New era dawns as Tigers win their first season opener in six years
By Billie Eder
March 14, 2026 — 5.27pm
Wests Tigers have buried their reputation as serial slow starters to a season with a sensational 44-16 victory against the Cowboys at Leichhardt Oval on Saturday afternoon.
Having not won a season-opening match since 2020, nor played finals football since 2011, the Tigers not only showed promise in front of a sold-out home crowd but also the finesse and flair of a team ready to shake off the dire record that has plagued them for more than a decade.
This was their biggest win to start a campaign in the club’s 27-year history.
Whether it was Jarome Luai sidestepping the slow Cowboys defence, recruit Kai Pearce-Paul bursting through to score a double, or Jahream Bula breaking through the line, the Tigers’ attack had it all.
“There’s a lot to like about the way we played a lot of our game today, but there’s also a lot that we can learn and take away,” coach Benji Marshall said.
“I liked our intent and the way we started with our mindset in the game. I like the way our leaders led on the field and off it during the week. I like the way our spine connected, I thought Adam [Doueihi] was really good at seven for us today ... but the platform they got from our outside backs and our middles was probably the most impressive.”
A second-half defensive lapse, with the visitors scoring the first three tries after the break to strong-arm their way back into the match, took some of the gloss off an otherwise hugely encouraging display.
But when winger Luke Laulilii intercepted a ball from Scott Drinkwater and ran just over 70 metres to score his second try of the afternoon with 17 minutes left, the Tigers went 40-16 up and the visitors’ hopes of victory were well and truly extinguished.
For the most part, North Queensland were terrible. That was never more obvious than when Doueihi fell across the line under the posts for the softest of tries as Scott Drinkwater watched on.
But Benji Marshall’s men deserved every point, and proved the club could be a big mover in 2026.
“We started on the back foot, the sin bin put us under pressure, brought fatigue into the game,” Cowboys coach Todd Payten said.
“Every time we got the smallest amount of momentum, whether it’s one or two plays or one or two sets, we’d come up with the error, which again, compounded things.”
It was the Cowboys who opened the scoring after Api Koroisau conceded an early penalty for a dangerous tackle on Griffin Neame.
But the door was opened for the Tigers when Kai O’Donnell was sin-binned in the 11th minute for not being square at marker following repeat offences.
Koroisau gave O’Donnell a wave on the way off, and it appeared the team’s hopes went with him, as the Tigers rolled through the visitors to lead 28-2 at half-time.
Koroisau and Luai completely controlled the match, and while Braidon Burns, Jaxon Purdue and Tom Chester managed to win back some self-respect for the Cowboys with tries in the second half, it was all about the Tigers on Saturday as a sea of orange had Leichhardt pumping.
Samuela Fainu stormed through to score the first try of the match, before Doueihi and Pearce-Paul added to the tally while O’Donnell was in the bin, before Laulilii and Luai added to the Tigers’ tally.
After a Jeral Skelton try in the corner, the Tigers were a threat of bringing up 50 points, but had to settle with 44 in the end.
The biggest concern for the Tigers was Taylan May’s shoulder injury, which he suffered early in the match.
May came from the field and will be sent for scans in the coming days.
The Wests Tigers are off to a flyer after a Jarome Luai-led demolition of the Cowboys left a pulsating Leichhardt Oval crowd in raptures.
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