Why Brisbane Broncos season isn’t over, Michael Maguire’s defence of Ezra Mam, talking points and analysis, Jarome Luai, should Warriors play Luke Metcalf, news, analysis

The Broncos’ finals dream for 2026 isn’t dead yet given the star-studded team named this week as Michael Maguire goes into bat for an under-fire star.

The dramatic Jarome Luai-Tigers situation has undoubtedly caused many to scratch their heads with how it’s played out … and debate is raging on whether his stint was at all worthwhile for the club.

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Meanwhile, a premiership winning half has suggested the Warriors to give an exiled playmaker a chance over the next few weeks in a move that could upset the apple cart.

Read on for all of the NRL talking points ahead of Round 20!

WHY BRONCOS DREAM ISN’T DEAD AS MADGE RUBBISHES MAM CLAIM

Panthers v Broncos, Thursday 7.50pm at CommBank Stadium

One team is flying with a handy break atop the ladder, the other hasn’t won since April, but given the talent that has been named to line up on Thursday night, the clash between the Broncos and Panthers is shaping up as one of the games of the season.

Brisbane’s finals hopes aren’t dead yet but they will be with one more loss.

However, the team that Michael Maguire has named against Penrith should give Brisbane fans some hope of pulling off the impossible.

Adam Reynolds, Pat Carrigan, Ezra Mam, Payne Haas, Reece Walsh and Josiah Karapani are all set to return for the Broncos in Round 20.

“They look much better this Broncos team that’s been named. I give them every chance this week to pull off an upset and they need to,” journalist Brent Read said on NRL360

Read’s Code Sports colleague Michael Carayannis wasn’t as hopeful for Brisbane.

“The thing for them is that they’re playing Penrith. It’s the best team they’ve had all year and I do give him a chance but unfortunately, they’re up against the Panthers,” Carayannis said.

One of the big names to return is Ezra Mam, who has endured a tough season.

Mam has had to deal with injuries but even when on the field, his form has been below his usual standards.

It has led to rumours to swirl about his future at the club.

In a passionate interview with Code Sports this week, Maguire was steadfast in his belief in Mam, while rubbishing claims that Mam is on the outer or “wants out”.

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“I’m sick of hearing all this crazy noise about Ezra,” Maguire said.

“He’s been injured. He had a grade-three AC joint injury. Can we remind everyone Ezra has actually been injured?

“It was a really bad injury, but because he hasn’t been selected or available, people want to question his future.

“That sort of stuff comes out (about Mam being unhappy) and you hear all these sorts of things … I just shake my head.

“I think he’d admit it’s probably been a mixed bag (his form this season), but there are a lot of circumstances around that, and he and I have discussed it.”

When the Broncos are at their best, Mam is firing on all cylinders.

He has some flaws defensively, but he also has a rare skill of being able to create something from absolutely nothing.

His all-world performance against Penrith in the 2023 grand final and his run during last year’s finals attests to how important he can be.

For Thursday game, Mam will start alongside Reynolds in the halves and Maguire is tipping his five-eighth for a big night.

“It’s awesome to have Ezra back. Ezra’s had some of his best training in the last two weeks simply because he’s been able to get out on the training park,” Maguire said.

“He’s knocked out some really good training to show he can play 80 minutes. That’s ultimately what we’ve been searching for … We’re all chasing a stronger performance this week and Ez is no different.

“To have ‘Ez’, who is a running threat, just adds that extra little bit to how we want to play.”

HUGE QUESTION MARKS OVER SHARKS

Sharks v Knights, Friday 6pm @ Ocean Protect Stadium

The Sharks are suddenly back in the top four after thrashing the Dolphins 66-0 in Redcliffe.

And with that, comes talk about their premiership credentials.

Craig Fitzgibbon’s side has been knocked out in the past two preliminary finals by Penrith and Melbourne.

While they put up a fight on those two occasions, they didn’t really look like being a title contender despite going deep in the competition.

Despite last week’s big win, ‘NRL 360’ host Braith Anasta questioned their premiership credentials and self-belief.

