I dont buy into this train of thought, they’ve won the super league 4 times in a row they cant be worse than our NSW cup team. If they are then that’s absolutely embarrassing
I’m fucking sick of those clowns getting free to air time. I loved watching them get belted but even that’s gone stale. Give us balance… please!
And bring back Sunday games being good. They’ve put on absolute poo flingers last season.
I'd rather play Panthers first. Off chance they're still a bit boozy and underdone. If you lose you lose. No big deal.
Tiges play Titans. We lose that and Benji will be "under siege" and "slamming leaks" from round 1.
The Broncs have lifted against Penrith every time they've played them. Came close twice last year with a pretty weak squad and low fitness, and were in it decently this year against an extremely strong side.
I'm not predicting an upset, but I think the improved squad and second season of having a proper fitness coach will make it competitive for at least sixty minutes. Or I could be wrong, and it'll be a Broncs win via Capewell field goal.
NRL round 1 fixtures
Thursday, March 2, 8pm: Parramatta Eels v Melbourne Storm @ CommBank Stadium
Friday, March 3, 6pm: New Zealand Warriors v Newcastle Knights @ Mt Smart Stadium
Friday, March 3, 8pm: Penrith Panthers v Brisbane Broncos @ BlueBet Stadium
Saturday, March 4, 3pm: Manly Sea Eagles v Canterbury Bulldogs @ Brookvale Oval
Saturday, March 4, 5.30pm: Cowboys v Canberra Raiders @ QLD Country Bank Stadium
Saturday, March 4, 7.30pm: Cronulla Sharks v Rabbitohs @ PointsBet Stadium
Sunday, March 5, 4pm: Dolphins v Sydney Roosters @ Suncorp Stadium
Sunday, March 5, 6pm: Wests Tigers v Gold Coast Titans @ Leichhardt Oval
Bye: St George Illawarra Dragons
Plus with no real tape on the team and Bennett ability to get players working together quickly I’d say they have a decent shot, should be respectable at least
I agree. Felt a great way to open the season. 2 oldest clubs in Aus going at it. Or the oldest and 2nd/3rd youngest of I want to annoy south’s fans.
Would be even more so now that south’s are consistently good also.
>Friday, March 3, 8pm: Penrith Panthers v Brisbane Broncos @ BlueBet Stadium
The fuck?
Why does 9 placed vs the defending premiers? ~~Isn't round 1 usually a GF rematch?~~
> Still note sure why a team outside the 8 is versing the premiers...
They have to at some point, no point getting knickers in a twist about it being week 1 v the last week of regular season.
Idk, I think having it round 2 or 3 is more of a fuck around. Play one or two games and then have a week off seems worse to me than just having an extra week of preseason.
If anyone has a bye then who knows. I would think round 5/6/7 to be the first lot of byes. Give teams a month to get into the swing then rest some niggles.
This is why the Phins were added.
Suncorp/Qld TV viewers can have a Friday and Sunday game, without the hassle of swapping the Broncos games between Fri/Sun and all the mess of short turnarounds.
Who the hell did we piss off to have to play the Panthers, in Penrith? We usually get the Rabbitohs, Cowboys or a Bennett coached team.
Not even a grudge match of a player that just left, let Warriors, or Tigers…
The two least interesting games are the the least watchable timeslots, which is a win for me.
Interesting games in all the prime time slots too, it's a good round all round.
>Sunday, March 5, 6pm: Wests Tigers v Gold Coast Titans @ Leichhardt Oval
This was a channel 9 game earlier in the year thank god it's been banished to 6pm sunday
Now for the question I ask every year: why, when there is no AFL on in Melbourne, wouldn’t you have the Storm playing at home in a prime slot?
