Dragons wield the axe after Anzac Day debacle
Despite scoring a slashing try in the Anzac Day loss to the Roosters, Dragons winger Sione Finau is poised to be another casualty for Saturday's clash with Wests Tigers. Corey Allan, who made one State of Origin appearance for the Maroons in 2020, is tipped to make his Dragons debut after overcoming an ACL injury that wiped out his entire 2024 season.
King-Togia has made four NRL appearances to date and recently signed a contract extension that will result in him progressing to the club's top-30 squads for the 2026 and 2027 seasons.
Once the decision was made to drop Ilias, coach Shane Flanagan pondered whether to promote King-Togia or his NSW Cup halves partner Jonah Glover. Ultimately, King-Togia won the race to partner Kyle Flanagan in the halves.
There's expected to be a shake-up in the South Sydney halves as well, with Lewis Dodd likely to partner Bud Sullivan at the scrumbase. Dodd has made two brief NRL appearances for the Rabbitohs coming off the bench, but will get the chance to show what he can do for an injury-hit Souths line-up. Latrell Mitchell is unavailable due to suspension.
Josh Schuster is edging closer to making his Rabbitohs debut, but won't be called up for the clash against the Knights.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
37 minutes ago
- ABC News
After seven clubs and two codes, Queensland Origin debutant Gehamat Shibasaki is right where he's meant to be
Gehamat Shibasaki has taken the long way to Wednesday's State of Origin decider, but it was the only way he could get there. The journey from junior standout to a Queensland jersey has been winding and taken the 26-year old through seven clubs across two codes and two continents. As recently as a few months back, just being a consistent first grader would have been a fine achievement for a player who puts the journey in journey man, but at every turn of an extraordinary season, Shibasaki has continued to defy expectations. Those expectations once defined him, because he was the kind of player whose first grade debut was not just expected, but awaited. There was a time when it wasn't a matter if Shibasaki could play this kind of football or earn this honour, but when it would come. Shibasaki caught eyes as a junior, not just because of his background – though there's not many potential NRL players who are the great-great grandsons of Japanese pearl divers – but also his pedigree. As a youth, Shibasaki stamped himself a prospect of uncommon talent. He made his first Queensland side when he was just 12 and represented the state's under-20s side three years in a row. On a Broncos under-20s team that contained Payne Haas, Pat Carrigan, Lindsay Collins, Jaydn Su'A, Herbie Farnworth, Tom Flegler, Kotoni Staggs and Jamayne Isaako it wasn't easy to stand out, but Shibasaki managed it. He made his NRL debut in 2018, the same year as Haas and Staggs, and NRL stardom seemed within his grasp — only to depart at the end of the following season. "He's always been gifted," Haas said. "He was one of the best players growing up when we were kids. "He lost his way a bit the last few years. But he's found his way back and I'm super proud of him, I just hate that he's a Queenslander.' It's been a long way back to Brisbane, back to the spotlight, back to where Shibasaki's talent once seemed certain to carry him. He has freely admitted that during the lost years there were times he took rugby league for granted, a lesson learned the hard way through his many travels. The first stop was Newcastle where, after a strong start, the COVID shutdown halted Shibasaki's progress and by his own admission, he lost focus. He spent much of his two years there in reserve grade, where he rubbed shoulders with a young and hungry outside back named Jacob Kiraz. Today, Kiraz is one of the best wingers in the NRL and will act as 18th man for New South Wales for Game III but back then he was a 19-year old scrapper fighting for a chance alongside Shibasaki in front of minuscule crowds on forgotten footy fields all around the place. "I was still really young. Whenever I asked him questions regarding footy he'd always have answers and when I moved to Newy he welcomed me with open arms," Kiraz said. "Stuff happens for a reason, it happened to me, and at the time it can be hard and you don't understand why. "But you see him now and he's making his Origin debut, which is pretty crazy, but I'm sure he wouldn't want to change his path to any other way because it wouldn't have got him to where it is. Two seasons with the Knights yielded just 14 NRL games and Shibasaki left for Japanese rugby, signing a deal with Tokatsu Green Rockets. It wasn't just a different sport, but a different world. Amid clashes with teams like Toshiba Brave Lupus, Tokyo Sungoliath and Saitama Wild Knights, the language and cultural barrier meant a trip down the shops could become an adventure and Google Translate was a constant companion. The team was located about an hour from glittering sprawl of Tokyo, so players rode their bikes along roads lined with rice paddy fields to get to training and with the omicron COVID variant making it difficult for friends and family to travel to Japan, the foreign imports stuck close together. "He was a lot of fun to be around. The Japanese boys loved him, given he had that Japanese heritage," said Ben Hughes, a teammate at Tokatsu. "Rugby is a completely different game to league, there's so much to learn and what I remember most about 'Shiba' was how he always wanted to improve, always