标签： Oceania

The 2024 NRL season has delivered another week of dramatic late team reshuffles, as injury crises, surprise comeback stories and debutant announcements have reshaped match-day lineups across all competing sides this weekend. The most high-profile shakeup has landed at South Sydney Rabbitohs, where a pair of key injury blows have cleared the way for a fairy-tale NRL return after four years on the sidelines. Fullback Matt Dufty, who spent five seasons with Saturday’s opponent St George Illawarra Dragons, has earned an unexpected call-up to the starting side after a string of standout performances in the NSW Cup that caught Rabbitohs coaching staff’s attention.

Dufty’s promotion comes as South Sydney copes with two critical absences that will sideline key players for multiple weeks. Young gun Jye Gray, who Dufty is deputising for, suffered a grade three AC joint sprain, with the club yet to confirm a definitive timeline for his return to the field. The news is even bleaker for high-profile recruit David Fifita: the forward tore his hamstring during last week’s clash against the Canberra Raiders, and is set to miss up to six matches as he recovers. To fill the gap in the back row, Lachlan Hubner has been named to make the starting line-up against the Dragons, who have retained their core starting spine, with Mat Feagai stepping into the side to replace injured Moses Suli.

Over at Wests Tigers, head coach Benji Marshall has wasted no time reinstating star playmaker Jarome Luai to the starting five-eighth position, after Luai made a full recovery from a recent knee injury. Jock Madden, who stepped up to deliver an impressive performance in the halves in Luai’s absence, retains his spot in the match-day 17. Patrick Herbert has also kept his starting centre position after a remarkable comeback performance last round, pushing exciting young talent Heamasi Makasini to the wing. Forward Samuela Fainu has also been named in the side, despite an injury scare that put his availability in question just days ago. The high-flying Tigers will face off against the Brisbane Broncos this weekend, who welcome captain Adam Reynolds back to the side following his own injury layoff, with Xavier Willison named at lock to replace suspended star Pat Carrigan.

The Canterbury Bulldogs are on the cusp of a major double boost heading into their clash with the Parramatta Eels, with two key injury returnees set to take the field. Club captain Stephen Crichton, who damaged his shoulder on Good Friday, has been named on the extended bench, marking an earlier-than-expected return from injury. Key off-season signing Leo Thompson will make his club debut this weekend, after overcoming a calf injury that delayed his first appearance for the Bulldogs. Max King, who suffered a jaw injury, remains sidelined for the clash. The Eels, meanwhile, have named Charlie Guymer and Jack Williams in their starting back row, with Saxon Pryke set to make his NRL debut coming off the interchange bench.

Melbourne Storm head coach Craig Bellamy has made targeted changes to his side, breaking a four-game losing skid. Manaia Waitere has been named on the wing, though he is widely expected to shift to centre following the dropping of Moses Leo. Shawn Blore, who has been sidelined with a foot injury, has a strong chance of featuring this weekend after being named on the extended bench alongside Hugo Peel. Over at the Canberra Raiders, winger Savelio Tamale has been dropped to the interchange bench, opening the door for Seb Kris to shift to the wing, while Matt Timoko has been recalled to starting centre after a stint in reserve grade focused on shoring up his defensive game.

In the final match-day announcements, Penrith Panthers confirmed that Izack Tago will make his 2024 season debut in the centres, replacing suspended player Casey McLean. Luke Garner has stepped into the side to cover for Liam Martin, who remains sidelined with a knee injury, for the Panthers’ clash against the Dolphins. Meanwhile, the Newcastle Knights welcome playmaker Dylan Brown back to the side following his recovery from a knee injury, with Fletcher Sharpe shifting to fullback to accommodate his return.

This weekend presents one of the most intriguing storylines of the NRL season, as former Sydney Roosters attack coach Justin Holbrook returns to Sydney to plot an upset against his old side, leading a vastly improved Newcastle Knights outfit that has defied early-season expectations.

Many elite assistant coaches struggle to find their footing when they first step into a head coaching role, but Holbrook has wasted no time leaving his mark on the Knights. Just months into the job, he has transformed the club’s once-lowest-ranked attack into a dynamic, dangerous unit — a remarkable turnaround for a side that finished last in the 2023 competition, even with star players Kalyn Ponga and Dylan Brown sidelined through injury.

Holbrook first joined the Roosters after departing the Gold Coast Titans, spending two seasons as the club’s attack architect and turning the Sydney side into one of the most prolific attacking teams in the league. His work at the Roosters earned him high praise from the club’s playing group, a respect that remains unchanged even ahead of this weekend’s clash.

