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The NRL matches you must not miss in 2016

Roar Guru
27th November, 2015
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Johnathan Thurston is integral to the Kangaroos – even if he can't play. (AAP Image/Michael Chambers)
Roar Guru
27th November, 2015
2
1502 Reads

The highly anticipated draw for the 2016 NRL season is out and there are some matches and special occasions that are worth not missing.

Each club has now received their draw for what is expected to be another blockbuster season, each varying in difficulty depending on how your team fared last year.

There will be big winners and losers from the 2016 fixture, which will feature triple headers on Easter Monday and Anzac Day, regular Thursday night football and Johnathan Thurston set to take his premiership-winning Cowboys to the very ground where his professional playing career started way back in 2002.

Let’s look at some of the matches or occasions that you must not miss in 2016.

1. The opening round
As is the case at the beginning of every season, the opening round is one that must not be missed.

Reigning premiers the North Queensland Cowboys have passed up the chance to kick off the season, with the Parramatta Eels and Brisbane Broncos to be given that honour when they do battle at Pirtek Stadium on Thursday night.

The Eels’ biggest off-season recruit, Kieran Foran, will make his debut against the 2015 runners-up, who have lost Justin Hodges to retirement but otherwise possess a top-quality playing list headed by Darius Boyd and Anthony Milford.

The first Friday night match for the season will see Trent Barrett make his Manly coaching debut against the Bulldogs, who will be fielding a new halfback in 2016 after losing Trent Hodkinson to the Newcastle Knights during the off-season.

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The Cowboys will kick off their premiership defence at home against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, in what is also a rematch of this year’s semi-final in which the visitors were dealt a 39-0 humiliation by the eventual premiers.

Elsewhere, the Canberra Raiders are at home to the Penrith Panthers, who will be headed by former Broncos mentor Anthony Griffin after he succeeded the sacked Ivan Cleary at the foot of the mountains, while the Wests Tigers are at home to the New Zealand Warriors at Campbelltown.

The feature match on Sunday will see the Sydney Roosters take on the South Sydney Rabbitohs, for whom grand final hero Sam Burgess is set to make his NRL comeback following twelve months away from the game.

The Gold Coast Titans will then host the Newcastle Knights in the battle of last year’s underachievers, while the Melbourne Storm will finish off the round with a home match against the St George Illawarra Dragons in their first meeting in Melbourne since that infamous ‘Sirengate’ match in 2014.

2. The Martin Taupau Cup, Round 2
Tensions are set to simmer when Wests Tigers host Manly at Leichhardt Oval in Round 2.

New Sea Eagle Martin Taupau will confront his old club for the first time, and Tigers fans who have endured a horrid time will be out to ensure that his homecoming to Leichhardt is an unhappy one.

Elsewhere, the Sharks will host the Dragons at home, with this match-up looming as an important one for two aiming to improve on last season’s finals appearances.

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3. Good Friday and Easter Monday, Round 4
Round 4 looms as a huge round, not only because it’s the Easter round but there is a good line-up of blockbuster matches to look forward to.

It starts with the Rabbitohs hosting the Bulldogs in a rematch of last year’s controversial Good Friday match. South Sydney won on the back of a penalty after halfback Adam Reynolds suffered a knee injury after James Graham smothered his field-goal attempt.

That night, the Broncos and Cowboys will square off for the first time since the grand final, which the latter won thanks to the heroics of Thurston, who kicked the premiership-winning field goal in extra-time.

This match will be played at Suncorp Stadium, which should aid the Broncos as they seek revenge for their heartbreaking loss.

On Easter Sunday, Dragons fans will be out in force to boo and jeer Trent Merrin when his Penrith Panthers visit WIN Stadium in Wollongong.

And the Tigers and Eels will also resume their tradition of playing on the Easter Monday, which should also attract a bumper crowd even though it does coincide with the Sydney Royal Easter Show.

4. The Roger Tuivasa-Sheck Cup, Round 5
The New Zealand Warriors’ marquee signing will be the headline act when he and his new club face the Roosters at Allianz Stadium on the first Sunday of April.

