A multiple premiership-winning player has made a startling Panthers claim as their superstar halfback prepares to celebrate a huge milestone.
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The reason for Canberra’s slow start has been pinpointed amid criticism around an inexperienced playmaker.
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Meanwhile, the Broncos have been implored to copy a “creed” used by Penrith during their four-year premiership reign.
Read on for the key Talking Points ahead of Round 6.
LEGEND’S OMINOUS WARNING OVER BEST-EVER PANTHERS TEAM
Bulldogs vs. Panthers Thursday 9th of April @ 7.50pm
The 2026 Penrith Panthers may not be the best team they have had on paper, but Luke Keary fears they are the best NRL team ever, which should put the Bulldogs and the rest of the NRL on notice.
Coming off a stunning 50-10 win over the Storm, which was the first time since 2003 a Melbourne team has conceded a half century, Penrith are at the peak of their powers.
James Graham noted on the Bye Round podcast that the Storm didn’t even play that badly and still conceded 50 points.
“The Panthers are mentally marinating teams during the week,” Graham said on the Bye Round.
“The Storm completed at 94 per cent. Like what do you do? Bellamy must be just scratching his head.”
Keary revealed the 2026 Panthers are the best team he has ever seen in his life, which is remarkable given they won four straight titles while he was still playing.
“This is the best team I have ever seen and it is not the best team they have had on paper,” Keary said.
The Panthers have lost several players in free agency over their glittering journey.
However, according to Graham, their two best players of this era have remained and seem to be going as well as ever.
“It’s not (best team on paper) but I think Nathan Cleary and Isaah Yeo have got better with age from those early 2020s,” Graham said.
“Obviously when you throw Kikau, Crichton, Luai, Koroisau, Fisher-Harris and Burton into that team they look better, but you can’t have too many stars.
“I think they have got a good hierarchy at the moment with Cleary and Yeo pulling all the strings, the others just fit in around them and Edwards is back to his best.”
Keary revealed the Panthers were the only team he played against in his career where he felt he had to change his own game plan to beat them.
“You don’t change your game plan unless you play this Panthers team,” he said.
“In my whole career in the NRL, they were the only team where we ever thought, OK we need to mix it up a bit here over the 12 or 13 seasons.
“The last couple of years versing them we thought, we are going to have to do something a little bit different here because we can’t win.”
Graham challenged Keary that the Panthers made him feel beaten before he even got on the field.
“So they are in your head before kick-off,” Graham said.
“During the week you are like, we are going to have to go away from what we have practised all year and our philosophy of football and we are going to have to roll the dice really.
“And is that a bit of an admission of defeat there? Saying what we do week to week is not going to be good enough?”
Keary likened it to the Roosters when they won back-to-back premierships, but believes this Panthers side is so far ahead of the rest of the NRL.
“Yes subconsciously you get that,” Keary said.
“That’s what a great team does. When we had that run in 2018 and 2019, we saw teams come up against us and change the way they played because they probably thought they couldn’t beat us and Penrith have that. It is very ominous.”
Has Burton been disrespected at Dogs? | 02:18
CALLER’S FREAKY PREMONITION REVISITED AS CLEARY ARRIVES AT SPECIAL MILESTONE
Bulldogs vs. Panthers Thursday 9th of April @ 7.50pm
Nathan Cleary will step out for game 200 on Thursday night when the high-flying Panthers take on the Bulldogs at Accor Stadium.
It’s a special milestone for a special player who will achieve the feat at just 28 years of age.
Given he’s still got several years in the tank, Cleary has the time to reach 400 before it’s all said and done. But let’s cross that bridge when we get to it.
“Have we seen a better 200 games from anyone? I don’t think we have. The first 200 games from him are the best I’ve seen from anyone, including Cam Smith and Andrew Johns,” journalist Michael Carayannis said on NRL360.
Fox League commentator Andrew Voss remembered the night Cleary scored a hat-trick as a teenager back in 2019.
In game No. 32, Cleary crossed for three tries in an epic performance as the Panthers downed the Warriors 34-22.
Calling one of Cleary’s three tries on Fox League, Voss predicted the then 19-year-old was destined for great things.
“Cleary’s gone through again. What a game he’s having, hat-trick for Nathan Cleary. I’ll say it, future NSW halfback right there, maybe in the green and gold somewhere down the track. He’s only 19, he has scored a hat-trick here tonight, he kicks everything…what an amazing young talent,” Voss called back in Round 19, 2017.
