The Canberra Raiders have shown they may just be the real deal in 2025, backing up their Las Vegas thumping of the Warriors by outclassing the dangerous Broncos in front of a home crowd.
Despite a slight fightback in the final 15 minutes by Brisbane, the damage was already done by an energetic Raiders side who were able to do to the Broncos what they had been doing to other teams so far in 2025.
1. Young Raiders forward has massive impact on debut
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Canberra fans will be wondering where they have been hiding Matty Nicholson, with the Super League recruit making as statement in his first game at the club, after sitting out the game in Las Vegas.
The 21-year-old stormed to a double inside the first half, with all of the commentators singing his praises after announcing himself to the NRL in a big way.
“Where did they find Matty Nicholson, he’s been unbelievable in his first 40 minutes in the NRL,” Yvonne Sampson asked her co-hosts surprisingly at halftime.
“In his two tries he’s carving up Ben Hunt at the moment, both tries have gone through him on the outside shoulder and done a really good job,” Cooper Cronk added.
Watching him dominate close to the line is like turning back the clock to Glenn Lazarus, Dave Furner and Brad Clyde and in more recent times Josh Papalii, who is his current teammate.
Matty Nicholson Canberra Raiders
Matty Nicholson of the Raiders celebrates scoring a try with team mates. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
He may just be in uncharted territory, scoring two tries in his debut in two competitions with Nicholson also scoring two tries in his first Super League game for Wigan.
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2. The Broncos are vulnerable when the opposition takes the game to them
The Broncos picked up where they left off in last weekend’s dominant win over the Roosters, as well as the preseason.
With several dominant sets on the Raiders line, it didn’t amount to points before the Green Machine then flicked the switch and began to take control.
Not only did the hosts score the opening try on their first trip down that end of the field, but the Broncos put the kick off out on the full and when Selwyn Cobbo was manhandled into making an error, it looked concerning.
“This is an inspired Canberra Raiders. They are using this energy from the crowd,” Dan Ginnane said on Fox League.
“Now the Broncos look seriously rattled even though it is early days.”
Brisbane are considered among the front runners for the premiership along with Penrith and Melbourne, but the energy and intensity from the Raiders may have exposed one of their weaknesses given that they have only met lower-ranked opposition until this point.
While conditions were warmer across the country, including the Nation’s capital the Broncos were looking tired midway though the half.
“The Broncos, a couple of sets on their own line, and they are out,” Greg Alexander noted.
“They are in a little bunch there and it will make it easier for the Raiders to tee off on them.”
All that work ended up causing fatigue in the second half as the margin passed 20-points.
3. Souths are not a pretty team, but with Wayne there’s always a way
Looking at some of the Rabbitoh’s statistics alone, you could easily make a case that they were thrashed.
The Dragons won the error count 9-6, missed tackles 26-10, ineffective tackles 14-2 and ruck infringements 3-0 – it was very sloppy at times, but Souths won where it mattered on the scoreboard.
Coming back from halftime, Fox Sports sideline reporter Lara Pitt revealed that the errors were the main focus for Souths at the break – ironically just as they made a mistake less than five minutes into the half.
“Wayne won’t be happy with that, his message was to cut down the silly errors,” she said.
“The heat is going to take its toll in this matchup – so they have to be smart.”
But instead of it being the Rabbitohs feeling the heat late it was the Dragons, with the home team giving up a 12-point advantage midway through the second half to lose 25-24.
There was even an ever-so-slight smile from Wayne Bennett at the post game press conference as he revealed how proud he was with the fightback, remaining undefeated after two rounds with so many players missing.
“We’re a team that refuses to give up,” Bennett said.
“There was every reason to find fault with the performance and start turning on each other but we didn’t and just got stronger.
“We were quite dominant in the last 20 minutes.”
It’s all hypothetical, but would the Bennett-less Souths of 2024 have had the heart to be able to produce such a comeback, especially with the weather and all the mistakes?
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4. Lewis Dodd is going to find it hard to make it back into first grade at this rate
The question all week was, have Souths made a 650,000 mistake signing Lewis Dodd from Super League – and that heat is only going to intensify.
With Dodd back in NSW Cup, his replacement Jamie Humphreys continued to make the most of his NRL start with the matchwinning play against the Dragons.
He casually slotted his first NRL field goal in just his third game at the top level to win the match in the 13-point comeback.
It was far from straightforward, with the ball on the fifth tackle finding the ground before the halfback had to stop his momentum and reach behind. But it never looked like missing from 30 metres out.
“Certainly not planned. He got an awkward pass, from dummy half,” Kevin Walters described it in commentary.
Team mate Cody Walker also praised his partner in the halves for his game awareness, admitting he wasn’t even thinking field goal at that stage.
“If I remember correctly, I think I dropped it, and it went (along the ground),” Walker said.
“I said to him after the game, ‘were you even thinking about a field goal?’ He said yeah.
“But that was the last thing on my mind at that point. It’s not my strength, game planning and stuff.”
Kicking was Humphreys’ strength throughout the game with 17 kicks for 632 metres – adding to his try assist – and as long as he keeps leading Souths to victory, he will be hard to shift from the No.7 jersey.
5. Referees seem scared to double sin bin
With the scoreline and momentum stacking up against them, North Queensland perhaps received some mercy from the officials in the second half.
Cowboys centre Jaxon Purdue had just been sent to the sin bin for holding down too long after his try-saver on Samuel Stonestreet, who had ran more than half the length of the field from a 20-metre restart.
But he should have been joined by teammate Murray Taulagi who knocked Jesse Ramien off his feet with a forceful clip on the chin.
“Taulagi is sweating on it, he just launches and just clips him on the chin, knocks him off his feet,” Michael Ennis said in commentary.
While there was little reaction from the Sharks in terms of arguing for it was the same as – if not arguably worse due to the force – than the sin binning of Newcastle’s Kai Pearce-Paul against the Dolphins on Thursday night.
The only difference in this case was the Cowboys already had a player in the sin bin.
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It is shaping as a long season for the team from Townsville, who are just strugging in the key fundamentals of the game – in both attack and defence.
Granted that it should have been much closer at the halftime break, as Murray Taulagi powered his way over the line but put a fraction of his toe on the sideline. So instead of being at least 16-10 at the break, it the margin was 10 points – but it never got any closer in the second half.
That’s the problem. The North Queenslanders just don’t have points in them at the moment – just going through the motions in attack and rarely threatening. The only try they did score in the first half was a fluky high-kick Falcon off Taulagi that sat up for Jaxon Purdue.
Statistics showed just how attrocious the defence was, with 38 missed tackles and the Sharks making 10 line breaks. The majority of the visitors tries were soft.
As the Sharks score passed 30, Andrew Voss asked Michael Ennis how far off the elite teams in the competition the Cowboys currently are – to which he replied “miles”.
“The Cowboys are a real concern, they really are,” Ennis said.
“At no stage in this game have they looked really dominant,” Voss added.
Maybe the commentators should continue to criticise North Queensland; just moments later they scored a consolation second that looked flashy – but it was all too little too late. The Sharks even having the final say in the 36-12 win.