“Cronulla, it’s a bit of the unknown. Is anyone sold on Cronulla yet? I don’t think even they (are). For me, for Cronulla, they need to prove it to themselves (that they can go deep in the finals),” Anasta said.

“You’ve got to earn that respect. I don’t think anyone’s going to be confident that they’re going to make a grand final or win a grand final yet.

“They’ve got to show it to us and to themselves, more importantly, that they can get there and actually take that extra step because at this point you couldn’t possibly say with confidence that they’ll do that because they haven’t done it. So it’s a huge challenge for them.”

The form of Nicho Hynes has been good to see heading into the finals and the State of Origin series from Blayke Brailey showed he’s arguably the second best hooker in the game behind Harry Grant.

In a nutshell, it will take a Sharks spine player to stand up and be man-of-the-match in the final two weeks of the season.

Journalist Brent Read said there’s still question marks about their ability to win more than two finals games in a row.

“When you see them play like they did on the weekend you think, ‘yeah, they can give it a shake’, because they are a really good football team. The issue has always been playing like that for three straight weeks in the finals,” he said.

Fellow reporter Dean Ritchie said there was a “stigma” hanging over Cronulla despite the fact they’ve been consistent under coach Fitzgibbon.

THE STORM’S DOWNFALL IS FINALLY HERE

Roosters v Storm, Friday 8pm @ Allianz Stadium

The Melbourne Storm’s downfall has been predicted wrongly for years, but 2026 looks to be the season they can book their Mad Monday shenanigans early.

During Craig Bellamy’s 24-year reign, he’s lost the likes of Greg Inglis, Israel Folau, Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith and with each loss fans often said “this is the year the Storm miss the finals”.

And they’ve always been left with egg on their faces.

But this surely is the year they miss the playoffs.

The Storm sit two wins outside the top eight and need to win five of their remaining seven games to be a mathematically chance of sneaking in to the finals.

News this week that star five-eighth Cameron Munster will miss four to six weeks, following a knee operation, was another nail in the coffin.

“Does that mean Melbourne think their season is over and the mountain is too big to climb?” Gorden Tallis asked on ‘NRL 360’ on Tuesday.

Munster’s manager, and ‘NRL 360’ host, Braith Anasta explained that his star client had cartilage floating around in his knew since the Manly game in Round 17 and had been getting it drained but it was only getting worse.

“He’s played injured a lot. He played with a hip injury and no-one knew it and he was copping it because he wasn’t playing his best,” Anasta said.

“It was just a decision he had to make at the moment. You can’t play injured in this competition.”

Anasta thinks the Roosters will just about end the Storm’s season on Friday night in Sydney.

“I didn’t even have them making the finals before this. I can’t see them getting anywhere near it and they’ll lose the game on the weekend, I would think, given Jahrome’s out as well,” Anasta said.

“If they lose that, it gets even harder, and they’ve got a tough run in the next four or five weeks.”

Journalist Dave Riccio pointed to the unavailability of Eliesa Katoa (brain bleed), Tui Kamikamica (stroke) and Xavier Coates (ACL), as too much to overcome during a long season.

“This off-season for the Melbourne Storm will be defining,” Riccio said.

“They need to get to the bottom of the future of Eliesa Katoa who has just been a shattering loss for them.

“They’ve been devastated on so many levels. I’m sorry to say, it’s been too much of a year for the Melbourne Storm.”

EX-NRL STAR’S INTRIGUING WARRIORS CALL

Warriors v Dragons, Saturday 5:30pm @ One Media Stadium

A dual premiership winning half has raised an interesting suggestion the Warriors should look to explore involving the exiled Luke Metcalf.

The Warriors have been one of the surprise packets of the comp this season and if they can manage to win at least half of their eight remaining games, they’re destined for a top four finish.

If you said at the start of the season that they’d be sitting second at Round 20 despite Metcalf only playing in two games, you wouldn’t have been believed.

