The NRL is finally back, and back with two very good games in the pre-season challenge. The four teams who will head to Vegas for the first round of the year in a few weeks. Cronulla and the Warriors played out a incredibly hard fought draw while Canberra picked up a win against Penrith in the pouring rain.
Cronulla Sharks vs New Zealand Warriors
The first match of the year didn’t disappoint, being hard fought and ending up in a draw which looking over the game was probably the fair result in the end. The Sharks had the early dominance and scored a try fairly quickly when Thomas Hazelton broke the line to get the first score of the match, which was shortly converted. The momentum shifted back and forth and the Warriors started getting back into the game, Watane-Zelezniak went off as a precaution. Soon after they scored a try via Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, the full back pulling off a linebreak himself, the conversion was scored. Being pre-season there were plenty of errors but somewhat to be expected.
The second half was again very competitive with both sides getting down the other end multiple times. But it was Warriors that made the breakthrough at the 52 minute mark through Te Maire Martin getting a linebreak with Taine Tuaupiki putting the ball down for the Warriors second try of the match, which was then converted by new full time Warriors half back Luke Metcalf, of course taking the place of the retired Shaun Johnson. It took a while but the Sharks made the eventual try in the 74th minute, late in the game after a set restart, Hohepa Puru scored and Mawene Hiroti converted to tie it all up at 12 a piece which is how it ended.
Encouraging signs from both sides as they look to get up to speed ahead of the premiership season. The Warriors showed some defensive stability which sometimes was hard to come by last year. The Sharks need to be more consistent and win those big games, and they showed potential for that here.
Penrith Panthers vs Canberra Raiders
The four time in a row premiers against a Canberra side who are looking to bounce back this season after some disappointments in the past couple of years. Early on, as Penrith do, they had Canberra parked in their own half for most of the half until a few errors left Canberra in a good spot as they themselves grew into the game, and it paid off as Simi Sasagi scored the first try of the match. Which was then converted to make it 6-0. Not too long after in the 35th minute following a set restart, Penrith run through and put down a try, with no conversion which meant going into half time it was 6-4 to the Raiders.
As we moved into the second half the Raiders pulled ahead early on in the half to score once more, converted try, then two minutes later scored another try. Within the span of about 3 minutes Canberra had gone from 6-4 up to 16-4. As the game wore on, the Raiders had control of the game with the Panthers showing fight as they do. This game like the previous game, featured a fair few errors, but unsurprising as these are the first real matches for these guys of the year, so understandable at this point, but also there was a fair bit of rain around making it harder in the wet. Around the 65th minute, Niko Apelu of the Panthers made an error which led to a converted try for the Raiders, thus making it 22-4. Penrith brought themselves back into the game scoring two converted tries to make it 22-16. They tried to tie the game up but was unsuccessful in doing so giving Canberra some momentum heading into next week’s game and then Vegas.
As for Penrith, no real need to worry about it, good effort near the end but overall it was a young side for them, some of the young guys out there trying to get a possible spot in the team for the upcoming season and maybe on the plane to Vegas. But for sure the Panthers will be ready to go by round one, and will be more than ready to go for their 5th premiership in a row. Canberra showed some good work defensively, so if they keep this up, they’ll be looking okay going into round one.
But overall a really interesting couple of matches to start off the pre-season challenge. Obviously all four teams gearing up to go to Vegas for round one. But next weekend will see the Raiders vs Sharks, Knights vs Eels, Cowboys vs Dolphins, Warriors vs Storm, Broncos vs Titans, Bulldogs vs Tigers and Dragons against Roosters. Those are the fixtures for week two as we edge ever closer to round one of the 2025 NRL Season.