Match Discussion: Round 5 vs Brisbane @ Suncorp Stadium, Milton / Yuggera-Turrbal

[League Unlimited News]

NRL 2025 - Round 5
Brisbane Broncos v Wests Tigers
Suncorp Stadium, Milton / Yuggera-Turrbal (TICKETS)

Saturday 5 April 2025
Kickoff 7:35pm AEDT (6:35pm local)
Live on Fox, Kayo

1. Reece Walsh 2. Selwyn Cobbo 3. Kotoni Staggs 4. Gehamat Shibasaki 5. Jesse Arthars 6. Ben Hunt 7. Adam Reynolds 8. Patrick Carrigan 9. Cory Paix 10. Payne Haas 11. Jack Gosiewski 12. Brendan Piakura 13. Kobe Hetherington
14. Billy Walters 15. Corey Jensen 16. Xavier Willison 17. Jaiyden Hunt
18. Tyson Smoothy 19. Deine Mariner 20. Martin Taupau 21. Benjamin Te Kura 22. Jock Madden

Out: Jordan Riki (second row)
In: Jaiyden Hunt (bench), Tyson Smoothy (reserve), Deine Mariner (reserve), Martin Taupau (reserve), Benjamin Te Kura (reserve), Jock Madden (reserve)
Changes: Brendan Piakura (bench to second row)

1. Jahream Bula 2. Sunia Turuva 3. Adam Doueihi 4. Starford To'a 5. Luke Laulilii 6. Lachlan Galvin 7. Latu Fainu 8. Terrell May 9. Apisai Koroisau 10. Fonua Pole 11. Samuela Fainu 12. Alex Seyfarth 13. Alex Twal
14. Tallyn Da Silva 15. Royce Hunt 16. Jack Bird 17. Sione Fainu
18. Heath Mason 19. Kit Laulilii 20. Solomona Faataape 21. Reuben Porter 22. Tony Sukkar

Out: Jarome Luai (halfback)
In: Adam Doueihi (centre), Luke Laulilii (wing), Heath Mason (reserve), Kit Laulilii (reserve), Reuben Porter (reserve), Tanous Sukkar (reserve)
Changes: Jack Bird (centre to bench), Solomona Faataape (wing to reserve), Latu Fainu (bench to halfback)

Referee: Liam Kennedy
Sideline Officials: Nick Pelgrave, Michael Wise
Video Referee: Ashley Klein

HEAD TO HEAD - 2000 - 2024​

	TOTAL	BRI	WST	DRAWN
ALL MATCHES	33	23	9	1
SUNCORP	15	8	7	0

LAST FIVE MEETINGS​

YEAR	ROUND	RESULT	VENUE	CROWD
2020	Round 10	WST 48-0	Leichhardt	2633
2021	Round 18	WST 42-24	Suncorp	24894
2022	Round 20	WST 32-18	Suncorp	32909
2023	Round 5	BRI 46-12	Suncorp	27553
2024	Round 8	BRI 34-10	Campbelltown	17351

BIGGEST WINS​

YEAR	ROUND	RESULT	VENUE	CROWD
2000	Round 20	BRI 56-12	QEII	19953
2020	Round 10	WST 48-0	Leichhardt	2633

NEXT FOUR MATCHES​

	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Round 9
BRISBANE	SYD (H)	WAR (A)	CBY (H)	PEN (A)
WESTS TIGERS	NEW (A)	PAR (H)	CRO (H)	SGI (H)

LAST THREE MATCHES​

	Round 2		Round 3		Round 4
BRISBANE	CAN	L 22-32	NQL	W 26-16	DOL	W 20-12
WESTS TIGERS	PAR	W 32-6	DOL	W 30-18	WAR	L 24-26

STATE OF PLAY: 2025 SEASON​

	POSITION	PLAYED	BYES	W-L-D	FOR	AGAINST
BRISBANE	3rd	4	0	3-1-0	118	74
WESTS TIGERS	9th	4	0	2-2-0	94	60

 

[Tiger05]

f**k. We are up against the best team in the comp right now at their home ground.

Let's see how we go but this is going to be tough.

 

[simmo1]

Not convinced Brisbane are as good as they are made out to be. Their draw has been nearly as soft as ours. Be a good test to see where we are really at. An ambush is possible but we need to find a way to stop Haas.

 

[Tiger Ted]

Not convinced Brisbane are as good as they are made out to be. Their draw has been nearly as soft as ours. Be a good test to see where we are really at. An ambush is possible but we need to find a way to stop Haas.

Agree I don’t think broncos are that good but prob is that we r quite average.Weve played 4 shit teams & beaten the 2 worst teams in the comp neither of which has won a game.

 

[TheDefinitionOfMadness]

Not convinced Brisbane are as good as they are made out to be. Their draw has been nearly as soft as ours. Be a good test to see where we are really at. An ambush is possible but we need to find a way to stop Haas.

The only way you can stop Haas is to plant a large bag of drugs at his house and call the cops. I don't even think running him over with a truck would guarantee the desired outcome.

We are likely going to be down on troops. I have a bad feeling about this one.

 

[Wizardman]

We'll concede 40 plus

 

[Speedy Gonzales]

Well here we go… I’ll be surprised if we get within 20

 

[Tiger05]

I don't like the posts above but I can't see us winning this game.