Metcalf suffered an ACL injury last season but struggled to find his feet in his only two NRL starts this season and found himself in reserve grade.

Soon after, the playmaker was granted an early release from his deal to sign with the Dragons from next season.

Despite his ability, Metcalf hasn’t been able to earn back a spot in first grade, with Te Maire Martin and Chanel Harris-Tavita doing a decent job steering the ship. Metcalf has been an unused reserve on the Warriors’ six-man bench over the last three games.

According to Luke Keary, coach Andrew Webster should utilise Metcalf in the coming weeks.

“They’ve got the Dragons, Titans, Dogs coming up. I think they need to play Luke Metcalf as the No. 7 in one or two of those games,” Keary said on James Graham’s The Bye Round podcast.

“I feel like they might need him at some stage deeper in the season. I feel like he’s going to play a part at some point. Someone will go down injured, or there will be a HIA at some point.

“I know they saw it last year but they need to see him in control of that team at some point. I don’t think he should take over at halfback, but I think it’s the right time to give him the seven jersey and give him 80 minutes in that role.

“He was leading the Dally M last year in the No. 7 jersey before the injury.

“Just to give him that confidence and say, ‘we still back ya if we need you later in the season’.”

However, Graham didn’t agree, believing a drastic move like this one could potentially upset the apple cart.

“I’ve liked what the Warriors have done and I know what you’re saying but I don’t think they can afford to (make that move),” Graham said.

“Metcalf is a really good player and he’s not going to harm their chances, I just don’t know if it’s the right message just yet.”

Beginning the season, Tanah Boyd and Harris-Tavita were the Warriors’ starting halves.

Boyd suffered an ACL injury and it was thought Metcalf would slot back in, but Martin and Harris-Tavita made it tough for Webster to drop either of them.

Both players are on short term deals until the end of 2027 with their futures uncertain beyond next season. For that reason, Keary says he isn’t “too worried” about the message it’ll send the duo if Metcalf was promoted to the starting line up.

”Te Maire was also not in the team at the start of the season. It’s not like he’s been their halfback for five years and you’re giving him a spell,” Keary said.

“He’s their halfback but I feel like if they give Luke a bit of game time and give him a bit of confidence in case they need him. The two games this year he played five-eighth he looked really uncomfortable coming off the ACL.

“I don’t think your sending any message other than we’re just getting him ready in case we need him.”

LUAI DEBATE ERUPTS

Bulldogs v Wests Tigers, Saturday 7:35pm @ Accor Stadium

In what would have to be a first in Australian sport, star playmaker Jarome Luai now has contracts with three different teams in the NRL at the same time.

Luai completed the trifecta when his one-year deal with the Eels for 2027 was announced on Wednesday.

It means that Luai has contracts with his current team the Tigers for the rest of this season, Parra in 2027 and the PNG Chiefs for 2028-onwards.

Luai’s decision to trigger an exit clause to sign with the Chiefs was a shock enough but when it was announced that the Tigers wanted to move him on a season early, many in the game were left stunned.

“It’s bizarre to the extreme,” The Daily Telegraph’s Dean Ritchie opined.

When it was revealed that Luai would leave the all-conquering Panthers to join the Tigers, it was viewed as the shot in the arm the struggling club needed.

While the club’s results have improved slightly, the Tigers’ massive $1.2m a year gamble has been a fail it’s fair to say.

“I think he was brought there for one particular reason and that was to guide them into the finals and let’s be fair, he hasn’t done that,” Ritchie said.

“Has he lured a few players? Yes, he has. They’re not world beaters who he’s lured there but he has lured some. But if you are basing his $1.2 million on guiding that side into the finals for the first time in 15 years, he has missed the mark.”

However, Ritchie’s colleague Brent Read disagreed, believing the club’s “in a better place” than it was when Luai arrived.

“You can judge it by that (the fact they haven’t made finals) and say it’s a failure. But in my eyes, Jarome has made them a better footy club, he’s given them legitimacy and he’s given them credibility,” Read said.