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The clash between the 2002 grand finalists will come nearly 12 months to the day since Tuivasa-Sheck, regarded as one of the best fullbacks in the game, signed with the Warriors on a three-year deal.

He, along with fellow recruit Issac Luke, are seen as two of the missing pieces to the Warriors’ premiership puzzle, and thus 2016 looms as an important year for the club, which has not made the finals since 2011.

Therefore, their clash with the Chooks, minor premiers for each of the last three seasons, will loom as a true litmus test as to how far they have come in the last four years.

5. The Kieran Foran Cup, Round 7
Having been one of the faces of Manly’s period of on-field success earlier this decade, Foran will become public enemy number one when his Eels travel to Brookvale Oval on Thursday night to kick off Round 7.

Foran’s departure from the northern beaches was one of the biggest stories of the 2015 season and his arrival at the Eels will bring about increased expectations for the blue and gold, whose six consecutive seasons without finals is currently the longest of any club.

The clash will also bring together two clubs who love to hate each other, and also commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Sea Eagles’ second premiership, which was won against the Eels in 1976.

It will also serve as a litmus test as to how the Sea Eagles are faring under new coach Barrett. Will their finals absence in 2015 prove to be just an aberation, or will their slide down the ladder continue?

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6. Anzac Round
Once again, the Anzac Round promises to be huge and there are a number of matches that simply must not be missed.

It kicks off with the Broncos welcoming the Rabbitohs to Suncorp Stadium for the first time since the 2015 season opener, in which the 2014 premiers ruined Wayne Bennett’s Broncos homecoming with a 36-6 thrashing.

Though the Broncos have come a long way since, the runners-up will still face a tough test against the Bunnies, who will have Sam Burgess back on deck after his 12 months away from the game.

And once again, the Dragons and Roosters will battle it out for the Anzac Day honours, while the Storm and Warriors will resume their Anzac Night clash after it was not scheduled in 2015.

The later kick-off time of 7pm will allow fans to get to AAMI Park in time for kick-off, after they have attended the Collingwood versus Essendon AFL match over the bridge at the MCG.

7. Suncorp Stadium double-header, Round 10
As many as fourteen Queensland players from the state’s victorious 2015 Origin series campaign could feature when Suncorp Stadium hosts its first NRL double header since 2011 in Round 10.

The first match will see the Storm face off against the Cowboys at 5:30pm in a rematch of last year’s preliminary final, which the Cowboys won to set up the NRL’s first ever all-Queensland grand final.

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The two sides will be led by local legends Cameron Smith and Thurston, respectively, as they showcase their brilliant leadership skills which have proven integral to the Maroons’ past decade of success in the State of Origin.

The second match will see the Sea Eagles ‘host’ the Broncos at 7:30pm, repeating a move they took in 2011 when they also took their home game against the Queensland powerhouses to the Cauldron.

Again the Sea Eagles, whose Queensland representatives include Daly Cherry-Evans and Nate Myles, will be tested against the 2015 runners-up, who will be desperate to go one better in 2016 and end their decade-long premiership drought.

In what looms as a major logistical nightmare, the Suncorp Stadium double header will also go head-to-head with the blockbuster AFL clash between the Brisbane Lions and Collingwood across town at the Gabba, leaving Brisbane sporting fans spoilt for choice on this particular night.

8. Origin auditions, Round 11
A huge round of State of Origin auditions will come in Round 11, with the matches between the Cowboys and Broncos and Bulldogs and Roosters expected to be among the standout matches.

The Queensland derby promises not to disappoint, with a large number of players from both sides expected to be in contention for the Queensland Origin side.

Perhaps the match-up to watch out for is that of Thurston and Ben Hunt, who had differing fortunes in last season’s decider.

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The match between the Bulldogs and Roosters could also decide who wears the number six jumper for the Blues, with Josh Reynolds and Mitchell Pearce set to go head-to-head in a winner-takes-all personal showdown.

There is also the match between the Sharks and Sea Eagles to look forward to, in which Origin enforcers Paul Gallen and Nate Myles will face off – who could forget their famous one-on-one fight in the 2013 series?