 

[Vic Mackey]

Broncos have plenty of great individual players, way more than us. If Luai and Skelton play I think we can keep it competitive. Can’t see a win, Haas will be too good and Reynolds always plays well against us.

 

[Pezz70]

This will be a big test for our outside backs, Broncos are big and fast, Ben Hunt has been causing oppositions nightmares this year. He hasn’t been getting the accolades but he has been controlling games, making lots of room for his outside backs. Walsh has been quiet and he has destroyed us in the past both with the Warriors and Broncos.

Controlling their pack is gonna be tough for us, we struggle against big mobile packs.

Hopefully we’ll keep it competitive

 

[Tigerm]

This the sort of game, that will show us a lot of what we are about.
Pity Luai isn't there, but we still need to turn up and play confident.
Will be interesting how Gal and Latu go, hopefully they can create some havoc.
Doueihi back (didn't think I would ever say that), hopefully Skelton as well, so no excuses.

 

[Tiger Ted]

This the sort of game, that will show us a lot of what we are about.
Pity Luai isn't there, but we still need to turn up and play confident.
Will be interesting how Gal and Latu go, hopefully they can create some havoc.
Doueihi back (didn't think I would ever say that), hopefully Skelton as well, so no excuses.

I’m actually pleased Luai will b missing & the 2 talented kids will be running the show.
IMO Luai has been disappointing & after just 4 matches he hasn’t earnt a smidgeon of his pay pkt.A $1.2m halfback with his experience shouldve guided us to victory with a strong breeze behind us in 2nd half against a team who r noted chokers in the shite conditions especially when they are away from home.

 

[Tiger05]

I’m actually pleased Luai will b missing & the 2 talented kids will be running the show.
IMO Luai has been disappointing & after just 4 matches he hasn’t earnt a smidgeon of his pay pkt.A $1.2m halfback with his experience shouldve guided us to victory with a strong breeze behind us in 2nd half against a team who r noted chokers in the shite conditions especially when they are away from home.

Harsh but fair. I reckon Luai has been good. I'm not sold that he has been great value for money. It's only 4 games into the season as well. It'll be interesting how this all plays out.

Benji has to get Latu and Galvin into the team and heavily involved.

 

[Tigerm]

I’m actually pleased Luai will b missing & the 2 talented kids will be running the show.
IMO Luai has been disappointing & after just 4 matches he hasn’t earnt a smidgeon of his pay pkt.A $1.2m halfback with his experience shouldve guided us to victory with a strong breeze behind us in 2nd half against a team who r noted chokers in the shite conditions especially when they are away from home.

I think Luai does a lot of work off the ball, certainly should be doing more with it, but I think that will come.
If Latu is in the team, one of the 3 will probably need to move, maybe to lock? Though Twal is going very well there atm.

 

[Tiger Ted]

I think Luai does a lot of work off the ball, certainly should be doing more with it, but I think that will come.
If Latu is in the team, one of the 3 will probably need to move, maybe to lock? Though Twal is going very well there atm.

JL gets paid the big $ to exhibit excellence with the ball.He has been underwhelming & against 4 avg teams.The expectation is that he will vindicate the marquee contract albeit I’m not impressed at this early stage with his lacklustre performances.

 

[Speedy Gonzales]

JL gets paid the big $ to exhibit excellence with the ball.He has been underwhelming & against 4 avg teams.The expectation is that he will vindicate the marquee contract albeit I’m not impressed at this early stage with his lacklustre performances.

I think he is just doing his job at the moment. As the year goes and if (a big IF) we are still in the hunt I think his game breaking ability will shine. To me the team is still finding their feet, combinations etc. But Luai’s influence on the team is obvious … he seems infectious which is no doubt another reason we got him. I also think his defense has been pretty impressive

apart from the Newcastle game our attack has been fairly good as a whole and I think he is a major reason why. Often orchestrating the play and straightening the attack

Obviously I hope I am wrong but I think not having Luai out there v Brisbane will be really telling. If Galvin can lead us around the park to an unlikely victory I’ll be amazed

 

[Benchtiger]

Usually Brisbane blow us off the park with their quick play, no doubt the ref will favour them also.Still we have improved so it will be interesting to see how we handle this contest. Dumb mistakes just need to be eliminated, Faataape unfortunately is full of them as we saw clearly yesterday.

 

[WA Tiger]

I’m actually pleased Luai will b missing & the 2 talented kids will be running the show.
IMO Luai has been disappointing & after just 4 matches he hasn’t earnt a smidgeon of his pay pkt.A $1.2m halfback with his experience shouldve guided us to victory with a strong breeze behind us in 2nd half against a team who r noted chokers in the shite conditions especially when they are away from home.

It’s behind the scenes where Luai is earning his $$..keeping players where they need to be and minds on the job ..you see him barking all game.. That’ll be missed.. BUT We got a 6 and a 7 now and Fainu will not be phased by this …and weve got plenty of gun players and they were impressive bar 10 minutes against the warriors in putrid conditions.. Got to be a chance.. (They’d be a better team from that loss)

 

[Old Time Tiger]

Usually Brisbane blow us off the park with their quick play,

Usually? Were you as surprised as me when I saw the top of the page and the results of the last 5 games?

It's the much maligned fullback that scares me, he will be salivating at the thought of running around AD, hopefully the Tigs can be some pressure on him from the start and his confidence does not improve.

 

[Tigerm]

Luai officially out, probably wasn't going to play anyway.