Two months into season 2025 and we’re getting some separation between battling finals aspirants. Is it too early to write teams off?
Let’s have a look in your weekly NRL talking points.
A simple solution to the Lachlan Galvin problem
If only Wests Tigers had a quick and easy way to rid themselves of square peg Lachlan Galvin and his manager Isaac Moses.
Moses has no qualms setting fire to things to get what he wants – Canberra fans still seethe about him putting John Bateman in the paper to agitate for a bigger contract just days before the 2019 Grand Final, the club’s biggest game in decades.
It’s fair to comment that the Tigers have hardly covers themselves in glory with how they’ve conducted themselves as well.
Galvin and co. want out and unfortunately, the NRL’s current rules make deliberately provocative conduct the quickest and easiest way to get a release and move wherever he’s set for next. These rules also mean there’s nothing to gain for the Tigers letting him go early.
The way to work a win-win? A sanctioned NRL trade period.
Galvin can go where he’s obviously going to go next, but that club has to swap players or cash of a fair value to come back the other way.
Or, if another club offers the Tigers something better, they can send Galvin over there. He’s one of the NRL’s hottest young prospects and in a trade situation could net the Tigers plenty to keep their improved club on track.
Trade periods don’t just work for disgruntled Isaac Moses clients either. It’s a way for players who are blocked from a starting spot to see if there’s a place where they can get a run.
Worth a thought, worth a look. There’s many ways you could go about it.
Would be better than this current shitshow, in any event.
(Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
Good goes good, the rest not so much
They’re the unsexiest team in the NRL but if you’re not on your game, St George Illawarra will get you.
If you hid the 20-18 scoreline and showed someone just the stats, they’d think Manly had a comfortable win. The Dragons kept the ball moving with offloads, spoiled the Sea Eagles’ intent in attack and defended stoutly to hold on in a pretty hectic final 15. The perfect kind of game for this Dragons team.
It was a crucial win for Shane Flanagan’s men and got them a gap on their opponent, sitting seventh now while Manly are 12th.
New Zealand also took a key 20-18 win over the listing Brisbane, Luke Metcalf nailing a golden point penalty that would have carried 65-70 metres on the breeze.
CLUTCH! Luke Metcalf slots a 50-metre match-winning goal in golden point ????#NRLWarriorsBroncos pic.twitter.com/Nok63WyTH4
— NRL (@NRL) April 19, 2025
Plenty of grief was given to Reece Walsh for the error which led to that penalty but knowing what we know now about his knee, the question should be asked of Brisbane – why was he kicking the ball at all?
What a performance by the Dolphins. Laying out Melbourne 42-22 in surely the upset of the year on the back of three try assists from the game’s hottest young halfback Isaiya Katoa, whose form is just irresistible right now.
After wobbly early steps Kristian Woolf has his team getting the taste for a win, and they’re liking it.
Canterbury carried on their merry way, wandering past South Sydney 32-0 on Good Friday. Lots of complaining about the referees by bunnies fans but to be honest, there weren’t many decisions truly worth questioning as Wayne Bennett’s crew were constantly on the back foot.
A note for the record 65,305 who rolled into Homebush Stadium as well, a record NRL club game crowd.
Well played to Canterbury who made lower priced tickets available for fans and lo and behold, they came. A great day for rugby league even if the game didn’t live up to it.
It’s a new record for a stand-alone NRL club game ????
Thank you, @NRL_Bulldogs & @SSFCRABBITOHS fans! pic.twitter.com/7ebxFRv0wr
— Accor Stadium (@AccorStadium) April 18, 2025
Penrith got their game back on track with a 40-12 waltz over the Roosters. Although the win only switches places with the chooks on the ladder at 15th and 16th, it’s the Panthers and seeing them pull themselves together may be somewhat ominous…
Canberra rolled back from 16-0 down on the Gold Coast to take the points 30-20, the Raiders’ third on the bounce and important space on the finals chasing pack.
Cronulla hauled themselves back into the top eight after dusting Newcastle 34-14. As for the Knights, there’s less and less to say. They’re not going anywhere and it’s hard to see how they can reverse things.
Mitch Moses is different gravy, man
Everyone worried about Lachlan Galvin for the Tigers but it was Mitch Moses who showed he is a genuine difference maker for Parramatta in their most unexpected 38-22 bossing of the Tigers.
In the face of sin bins, an opponent charging for a win and a team that was expected to roll over, Moses showed a grown man in the halves is such a difference for a team. Dylan Brown looked more settled, the Eels’ direction was better and the Tigers’ frustration grew and grew as Parramatta took what was theirs.
The easy narrative is to focus on Lachlan Galvin and the Tigers losing a game they were expected to win, but Galvin isn’t worth 26 points. Parramatta is the takeaway here. Who knows what can come next- they’re not the bin fire we saw early on.
