BY ROB

Round 1 of the 2026 NRL season sees the Green Machine taking on Manly, a match which pits the prodigal elder son, Jamal Fogarty, against the heir apparent in Ethan Sanders.

The Raiders were something of a stealth juggernaut last year, dispatching all and sundry until they ran afoul of a reinvigorated Broncos outfit turbocharged by a freakish Reece Walsh display in week 1 of the finals. But you already knew that. The grind starts again here.

The team list for this game holds two surprises straight out of the gate – the complete omission of Owen Pattie and the promotion of Noah Martin. While we may all moan and roll our eyes at another classic Sticky selection it’s important to dig into it further.

Stuart knows Pattie has the goods to make it in the top grade, but believes he needs to extend his match fitness as well as giving him more time as the primary distributor. The problem with giving him back-end minutes after Starling is it truncates the amount of time he has at hooker dictating play.

Martin sits at the other end of this spectrum. He now routinely barrels through or flattens opposing forwards in Cup. Leaving him there would mean the stagnation of his development. Stuart knows he’s ready for the NRL, hence why he’s throwing him in the deep end.

The new six-man bench is comprised of Brailey, Hosking, Mariota, Smithies, Laurie and Stuart and is quite frankly one of the most logical things Sticky has done this week. Laurie is good insurance at either 1, 6 or 7 whilst Jed can help out should the backline (and maybe backrow) need coverage.

The bench forwards are interesting in that it’s one prop, one second rower and a lock, meaning Stick will need to utilise the full flexibility of his staff and nimble rotations to keep the middle shored up.

So, to the battle of the halves. It’s a new era for both clubs. No more DCE for Manly, while the Raiders field a half back as young as the Mark (Hebert), Michael (Dobson) or Mitch (Cornish). We know Fogarty can kick, so the Raiders backline needs to be ready for torpedoes assisted by the Brookvale breeze. Manly nearly ruined Kaeo Weekes’ career last year, and X and Sav will also need to be ready.

As for Sanders, he may not have the thundering boot of his predecessor, but he does have one of the most promising rugby league brains entering the comp – does he have the maturity to steer this Raiders side around?

Saturday is a tough start for Canberra. Manly will always be something of a bogey team for them, and given that the Silvertails are kicking off their 80th season the Raiders will need to pull out all the stops to make sure they start the season 1-0.

In Conclusion

It’s a brave new world for the Green Machine – will they embrace it, or will they need time to gel? We think they might have a surprise in store.

Raiders by 12+ including a sizzling Sanders grubber!

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