly Cherry-Evans as North Queensland searches for a suitable partner for Australian Test five-eighth Tom Dearden.
There was little comeback kid Ronald Volkman could do to prevent Melbourne’s blitzkrieg, but it’s clear Parramatta will be more reliant on Mitchell Moses’ presence than ever to make a mark in 2025.
Meanwhile, Newcastle’s prospects of success with ex-winger Fletcher Sharpe and Jack Cogger in the No.6 and 7 is seemingly dependent on Kalyn Ponga shouldering a heavy playmaking load, as he did in a dazzling all-round display to sink Wests Tigers.
On the bright side, Jamie Humphreys – in just his second NRL game – provided Wayne Bennett with a pleasant selection headache, grasping the opportunity presented by English import Lewis Dodd’s suspension to help guide depleted Souths to a gritty 16-14 win over the Dolphins.
Balmain wasn’t built in a day
After a flying start, Wests Tigers’ 10-8 loss at home to Newcastle was a missed opportunity to start their climb back to NRL relevance.
But the positives outweighed the negatives for the three-time wooden spooners, who have Api Koroisau and Jahream Bula to come back and complete one of the most impressive spines in the competition.
Jarome Luai’s transition to becoming a fulltime No.7 will take some time, but Terrell May’s blockbusting club debut suggests the Tigers have lost nothing following Stefano Utoikamanu’s departure and fellow recruit Jeral Skelton immediately put his stamp on the left wing spot.
The downside of the Tigers’ collective performance was the 51 tackles they missed and the seven line-breaks they conceded – unflattering stats for the NRL’s worst defensive unit of 2024.
On the flipside, though, the Tigers ultimately did well to concede just two tries after keeping their line intact for 50 minutes.
A gilt-edged opportunity to get off the mark awaits on Sunday when they take on Parramatta, with Benji Marshall’s charges opening as $1.62 favourites.
Bulldogs pack finds missing ingredient
Canterbury-Bankstown’s pack consistently punched above its weight in 2024 to play a massive role in the club’s return to the finals. But there was nevertheless a sense the Bulldogs were a top-quality forward short of competing with the NRL’s big dogs.
Sitili Tupouniua may just be that forward.
Returning from an injury-ravaged period impressively with Sydney Roosters last year, the rangy 27-year-old made a spectacular club debut in the Bulldogs’ 28-20 defeat of the Dragons.
Better known as an edge forward, Tupouniua was a menacing presence on both sides of the ball in the middle of the park. He finished with 171 metres on 19 runs and steamed through the Saints’ defence to score twice in the space of six minutes in the second half to take the game away from the hosts.
Tupouniua is the perfect foil in an engine-room headlined by second-row enforcer Viliame Kikau and underrated Max King, while tyros Jacob Preston and Harry Hayes get better with every top-grade outing.
The Bulldogs will be disappointed to have left the door ajar for the Dragons by conceding the last three tries of the match, but they are $15 to win the comp in an already very clear-cut top six in the title market.