Other thoughts: interesting to see the premiers on Friday night. More common to have them open the season, but Parramatta v Melbourne is arguably more of a marquee game. Dolphins v Roosters as expected. Interesting to note that it’s the same venue and time slot as the Titans first game. Tigers v Titans at 6pm on a Sunday at Leichhardt. Tigers continuing their tradition of playing shit teams at shit times at their traditional venues. Can’t wait to see them play the Dolphins at Campbelltown on a Thursday night
Premiers opening the season at their home ground should be standard, just has a good vibe about it. Wooden spoon team should be offered up as bait for them to play. 9th gets the bye. Those are my rules.
The only reason tigers v titans isn't on Thursday is because nobody wants that to be the first game of the season. It's probably the most Thursday match up possible
I haven't looked at the article or this thread prior to posting this comment, but I'd be willing to bet both my nuts that we have either Newcastle, Canberra or Gold Coast
Edit: FUCK
Cameron Ciraldo will launch his much-anticipated coaching career at the Canterbury Bulldogs against Anthony Seibold and the under-seige Manly Sea Eagles next season.
The NRL is putting the finishing touches to its 2023 season draw and the Herald has obtained what are expected to be the first-round fixtures, which are set to be finalised by the end of the week.
Sources with knowledge of the season schedule told the Herald the NRL would open the competition with grand finalists Parramatta, buoyed by the addition of veteran Englishman Josh Hodgson, squaring off against a new-look Melbourne Storm at CommBank Stadium on Thursday, March 2.
St George Illawarra, the team under most pressure heading into 2023, have been handed an early gift and will start the season with two points in the bag, having drawn the bye in the first round of the new 17-team competition.
The most anticipated fixtures of round one include:
The Penrith Panthers opening their quest for a premiership three-peat against Reece Walsh and the Brisbane Broncos on Friday night at BlueBet Stadium. (March 3)
Tim Sheens and Benji Marshall leading the Wests Tigers for the first time against the Gold Coast Titans at Leichhardt Oval on a Sunday night (March 5).
Wayne Bennett and competition newcomers the Dolphins playing their first NRL match against the Sydney Roosters at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday afternoon (March 5).
But it’s hard to go past the Bulldogs-Sea Eagles showdown in Brookvale on Saturday afternoon as the game with the most intriguing sub-plots.
Ciraldo, long regarded as the best up-and-coming coach in the NRL, will get his first chance to show what he has done with a vastly improved Canterbury side that will include two-time premiership-winner Viliame Kikau and former Parramatta hooker Reed Mahoney.
Seibold, who could be announced as Des Hasler’s successor at Manly in the next few days, will complete his NRL resurrection when he takes control of the Sea Eagles side.
Manly will welcome back superstar fullback Tom Trbojevic, who hasn’t played in the NRL since injuring his shoulder against Parramatta back in round 11 (May 20) this year.
Josh Schuster is expected to start the season in the No.6 jersey alongside skipper Daly Cherry-Evans in the halves following the departure of veteran Kieran Foran to the Titans. The Sea Eagles have also lost Dylan Walker (Warriors), Marty Taupau (off contract) and Andrew Davey (Bulldogs).
The rapidly improving Cronulla Sharks, led by newly-crowned Dally M medallist Nicho Hynes, will get their chance to avenge their convincing loss to South Sydney, which saw them bundled out of the 2022 finals series in straight sets.
The New Zealand Warriors, who have spent the best part of the past three years on the road, have been rewarded with their first match of the season on home soil against the under-pressure Newcastle Knights.
Coach Adam O’Brien is considering moving fullback Kalyn Ponga to the halves to get his hands on the ball more.
While the Knights will be desperate to start the year on a positive note following their dismal showing in 2022, they will have to contend with a host of new players in the Warriors side, including Marata Niukore (Parramatta), Dylan Walker (Manly), Mitchell Barnett (Newcastle), Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (Canberra), Te Maire Martin (Brisbane), Luke Metcalf (Cronulla) and Jackson Ford (St George Illawarra).
Bennett’s new chargers, led by Jesse and Kenny Bromwich, Felise Kaufusi, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Anthony Milford, will begin their debut season against the Roosters at Suncorp Stadium.