Speaking to foxsports.com.au, Voss also recalled calling Cleary years prior in a schoolboys game, now admitting he didn’t think back then he’d turn into the superstar he is now.
“I had called Nathan as a schoolboy playing for St Dominic’s (Penrith) and I remember being out at games and seeing his dad just in the stands but to be honest, Nathan as a schoolboy was nowhere near a standout, if I was to say other players involved in the competition,” Voss revealed.
“They were in the second tier of the national schoolboys competition and and you would have said good player, but not great player. You weren’t saying he was definitely gonna be a superstar this kid. Yeah, he was just a good player, a really good player at schoolboy level.
“Jump ahead to that night with a hat-trick against the Warriors, and I stand by everything I said there.
“The confidence of Nathan Cleary, I don’t think he’d mind me saying, but I knew from very early in the piece that he was a rugby league nerd. I mean, he studies the game, he watches everything. Everything to give him an edge to be a better player. He ticks every box.
“He’s a consummate professional. His goal kicking, general play kicking, his composure, he’s the complete package and it’s not often Nathan loses.”
DRAGONS’ DEVELOPMENT UNDER FIRE AMID LOSING STREAK
Dragons vs. Sea Eagles Friday 10th of April @ 6.00pm
The Dragons’ player development and recruitment has come under fire as they try to break their losing streak against Manly to save Shane Flanagan’s job,
St George Illawarra have lost their first five games in their worst ever start to a season and have lost 10 straight games dating back to last year, with Flanagan needing a win desperately or risk being sacked in the coming weeks.
Round 6 has seen Flanagan move out of favour young gun Tyrell Sloan to fullback for the injured Clint Gutherson, with Kyle Flanagan returning at halfback and Daniel Atkinson switching to five-eighth.
Sloan was given permission to leave the club last season and has started just one game on the wing in 2026 in a loss to the Titans, but now he is rumoured to be the preferred fullback, even when Gutherson returns from a hamstring injury.
The club also missed out on luring Trai Fuller from the Dolphins and are still interested in Scott Drinkwater from the Cowboys.
Gorden Tallis noted the Dragons have struggled to turn promising youngsters into NRL stars for some time and put the blowtorch on their development and recruitment.
“When I look at the Dragons no one’s gone there and developed,” Tallis said.
“I have been calling for Sloan for a number of weeks. I watched them play against Parramatta and he was in everything in reserve grade and they won by 30 points.
“You need X-Factor. You look at Melbourne Storm, they throw on a young kid in there. You just have got to defend their mistakes.
“Reece Walsh, a couple of years ago, he made more errors than anybody else in the competition, but look what he did within two years. He won them a competition.”
Tallis warned the Dragons need to put faith in their young players and allow them to make mistakes and learn from them on the big stage.
“I think when you’ve got these young talent, we don’t have reserve grade. We can’t sit them there where they get tough and they learn how to play,” Tallis explained.
“They come pretty much from school, get thrown into playing with men and we judge them on that. But when they’re there, I think you’ve got to teach them on the run and try to develop them.
“And I think at the Dragons, when I sit there and look at them, all their young kids just haven’t been able to take the next step.”
Braith Anasta fears Shane Flanagan’s hard line approach won’t work on some of the young rising stars at the Dragons and warned the game has changed and he needs to change with it.
“I look at Sloan and I just look at a kid that looks like he needs a cuddle,” Anasta said.
“One of those coaches, like Wayne Bennett, to get in there and get the best out of him and show him some love and put some faith and belief in him.
“If you look at the recruitment and the way they’ve gone the last couple of years, their emphasis has been on older senior players that come in for a quick fix, more so than actually development, which is big these days.
“The game has changed. It’s not the same as it was a decade ago, 15 years ago. It’s very different.”
Anasta pointed out the Dragons have plenty of promising young players and a great nursery, but they need the right coaching to turn them into NRL stars.
“You’ve got to put faith, trust, belief, work, time and effort into the kids you’ve got,” Anasta said.
“They’ve got a great nursery and they’ve got some great kids coming through.
“They won the SG Ball a couple of years. They’ve been there in all grades for a long time now. They’ve got the cattle. It comes down to development and coaching.”
However, Paul Crawley is concerned the Dragons are leaking details that Gutherson won’t return from injury in the fullback jersey.
