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After a brief detour to Las Vegas, the first round of the NRL season is in the books.
After a summer full of debate, drama and questions over which teams have what it takes to go all the way in 2024 we finally have some answers — sort of.
Premierships aren't won and lost in March but the journey towards the gutter and the stars gets underway this time of year, so let's check out what worked and what didn't across the weekend as the NRL started up again for another season.
1. Can Newcastle solve their halves puzzle?
There's an old saying in the NFL – if you have two quarterbacks, you actually have none. Basically, it means if you don't have a standout you're doomed to fail no matter who you pick.
The Knights might have a similar thing going in their halves. Tyson Gamble, Jackson Hastings and Jack Cogger all showed last year they're NRL quality starters at the very least but Newcastle could not get the balance right in their season opening loss to the Raiders.
In what looked to be a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth, Gamble, Hastings and Cogger each struggled to play direct and create space for Kalyn Ponga and Newcastle's sharp backline, which made them easy prey for the hard-nosed Raiders, a physical and mean football team for whom the ends always justify the means and who can and will clamp their jaws on a weak spot and refuse to let go.
Coach Adam O'Brien doesn't need to do anything drastic – it's still just round one after all — but getting the balance right between Gamble and Hastings, who led the team so capably last year, and Cogger, who came off the bench in his first match back with the club after joining from Penrith, will be paramount to any Knights success this season.
ABC player of the year votes:
3. Jamal Fogarty (Raiders)
2. Zac Hosking (Raiders)
1. Matthew Timoko (Raiders)
2. Powerhouse duo make all the right moves
Cronulla showed a lot of new qualities in their comeback win over the Warriors – a harder defensive resolve, a willingness to fight down in the mud, a sheer commitment they've sometimes lacked in big spots over the last couple of years – but their two standouts were two of their regulars.
Ronaldo Mulitalo and Siosifa Talakai form one of the biggest, meanest and most explosive wing/centre combos in the NRL and they played like against New Zealand.
On the field, Talakai is inscrutable – his expression rarely changes, even if he leaves carnage behind him. Mulitalo is the opposite, he is all joy and rage and triumph and you can read every feeling he has right on his face.
Together, they make a compelling and dynamic combination but they're also a smarter one than many give them credit for.
Both men were excellent with their yardage and got all their defensive reads right as they shut down the Warriors razor-sharp right edge attack. They also combined nicely for Talakai to plunge over in the second half for what prove to be the match-winning try.
They were confronted with a couple of problems they couldn't just steamroll and they solved them with aplomb. If all the Sharks can show such improvement, and if Talakai and Mulitalo can keep it going, this season could be very good to them.
ABC player of the year votes:
3. Tom Hazelton (Sharks)
2. Siosifa Talakai (Sharks)
1. Luke Metcalf (Knights)
3. Melbourne have found another one
A week ago, the prospect of Cameron Munster missing significant time with a groin injury would have sent Melbourne fans running for the hills.
After Jonah Pezet's performance in the win over Penrith, those fears have been abated – at least a little. The 21-year old has been a player of promise for some time but after some eye-catching displays in his rookie season last year it might be time to start expecting plenty of the good stuff.
Pezet got off to a rough start against the three-time defending premiers but grew into the game as it went on, making good choices with ball in hand and ably assisting Jahrome Hughes in the kicking department.
He doesn't have the unaccountable brilliance of Munster — nobody else in rugby league really does either — but Pezet can keep the Storm machine running for the next few weeks at least.
Given Munster said the Storm medicos are still trying to determine the exact nature of his injury it might be worth it for Melbourne to be cautious and with a player of Pezet's calibre as first drop, they can certainly afford to be.
ABC player of the year votes:
3. Josh King (Storm)
2. Taylan May (Panthers)
1. Nick Meaney (Storm)
4. A blue and gold solution
Hooker has proved to be a troublesome spot for Parramatta since they lost Reed Mahoney to Canterbury.
They brought in Josh Hodgson last year but it proved to be one season too many for the ex-Raider and while Brendan Hands toiled hard in the back half of the season the Eels needed a little more attacking output from their rake.
Enter Joey Lussick, who returned to the club in the final stages of last year after a couple of seasons in England. Lussick isn't a Damien Cook-type runner or an Api Koroisau-level schemer, but he can get the ball where it needs to go and can create a little bit here and there if given the opportunity – look no further than his 40/20 in the first half of the win over the Bulldogs, which matched Parramatta's entire output in that department all of last season.
Everyone's attack is still a work in progress in round one but in Lussick the Eels might have found a solution at dummy half that works for them.
With Mitch Moses and Dylan Brown on hand, Lussick doesn't need to be everything and everywhere all the time for the Eels, he just needs to do a little bit of the good stuff at the right time and that looks to be well within his capabilities.
ABC player of the year votes:
3. Bryce Cartwright (Eels)
2. Clint Gutherson (Eels)
1. Dylan Brown (Eels)
5. A new home for The Gifted One?
Zac Lomax has long struggled to bear the weight of his massive talent. The 24-year old has long been touted as a future representative player – no less than Brad Fittler himself dubbed him "The Gifted One" in his junior days – but finding consistency has proved to be a struggle in his six seasons in the NRL.
His move to the wing raised a few eyebrows and sparked rumours Lomax was unhappy and wanted out of the Dragons. If he is unhappy he should play that way more often because his showing against the Titans was one of the best of his entire career.
Look at the numbers – a try, 25 runs for 234m gained and two line breaks. Even if Lomax hates the wing like poison, you can't argue with results like that. He also excelled in the things that aren't on the stat sheet, like kick chases, second efforts in defence and coming off his wing looking for work.
When Shane Flanagan was an assistant coach at the Dragons back in 2020, Lomax had a terrific season and was unlucky not to make his State of Origin debut. With Flanagan back in charge as head coach, that massive talent might be a little easier for him to bear.
ABC player of the year votes:
3. Ben Hunt (Dragons)
2. Zac Lomax (Dragons)
1. Tyrell Sloan (Dragons)
6. Nothing can be new forever
Do you remember the Dolphins first NRL match? Of course you do, who could ever forget it, it was almost a year ago to this very day and it felt like rugby league had changed a little bit forever.
It's a great memory, one that was hard not to return to as the Dolphins saddled up for their sophomore season.
But unless it's the Godfather movies, a sequel can only ever be a sequel and the Dolphins cannot run on the spirit of being a new thing forever.
North Queensland have it in them to be a dangerous and dynamic team but the signs were very troubling for Wayne Bennett's side.
Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, the breakout star of their inaugural year, played more like the frustrating prospect he was as a Cowboy than the attacking weapon he became as Dolphin.
Kodi Nikorima and Tesi Niu, who were surprise starters over Isaiya Katoa and Jake Averillo, both had shockers. The edges looked fragile and the forwards looked old. If the Cowboys were in the mood this could have become even uglier.
Setting up a new team is incredibly difficult. It takes time and patience and Bennett did a remarkable job to harness a pioneer spirit for the Dolphins first season but as that inaugural match gets further and further away there has to be something to replace it.
At some point, making history just by turning up has to stop and something new must be found to replace it.
ABC player of the year votes:
3. Zac Laybutt (Cowboys)
2. Jeremiah Nanai (Cowboys)
1. Tom Dearden (Cowboys)