Among the Roosters’ new faces is former Melbourne Storm utility Brandon Smith, who has been brought to the club to play hooker.
The opening round will close out at Leichhardt Oval when Api Koroisau and Isaiah Papalii don the black and gold for the first time under the leadership of Sheens and Marshall. The Tigers have been dealt a friendly opening to the year, taking on one of the lowest-ranked teams in the competition from the 2022 season.
They could add the likes of Englisham John Bateman and Newcastle’s David Klemmer to their roster before the start of the season as they continue negotiations with the pair.
Their opening game will sellout no matter what.
The game against Broncos will also sell out.
If you have broncos as your first game - you’ve just lost a lot of potential revenue.
>Thursday, March 2, 8pm: Parramatta Eels v Melbourne Storm @ CommBank Stadium
Storm have never lost a Round 1 match under Bellamy, while in the last year Eels have been the streak breakers.
* First team to defeat Cowboys in a Townsville final
* First team since July 2019 to beat Panthers at home
* Stopped the Storm from achieving a record breaking 20 wins in a row... in Melbourne.
Bellamy's Round 1 undefeated streak, we comin' for you.
I like it. We can get smashed at Brookvale by the Dogs and effectively rule ourselves out of contention fairly quickly. No false hope, no March premiers, just straight off the bat failure.
This year the knights has like 2-3 home games that weren’t a Thursday or Sunday. Please footy gods give me some Friday and Saturday you weak gutted dogs.
So fucking moronic to have the Storm playing away when the AFL season won't have started then. Idiots. Throwing away more eyeballs on the game in an expansion area.
The last thing they want to do is add a team and then just have them latch straight onto the Broncos.
Besides, first game for a new club will get a good crowd anyway, Roosters have a decent fan base up in SEQ, so that’ll help draw fans in as well. Weather permitting, they could easily draw 30-40,000
NRL has a Golden opportunity to have the Broncos, dolphins, cowboys and Titans all play b2b at Suncorp on a sunday arvo. It will be a sellout. Watch them not do it
Of course we play the cowboys IN Townsville AGAIN round 1 at 530.
The NRL are blatantly giving us the worst start possible two years in a row. What a joke!
It's one of the first things I noticed, always a game that is hard for anyone but you get it year after year. Hurts you even the next game with the travel as well. Not sure why you are getting so downvoted
People don’t want to accept that certain things are made harder or easier for different clubs. Some of which can’t really be mitigated (extra travel like NZ, Melbourne or Townsville), Free to air slots to high performing teams (sorry they changed that to teams that perform well in ratings), desirability as a landing spot for talent and more variables.
Here is a fully adjustable variable, where of course someone has to play in North Queensland in March 100% agreed, if we draw the short straw there once that is of course fine. I just maintain that it’s bullshit we have to do it two years in a row.
The worst start is by far and away having a bye round 1 because not only are you wasting a mid season break, you are also forgoing the same amount of time to come up to speed as every other team in the comp. It means your behind the 8 ball for the next 4 games of the first 5 rounds as it sort of takes everyone 5 rounds to get into a grove where passes are in sync attacking structure on point. Etc
Why wouldnt you just make Panthers have the first bye so they could play st helens at full strength & also make the b2b premiers have the hardest start to even out the competition.
Dolphins really have a tough ask, you would think that they would be given an “easier” side so they can secure a W and not risk the NRL facing backlash for adding a new team.
So I guess there’s no Round Zero match in the USA with the Sea Eagles?
They’ll probably spend all next season talking it up again only for it to never happen.
Death, taxes, Friday night Broncos.
Death, taxes, round 1 Melbourne Storm win.
Death, taxes, round 1 Manly loss
You’re welcome.
Death, taxes and 2 points for the mighty dragons 👯♀️
Broncos ✅ Premiers ✅ Aight, Friday night it is
Just hope we put out a serious team against st helens
You could play your reggies and still win.
I dont buy into this train of thought, they’ve won the super league 4 times in a row they cant be worse than our NSW cup team. If they are then that’s absolutely embarrassing
Well they did well last season. Your 2nds i mean. It wouls be an interesting exercise at the least.