“I have no doubt that they need to shake things up,” Crawley said.
“My reaction there was to do with the fact that I thought there was a lack of respect. Even if that’s going to happen, there’s ways to do things. And leaking it to the media is not the way when you’re talking about your captain.”
Anasta agreed it is a sign of where the club is at: “It’s just a bad sign. It’s a sign of a club that’s in a bit of trouble and everyone’s passing the buck a little bit and fighting for survival.”
However, The Daily Telegraph’s Dave Riccio warned the fullback spot going forward will depend on how Sloan fares in Gutherson’s absence.
“I think it absolutely just comes down to Tyrell Sloan,” Riccio said.
“If Sloan plays a game and shows enough, I think he retains the full back spot.”
Crawley unloads on Dragons’ recruitment | 03:26
HOW BRONCOS CAN MIRROR PANTHERS AMID INJURY CRISIS
Broncos vs. Cowboys Friday 10th of April @ 8.00pm
The Broncos have been urged to abide by a “creed” adopted by the Panthers during their four-year premiership reign.
The Panthers have often adopted a ‘next man up’ mentality over the past five to six years, either due to players leaving in free agency, covering injuries or when they’ve rested stars throughout the season.
Brisbane were hit hard by the injury bug during last weekend’s win against the Titans, with three star playmakers suffering setbacks.
Ben Hunt and Reece Walsh will both miss anywhere between four and eight weeks while halfback Adam Reynolds is racing the clock to play against the Cowboys this Friday night.
“If I was Michael Maguire, my advice to his players would be ‘do your job’. We talk about next man up a lot to win a competition. When Penrith went through their four straight years of winning them and Cleary missed slabs of football, Penrith really lived and breathed by that creed and now the Broncos have to do the same,” Fox League commentator Andrew Voss told foxsports.com.au.
”They’re always going to be the hunted this year as defending premiers so they carry that burden through the year, but now they really have to live up to what their words are in the next man up and get the job done.”
Reynolds has been named but is still under a cloud and has been limited at training this week.
“He ran well (on Tuesday), so those indicators give you thoughts about what you can do moving into the week. I’m going to give him until the captain’s run and then we will see how he pulls up,” Maguire told CODE Sports.
If Reynolds can’t go, Tom Duffy is expected to slot in at halfback.
It would be Duffy’s club debut and it would come against the team he started his career at and grew up supporting.
The Townsville-born Duffy played six games for the Cowboys before being granted a release to join Brisbane.
If Duffy is relied upon on Friday, his teammates believe the revenge factor could play in their favour
“Anyone coming from a different club and playing their previous club, it makes you want to play well against a team that let you go. It has happened to me in the past, and I am sure Duff will be excited if he gets the call up,” Broncos speedster Jesse Arthars said.
“Even though he is inexperienced, through good prep he will be fine and we have a lot of experienced players around him.”
Arthars has been named to replace Walsh at the back.
The absence of the superstar No. 1 will hurt, but Voss believes the Broncos are well built to perform really well even without him.
“I know Reece Walsh was incredibly influential last season but you don’t win a competition on Reece Walsh alone. These are very players with big scrapbooks, representative level players,” Voss said.
“The Cowboys will fancy their chances but I’d be surprised if the Broncos didn’t go well Friday night.”
ACHILLES HEEL HAS DEFENDING MINOR PREMIERS CLOSER TO SPOON
Rabbitohs vs. Raiders Saturday 11th of April @ 3.00pm
This time last year the Raiders were one of the form teams of the competition on route to a stunning minor premiership, but if it wasn’t for the Dragons they would now be wooden spoon favourites.
It is a stunning fall from grace for the Green Machine, who have looked a shadow of the team that lit up the competition last season.
Paul Crawley warned if they don’t fix their discipline and attention to detail fast, the Raiders risk not making the top eight in 2026.
“It’s discipline,” Crawley said on NRL 360.
“It’s players giving away penalties and getting thrown in the sin bin. It’s six-agains, not contesting bombs.
“All these individual mistakes are adding up and it has put the Raiders in a position now where after five rounds they are sitting second last on the ladder.
“They have got the Rabbitohs next and then the Storm and the Tigers and I truly think that their crunch time has come now.
“Last year’s minor premiers are deadset in a position where if they don’t turn it around fast they won’t make the top four and the longer it goes on the more chance they are of missing out on the eight and it all comes down to their own bad habits.