Coincidentally, Gallen will be wearing the light blue of the Sharks and Myles the maroon of the Sea Eagles, so State of Origin could come 11 days early at least for those two.

9. The Cherry-Evans-Myles Cup, Round 15
In March, Gold Coast Titans fans rejoiced when it was announced that Cherry-Evans had signed a contract to play for the club from the 2016 season onwards.

Unfortunately, just three months later, their joy would be reduced to dust when he sensationally backflipped on his Titans deal and subsequently re-signed with the Sea Eagles on a massive eight-year deal, effectively keeping him on Sydney’s northern beaches for life.

That, and the fact that Nate Myles will return to the Gold Coast as a Sea Eagles player, will serve as the major subplot to the two clubs’ only meeting for the year. The crowd will be expected to express their displeasure for Cherry-Evans given how he betrayed the club.

10. Rabbitohs versus Cowboys, Round 17
The Round 17 fixture between these two sides in Cairns might officially be a Rabbitohs home game, but it’s the Cowboys who will be expected to win the majority of the crowd support when the two sides clash.

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The Townsville-based Cowboys will, for the first time ever, play a premiership match in Cairns, further defining the words ‘North Queensland’ in their full club name.

This will present the club’s Cairns-based fans the rare opportunity to not only watch their team in action, but also to see the last two premiers in action as well. With names like Thurston, Greg Inglis and Burgess expected to feature, a sellout is a possibility and would prove a real winner for the Cairns market.

11. The James Maloney Cup, Rounds 19 and 25
New Sharks recruit James Maloney will have to wait until just after Origin has concluded to face his old club, the Roosters, for the first time since leaving the Chooks at the end of this season.

The club, who in 2016 will celebrate a half-century in the Australian rugby league domestic competition, recruited Maloney with the hope that he, among a host of others such as Ben Barba, Jack Bird and Paul Gallen, could finally deliver the club its maiden premiership.

It will also be the fourth club Maloney has represented in the NRL, having previously played for the Melbourne Storm, New Zealand Warriors and Roosters, tasting the ultimate success with the latter club in 2013.

Adding further intrigue to this match is the fact that the Sharks have defeated the Roosters the last four times they played, including both times in 2015 and in their lone meeting in 2014, which was arguably the greatest upset in NRL history.

Their fans will, therefore, have no reason to believe that they can once again repeat the dose on the Chooks in 2016, especially with the talent and experience their playing list currently possesses.

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The Roosters will have the hosting rights for their first meeting, which will be on the Monday night at Allianz Stadium, before the Sharks host the return meeting at Remondis Stadium in the penultimate round of the season.

12. Thurston returns to Belmore, Round 25
North Queensland captain Johnathan Thurston is set for an emotional return to Belmore when he takes his Cowboys to the very ground where his professional rugby league career started.

As is well documented, lost in all of Thurston’s accolades and achievements since he moved to Townsville in 2005 is the fact that he started his playing career at the Bulldogs. He played 29 games between 2002 and 2004 and featured in their 2004 premiership-winning team as a replacement for injured captain Steve Price.

Stuck behind then-starting halves Braith Anasta and Brent Sherwin at the Bulldogs, Thurston moved to Townsville in search of more first grade opportunities, and has flourished ever since, winning just about every award possible in rugby league.

It will remain to be seen what reception he meets when he faces what is expected to be a sell-out crowd at the Belmore Sports Ground in August. Though this match has not been given a fixed starting time (as with every other match in Rounds 21-26 inclusive), you get the sense that a Friday night timeslot would be perfect.

Those are some of the matches and grudge showdowns that you will not want to miss in 2015. Of course, there are also the local derbies which will divide the fans of the clubs involved, particularly those between the Roosters and Rabbitohs, Panthers and Eels, Dragons and Sharks, and Broncos and Cowboys.

For many NRL fans, the countdown has already begun to Thursday, March 3, 2016, when the season will open between the Eels and Broncos at Pirtek Stadium.

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