Braydon Trindall and Nicho Hynes showed they have a different approach from the last couple of seasons that could bode well for their title push in 2026.
Manly wasted a golden opportunity at home with one ‘disappointing’ moment placed under the microscope.
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Meanwhile, Ethan Sanders announced himself as a potential star of the future in a promising combination with Ethan Strange.
Read on for the NRL Talking Points ahead of Round 2.
STORM ROOKIE STUNS AMID MASSIVE COMPARISON TO CLUB GREAT
The second coming off Glenn Lazarus? Matty Johns believes the Storm have found their man.
The legendary prop, who is widely considered the greatest front-rower of all time, enjoyed an illustrious career across stints at the Raiders, Broncos and eventually the Storm.
Lazarus captained the Storm to their maiden title win in 1999 to go out in the best possible way with a premiership win in his final game in a Grand Final victory for the ages over the Dragons.
The brick with eyes is generally regarded as one of the greatest players and best winners to ever play the game, but the Storm may have produced another future club great in Cooper Clarke.
Clarke impressed off the bench in his debut in the Storm’s 52-4 win over the Eels in Round 1, finishing with 82 run metres, two tackle busts, an offload and eight tackles without a miss.
Matty Johns noted the similarities between a young Clarke and the Storm’s greatest ever prop.
“Cooper Clarke, when he went on the field I went it’s like looking at Lazo (Glenn Lazarus) again, that for me was his presence and athleticism,” Johns said on Matty and Cronk.
“They said he was 145 kilos at one point a year ago and he is big and athletic. Good late footwork, gets a good play-the-ball, that’s where he is so Lazo-like.”
Still so early in his development, Clarke has a massive future in the game and could be one of the cornerstone’s of the Storm pack for the next decade at least.
Cooper Cronk warned Clarke will only get better with more time in the saddle and miles in the legs under Craig Bellamy, but he has the bare bones to be a real game-changer for the Storm and an X-factor player off the bench.
“He is going to be big and powerful, once he gets a couple of games under his belt and a few pre-seasons,” Cronk said.
“This is a young man going through the teeth of the Parramatta defence, he looks like he has a big future.”
The Storm need their young forwards to stand up this season after losing Nelson Asofa-Solomona to boxing and Eliesa Katoa to injury and Clarke could be the man to fill the void on the bench rotation.
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‘Top four at least’ Panthers pristine | 06:48
PRESSURE BUILDING ON SEIBOLD AS MANLY BLOW IT IN FORTRESS
Anthony Seibold was one of the coaches under pressure going into the season and blowing a lead at home, albeit against the Raiders, will only ramp up the heat on the under fire coach.
Seibold has only made the finals once in three seasons since taking over at Manly and he can’t afford to miss the top eight again in 2026, so dropping games they should have won at home is a concern.
Manly burst out of the blocks to lead 14-0 against the Raiders only to find themselves down 28-14, before nearly snatching the game in a 29-28 golden point heartbreaker.
But it was one sight from the one-point loss that had The Daily Telegraph’s Dean Ritchie concerned, especially when considering the season has only just started.
“Manly’s chase of the field goal was an effort area and there was just nothing there at all,” Ritchie said on NRL 360.
“Jake Trbojevic tried god love him and look at everyone else, just standing there.
“He’s a halfback and we are in golden point, there is a fair chance he is going to have a crack at a field goal. You take Jake out of that side and look at Manly just watching.
“It is Round 1, but I reckon that would be the moment that Anthony Seibold would be most disappointed with in the entire game.”
While the Sea Eagles have plenty of strike across the park, headlined by Tom Trbojevic, it won’t mean much in the end if their forward pack doesn’t aim up.
It was a point that The Daily Telegraph’s Brent Read made, warning Manly might not have the middles to compete for a top eight spot this year.
“Their opening 10 minutes was unbelievable, they had all the ball and then they just lost complete control of the game,” Read said.
“I don’t point the finger at Seibold for that. I think some of their forwards let them down.
“I think they got dominated in the middle of the field and I’m not sure they have got the cattle to go up against a side like Canberra, who are so strong in the middle.
“Jake has lost a step let’s be brutally honest about it. He is still having a red hot go and we saw that with the field goal, but Jake is not the player he was a few years ago.”
It may not be panic stations just yet considering it was only a one-point loss, but Braith Anasta believes the scoreline flattered the Sea Eagles in the end and considering the run of games Manly has coming up, pressure could quickly build on coach Seibold.
