It was an Easter to remember in the NRL, courtesy of four head-to-head upsets, a record regular-season crowd, a golden point thriller and a storyline-laden Monday afternoon showdown in Round 7.
The struggling defending champs broke out of a slump with an emphatic victory, while the premiership favourites were pounded by 20 points in historic fashion, and the Raiders and Warriors find themselves unlikely top-four bolters a quarter of the way through the 2025 campaign.
Bulldogs find pack mentality
Canterbury-Bankstown’s 2024 rise was achieved in the face of widespread scepticism around their lightweight pack – and now the Bulldogs are four points clear of the field after just seven rounds largely due to the effectiveness of their engine-room.
The Bulldogs made arguably their biggest statement yet on Good Friday, crushing South Sydney 32-0 in front of 65,035 fans at Accor Stadium to go 6-0 for the first time since 1938. They are conceding less than 10 points a game and have leaked only one try in their past three outings.
Josh Curran, Max King, Sitili Tupouniua and Jacob Preston ensured the forwards had a mortgage on the Bulldogs’ tryscoring sheet against the Rabbitohs until centre Bronson Xerri landed a blow for the backline in the 68th minute.
Marquee man Viliame Kikau made an immediate, dynamic impact in his early return from injury and Tupouniua continues to prove an outstanding buy.
But the underrated King and ever-impressive second-row tyro Preston equally embody the Belmore revolution. The pair is charging up the NSW Origin selection queue, despite the Blues’ plethora of higher-profile options.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs have rocketed to the second line of title betting ($4.50) and are hot on Melbourne’s heels in the minor premiership market ($2.50). A trip to Suncorp Stadium to take on the floundering Broncos awaits on Thursday, with the visitors opening as $1.52 favourites.
Fins up, Saints marching
After four outings apiece in 2025, the Dolphins and St George Illawarra had just one win between them and languished near the foot of the premiership and finals markets.
A few weeks later and the clubs have pushed up to $2.75 for a Top 8 finish, with both putting Gold Coast to the sword and upsetting Melbourne. The Dolphins also thrashed Penrith, while the Dragons have claimed an invaluable away win over early-season title dark horse Manly.
The Dolphins’ 42-22 demolition of the Storm on Friday may be the most remarkable result we see this year.
Trailing 16-2, Kristian Woolf’s side scored seven unanswered tries to run away with it – just the second team to reel in a 14-point deficit against the Storm from the last 81 times they had built a lead of that size.
Slow-starting spine trio Isaiya Katoa, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Kodi Nikorima have exploded as the Dolphins have scored 108 points to 44 in banking three straight upsets.
The Dragons showed admirable composure to snare a 20-18 win at 4 Pines Park after watching a 14-6 lead unravel to 14-all while the Sea Eagles had a player in the bin.
Clint Gutherson is unequivocally the Saints’ key man – racking up six try assists and seven line-breaks, on top of his tone-setting effort plays and leadership – but Tyrell Sloan has been a revelation on the wing and the unsung likes of Toby Couchman and Jacob Liddle are flourishing.
The Dragons are the slightest of outsiders heading into an enormous Anzac Day clash with Sydney Roosters, while the Dolphins are underdogs again as they hit the road to take on in-form Canberra.
Metcalf redemption seals gritty Wahs win
Luke Metcalf sprayed goalkicks to all parts of Mount Smart Stadium on Saturday night, consigning the Warriors to golden point after scoring four tries to Brisbane’s three.
Adam Reynolds’ pair of clutch conversions from out wide, in the wet and into the wind as the Broncos clawed from 18-6 down with 14 minutes left to level up the game ensured Metcalf’s one-from-five effort cut even deeper.
But following hapless (and, as it turns out, seriously injured) Reece Walsh’s golden point kick-off gaffe, Metcalf stepped up to nail one of the great penalty goals from halfway and clinch an invaluable two points.
The Warriors’ victory was anything but easy on the eye – with novice halfback Metcalf’s clunky display a contributing factor – and came on the back of two fortuitous opportunist tries.
But given it came six days after a shellacking in Melbourne that cost them James Fisher-Harris, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad and Rocco Berry (on top of the absence of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Dallin Watene-Zelenziak, plus Dylan Walker’s abrupt exit), the character displayed can’t be undersold.
The Warriors have a multitude of areas they need to improve in, yet they are clear in the top four with a 4-2 record – a tremendous platform to mount a charge to the finals. They are resounding $1.30 favourites to compound Newcastle’s woes in Christchurch on Anzac Day.
For their part, the Broncos – on the back of a poor home loss to the Roosters – were dismal in Auckland, seemingly unwilling to play to the conditions or the game situation.
Out-of-sorts Walsh’s injury turns the heat up further on the glamour club ahead of a short-turnaround blockbuster against the Bulldogs this Thursday.
Panthers back on the prowl
The champs may still be 15th on the ladder with an ugly 2-5 record, but Penrith’s 40-12 beatdown of Sydney Roosters on Saturday night spelt bad news for the rest of the NRL’s 2025 premiership hopefuls.
The Panthers took their time asserting dominance over the Roosters – it was 6-all until just before halftime – but the familiar ruthlessness returned during a lopsided second stanza.
Dylan Edwards and Nathan Cleary led the way, while Australian Test rep Lindsay Smith (19 runs for 184 metres and 28 tackles) gave the strongest indication yet he is ready to fill the James Fisher-Harris void.
Defensively the four-time defending premiers turned a significant corner, conceding less than 22 points for the first time this season. The form reversal could not have come at a worse time for their next two opponents, stuttering would-be heavyweights Manly and Brisbane.
With their three byes handily scheduled between Rounds 11 and 18, in the thick of the arduous Origin period, the Panthers should have little trouble clawing their way back up the ladder and remain the best value in the title market at $11.
Tigers reeling after week from hell
Wests Tigers were apparently in their best position in years after last week’s comprehensive win in Newcastle left them with a 3-3 record and a highly encouraging trajectory.
But the Lachlan Galvin controversy that has engulfed the code since already threatens to derail the joint venture’s campaign.
Justified or not, leaving Galvin out of the side ramped up the pressure on the Tigers, coach Benji Marshall and the senior players who demanded his axing. The Tigers couldn’t back up the social media posturing in a 38-22 defeat to last-placed Parramatta.
The ensuing stretch of matches before their first bye – against Cronulla, St George Illawarra, Melbourne and Souths – while the controversy around their wantaway five-eighth bubbles away already feels like the difference between staying in Top 8 contention and a 14th straight season as an also-ran.
On the other side of the fence, the Eels go into the Round 8 bye with fresh hope of salvaging something from the year.
A week after leaking 50 points against Canberra in Darwin, Parramatta was a different team with incumbent NSW and Australian halfback Mitch Moses back in the driver’s seat for the first time since early-July last year.
Three try assists, a brilliant kicking performance and a vital try-saving tackle – it was one of the most impressive individual displays of 2025 under the circumstances, and helped unlock the best of Dylan Brown, Isaiah Iongi and Josh Addo-Carr.
He’s just one man, but Moses makes the Eels an entirely different proposition for any upcoming opponent.