Roosters forward Angus Crichton, who has experienced Holbrook’s coaching first-hand, opened up about the impact the new Knights head coach has had across his career. “He’s a really good man manager,” Crichton explained. “He knows how to get the best out of his players, and it’s impressed me seeing him go to Newcastle and still thrive. A lot of great assistants struggle with the jump to head coaching, but he looks like he’s learnt so much from his first stint in the top job. I’m really happy for him — he’s such a great bloke. He really got our attack humming when he was here, so this weekend is going to be a really good test for us.”

The Roosters head into Sunday’s home clash against Newcastle on the back of a hard-fought 12-point win over Cronulla Sharks in Perth. The side looked shaky in the opening 20 minutes, failing to hold onto possession, but rallied strongly in the second half to pull away for victory. Crichton was quick to note that despite the win, his side is still far from hitting their peak form. “I think we’re still so far from our best and we’re nowhere near where we want to be yet,” he said. “We’ve got so much work to do, and we were back putting in the hard yards again this week. We’re not out here thinking we’re world beaters — we know we’ve still got a long way to go. We’re still working on our timing and our attacking shapes, we’re not always in the right spots at the right time. That’ll only come with more game time and continuity, so we just keep building our combinations and making sure every player does their job.”

The victory over the Sharks was marred by a controversial refereeing call that saw a clear try from Roosters winger Robert Toia ruled out by the NRL Bunker for an incorrect obstruction ruling. The call sparked widespread outrage across the league, with the NRL later admitting the decision was wrong. Toia missed Tuesday’s team training as he recovers from influenza, and Crichton said controversial refereeing calls are nothing new to rugby league. “How long have you been in rugby league for? You shouldn’t be surprised, this is what we do!” he laughed. “I’m not surprised. This stuff happens every year, there’s always new things that pop up. It’s just about how you adapt as a team, there’s no point sulking and crying about it. You just move forward, make sure you understand the interpretations, and get ready when things change. It’s good that the NRL admitted they got this one wrong, and hopefully we’ll see more common sense prevail in future decisions.”

Off the field, Crichton is adjusting to life as a new father after he and his partner welcomed their first child, son Sullivan, on Easter Sunday. Crichton said the club has been incredibly supportive as he navigates the early days of parenthood. “We went into hospital on Saturday night, and he arrived Sunday morning,” Crichton said. “The club was great. The boys were meant to train on Monday, but I called the coach and he let me have the day off. I came in on Tuesday, did the bare minimum — got some field work in, skipped the meetings, did a bit of gym and headed home to be with my family. I went back to hospital, the boys travelled to Perth on Wednesday, and I got to stay an extra night to make sure my partner and Sullivan were settled at home before I flew out on Thursday. It was such a special time, and the club couldn’t have been more understanding. It’s good to be back home now so I can help out.”