Seibold is currently contracted until the end of 2027, but in the NRL contracts ultimately don’t mean much and Read said that if Manly lose again this week at 4 Pines Park “we will start talking about pressure”.
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Bulldog grilled over Seibold pressure | 02:39
SHARKS HALVES SHOW NEW SWAGGER AS TRINDALL STUNS
The Sharks’ halves combination of Nicho Hynes and Braydon Trindall has copped their fair share of criticism for failing to stand up in big games, but there were signs against the Titans 2026 could be different.
Granted the Titans were poor defensively, but Trindall put on an absolute masterclass and Hynes wasn’t far behind to tear the Gold Coast apart in a 50-10 victory in Round 1.
Trindall had 40 run metres, two linebreak assists, four try assists and two tries, while Hynes had 75 run metres, seven tackle busts, two linebreaks and a classy double in a 22-point haul.
Cooper Cronk believes there are promising signs about the Sharks halves combination that is different to what they have produced in previous years.
“There is something about Trindall and Hynes this year that’s different to the last two years,” Cronk said on Matty and Cronk.
“I know it’s only one game and we’re not going off too early, but Sharks have got through the last two prelims. They need something this year.
“They get to another prelim and fail, people are going to go, OK, this roster needs a shake-up.
“There is a lot more swagger and confidence about Hynes and Trindall this year than there has been the last two years.
“He scored two tries, four try assists. That is pure domination from a half in the game of football.”
Cronulla have both Trindall and Hynes locked up until at least the end of the 2028 season, meaning that while there has been plenty of debate about their halves pairing if they can work it out the Sharks have their long-term answer on the books.
While so much of the attention is usually on Hynes given he is the bigger name, Matty Johns said that Trindall deserves more credit for improving his game, comparing him to South Sydney star Cody Walker.
“He was fantastic Braydon Trindall and I was talking to Josh Addo-Carr about it and we said, when you talk about the best halves in the game, Tricky (Trindall) never gets a mention,” Johns said.
“Of course, he’s probably not the most flamboyant. You look at him, he doesn’t look like a really athletic player, but he’s a pure footballer.”
While the Sharks have consistently been up there among the best teams in the regular season, getting past the final hump and qualifying for the grand final has been a constant challenge.
It is why there is so much pressure on Trindall and Hynes to step up and own the big moments and while it is only early and came against the Gold Coast, Cronk saw enough last week to suggest they may have the balance in the combination just right in 2026.
And if if they can pick and choose their moments better against the top teams, the Sharks are a real chance at being genuine premiership contenders this season.
“He combined well with Hynes for a try, his kicking game is solid and I don’t mind if one week Trindall dominates and the next Hynes dominates,” Cronk said.
“It’s a good balance for a half. Ultimately a good halves combination is about complimenting the other person.
“Bring your strengths and make sure you’re a good team player. There is some talk around whether there should be one dominant player, one free-flowing one.
“I don’t mind it that way, as long as they continually grab their opportunities when they come up.”
The Sharks will get no tougher test for their halves pairing than coming up against an in form Panthers side fresh off a 26-0 victory over the defending premiers the Broncos in Round 2.
‘Trindall is a pure football player’ | 00:55
SANDERS’ BREAKOUT RAIDERS GAME AS STRANGE COMBINATION SHINES
The biggest question mark over the Raiders backing up their stunning minor premiership was whether Ethan Sanders could replace Jamal Fogarty and it only took him one game to show he can.
Sanders had 19 run metres, two tackle busts, a linebreak, a try assist, a brilliant solo try and then slotted the match winning field goal from 40 metres out in the Raiders’ nail-biting 29-28 golden point win over Manly.
It is the field goal in particular that stands out from Sanders’ performance according to premiership-winning halfback Cooper Cronk, who was impressed by the youngster’s poise under pressure.
“Oh my goodness, five games, scores his first try, up against Jamal Fogarty former Raiders No.7,” Cronk said of Sanders.
“There’s a lot of things that says a rookie halfback might just hesitate and step back a little bit. Game on the line, runs the ball, scores the try.
“And then we interviewed him after the game and I asked him about the field goal and he said, ‘Oh, I actually wasn’t thinking about the field goal, but then I realised it was a quick play-the-ball and the Manly players didn’t send pressure and I just went, this is an opportunity’.