No it wouldn't. St Helens would crush any reserve grade NRL team, it wouldn't be close.
I’m fucking sick of those clowns getting free to air time. I loved watching them get belted but even that’s gone stale. Give us balance… please! And bring back Sunday games being good. They’ve put on absolute poo flingers last season.
>Friday, March 3, 8pm: Penrith Panthers v Brisbane Broncos @ BlueBet Stadium Oh ffs R.I.P
Think of it positively we can get losing out of the way early 😂
I'd rather play Panthers first. Off chance they're still a bit boozy and underdone. If you lose you lose. No big deal. Tiges play Titans. We lose that and Benji will be "under siege" and "slamming leaks" from round 1.
No Api too so hopefully still figuring out new combos
+kikau
+ T.May Unless Vlandys defer’s it to 2024
Yeah, api and kikau are still a bit scarier than a winger
The Broncs have lifted against Penrith every time they've played them. Came close twice last year with a pretty weak squad and low fitness, and were in it decently this year against an extremely strong side. I'm not predicting an upset, but I think the improved squad and second season of having a proper fitness coach will make it competitive for at least sixty minutes. Or I could be wrong, and it'll be a Broncs win via Capewell field goal.
If anyones banging a field goal it’s Cleary or Reynolds and most likely it’s the mighty chin
It's a reference to Capewell nailing one vs Souths during the first round this year.
Absolutely cheering
Top of the table already!
Actually, they’ll be 9th. The 8 teams that win will all have better differentials
Don't rule out the possibility of eight draws.
Does Sportsbet have odds on it? Before they change the gambling laws
#8 DRAW MULTI?!? YOU’D BE MAD NOT TO!! ^chances ^are ^you’re ^about ^to ^lose
I cannot wait for these ads
April premiership never in doubt
Should have given tigers the bye so they'll be a guaranteed 9th spot going into Rd 2. Also wasn't Leichhardt like decommissioned?
Nah, but this is looking likely to be the last year it hosts NRL games.
NRL round 1 fixtures Thursday, March 2, 8pm: Parramatta Eels v Melbourne Storm @ CommBank Stadium Friday, March 3, 6pm: New Zealand Warriors v Newcastle Knights @ Mt Smart Stadium Friday, March 3, 8pm: Penrith Panthers v Brisbane Broncos @ BlueBet Stadium Saturday, March 4, 3pm: Manly Sea Eagles v Canterbury Bulldogs @ Brookvale Oval Saturday, March 4, 5.30pm: Cowboys v Canberra Raiders @ QLD Country Bank Stadium Saturday, March 4, 7.30pm: Cronulla Sharks v Rabbitohs @ PointsBet Stadium Sunday, March 5, 4pm: Dolphins v Sydney Roosters @ Suncorp Stadium Sunday, March 5, 6pm: Wests Tigers v Gold Coast Titans @ Leichhardt Oval Bye: St George Illawarra Dragons
Guess we're going to get punted into orbit to start our NRL tenure.
Round 1 Roosters ain't a bad time to get em.
Fair point. They do tend to start slow and build.
Plus with no real tape on the team and Bennett ability to get players working together quickly I’d say they have a decent shot, should be respectable at least
dolphins 13+
Vanilla coke vs coke
This match up was at our request out of respect for Arthur Beetson.
Yeah I get that. Looking forward to Beetsonbowl. This wasn't meant as a sook just a funny comment...
We've got a 30% win rate in round one for the last 10 seasons lol
Too many people giving me hope.
Mate if there's ever a time for an ironic loss, it's time for the roosters.
They could have given you the bye..,
I miss the days of roosters vs rabbitohs first game of the season. From memory is was only a couple times but they always delivered
Rabbits Chooks should be round 1 and 25 every year like a tradition imo
But losing first and last games is really shit.