Everyone’s getting hurt
What a brutal time – Brisbane and Queensland fullback Reece Walsh is out for 4-6 weeks with a PCL tear (that’s the ligament in the back of your knee).
Roosters forward Nat Butcher got his MCL hip dropped (that’s the ligament on the inside part of your knee) and could be out long term.
Storm and Queensland hooker Harry Grant is out for 4-6 with a hamstring problem (that’s one of three muscles on the back of your leg connecting from your lower back to your knee).
Gold Coast halfback Jayden Campbell is out for 4-6 with a syndesmosis injury (that’s the joint stabilising your leg bones at your ankle), and this is just a sample from the week’s carnage.
Injuries to big names stretches team depth and structure, and puts pressure on other big names in the team to play through when they might be a bit banged up themselves. Campbell and Grant’s injuries happened at training too, the worst kind to cop.
Big impacts on teams with big dreams… Let’s see how things play out. Who will lift?
The high contact crackdown that never happened
I really don’t know why the NRL puts itself into these positions, honestly.
Just a fortnight after threatening all and sundry with sin bins and sendoffs for any ‘forceful high contact without mitigation’ we’re back where we were before, with players getting smashed in the face by high shots that are put n report, penalised or sometimes both, then suspensions and fines coming afterwards.
Newcastle’s James Schiller gets binned for what looked like unintentional contact trying to stop a try, while Gold Coast’s Klese Haas has two high shots deemed worthy of a penalty and report but nothing else. Let’s not forget Parramatta’s Kelma Tuilagi nailing Wests Tigers prop Taylan May, either.
Many a forearm went thudding forcefully into a face with nary a peep of the non-negotiable tough punishment we were promised.
I’d sigh, but it was just so predictable.
Hip drop tackles are back, too. Manly prop Toafofoa Sipley is in all sorts for injuring Dragons winger Matt Feagai, Penrith forward Mitch Kenny’s tackle that injured Nat Butcher wasn’t deemed worthy of a penalty in live play but he’s now been suspended for two weeks. South Sydney forward Euan Aitken gets penalised and reported for a hip drop, then no charges were laid.
Hudson Young must play Origin, properly
The Canberra second rower scored his third double in three weeks in the Raiders’ 30-20 comeback over the Gold Coast, the second of which was a sight to behold.
Young has featured for New South Wales on three occasions but was dropped by Brad Fittler then Michael Maguire.
I’d argue he hasn’t been used properly by the blues. Fittler and Maguire wanted him to be a Liam Martin/Jake Trbojevic type and that’s not what he is at all.
Young’s an angle runner, a powerhouse with quick feet and an open mind for a pass, who makes things happen on the edge while acquitting himself well in defence.
If Laurie Daley can figure out the best direction to point him, he could be anything on the Origin stage.
Hudson scores his third double in as many weeks! ????#WeAreRaiders pic.twitter.com/vG3aGtAau0
— Canberra Raiders (@RaidersCanberra) April 20, 2025
What lies ahead
Round eight gives us some good fun on paper, let’s hope the squads can live up to it.
We begin on Thursday with Brisbane hosting Canterbury, who are starting to stretch their legs a bit.
Friday is ANZAC Day and a triple header. The afternoon’s traditional outing between the Rooster and Dragons kick us off before we head to Christchurch for New Zealand and Newcastle, then head to Melbourne for the nightcap with the dinged up Storm facing South Sydney, who haven’t ever won in Melbourne from 19 tries.
That means only two games on Saturday. North Queensland come back from the bye to welcome the Gold Coast at twilight, then Penrith are at their temporary home at Western Sydney Stadium against Manly.
Sunday wraps the round with Canberra and the Dolphins in what should be good fun, then Wests Tigers get a real test when Cronulla come to Leichardt Oval, where the Tigers are 9-12 since 2019.
Parramatta get the free points from the bye.
Week seven random thoughts
- See? No need for panic, Panther fans. Roosters fans, on the other hand…
- Yet another attempted media blowup about South Sydney forward Jai Arrow dealing with a fool in the crowd. Don’t get sucked in by nothing stories!
- It wasn’t just Harry Grant injured for Melbourne. Forward Tui Kamikamica (ankle) and centre Jack Howarth (dislocated shoulder) gone for a spell too. We were high on the Storm just a week ago, now just like that they’re into their depth chart.
- Classic loss deflection by Roosters coach Trent Robinson, going after the refs and bunker to keep the heat off his team getting worked over by a Penrith side who’d lost five on the go.
- Will be interesting to see what kind of punishment Penrith get for having 14 on the field against the Roosters too. The range is wide, from a fine to losing the points. The way the NRL is at the minute surely it’ll be a fine.
- Jarome Luai is a great addition for the Tigers’ culture, but it’s fair to suggest he needs to start contributing a bit more on the stats sheet.
What’s your big NRL deal this week, Roarers?