“Unfortunately, it can be one or two players one week and the next it can be six or seven and you just can’t win football games when you are giving away that much opportunity. I think they completed at 70 per cent on the weekend.”
Gorden Tallis noted that the Raiders’ built their 2025 minor premiership on effort in defence and off the ball.
“They just had more green jerseys in the picture last year,” Tallis said.
“They worked really hard defensively. Everyone was talking about their attack, but they were really gritty in defence.”
The biggest change for the Raiders this year has been their halfback with youngster Ethan Sanders replacing veteran Jamal Fogarty and Braith Anasta questioned if he should be feeling the pressure.
“Ethan Sanders had such a great start to his Raiders career as starting half, but is there pressure mounting on him off the back of these results?” Anasta asked.
“Ricky Stuart has a lot of faith in Sanders,” The Daily Telegraph’s Dave Riccio replied.
“I always thought the Raiders would start slow just on the basis of their combination changes in the spine with Sanders and Strange together for the first time.
“I thought it would be a tough initiation and he is a young half.”
Anasta noted the changes on the Raiders’ edges is affecting their defence, after they tried to plug the issues that Matthew Timoko had in the finals last year.
“There was a concern last year with their edge with Timoko there and you can get exposed on the edges with injuries,” Anasta said.
“Now with new players coming in and a new halves combination being formed they are doing it tough.
“I thought they started the season well and were just going to kick on this year, but I have been a bit shocked with the way they have played.”
Crawley reiterated the Raiders have the players to fix their current issues, but warned they must improve one area to be any chance of making the finals.
“They have got the ability to turn it around,” Crawley said.
“We saw what they could do last year if they get it going. They have got the players, but at the moment they haven’t got the discipline.”
WHY STORM SHOULD BE ‘WORRIED’ AS UNWANTED RARE AIR LOOMS
Storm vs. Warriors Saturday 11th of April @ 7.35pm
It was only 25 days ago when the Storm were atop the NRL table and premiership favourites after putting on 98 points in the first two rounds.
Given that blazing start, the lows they’ve stooped to since are hard to fathom.
Melbourne have lost three straight games to plummet down the ladder, with one of those losses an embarrassing 40-point loss to Penrith.
Granted, a heavy defeat to the Panthers won’t be uncommon this season, but for the Storm, they are simply losses they don’t endure.
It’s early in the season and the overwhelming sense is that the Storm will turn things around but Fox League’s Andrew Voss believes there’s cause for concern.
”Yes they should be worried. I’m in shock,” Voss said.
“I don’t think Craig Bellamy would come out publicly and say but I think there’d be a little shock factor. The two previous weeks giving up two double digits lead and then conceding 50 points. That’s most unlike Melbourne.
The Storm come up against a Warriors team who is also in the midst of a mini slide, having lost their past two games despite starting the season strongly.
At AAMI Park, it’s a game that the Storm really should be winning.
For that reason, Voss says the Storm are in a high-pressure environment that the club seldom finds itself under.
“I think we learn a lot from Melbourne this Saturday night, I really do,’ Voss said.
“When I think of teams under pressure this week, it’s easy to say Dragons quite obviously are under pressure, the Bulldogs are under pressure but I don’t think they’re under any more or less pressure than the Storm given the last few weeks.
“The bar is set so high for Melbourne that the thought of them losing four in a row this early in a season, wow that’s like we’ve entered another universe.
“That’s never happened so there’s massive pressure on Melbourne and I think I think there would be part of Craig Bellamy who isn’t 100% sure where things have gone wrong.”
Munster admits attitude change is needed | 00:52
HALVES DILEMMA FACING BENJI AS STAR CLOSES IN ON RETURN
Tigers vs. Knights Sunday 9th of April @ 4.05pm
Few would have predicted before the season that a Round 6 Sunday afternoon clash between the Wests Tigers and the Newcastle Knights would be a top four blockbuster.
Benji Marshall and Justin Holbrook deserve plenty of credit for getting their teams to second and third on the ladder respectively behind only the undefeated Panthers.
The Knights finished wooden spooners last year and are missing Kalyn Ponga and Dylan Brown, still managing four wins from five starts… but more on them later.
Meanwhile the Tigers finished 13th after three straight wooden spoons and have only lost one game to the Rabbitohs and are without Jarome Luai due to injury.
