The NRL Vegas Round Thread

[THE RED ROOSTER]

Newcastle Knights v North Queensland Cowboys

First game of the new season and Justin Holbrook selects up and coming Fletcher Sharpe to partner Dylan Brown in the halves. Thios is not a big surprise to me having watched Sandon Smith in the trial against SGI nor should the media feign surprise that Holbrook has stuck to his guns over using the two trial games to formalise the initial halves partnership.

When you look at the Knights starting XIII containing Pongs, Young, Best, Gagai, Sharpe, Brown, Crossland. There is no way that the Knights should be propping up the NRL table and although the outcome of the trial games was none too flash for the Knights as Holbrook has only just got his feet under the table and it will take time for the Adam O’Brien era to work out of the Knights system so he has latitude.

No such latitude for Todd Payten, you have a natural advantage in North Queensland through playing in Townsville which should be a tough place to go to. The problem last year was the defence which Paul Wellens has been attempting to fix. For confidence building reasons the Cowboys played their first grade in the opening halves of both their trial games, and they are playing their best available XIII in the opening game. With Reed Mahoney on a mission replacing the departed Reece Robson.

A loss in the opener and the muttering about North Queensland’s team will start again regarding the coach and the future of starlet Jaxson Purdue.

Verdict – One side nees the win more so It's Cowboy

Canterbury Bulldogs v St George-Illawarra

SGI were very charitable in losing the Charity shield to Souths reserve grade in ‘The Gong of all places. As I have written before the potential for a halfback controversy exists with Flanagan and Atkinson with starlets Lyhkan King-Togia and tyro Josh Kerr on the Bench . with Tyrell Sloan remaining on the outer replaced in the first grade by Setu Tu at 27 Years of age.

The big problem for the Dragons is their two most experienced players in Clint Gutherson and Damien Cook are running on old legs and Gutho has certainly lost a yard when I saw him live last year.

Shane Flanagan will be hoping for a reaction from SGI to the Charity Shield defeat but if your looking for a reaction from your side then your not looking to play the Bulldogs.

The Dogs looked slick in keeping Newcastle scoreless in their last trial game. Yes it’s a trial but it also confirms what we know from last season that the Bulldogs defence remains ironclad. The other point of interest concerns whether a full off season has confirmed Lachlan Galvin really is the wunderkind he was touted as being last season and is the missing link in the Dogs starting XIII partnering Matt Butrton.

Verdict – Bulldog.  You would have to be barking to tip the other way.

[DavidM]

I’m pessimistic about the Dragons season

[Graham]

Welcome back this round by round thread for 2026 (I hope).

Thanks TRR

[Spotty Herbert]

It's great to have The Red Rooster's previews back. Full of insight as ever.

[Graham]

[Click]

Hm, first decision by the VR I disagree with - Thought Gagai regathered that.

[Graham]

One close game one not so.

[Graham]

Out of circulation here. What was the attendance like?

[Anita Bath]

Knights v Cowboys close until the late sinbin.

Both NRL games were enjoyable and competitive.

The SL game followed in the footsteps of previous northern hemisphere blow outs ( Jillaroos v England women,  Wigan v Wire). The massive fan following deserve better. Lets hope next year its a nail biter.

[Spotty Herbert]

1 hour ago, Anita Bath said:

Knights v Cowboys close until the late sinbin.

Both NRL games were enjoyable and competitive.

The SL game followed in the footsteps of previous northern hemisphere blow outs ( Jillaroos v England women,  Wigan v Wire). The massive fan following deserve better. Lets hope next year its a nail biter.

I thoroughly enjoyed the SL game. But I am a Rhinos season ticket holder.

 

[Graham]

1 hour ago, Spotty Herbert said:

I thoroughly enjoyed the SL game. But I am a Rhinos season ticket holder.

 

Great you have a team to support, my UK team has ceased existing!

Edited March 1 by Graham

[Graham]

4 hours ago, Graham said:

Out of circulation here. What was the attendance like?

I found this:

Hull KR and Leeds Rhinos supporters played their part in achieving a new record crowd for rugby league’s annual bonanza in Las Vegas: with a total of 45,719 packing into the Allegiant Stadium.

The Robins and the Rhinos played out the first of three games in Sin City on Saturday night, with Brad Arthur’s side toppling the reigning Super League champions in style with a thumping 58-6 victory.

No standalone attendance figure was recorded for that Super League clash, but it’s believed that between 10-12,000 English fans made their way to the United States to watch it live.

Instead, the crowd figure dished out was an amalgamated one: including the crowd(s) that watched the two NRL games which followed Leeds‘ win against KR.

Newcastle Knights beat North Queensland Cowboys 28-18 before Canterbury Bulldogs pipped St George Illawarra Dragons 15-14 in Golden Point, handing the Vegas spectacle a dramatic ending.

[THE RED ROOSTER]

Having had a chance tp view the recording of both games, I think if  Flecher Sharpe had stated on for the Knights arther than go off after 20 mins the Knights would have won more confortably. As I posted pre-game, I am not of the view that Justin Holbrook is under pressure and in fact if he can keep this starting XII on the park then Newcastle can become fringe top 8 candidates. As for the Cows, Todd Payten will be the subject of media speculation not helped by the fact that North Queensland gave a repriese of the 2005 seasion e.g. letting the opposition takle the lead and then coming back from behind. They had a lot of posession and repeat sets near the Knights try-line but never looked like having the cutting edge to break through. Questions wil again be asked about whether Jaxson Purdue being moved back into the halves. As has been posted the sin-binning and subsequent Newcastle try icing the game.

Kudos to St Geiorge-Illawara for a dogged performance against the Bulldogs and gutting that they lost in Golden Point 4 seconds from the end. They deserved to get something out of the game. Once the Bulldogs had scored the first try through Jacbn Preston, I waited for them to pull away from the Dragons which never happened. Whilie Lachlan Galvin and Matt Burton had individually good games the question is did they play well as a combination because the Dogs looked a bit devoid of creativity near the Dragons tryline. Partly this was due to the SGI defence and partly to some really-poor decision making such as not going for the drop goal three minutes fronm the end close to the Dragons tryline.

SGI stayed in the game throughout and again like the Cows, it was a repriese of last season where the Dragons were in the game throughout but at the end no result. I do think the halves issue at SGI will reemerge as an issue as the season goes on. The next games for SGI are pivotal to the season as they have Melbourne (at Woolongong) Paramatta (away) and Gold Coast Titans (away). They need to win two of those games but could be staring at being 0-4 on the season and then the pressure will be on.

One last point about Vegas, The pitch was narrower and the in-goal area shorter than the notmal Rugby League pitch so it's easier to defend in theory. Though that's a theory I suspect most Hull KR fans might disagree with...