As teams navigated the post-Perth Origin scramble, NRL Round 16 delivered a string of cliff-hangers, a couple of upsets and plenty of points.
The away sides had a mortgage on the Ws on Friday and Saturday, before a trio of stirring home-team victories on Sunday. Only one of the seven matches produced less than 46 points, while only three teams stayed in the same ladder position they started in.
No.1 priorities reroute Broncos’ and Roosters’ seasons
Brisbane Broncos and Sydney Roosters are well and truly back in business, rising to a share of fifth spot with rousing Sunday victories – both spearheaded by stellar performances from their superstars in the No.1 jerseys.
Down 28-12 against Cronulla early in the second half, the Broncos stormed to a 34-28 victory with unlikely left-side pairing Gehamat Shibasaki – one of the most remarkable individual success stories of 2025 – and Josiah Karapani, who is keeping Selwyn Cobbo in reserve grade, both notching braces.
The mercurial Reece Walsh, in his second game back from a knee injury layoff, was again a major catalyst for the Broncos. A brilliant flat pass for Shibasaki kick-started the revival, before a sizzling line-break to set up the centre again and completed the scoring.
Meanwhile, the Roosters defied a heavy Origin load to trounce the similarly burdened North Queensland Cowboys 42-8.
James Tedesco, firming as a red-hot Dally M Medal contender, was again at the forefront. The 32-year-old captain and custodian finished with a try, two line-breaks, a line-break assist and 213 metres from 27 runs.
Makeshift halves duo Sandon Smith and Hugo Savala laid on three tries between them, and Naufahu Whyte (20 runs, 205 metres) and Mark Nawaqanitawase (25 runs, 245 metres, 1 line-break) put in mighty shifts.
The Broncos ($12) and Roosters ($31) are emerging as big players in a 2025 premiership picture short on genuine heavyweights.
Killer blow continues to elude Tigers
Wests Tigers have slumped to familiar bottom-four territory courtesy of five straight losses.
The 16-12 defeat to Canberra at Campbelltown Stadium on Friday was their third in a row by a four-point margin, making it five losses by a try or less in 2025 – which shapes as the difference between ending a 14-year finals drought and another season in also-ran purgatory.
But there were positives to draw from another agonising loss after trailing the second-placed Raiders 16-0 just 23 minutes in.
Latu Fainu came off the bench impressively again to stamp himself as Jarome Luai’s likely long-term halves partner – and surely the Tigers’ starting No.6 sooner rather than later.
Prop Terrell May practically demanded a NSW call-up for the decider, particularly given ex-Tiger Stefano Utoikamanu’s toothless display in Perth, with another powerhouse performance against influential Raiders veterans Joe Tapine and Josh Papalii.
But time is starting to run out for the Tigers’ Top 8 hopes, with a trio of away assignments against Manly, the Roosters and Warriors in the next three weeks set to make or break their campaign.
Panther pups’ Auckland ambush
Penrith was overrun 25-6 by Newcastle prior to the Origin series opener, seemingly rendering a road trip to take on the high-flying Warriors without their five-strong NSW contingent an exercise in futility.
The plucky, patched-up Panthers were up for the fight from the outset, however, and repeatedly bounced back after falling behind in the 20th and 47th minutes.
Three unanswered tries carried the rank outsiders to an unassailable lead, before a late consolation effort from the Warriors closed the final gap to 28-18.
Back-up halfback Brad Schneider thoroughly outplayed Dally M darling Luke Metcalf, while Moses Leota won a points decision over former front-row hombre James Fisher-Harris, veteran second-rower Scott Sorensen bagged a double and 19-year-old Casey McLean showed the Warriors up at both ends.
Worth more than the face-value two competition points, the boilover lifted the Panthers into outright eighth. They shortened to $14 in the premiership market ahead of an absolute blockbuster against competition-leading Canterbury this Thursday with Cleary, Yeo, Edwards, To’o and Martin back on deck.
Blowing an opportunity to further consolidate their top-four standing, the Warriors ($11) head to Suncorp Stadium for the third time in eight weeks to take on the rejuvenated Broncos.
Best-laid plans bring Dolphins undone
The Dolphins had emerged as a dark-horse threat by piling on 158 points in their past three games – and four straight wins for the first time in their history beckoned when Dane Gagai’s sin-binning in Perth allowed them to take a 20-16 lead over Newcastle with 20 minutes to go.
But a second try of the afternoon for Bradman Best – who was returning from a six-week break – from the boot of Kalyn Ponga levelled the scores.
Best and Ponga combined brilliantly to set up what looked like a 60-metre match-winner finished off by Jayden Brailey, but it was pulled back by the referee. The Knights regrouped with Best sending Brodie Jones over with one minute on the clock.
Best earlier put Dom Young over in the first half in the big winger’s first match back in Newcastle colours as Adam O’Brien’s side gave more a couple of hints that the Knights’ 2023 magic may resurface to spark another late-season charge.
It was the first time this season the Knights have scored multiple tries in both halves of a match.
History beckoning for Johnston
South Sydney tumbled to second-last on the NRL ladder via a fourth straight loss, yet the Rabbitohs are still showing signs of a finals-quality side and will take plenty of heart from a 25-24 golden point loss to premiership favourite Melbourne.
The Storm led 12-0 after just six minutes but the Rabbitohs hung tough, led for 15 minutes during the second half and forced the game into extra-time with a Tyrone Munro try – from some breath-taking Latrell Mitchell vision – four minutes from fulltime.
Melbourne got home on the boot of Ryan Papenhuyzen in the fourth minute of golden point.
Meanwhile, one of the most notable storylines of 2025 is picking up steam with veteran Souths winger Alex Johnston running in his side’s first four tries of the night.
After scoring 10 tries in his last five games, Johnston is now only six tries short of the great Ken Irvine’s magical premiership record mark of 212.
Since the start of 2020, Johnston has piled up an incredible 123 tries in just 112 games. His haul on Saturday was the 16th hat-trick of his career – and tryscoring immortality awaits before the end of the season.