Fox League’s Paul Crawley paid tribute to Marshall and Luai’s replacement Jock Madden, who is set to give his coach a huge selection dilemma when the star No.6 returns in the coming weeks.
“There is just so much excitement about the Tigers at the moment and the footy they are playing,” Crawley said on NRL 360.
“That game was so unreal. Benji has done a great job.
“You really feel so good from Adam Doueihi to Jock Madden. A guy that hadn’t played NRL for more than a year and he’s come back in two games and put himself in a position where I think when Luai comes back, how do you not find a spot for him?
“He could stay at No.7 and Luai and No.6 and maybe move Doueihi to the centres.”
However, The Daily Telegraph’s Dave Riccio can’t see Doueihi being moved from the halves even given Madden’s starring displays in Luai’s absence.
“Doueihi has been the glue that has unlocked this team,” Riccio said.
“I am going with Doueihi and Luai, with the greatest respect to Madden, who has been absolutely sensational.
“You could use Madden as a No.14 off the bench. But I’m not moving Doueihi, who has been one of the key reasons for their success.”
Crawley clarified that he would not drop Doueihi from the starting team, but would find a spot for all three and Latu Fainu in the 19.
“I couldn’t put Doueihi out of the team, but it is a great headache for Benji to have,” Crawley said.
“I would fit the three of them in. And they have got Latu Fainu there too.”
Broncos legend Gorden Tallis put forward the option of playing Doueihi as a ball playing lock to keep all three stars in the starting team.
“Don’t you play him as a ball running lock?” Tallis said.
“Just sitting on an edge and just go and play what is in front of him.”
However, Braith Anasta feels Doueihi has been too important to the side’s success to move him out of the halves.
“It would be hard to move him,” Anasta said.
“If you are looking long-term and at a premiership. Madden has been amazing and he can fill the void there and Benji may keep him there, but I don’t think it will happen. I think Doueihi and Luai will be the halves.”
Golden point settles wild Easter clash | 07:22
INSIDE THE UNDERESTIMATED DETAIL OF STUNNING KNIGHTS START
Tigers vs. Knights Sunday 9th of April @ 4.05pm
As mentioned above, the Tigers deserve adulation and plaudits for their hot start to the year but it’s their Sunday opponents who have been the real surprise packets of 2026.
Even the most one-eyed Knights supporter would not have envisaged their side be sitting third on the ladder through five rounds, especially with $2.7m of the salary cap in Dylan Brown and Kalyn Ponga on the sideline.
In fact, outside of Penrith, they are the only team with at least four wins this season.
It’s quite the turnaround given they lost ten on the bounce to end 2025 and finish with the wooden spoon.
Adam O’Brien was sacked and replaced with former Titans coach Justin Holbrook.
It’s clear the joint needed a change. Not only has Holbrook brought a fresh perspective and a new coaching staff, whatever he’s doing is working as he is an early favourite for Dally M Coach of the Year.
With essentially the same roster as last year, Holbrook is so far getting the absolute best out of his playing group.
4-1 is a stunning start. Not only because of their results last year but according to Fox League’s Andrew Voss, he had concerns during as recently as February.
“Calling them in the Pre-Season Challenge, I was really worried. I thought the baggage of last year was still with them when they didn’t score a point against the Bulldogs with pretty much a full strength team,” Voss told foxsports.com.au.
“I reckon there’s evidence he stripped back everything and I know it sounds like words but absolutely went back to the drawing board and to square one. He started all over again.”
The Knights boast talent such as Fletcher Sharpe – who has been outstanding – but it’s the role players who have stood up in a big way.
Sandon Smith is a new recruit that wasn’t in the starting side in Round 1, earning a spot after Dylan Brown’s injury. Smith has been terrific in the halves, as has hooker Phoenix Crossland, who could be accused of being inconsistent in 2025.
The sharp improvement of some of these Knights is a sign that the coach is doing an excellent job according to Voss.
”He probably made things really simple to start with and gave clarity on the roles that each player has in the team and I see it through players like Phoenix Crossland and Mat Croker, who is getting more time in 13,” Voss said.
“These are not superstars of our game, but they’re playing great roles.
“Sandon Smith comes into the team and knows straight away how much authority he has on that side… no Ponga, no Brown, no problems and all the players replacing them come in confident, know their roles and that is the strength of a really good coach.”