asked questions, always wanted to learn – that might be off the senior players or the coaches. "Back then they had a rule where only four non-Japanese players could be on the field at once, which wasn't easy. "He would have played inside and outside blokes who didn't speak English, so you can't have those micro-conversations on the field and that makes the transition from league even more difficult. It wasn't an easy year for the Green Rockets. Despite boasting Michael Cheika as director of rugby, it was a tough campaign and they narrowly avoided relegation after winning a late-season playoff against Mie Honda Heat. But Shibasaki acquitted himself well, scoring three tries in eight games as he tried to make a fist of his new sport. "I think Shiba would tell you he wasn't in the greatest nick when he arrived due to two weeks COVID isolation in a hotel room. But you could see his application, how he tried to learn – he wasn't there to muck around," Hughes said. "You can see why he's done well because the mindset he had, playing a new sport in a foreign country and the way he went about it at training, it shows why he's made the State of Origin side now." Shibasaki returned to Australia once the Japanese season wrapped up to sign with the Mackay Cutters in the Queensland Cup. From there he went home to Townsville, signing first with the Cowboys, where hamstring injuries kept him to just two matches, and then with their feeder club the Townsville Blackhawks. For a time, Shibasaki was happy working a normal job and playing Queensland Cup. He was back home and free from the pressures of life in elite sport and after the wandering years, that was enough. A one-match cameo on loan with South Sydney last year could well have been the end of him at the top level, with just the trainspotters and the tragics left to remember. But a chance meeting with Carrigan when the Broncos were in town to play the Cowboys lit a fire in Shibasaki. The boys he came through with at Brisbane had become men and were riding high and he wanted to be a part of it. He signed with Wynnum-Manly and part of the deal included a train and trial contract with the Broncos and it got off to a rough start – on his first day, Shibasaki couldn't finish the session. But he stayed on the job, winning the respect of coach Michael Maguire through his work ethic and persistence and slowly uncovered the ability that had always lurked within. Haas could see the change in his old teammate from the start. "He's way more dialled in, he took his training more seriously, the way was eating, the way he was preparing for training, it was cool to see," Haas said. "I knew he was serious about. I knew he knew this was his last shot. He took it with both hands and he's never looked back." After a summer of hard work, Shibasaki was a surprise starter for round one and at the end of years in the wilderness, he became the player he promised to be. Shibasaki plays strong and brave and competes on everything. He has finished off plenty an attacking movement and sits second in the league for tries scored and first among centres, doubling his career try tally in less than half a year. He is also second among centres in line breaks, fourth in tackle busts and fifth in metres gained. The prodigy of another time, who has travelled far and seen so much, has returned older and wiser and has moved the past into overtaking the future. Selwyn Cobbo and Deine Mariner are two of the most talented outside backs in the sport and Shibasaki is keeping them out of Broncos best 17 every week, rightfully so. This season is the first time he has played more than 12 games in an NRL season and despite making his first grade debut back in 2018, only Robert Toia carries fewer top flight appearances into the decider. Stephen Crichton, the man he will mark and by most's reckoning the best centre in the game, made his first grade debut a year after Shibasaki and has almost three times as many games to his name. His selection is one of the most unheralded Origin calls in years, just as Toia's was for Game One, because this is a career that never quite got started like it was supposed to. But if it was about how you start, Shibasaki wouldn't be here at all. He wouldn't have made it to the end of the journey which has doubled as a new beginning, with his name on the back of a Queensland jersey, the eyes of the rugby league world on him and a chance to enter the Maroons pantheon of unlikely heroes who answered the call when their time came and their state needed them. To get it done, he'll have to defy the odds, with New South Wales entering the game as warm favourites. But when you've fought your way back from the brink like he has, when you've come home to yourself and finally achieved the promise of your youth that by all rights should have slipped away, anything must feel possible. ABC Sport will be live blogging all the action from the Origin III decider on Wednesday, July 9 at
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
A 17-team NRLW competition could be on its way as broadcast deal beckons
