The third round of the 2026 NRL season saw many highlight and lowlights headlined by the Brisbane Broncos securing their first victory of the year in a rematch of last year’s grand final against the Storm.
BRONCOS STUN MELBOURNE IN GF REMATCH
Considered the outsiders heading into the clash last Friday night against the Storm, all eyes were on the Brisbane Broncos after losing their opening three matches to begin the year against Hull KR, Penrith and the Parramatta Eels.
However, they were able to turn around their fortunes in a magical 40-minute display headlined by superstar fullback Reece Walsh.
Down by 14 points heading into the second-half, the Broncos were able to comeback and eerily similar circumstances to last year’s grand final and secure their first win in Melbourne since 2016 as back-rower Jordan Riki crossed for a double and Kotoni Staggs burst through the line to score.
“We need to get more consistent at the end of the day it’s like that game tonight with our defence was like two different teams they just had the same jumper on, so that’s what we need to start doing,” Storm coach Craig Bellamy said.
“I think in the past this team prides itself on its defence, but I think that’s one area that we knew we needed to improve this year.
“We haven’t been great defensively and let’s say it was just a real contrast and I was really happy with the way we defended the first half. We thought we’d done a great job but the second half it wasn’t near as good.”
PENRITH REMAIN UNDEFEATED
After three matches against elite opposition in the Broncos, Sharks and Sydney Roosters, the Penrith Panthers remain undefeated and on top of the NRL ladder heading into Round 4.
Taking on a Roosters side filled with international and State of Origin representatives, they proved no match for the 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 premiership winners as Ivan Cleary’s men finished the match with a comfortable 36-point victory at Allianz Stadium.
Twelve months after playing in the third-tier of New South Wales rugby league, winger Thomas Jenkins crossed for four tries, while Dylan Edwards bagged a double and Brian To’o arguably scored one of the greatest tries of his career – and one that will be in the running for Dally M Try of the Year.
“He was outstanding tonight. He’s been good in all three games but tonight was I reckon might have been his best of the year so far,” Cleary said of Edwards.
“You could see it coming in the pre-season. Did it (the Test snub) light a fire? Probably, yeah.
“I think he’s already mentioned that he felt he landed in last year a little underdone, coming off surgery and sort of just picked up little injuries along the way. Still had a decent year but probably not to Dyl’s standards.
“He’s like a lot of guys in our team, I feel a lot of guys are ready. They’ve trained hard, experience that they know how to get themselves ready and other guys have just sort of followed along.
“We’ve prepared well in the pre-season and there’s a lot of guys across the board that are playing well. If you get that, then the scoreboard’s going to look after itself.”
INJURIES GALORE IN ROUND 3
Unfortunately, Round 3 was the ‘Round of Injuries’. Within two days, the Wests Tigers lost both their halves – Jarome Luai and Adam Doueihi – to injuries, while J’maine Hopgood was ruled out for the season after rupturing his ACL.
In a massive blow for the Tigers, Luai will spend at least the next four weeks on the sidelines due to a knee issue, while Douiehi has undergone scans but will be out for at least one week. This will see Jock Madden and either Javon Andrews or Latu Fainu play in the halves this weekend.
Meanwhile, Hopgood has ruptured his ACL after being a victim to a hip-drop tackle against the Dragons and will now spend the remainder of the 2026 campaign on the sidelines.
“It’s really disappointing,” Ryles said of Hopgood’s injury.
“Those tackles, 99.9 per cent [of the time] the boys don’t mean it, so it’s not intentional. But unfortunately, you keep throwing fatigue into the game and you make them more tired … they happen.”
Other injuries from the round include Storm duo Nick Meaney (hip) and Moses Leo (concussion) being in doubt for next week. While Tom Chester, Trey Mooney and Ryan Couchman are all set to come under scrutiny from the NRL Judiciary.