It was an Inner West festival surrounded by a circus, minus the elephant in the room. Zac Lomax was nowhere and everywhere during Parramatta’s 40-6 romp over Cronulla. Notable by his absence amid the nasty legal stoush between club and player, and also apparently forgettable because a full-strength Eels side did not need him to run all over a weakened Sharks side. No Lomax, no worries? It’s definitely not that simple. At least the occasion was joyfully uncomplicated: Henson Park is back, baby, and top-flight footy is better for it. Jets fans and Newtown Beer Footy Food Festival regulars among the almost 9000 spectators know the iconic venue has always been there, but Sunday was 36 years in the making. The upgrades look the goods. Albo took his dog. A van selling choc tops …
Anthony Albanese surveys the hill at Henson Park on Sunday evening.Credit: NRL Photos
Is Tigers kid Tino the new Coates?
The leap wasn’t quite as long as Xavier Coates’s 6.5m jump for his 2024 hall-of-fame try for Melbourne, but the mechanics of Tino Tavana’s body-bending corner-flag effort for the Tigers on Saturday might be one of the most difficult in recent memory. Haven’t heard of him? Ah, but you would have seen the 21-year-old Narellan junior hovering horizontally in the air, too far outside the field of play and too close to the ground to possibly override his own momentum and ground the ball inside and over the line. Except that Tavana possesses the contortion skills of a pretzel and may have already bagged the try of the season before said season has even started. Indeed, it took something special to upstage Heamasi Makasini’s hat-trick of tries at McDonald Jones Stadium. And even though the Roosters lost 42-26, Rex Bassingthwaighte’s performance looked very much like one of a rookie fullback destined to become James Tedesco’s successor.
Bulldogs bound for Vegas without Burton?
He told Cameron Ciraldo “it’s not too bad”, but if Matt Burton’s hamstring scans tell him something else then the Canterbury head coach faces a tough call on whether to risk flying his star five-eighth to the US this week. Burton technically has two weeks to recover in time for the March 1 opener against St George Illawarra, but a long-haul flight is not the best way to heal soft-tissue injuries like the one that prompted Burton’s first-half exit from the Bulldogs’ 28-0 defeat of Newcastle. You’d have to wager the odds of him travelling are long. Ciraldo has already earmarked Saturday’s halves replacement Sean O’Sullivan to step in again at Allegiant Stadium if required and, based on the Dragons’ form against South Sydney, he might not need him. Leo Thompson is also no certainty after the new recruit withdrew from the All Stars match with calf tightness.
North Queensland might be down a man in Las Vegas, too, with centre Zac Laybutt facing suspension for a lifting tackle on Keahn Skipps during Friday’s 66-24 rollick against a young Panthers team in McKay. Even with an early guilty plea, Laybutt would miss the Cowboys’ first two games of the season.
Reed right at home in Townsville
Reed Mahoney still doesn’t know why the Bulldogs cut him loose, but the nuggety hooker gave “If you find out, tell me” new meaning with a statement debut for new club North Queensland. If there was a point to prove, Mahoney did so via two try assists, two line-break assists and 18 tackles during an active first half against Penrith’s reserves that suggested the shoes of Reece Robson have already been filled and compliments a new-look spine with Tom Dearden and Scott Drinkwater.
Manly life after DCE ain’t so bad
Daly Cherry-Evans might have left for a latte in the east but Joey Walsh, 19, and Onitoni Large, 18, took control to orchestrate a 33-18 win for Manly over the Warriors in Napier. Turns out DCE’s exit might not be the apocalyptic event some have predicted. The young halves, playing their first senior game together, looked like old hands among a clutch of other teenagers and part-timers (and could yet benefit from the expanded interchange bench behind Luke Brooks and freshly signed Jamal Fogarty). That said, they made a more experienced Warriors collective appear spiritless in comparison. Yes, they were missing seven to Sunday’s Maori-Indigenous All Stars match but coach Andrew Webster would still be underwhelmed with that first outing, and Morgan Gannon did not exactly set the field alight.
It was a bright moment for the Sea Eagles on the same weekend it emerged the family of Keith Titmuss has commenced legal action against the club after the former player died of exertional heatstroke during a training session deemed “more likely than not inappropriate”.
Latrell not centre of attention
There was plenty happening in the centres during South Sydney’s Charity Shield upset over the Dragons – and Mitchell wasn’t even on the field. The revamped left centre watched from the WIN Stadium Stands (alongside most other senior Rabbitohs) as Talanoa Penitani and Latrell Siegwalt did their thing and even scored a try apiece in the 28-24 result marred by Jonah Glover’s third-minute jaw fracture. Jack Wighton, David Fifita, Cameron Murray and Cody Walker also sat out the pre-season tune-up turned kick up the arse of a St George-Illawarra side facing an uphill battle to beat the Bulldogs in Vegas.
Souths centre Latrell Siegwalt with namesake Latrell Mitchell on Saturday night.Credit: NRL Photos
Aside from Souths maybe actually being a bit better in 2026, the other conspicuous thread is a lack of headlines following Mitchell into a new NRL season. A calf niggle ruled him out of Indigenous All Stars representation for a second straight year while Payne Haas’ shock recruitment from Brisbane has stolen the limelight, and who knows what that might do for a talent sometimes handicapped by intense public scrutiny.
Let Vegas teams play Vegas teams
If the Vegas experiment is to continue, it seems logical and prudent for the four teams involved to play each other in pre-season trials. North Queensland’s 66-24 walk in the park against a pack of Panthers kids was anything but a reliable barometer for where each team is at heading into round one, and does not provide the Cowboys with quality preparation for a high-profile game abroad with premiership points on the line. The risk of a lopsided clash like this is prospective injuries to players who do not stand a chance. The Knights played the Bulldogs, which is great (not for the Knights, who completed only 27 of 43 sets en route to a 28-0 rout without Kalyn Ponga), so why did the Dragons not have their hit-out against the Cowboys?
Indigenous All Star Nicho Hynes and Maori All Star James Fisher-Harris after Sunday’s 16-16 draw at FMG Stadium Waikato.Credit: Getty Images
Maori side retain All Stars title
The Indigenous All Stars came mighty close to a match-winning try that would have made for a memorable moment when Jayden Campbell – the son of All Stars creator Preston Campbell – somehow reeled in an unlikely Braydon Trindall chip and scored, only for it to be overturned for a knock-on. The score was 16-16 with six minutes to go and finished that way, in a game where referee Adam Gee was forced off with an injury, leaving Belinda Sharpe to officiate the closing stages of Sunday afternoon’s thriller in Hamilton. Meanwhile, the Indigenous women’s side fought back from three tries down after 23 minutes to ambush their Maori counterparts and win a third consecutive All Stars clash.
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