Fox League presenter Lara Pitt hopes the NRLW will soon reach the stage where every NRL club fields a team in the booming women's competition. The 10-team competition has this year expanded to 12 in an all new look for the women's game, including a top six incentive. Watch every game of the 2025 NRL Women's Premiership LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer. But a competition that commenced with just four teams back in 2018 could have a full slate of teams right around the corner. 'The end game would have to be to see every NRL club have their own NRLW side,' Pitt said. 'How quickly they do that will entirely come down to the way the NRL looks at it from a strategic perspective, whether there's enough talent coming through. 'I'm hoping there's the right people at NRL HQ looking at that very closely to ensure we don't expand too quickly. 'However, it's my understanding that when they negotiate the new CBA deal for the girls, which I believe is going to be done ahead of the 2028 season, that's when it looks like we could have equal men's and women's teams. 'So it's not far away. We're only five teams off.' Pitt is set to lead Fox and Kayo's weekly show, NRLW on Fox, kicking off before the season opener on July 3 between the Cronulla Sharks and Parramatta Eels. This season's expansion means the Dolphins, Storm, Panthers, Sea Eagles and Rabbitohs are the only remaining clubs without an NRLW side, which might not be for long. The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are the newest to the pack in 2025, joined by a Warriors side returning to the competition for the first time since 2020, bringing a slew of cross-code talent with them. 'It says a lot about where the NRLW is going,' the Fox host said. 'And I'm sure that rugby union isn't happy about it, but the fact is the (league) comps are only getting better.' The move of stars from union to league has come thick and fast in recent years with more women seeing potential in the game and a growing supporter base with the backing of the code. 'There are people out there that want to see what the next chapter of their careers look like, so that will only encourage more people to follow Women's Rugby League, which is really exciting,' Pitt said. 'Any coach in the NRLW that's worked with girls that have come from the Sevens program will say they are elite and they bring a great level of professionalism into the NRLW environment. 'So that's only going to be a good thing for the young girls that are learning how it's done.' The game has progressed by a mile since four teams started things off in 2018, but for Pitt, there's always room for more. 'I've dubbed it (2025) the season of more because more teams means more new faces, more rivalries and one more week of finals,' she said.
Daily Telegraph
an hour ago
- Daily Telegraph
‘Bad scene': More chaos with ‘heated altercation' between Benji and Tigers player
Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News. Amid all the chaos at the Wests Tigers, a report has emerged detailing a heated training confrontation between coach Benji Marshall and centre Adam Doueihi. The SMH have reported that things got aggressive between Marshall and Doueihi two weeks ago after Doueihi allegedly took umbrage to a tackle Marshall made at training. FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every game of every round in the 2025 NRL Telstra Premiership, LIVE with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer > As he often does, Marshall joined in opposed work, reportedly playing defence in a Tigers drill, with the club great turned coach tackling Doueihi. This led to a heated confrontation between the pair. 'Benji does opposed work where he steps in and plays like a half. Apparently there are suggestions that Adam and Benji during one of those opposed sessions got up and had a bit of a heated altercation,' The Daily Telegraph's Michael Carayannis said on NRL360. 'Whether it was a push and shove or verbal or anything else was exchanged but it's what happened apparently. Adam Doueihi and Benji Marshall Fox League's James Hooper believes Marshall's actions are a 'no-no' as it has the potential to open up a Pandora's box of issues. 'That's a bad scene. It's such a dangerous road that because if Benji whacks Doueihi too hard then all of a sudden, Benji's in the wrong and he's lost respect that way or vice versa, if Adam Doueihi sits Benji on his ass, what's that do for the coach's reputation in front of the group,' Hooper said. 'I just think it's a big no-no. 'This incident shows it's fraught with danger.' After a positive start to the season, the Tigers are struggling mightily having lost their last six games. Adding to their pain, promising hooker Tallyn Da Silva was allowed to walk before the mid-season transfer deadline, with the 20-year-old joining the Eels. He's the second exciting young gun to have left the club in recent months following good mate Lachlan Galvin. Hooper penned a column for on Wednesday, diving into the details around Da Silva and Galvin's exit. In that column, Hooper touched on the clique that has formed between ex-Panthers Api Koroisau, Jarome Luai and Sunia Turuva was part of the reason Galvin wanted out and Da Silva was ultimately let go 18 months before the end of his contract. This was discussed on NRL360, with Hooper going into the specifics. 'I think he's let Tallyn go because there's a clique at the Wests Tigers with the senior players and Benji because Benji needs buy-in from his senior players,' Hooper said. 'That is why Benji went with keeping Api. I need to win tomorrow so that's why he's backing him in but the other factor is that he's got to keep Jarome happy because Jarome has that get out clause as of midway through next season. 'I get what Benji is trying to do.... But I think where it has caused some rumblings, is that some of the younger players do feel there might be some double standards.' Originally published as 'Bad scene': More chaos with 'heated altercation' between Benji and Tigers player