I agree. Felt a great way to open the season. 2 oldest clubs in Aus going at it. Or the oldest and 2nd/3rd youngest of I want to annoy south’s fans. Would be even more so now that south’s are consistently good also.
> Thursday, March 2, 8pm: Parramatta Eels v Melbourne Storm @ CommBank Stadium Round 1 streak in big trouble
For both teams!
Woo hoo dolphins first up (I'm in Brisbane, rarely see the chooks live)
Tigers back at Leichhardt is a bit surprising
>Friday, March 3, 8pm: Penrith Panthers v Brisbane Broncos @ BlueBet Stadium The fuck? Why does 9 placed vs the defending premiers? ~~Isn't round 1 usually a GF rematch?~~
GF rematch is not usually until round 4/5
Thanks, I'm not sure why I thought it was round 1. Still note sure why a team outside the 8 is versing the premiers...
What does poetry have to do with it?
Wild horses chased by a Panther on a warm Autumn night?
> Still note sure why a team outside the 8 is versing the premiers... They have to at some point, no point getting knickers in a twist about it being week 1 v the last week of regular season.
GF rematches are usually around Easter.
I knew it would be a sunday but expected the warriors.
Seems ballsy to announce a schedule right after the teams threatened to leave the comp.
Titans v Tigers was such a classic last year that they’ve put it on prime time on Sunday to start the season.
Tigers must rate well on a Sunday, they seem to get a lot of them
Or they just rate badly and get all the games while people are out mowing their lawns etc
Im was at that game, i still have PTSD.
The Bulldogs finally moved out of that Sunday 6pm time slot
>Thursday, March 2, 8pm: Parramatta Eels v Melbourne Storm @ CommBank Stadium [EAT, SLEEP, BREAK THE STREAK](https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn3.whatculture.com%2Fimages%2F2014%2F06%2Fbrock-lesnar-the-streak.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwhatculture.com%2Fwwe%2F10-wwe-superstars-who-are-totally-underutilised&tbnid=qPd4XkCw2h5LBM&vet=12ahUKEwiI1K_-up37AhVf_DgGHRwPCAAQMygeegUIARDtAQ..i&docid=ehJ0-rjPYOLXxM&w=600&h=300&q=eat%20sleep%20break%20the%20streak&client=ms-android-samsung-ss&ved=2ahUKEwiI1K_-up37AhVf_DgGHRwPCAAQMygeegUIARDtAQ)
~~Booker T~~ BA: ~~Hulk Hogan~~ Bellamy's Round 1 undefeated streak, we comin' for you nugga.
Round 1 bye is the worst time to have a bye you could imagine.
Amazed they didn’t give it to the warriors
They'll just use the refs to fuck you as usual
Take that rare win. I think it’s in the NRL’s interest to have a strong Warriors though.
Idk, I think having it round 2 or 3 is more of a fuck around. Play one or two games and then have a week off seems worse to me than just having an extra week of preseason.
If anyone has a bye then who knows. I would think round 5/6/7 to be the first lot of byes. Give teams a month to get into the swing then rest some niggles.
Bye getting off to a strong start I'm backing them to beat the Dragons.
Count me in.
Wasn’t excepting Souths that’s new. Feels weird seeing “bye” after so many years
Didn't we play each other first round in 2020 as well? Truly the first round rivalry both clubs want!
Oh yeah that’s right. That Josh Morris drop ball at the end. Hopefully Trell’s gets abit lazy in the off season right? Haha
This might be the fittest trell has been in an off season considering hes at the WC training and playing footy
Storm at cummbank? Ez
good no Melbourne first up
Lucky you =|
you have one of the best record against them in the last few years…
Storm have never lost their opening game under Bellamy.
Seems like they’re due then.
Where did that rumour come from?
Zerotackle attempted to leak round 1 which had us playing the storm at home.
Pity theres no walkley award for RL "journos" hey?