“This is a club that basically was cannabilising itself. Eating itself alive. We’re not seeing that anymore. It’s a more stable football club. The board is more stable, the club now has a permanent CEO, Benji has a contract until 2030.

One significant player is leaving but they’ve signed the Mays long-term, I reckon they’ll get the Fainus done long-term. I think the club is in a better place than when he arrived.”

With eight rounds left, the Tigers face an uphill to progress to the finals for the first time in 15 years.

A season that looked so promising early on as fallen to its knees after two wins from their past ten games.

NRL legend Cooper Cronk said the club have lost their swagger over the past two months which is a reason for the ugly slide down the ladder.

He also revealed that if it was up to him, he would’ve kept Luai at the club until his PNG deal.

“It has (surprised) me. Him taking up the option and going didn’t but the Tigers moving him on is a surprise,” Cronk said.

“Something has shifted at the Tigers because if you go to the first third of the year they were playing pretty good and probably finals bound. It was on the horizon. Something has shifted. “When they played well in the first hand it was almost an arrogance in a good way. The confidence that we can play and no one can beat us. Benji had that as a player. Luai has that as a player. It started feeding through to the Mays and the Fainus and all the rest of them. But then it hit the skids six weeks ago.

“There was like a brotherhood at the Tigers that was building … I would have kept Luai. The guy has won grand finals and played Origin.

“You can get information and learnings. I would have kept him around for the next 12 months. I get you can free up money and keep those other players. But I think those other players are going to be better with the example of Jarome around.”

WHY ‘EXPERIMENTATION’ HAS CAUGHT UP WITH BULLDOGS

Bulldogs v Wests Tigers, Saturday 7:35pm @ Accor Stadium

The Bulldogs’ finals hopes took a major hit last Saturday when they were thrashed by Canberra.

Despite some recent good form, Cameron Ciraldo’s men are in an unfavourable position with eight rounds remaining. To make the eight, they’ll have to win at least six of their final seven games.

“It’s all or nothing this week. (If they lose) their season is officially gone,” The Daily Telegraph’s Brent Read summed up.

The Dogs will be favoured against the Tigers but it’s looking more and more like an underwhelming campaign following a 2025 season with so much to like.

Journalist Dean Ritchie didn’t mince words when describing the Bulldogs’ efforts against the Raiders.

“For such an important game last week, the Bulldogs looked flat and pedestrian,” Ritchie said on NRL360.

“Their completion rate was around 66 per cent. They had defensive flaws. It was just a general, all-round crap performance for such a big game.”

Much has been made about the constant chopping and changing to key positions this season.

Stephen Crichton had been moved from centre to partner Lachie Galvin for a couple of games before an injury in the Canberra game.

Crichton is in the squad but is in some doubt to play against the Tigers.

Sean O’Sullivan will start at five-eighth if Crichton can’t play.

While Crichton’s form in the halves was a reason for the Dogs’ spike in form, this team is better off with a natural playmaker alongside Galvin.

Former Bulldogs star Braith Anasta says the club’s willingness to often experiment with their line up has caught up to them.

“It was a hiccup against Canberra. It’s hard when you’re constantly experimenting to have consistency. It’s very hard to have a consistent team where you turn out every week and know what you’re going to get every week when you’re experimenting and I feel like they’ve been doing that for a while,” Anasta told foxsports.com.au.

“If you’re an ex-half you look at Crichton and you go, ‘He’s doing a magnificent job but is he a genuine six and how long is it going to last?

“A lot of guys in here, I even heard Cooper say it, we talk about it being good for now — but how long is it going to last?

“I’m hoping the bubble didn’t burst on the weekend. I think they can bounce back, and I love what I’ve seen out of them the last month, because apart from Crichton, they’ve also been on the improve with their attack and the defence has got a hell of a lot better until the weekend. “But again, it’s hard to be consistently at the highest level and be a premiership threat when you’re not quite sure who’s going to play where.”

Following the Tigers, the Bulldogs face a daunting run of opponents until the end of the season, including games against the Warriors, Roosters, Storm and the Panthers.