For nearly 20 years, the Melbourne Storm have stood as the most dominant and feared franchise in the National Rugby League. But the 2026 season has brought the club an unprecedented crisis: a four-match losing skid that has exposed long-unseen vulnerabilities and left the squad hungry to reverse their fortunes ahead of Friday’s critical clash with the Canberra Raiders.\n\nThe team’s most recent defeat delivered an extra dose of humiliation, as the New Zealand Warriors – who had not beaten Melbourne in 17 consecutive matchups – bullied the Storm on their own home turf to snap that crippling losing streak. The core issues plaguing Craig Bellamy’s side this season trace back to a brutal off-season: a crippling wave of injuries and the departure of multiple star players left the roster depleted, forcing the veteran coach to shift middle forwards to edge positions and leaving the team without the dynamic wide attacking threat it has relied on for years.\n\nIt is on the defensive end, however, that the Storm’s struggles have been most glaring. Through the opening six rounds of the season, the side has conceded a staggering 158 total points, with 116 of those coming in just their past three outings. After the Warriors defeat, high-profile rugby league figures have been quick to criticize the squad: club great Billy Slater publicly questioned the team’s overall attitude, while former NSW coach Brad Fittler labeled Melbourne’s defensive performance “terrible” during his appearance on the *Sunday Footy Show*. The poor first-half performance against the Warriors also sparked an infamous, blistering halftime spray from coach Bellamy, a moment that gained widespread attention across rugby league social media channels.\n\nSpeaking ahead of Friday’s matchup with the Raiders, Storm captain and hooker Harry Grant has acknowledged the team’s subpar performance, admitting that the club has not hit the on-field standard it has built its reputation on. “There’s a level that we need to be performing to, and we’re certainly not there at the moment with application on the field,” Grant said. “We’ve been preparing really well for games and there are answers in the team and in the coaching squad, but it’s up to us to put in practice for performances on the weekend.”\n\nGrant added that all outside criticism of the struggling side is fair, but he is focused on tuning out external noise rather than letting it derail the team’s comeback efforts. He pointed to the rapid shift in public narrative around the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, who were widely written off just a few weeks ago before stunning the league with an upset win over the top-ranked Penrith Panthers. “Everyone changes their tune week after week,” Grant noted. “With that, it’s eliminating all the outside noise. We’ve got all the answers in the club here with the playing group and the coaching staff, but it’s just about applying it. People can have their opinions, but it doesn’t mean too much.”\n\nAll eyes will be on young forward Joe Chan this week, who was benched early in the second half against the Warriors after committing three errors and one penalty, just hours after receiving a public rebuke from Bellamy at halftime. Grant pushed back on narratives that have singled Chan out for blame, emphasizing that the Storm’s slump is a collective issue across the entire squad. “Everyone’s been in those shoes at times as a player,” Grant said. “We just need Joey at his best. When he brings his strengths to the team and is at his best, he’s a great asset to the team. You can single one player out, but it’s not just one player. It’s a collective 30-man squad, and that’s what it is.”\n\nHistorically, the Storm have built strong early-season leads to give themselves breathing room during the State of Origin representative period, but this year the club sits with just two wins from six matches, leaving no room for further error. Still, Grant and the squad have not given up on their 2026 campaign, pointing to the Penrith Panthers’ incredible 2025 turnaround as inspiration: that side sat at the bottom of the ladder after 12 rounds last year before rallying to reach the preliminary final, one win short of a grand final berth.\n\n“You can certainly take inspiration from other teams and where they’ve been,” Grant said. “At the end of the day, it’s a different team, a different environment, and it’s us that’s in it and it’s us that can make it happen. It’s not just going to happen because it’s happened in the past. You’ve got to go out there and create it and make it happen yourself.”\n\nThe Storm now enter Friday’s clash with Canberra desperate to snap their losing streak and avoid a second consecutive heavy defeat that would deepen their early-season crisis.

Ahead of one of the most anticipated AFL matches of the early season, Carlton has received a major defensive boost, with two of its starting defenders cleared to return for Thursday night’s blockbuster against Collingwood at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Jacob Weitering and Harry Dean, both of whom missed the Blues’ Gather Round clash with Adelaide after sustaining concussions, have been confirmed fit to retake their spots in the back six. Stand-in defenders Nick Haynes and Wade Derksen were forced to step up against the Crows last week, a match that pushed the understudies outside their usual comfort zone.

Speaking to media on Tuesday, Carlton senior coach Michael Voss confirmed the pair’s return, noting that both have successfully completed all concussion protocol requirements. “They’ll both be available,” Voss said. “They trained under the protocols last week on Friday and they’ve trained fully this week. I expect them to be available, they’ll end up back in the side. I’ll fit Jacob back in somewhere I reckon, he’ll find a spot. They’ll be two important additions for us – both the old and the new.”

Weitering suffered his concussion in a marking contest on Good Friday, leaving the backline short of its veteran leader for the Adelaide clash. Dean’s return adds critical depth to a defensive unit that was stretched thin last round, a gap the club will be relieved to fill heading into its rivalry match against the Magpies, who are currently working through their own forward line selection challenges.

Last week’s match against Adelaide also left Voss responding to commentary over his controversial decision to bench captain Patrick Cripps for the opening stretch of the second quarter. Carlton started the match with one of its strongest opening quarters of the year, but Cripps’ absence allowed the Crows to grab the momentum and surge to an eventual lead.

Voss has doubled down on his rotation strategy, pushing back at critics who questioned the call. “I understand there was some commentary on it,” he said. “But correct me if I’m wrong, you all had him traded last week didn’t you? Now he’s playing 100 per cent game time. We do what the team needs, it’s team-first. We’ve got a rotation that we want to make sure we execute, there’s some immediate impact that we need to have. But we also take into account that it’s the whole game we need to be able to play and bring intensity around the ball.”

Beyond the confirmed returns of Weitering and Dean, Voss also revealed the club is weighing a recall for reigning Carlton best and fairest winner George Hewett, who was dropped from the match side ahead of the Adelaide clash.