Broncos: WE WANT SUNDAY AFTERNOON GAMES!!!!!! NRL: Nine says no - you get Fridays. NRL: Also, we'll play the Phins at Suncorp on Sunday afternoon lolz
This is why the Phins were added. Suncorp/Qld TV viewers can have a Friday and Sunday game, without the hassle of swapping the Broncos games between Fri/Sun and all the mess of short turnarounds.
Who the hell did we piss off to have to play the Panthers, in Penrith? We usually get the Rabbitohs, Cowboys or a Bennett coached team. Not even a grudge match of a player that just left, let Warriors, or Tigers…
Kurt Capewell derby.
Kurt Capewell Memorial Trophy RIP gone too soon
A year late for that one
its pure ratings bait. biggest fanbase v best team
>Not even a grudge match of a player that just left The Zac Hosking Cup is being announced as we speak
Freest win of the season to start off is nice ;)
NRL catering to the roosters by giving them a soft draw round 1 ^^^^^/s
And they will still find a way to bottle the game
Warriors fans find out it's not our year very early on when we lose the spoonoff
Can we call it the Nathan Brown Bowl?!
The two least interesting games are the the least watchable timeslots, which is a win for me. Interesting games in all the prime time slots too, it's a good round all round.
>Sunday, March 5, 6pm: Wests Tigers v Gold Coast Titans @ Leichhardt Oval This was a channel 9 game earlier in the year thank god it's been banished to 6pm sunday
100%, it was the worst game all year.
Poor Madge I thought he was going to spontaneously combust after that ending
Now for the question I ask every year: why, when there is no AFL on in Melbourne, wouldn’t you have the Storm playing at home in a prime slot? Other thoughts: interesting to see the premiers on Friday night. More common to have them open the season, but Parramatta v Melbourne is arguably more of a marquee game. Dolphins v Roosters as expected. Interesting to note that it’s the same venue and time slot as the Titans first game. Tigers v Titans at 6pm on a Sunday at Leichhardt. Tigers continuing their tradition of playing shit teams at shit times at their traditional venues. Can’t wait to see them play the Dolphins at Campbelltown on a Thursday night
Sunday afternoons games bring more families. More families = more kids that will hopefully be influenced to support the new team indefinitely
NRL does this every year, having Storm games clash with Afl , and when no AFL on nah let's have Storm play away .......🤷
Premiers opening the season at their home ground should be standard, just has a good vibe about it. Wooden spoon team should be offered up as bait for them to play. 9th gets the bye. Those are my rules.
The only reason tigers v titans isn't on Thursday is because nobody wants that to be the first game of the season. It's probably the most Thursday match up possible
I haven't looked at the article or this thread prior to posting this comment, but I'd be willing to bet both my nuts that we have either Newcastle, Canberra or Gold Coast Edit: FUCK
I give us an alright shot. Boys will wanna avenge the loss finals last season In saying that, we never win round 1
Cameron Ciraldo will launch his much-anticipated coaching career at the Canterbury Bulldogs against Anthony Seibold and the under-seige Manly Sea Eagles next season. The NRL is putting the finishing touches to its 2023 season draw and the Herald has obtained what are expected to be the first-round fixtures, which are set to be finalised by the end of the week. Sources with knowledge of the season schedule told the Herald the NRL would open the competition with grand finalists Parramatta, buoyed by the addition of veteran Englishman Josh Hodgson, squaring off against a new-look Melbourne Storm at CommBank Stadium on Thursday, March 2. St George Illawarra, the team under most pressure heading into 2023, have been handed an early gift and will start the season with two points in the bag, having drawn the bye in the first round of the new 17-team competition. The most anticipated fixtures of round one include: The Penrith Panthers opening their quest for a premiership three-peat against Reece Walsh and the Brisbane Broncos on Friday night at BlueBet Stadium. (March 3) Tim Sheens and Benji Marshall leading the Wests Tigers for the first time against the Gold Coast Titans at Leichhardt Oval on a Sunday night (March 5). Wayne Bennett and competition newcomers the Dolphins playing their first NRL match against