“The fact that he summarised that in a split second, there is something special about this kid because most young halves will either think, ‘I’ve got to kick it at the corner or I’m just going to spray one here because I could make it, I could win it’.
“The fact that he actually broke it down and said, ‘OK, well that’s a quick play-the-ball, I’m near the 40-metre line. I can kick this. There’s no pressure coming. Actually, I’m going to have a shot’.”
It was a similar message from skipper Joseph Tapine after the game, telling reporters the “effortless” with which Sanders nailed that moment was “unreal”.
Coach Ricky Stuart, meanwhile, called it a “very, very mature” performance from the young playmaker.
There were question marks over the Sanders and Strange partnership given their relative youth and inexperience, especially when you consider the calming influence of Fogarty’s long-range kicking game.
But Strange looks more than capable of backing up his breakout 2025 campaign while Sanders, even if early, proved last weekend that he won’t shy away from the big moments.
It bodes well for a Raiders team that had been written off by plenty of pundits despite last year’s minor premiership. Instead, it looks like Ricky has them primed for a chance at finals redemption.
Saunders ‘something special’ says Cronk | 04:49
THE BIG CHANGE IN PONGA THAT HAS KNIGHTS PRIMED TO RISE
The Knights are coming off a wooden spoon season with a new coach in Justin Holbrook and a $13 million recruit in Dylan Brown with plenty of question marks over their chances coming into 2026.
Critics suggested Brown and Fletcher Sharpe were both five-eighths and couldn’t work as a halves pairing, but they showed the combination has plenty of potential in an impressive 28-18 win over the Cowboys in Las Vegas.
Matty Johns was impressed by Sharpe’s attacking involvement before he went off injured.
“You can see he’s just a special player,” he said.
“He’s got a mile of confidence, he’s got a mile of energy. And in that first 15, 20 minutes, he nearly scored three tries. He’s got a try. There was another one disallowed, one that just ran out of the dead ball line. He’s some sort of player.
“That combination between Sharpe and Brown worked well.
“He went off injured, but the first 20 or 30 minutes that he was on, it looked like they picked the right balance.”
While the Panthers and Storm both put the cleaners through their opposition in round one, they weren’t the most impressive team from the opening weekend.
Rather, Cooper Cronk said that in a round full of blowout scores, the Knights actually left a greater impression on him with their hard-fought win against the Cowboys.
“The Knights were actually probably the best-performing team,” Cronk said.
“There were some big scorelines over the weekend in Round one, but in terms of who impressed me the most, I thought what Newcastle did was very good.”
The Knights’ ace in the hole in building a halves combination with Sharpe and Brown is Kalyn Ponga at fullback and he was back to his best against the Cowboys after a disappointing 2025 campaign.
Johns said Holbrook has his three spine stars playing to their strengths with a run first mentality within the Knights’ game plan.
“I like the shapes that Justin Hulbrook had them running because Dylan Brown, Kalyn Ponga and Fletcher Sharpe, they are run first players and you want them running the football,” Johns said.
“But you don’t run for the sake of it and the shapes he was setting up was the split shape. One under, one short. It’s a running play, which gives you a pass option and that’s the way the three of them were playing.
“And Ponga, it was a really good sign for Newcastle. Kalyn was barking on the field. It’s the most I’ve seen him up on his toes, and he was organising the attack into shape.”
Cronk was closer to the action than most for the Knights’ win and was impressed by Ponga’s involvement and how vocal he was, while he also stressed he has the ability to reinvent how fullbacks play.
‘Most vocal I’ve ever seen Ponga’ | 00:50
“I’ll back you up there I was sideline for that game in Vegas and it’s the most vocal, demanding, best leadership performance I’ve seen from Ponga,” Cronk said.
“And we spoke about how he could sort of change the way that fullbacks play. He doesn’t have to always be three passes wide. He doesn’t have to be the guy that just jumps on the back of a linebreak.
“He could be first receiver, second receiver, third receiver, main ball-playing kicker, and he did that.
“He kicked the ball for a try for Fletcher Sharpe. I think he did it all and it was the best performance I’ve seen from Newcastle in a long time.
“I didn’t mind the energy that Newcastle played with too, because they had a bit of a point to prove Justin Holbrook’s a new coach, and they played with some intensity and really took it to the Cowboys.”
The Knights now take on a vulnerable Manly side in Round 2, with the chance to win back-to-back games before heading home to Newcastle.
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