The 2026 NRL season kicked off in Las Vegas, and we've finally got some real football to pick apart. Welcome to the Sunday night game review from the Such Is Fantasy NRL SuperCoach & Fantasy Podcast — only two games to review, but plenty of SuperCoach relevancy to unpack from Knights vs Cowboys and Dragons vs Bulldogs. Here's the first read on the must-owns, the waiver wire targets, and the trends that are going to shape your round one team.
Knights vs Cowboys
As a Knights fan, I'm very happy. Kalyn Ponga looked electric — if fit and firing he was always going to be a top-two player at the earliest, and that's exactly what we saw. 118 SuperCoach points, free, electric, and the Knights attack looked really good. It's been well documented their middles and forward pack may struggle, but if they can stay in the arm wrestle for large periods, their back line looked in sync and in tune for most of the game.
The other big standout before he was injured was Fletcher Sharp. You'd be scrambling to get him in your classic teams as soon as he's back. It looks like a PCL at this stage — there was some concern around an ACL but the hands-on testing the doctors and physios do on the ground is very accurate, and the Knights are confident that structurally there's nothing major wrong with his knee. PCL max is six weeks, typically players come back between three and four weeks. He scored 63 points in what felt like 20 minutes. Worth watching Greg Marzhew too — I picked him up in my draft league round five, six. That's going to be prime real estate on the Knights wings.
Buy Dominic Young — 94 SuperCoach points. He's sitting on a lot of waiver wires right now, including my draft league, and I'd imagine there'll be 10 claims on him next week. And there should be. He's going to score some tries. Yeah, he's a centre winger, they're inconsistent — you're not going to get 90 from a centre wing every week. You just want him on your team when he does score those hundred points. Dom Young is the clear number one waiver pick this week.
Watch Jermaine McEwen was a very popular classic option — he didn't get 80 minutes, played 68, a couple of errors, a couple of penalties. I'm not sure how impressed I was. And the Cowboys? Very disappointing. Didn't look different in any way to me watching them play that first game, and we know in the NRL you need to evolve. You've got to really start to ask some questions about the Cowboys and their coach Todd Payten. I think they're going to have a tough year.
One highlight: Buy Heilum Luki coming back from his injury that ruled him out last year. Looked strong, really strong — scored a great try, 95 SuperCoach points. Classic owners are obviously going to bring him in next week. That's a no-brainer. If you nailed him in draft, well done.
Hold Reed Mahoney — Todd Payten came out fortunately about 48 hours before the game and said the plan was for Reed to play 80 minutes. I brought him in classic for that reason. But 51 points in 80 minutes is probably about 10 to 15 points less than we would have hoped. I wouldn't be rushing to sell straight away. We know his weaknesses — you're not buying Reed Mahoney to be a cornerstone of your defence. Jason Taumalolo looked really strong but again, he doesn't get the minutes or the work.
Other relevant notes from game one: Dylan Lucas had a really good work rate for a half five-eighth — 54 points in base, plus power is really good. Trey Mooney — seriously, that try at the end obviously put the gravy on things, but his work rate looks really good. Base and power was 60 points. That's really positive. He'll need to come in next week for classic owners. Tom Cherrington defended well, 50 points with no attack — pretty awesome. But I've got job security concerns around him in a couple of weeks. Jacob Saifiti scored 60 at $444k — he's a mid-ranger. Probably be looking elsewhere for middle forwards in my SuperCoach teams.
Dragons vs Bulldogs
Look, it was a bit of a bludger of a game. Both teams certainly didn't look like they had what they needed in attack. But in terms of theatre and drama towards the end there, it was obviously great viewing. Let's start with the Bulldogs.
Buy Jacob Kiraz — no tries, no problem, just pumped out a 99. He's an absolute freak. Kind of kicking myself not starting with him in classic. If you've got him in draft, well done. Kiker looks pretty strong, found open space a couple of times — not a bad option, but I think you're looking for value in the second row forward to start the season.
Buy Jacob Preston — honestly, it's probably between him and Dylan Lucas for a spot in my blue 17 this year. Preston definitely put his hand up in round one. He just looks so strong and is forming a really formidable combination with Lachie Galvin. The much maligned Lachie Galvin. I can tell you, if you were watching him and you thought he didn't look fantastic, you're just a hater. He's going to be very good this season. He plays so deep into the line, he put Preston into open space or one-on-one opportunities on a number of occasions. He was controlling things really well. And yes, he did stuff it up towards the end of the game when they were trying to position for golden point — but he can work on that as a 20-year-old. He's 20, guys, calm down. What were you doing at 20?
Watch Harry Hayes scored 55 — so if you went Hayes or you went Reed Mahoney, one scored 51, one scored 55. Wasn't much of a difference there. No one really lost. The Bulldogs got the win done. They got it done ugly.
Dragons — Couchman Watch
Plenty of SuperCoach relevancy here, starting with the Couchman brothers. Wow. The amount of work Toby got through in his time on the field — I think he's close to a must-own next week. I don't know how we're going to fit all these players in, particularly when we know you've got to save trades, but now he looks fantastic. 50 in base. If you started with Toby Couchman in either form of SuperCoach or Fantasy, good on you.
Watch Ryan Couchman — look, we have to wait and see what happens when Liddell comes back. But he looked great. He looked explosive. Just got to watch his minutes. 71 is obviously a great score for a bottom-priced player, but I want to see what his minutes look like. I'm going to wait a week. We've got three weeks before price rises in classic, and I don't think I'll be picking him up off the waiver wire in draft — but if you wanted to, that's totally fine.
Watch Amone Dewitt started off the bench, still got his minutes, got through his work. 57. Not for me. Sell Val Holmes — looked like he was carrying something, wasn't kicking goals very interestingly. At his price, 54 — he's probably going to see a reduction and we can pick him up later in the season. Sell Gotho — sorry, Gotho just looked old to me. I won't be touching him in any form of the game.
Hold Christian Tuipulotu — didn't get a lot of opportunities. I've got him in draft. He's going to score some tries some weeks and other weeks is not. 43 in base, which isn't the worst — I'd like to see a floor of 50, but not too bad nonetheless.
Vegas Takeaways: Buy / Sell / Hold
Some quick points around the waiver wire: the number one pick this week is pretty obvious — Dominic Young. Check your waiver wire list to see who's available. He's available in a lot of leagues, including my own (I'm ninth on the waiver wire to start the season, so I'm zero chance — I'll put a claim in, and if the boys in my league don't grab him, they're crazy). Outside of that, the back-rowers and the forwards are the big winners early on in the new SuperCoach point scoring system. Make sure you have a look at your forwards — particularly on your bench — and see who you can stack there. I'll certainly be making some changes to my bench in draft, and changes around the fringes of my classic team before end of rolling lockout for round one.
That's Vegas in the books. Two games, plenty of SuperCoach movers, and a clear early read on where the value sits under the new scoring system. Lean into your back-row bench, put a claim in on Dom Young, and don't panic on Drinkwater. Thanks for joining me — have a great week, and I'll see you for the next review.
This Vegas match review is from the Such Is Fantasy NRL SuperCoach & Fantasy Podcast. Catch every episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and follow Stephen on TikTok.