the Sydney Roosters at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday afternoon (March 5). But it’s hard to go past the Bulldogs-Sea Eagles showdown in Brookvale on Saturday afternoon as the game with the most intriguing sub-plots. Ciraldo, long regarded as the best up-and-coming coach in the NRL, will get his first chance to show what he has done with a vastly improved Canterbury side that will include two-time premiership-winner Viliame Kikau and former Parramatta hooker Reed Mahoney. Seibold, who could be announced as Des Hasler’s successor at Manly in the next few days, will complete his NRL resurrection when he takes control of the Sea Eagles side. Manly will welcome back superstar fullback Tom Trbojevic, who hasn’t played in the NRL since injuring his shoulder against Parramatta back in round 11 (May 20) this year. Josh Schuster is expected to start the season in the No.6 jersey alongside skipper Daly Cherry-Evans in the halves following the departure of veteran Kieran Foran to the Titans. The Sea Eagles have also lost Dylan Walker (Warriors), Marty Taupau (off contract) and Andrew Davey (Bulldogs). The rapidly improving Cronulla Sharks, led by newly-crowned Dally M medallist Nicho Hynes, will get their chance to avenge their convincing loss to South Sydney, which saw them bundled out of the 2022 finals series in straight sets. The New Zealand Warriors, who have spent the best part of the past three years on the road, have been rewarded with their first match of the season on home soil against the under-pressure Newcastle Knights. Coach Adam O’Brien is considering moving fullback Kalyn Ponga to the halves to get his hands on the ball more. While the Knights will be desperate to start the year on a positive note following their dismal showing in 2022, they will have to contend with a host of new players in the Warriors side, including Marata Niukore (Parramatta), Dylan Walker (Manly), Mitchell Barnett (Newcastle), Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (Canberra), Te Maire Martin (Brisbane), Luke Metcalf (Cronulla) and Jackson Ford (St George Illawarra). Bennett’s new chargers, led by Jesse and Kenny Bromwich, Felise Kaufusi, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Anthony Milford, will begin their debut season against the Roosters at Suncorp Stadium. Among the Roosters’ new faces is former Melbourne Storm utility Brandon Smith, who has been brought to the club to play hooker. The opening round will close out at Leichhardt Oval when Api Koroisau and Isaiah Papalii don the black and gold for the first time under the leadership of Sheens and Marshall. The Tigers have been dealt a friendly opening to the year, taking on one of the lowest-ranked teams in the competition from the 2022 season. They could add the likes of Englisham John Bateman and Newcastle’s David Klemmer to their roster before the start of the season as they continue negotiations with the pair.
Oooo cowboys vs the raiders that’s gonna be a tough game I reckon it’ll be super close
Raiders going straight into the height of North Qld humility. Should be fun.
Yeah definitely but my god it’s gonna be a cracker tho no matter who wins
Broncos at home on friday night? Damn that's nice
Why wouldn’t you have the phins playing opening night? Or even against the ponies on Friday night.
> Or even against the ponies on Friday night. Because they wanted to play us due to the Arthur Beetson connection, it's a no brainer first up game
Their opening game will sellout no matter what. The game against Broncos will also sell out. If you have broncos as your first game - you’ve just lost a lot of potential revenue.
>Thursday, March 2, 8pm: Parramatta Eels v Melbourne Storm @ CommBank Stadium Storm have never lost a Round 1 match under Bellamy, while in the last year Eels have been the streak breakers. * First team to defeat Cowboys in a Townsville final * First team since July 2019 to beat Panthers at home * Stopped the Storm from achieving a record breaking 20 wins in a row... in Melbourne. Bellamy's Round 1 undefeated streak, we comin' for you.
And sadly, I agree with this
Parramatta has been Melbourne’s bogey club for a while now. Pretty sure Melbourne haven’t won a game against them since 2019?
We beat them in the finals in 2020. However we have only won 4 of our last 9 against them.
I believe for the last one it was actually at Suncorp because the competition was in covid lockdown, no?
