BRISBANE BRONCOS 26 ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS 30
TOM SMITH, Suncorp Stadium, Sunday

VALENTINE HOLMES’ double powered the Dragons to their first win of 2026 in a monumental upset over the Broncos.

Left out of the Queensland Origin side for the first time since 2020, Holmes made a statement by amassing 18 points in a shock boil-over that ends St George Illawarra’s 15-game losing streak.

Payne Haas and Brendan Piakura both returned from knee injuries but couldn’t stop Brisbane slipping to their fourth straight loss.

The Broncos slammed on three late tries but the Dragons were more dominant than the scoreline suggests, led by Holmes and the Couchman brothers.

With Patrick Carrigan, Kotoni Staggs plus unused Maroons subs Ezra Mam and Gehamat Shibasaki backing up from Origin, the hosts made a sluggish start against the bottom-of-the-ladder Saints.

Holmes and Daniel Atkinson struck in the first ten minutes – the first off a Hamish Stewart offload, the second with a grubber to himself – before Holmes and Adam Reynolds (who each converted four tries in the game) swapped penalty goals.

Jesse Arthars threatened to spark a comeback when he snaffled an intercept early in the second half.

But the Dragons replied through Mathew Feagai off another Atkinson kick, a fortunate Holmes intercept and Setu Tu in the right corner, making it 30-8 with less than 20 minutes to play.

Tries to Josiah Karapani, Xavier Willison and Arthars proved academic, as the Dragons held on to their breakthrough win.

BRONCOS: 1 Reece Walsh, 2 Josiah Karapani, 3 Kotoni Staggs, 4 Gehamat Shibasaki, 5 Jesse Arthars, 6 Ezra Mam, 7 Adam Reynolds, 8 Preston Riki, 9 Cory Paix, 10 Payne Haas, 11 Brendan Piakura, 12 Xavier Willison, 13 Patrick Carrigan. Subs: 14 Ben Hunt, 15 Ben Talty, 16 Va’a Semu, 17 Jack Gosiewski, 18 Grant Anderson (not used), 20 Thomas Duffy (not used)

Tries: Arthars (51, 80), Karapani (69), Willison (74); Goals: Reynolds 5/5

DRAGONS: 1 Clint Gutherson, 2 Setu Tu, 3 Moses Suli, 4 Valentine Holmes, 5 Mathew Feagai, 6 Daniel Atkinson, 7 Kyle Flanagan, 8 Loko Jnr Pasifiki Tonga, 9 Damien Cook, 10 Toby Couchman, 11 Dylan Egan, 12 Hamish Stewart, 13 Ryan Couchman. Subs: 15 Blake Lawrie, 16 Josh Kerr, 17 Luciano Leilua (not used), 18 Emre Guler, 19 Lyhkan King-Togia (not used), 20 Tyrell Sloan (not used)

Tries: Holmes (5, 59), Atkinson (10), Feagai (56), Tu (61); Goals: Holmes 5/6

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 0-12, 0-14, 2-14; 8-14, 8-20, 8-26, 8-30, 14-30, 20-30, 26-30

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Broncos: Payne Haas; Dragons: Valentine Holmes

Penalty count: 7-2; Half-time: 2-14; Referee: Wyatt Raymond; Attendance: 42,275