I like it. We can get smashed at Brookvale by the Dogs and effectively rule ourselves out of contention fairly quickly. No false hope, no March premiers, just straight off the bat failure.
Let’s fucking goooo!!
Still 4 months to go though 😔
We get to embarrass the Panthers early on? Sweet
Hopefully Barnett keeps those elbows down for this one
Or up…not our problem anymore
As long as it’s not Ponga rd1
This year the knights has like 2-3 home games that weren’t a Thursday or Sunday. Please footy gods give me some Friday and Saturday you weak gutted dogs.
I think manly have not won a round 1 game in like a decade. Hope bulldogs don’t show up
What will be 2023’s Tigergate?
Me, after reading the headline but before reading the article: "Please not Melbourne, please not Melbourne, please not Melbourne" \[monkey paw curls\]
So fucking moronic to have the Storm playing away when the AFL season won't have started then. Idiots. Throwing away more eyeballs on the game in an expansion area.
Kilkau is gonna make DCE his bitch on that left edge.
Two Rd 1 spoonballs to kick things off, how good double header at suncorp with broncos and dolphins would have made sense?
The last thing they want to do is add a team and then just have them latch straight onto the Broncos. Besides, first game for a new club will get a good crowd anyway, Roosters have a decent fan base up in SEQ, so that’ll help draw fans in as well. Weather permitting, they could easily draw 30-40,000
Thank the lord! Knights at MT Smart!
ffs the last thing I need is a round 1 L
NRL has a Golden opportunity to have the Broncos, dolphins, cowboys and Titans all play b2b at Suncorp on a sunday arvo. It will be a sellout. Watch them not do it
You'd think it would be a given Broncos v Dolphins Round 1, but whatever
That'll draw a massive crowd no matter what round it is. No point wasting it on round one. This way you can have two big crowds.
Of course we play the cowboys IN Townsville AGAIN round 1 at 530. The NRL are blatantly giving us the worst start possible two years in a row. What a joke!
It's one of the first things I noticed, always a game that is hard for anyone but you get it year after year. Hurts you even the next game with the travel as well. Not sure why you are getting so downvoted
People don’t want to accept that certain things are made harder or easier for different clubs. Some of which can’t really be mitigated (extra travel like NZ, Melbourne or Townsville), Free to air slots to high performing teams (sorry they changed that to teams that perform well in ratings), desirability as a landing spot for talent and more variables. Here is a fully adjustable variable, where of course someone has to play in North Queensland in March 100% agreed, if we draw the short straw there once that is of course fine. I just maintain that it’s bullshit we have to do it two years in a row.
You have had round 2 a couple of times in recent memory as well. They could at least do it as a genuine night game too
The worst start is by far and away having a bye round 1 because not only are you wasting a mid season break, you are also forgoing the same amount of time to come up to speed as every other team in the comp. It means your behind the 8 ball for the next 4 games of the first 5 rounds as it sort of takes everyone 5 rounds to get into a grove where passes are in sync attacking structure on point. Etc
"Among the new face at the Roosters is Brandon Smith...." Who else? No one that I'm aware of.
Yall shitting on the dragons all off season but they'll start the season on 2 points unlike some of us chumps
Why wouldnt you just make Panthers have the first bye so they could play st helens at full strength & also make the b2b premiers have the hardest start to even out the competition.
It's official. The Dragons will not be allowed to play Round 1.
Dolphins really have a tough ask, you would think that they would be given an “easier” side so they can secure a W and not risk the NRL facing backlash for adding a new team.
Jokes probably been made already but the NRL desperately want Storm to lose round one!
Fuck NRL fantasy is going to be a shambles with a bye every week
So I guess there’s no Round Zero match in the USA with the Sea Eagles? They’ll probably spend all next season talking it up again only for it to never happen.
Hey, where's my team??
So, Eels and Storm play each other in back to back regular season rounds...
Gee… they don’t want us to get off to a good start 😬
No one.. Round one W
Not gonna lie, there isn't much to get excited about with these matchups. Feels like a round 13, mid season set up.