By Dave Worsley in Auckland and Joel Gould in Brisbane
Proud Benji Marshall’s Wests Tigers are enjoying rare time in the NRL’s top four after bursting the Warriors’ bubble with an upset 32-14 victory in Auckland.
Not only did the Tigers end the Warriors’ unbeaten start to the NRL season, they did it convincingly before a crowd of over 24,000 at Go Media Stadium, where they hadn’t won since 2016 when the likes of Mitch Moses, Luke Brooks, Josh Addo-Carr and Aaron Woods ran the side.
The Tigers found themselves down 10-0 midway through the first half but rallied strongly to open up the Warriors’ defence, finishing with six tries to three and a huge tackle-break advantage of 50-18.
“It was probably the most resilient performance I’ve seen from the team for a long time,” said Tigers coach Marshall.
“I’m very proud of the team to fight back. We made some adjustments of the run.
“I was just happy we played the type of football we wanted to play,” added Marshall, with the Tigers now holding a record of two wins and one loss to start 2026, having also had a bye.
Friday night’s loss denied the Warriors a chance at their equal-best start to an NRL season – five in 2018 – following three thumping wins.
“We’re very frustrated,” said Warriors coach Andrew Webster. “We missed the mark tonight…we know what we’ve got to work on.”
The Warriors’ opened the scoring through fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad after nine minutes.
Huge pressure from the home side saw Jacob Laban burst through two flimsy tackles to score with Tanah Boyd converting to make it 10-0.
But Adam Pompey was sinbinned binned after tackling Faaletino Tavana to the ground unnecessarily, slowing the Warriors’ momentum.
The Tigers finally got on the scoreboard with a try to Tavana in the 32nd minute after a pass from Adam Doueihi.
They were in again three minutes later after a high kick from Jock Madden bounced off the head of a leaping Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Tavana passed to Kai Pearce-Paul to score.
The nightmare finish to the first half continued for the Warriors as the Tigers stormed into the lead when Royce Hunt barged over. Madden’s conversion gave them a 16-10 lead at the break.
The Warriors started the second half the better and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak got airborne over the goal line only to spill the ball.
It was Doueihi who set up the Tigers’ fourth try, cutting through and passing to Jahream Bula to finish off for a 22-10 lead with 20 minutes remaining.
Nicoll-Klokstad did his best to get the hosts back into the game with a slicing run to score with just over 10 minutes left.
But more open play saw the Tigers cross again as Doueihi found space and passed to Luke Laulilii who flicked the ball on to Madden to score in the 73rd minute.
And to add more salt to the Warriors’ woes, Sunia Turuva crossed in the last minute.
In Brisbane, Broncos journeyman Gehamat Shibasaki has scored the match-clincher after coming on as a replacement in a 26-12 NRL derby win over the Dolphins.
The Queensland and Australia centre had been dropped to the bench after the round-two loss to Parramatta and did not get on the field in last week’s clash with Melbourne.
The 27-year-old came on in the first half against the Dolphins at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night after the Broncos lost winger Grant Anderson to a suspected medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury.
He defended resolutely and was desperate in his chase of Reece Walsh’s 72nd minute bomb that the Dolphins let bounce. Shibasaki swooped to score and seal Brisbane’s sixth win out of seven clashes with their fierce rivals.
Brisbane captain Adam Reynolds, returning from a rib injury, was magnificent with his kicking game on song, while Broncos centre Kotoni Staggs scored a double amid another big game against the Dolphins.
The Broncos had a turbulent week after defensive coach Ben Te’o resigned but they showed great defensive clout to repel the Dolphins.
“The boys had to dig pretty deep because they were coming hard and fast,” Broncos coach Michael Maguire said.
“But I know what’s inside the group. I was happy with the resilience.”
The Broncos led 10-6 at halftime with both sides going close to scoring on several occasions in an end-to-end display of expansive rugby league.
Staggs, who now has six tries in seven matches against the Dolphins, opened the scoring when he grounded a silky Ezra Mam grubber kick.
The Dolphins had tries disallowed to five-eighth Kodi Nikorima and second-rower Kulikefu Finefeuiaki for obstruction and a forward pass, respectively.
“It was a tough game,” Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf said.
“When we got our opportunities, we didn’t nail them.”
The derby threatened to erupt when Dolphins co-captain Tom Gilbert was ruled to have hit Walsh late and Broncos lock Pat Carrigan took exception.
From the resulting penalty Reynolds turned on the magic when he fooled the Dolphins defence with a crafty short grubber that he collected himself and darted over to score.
The Dolphins hit back when fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow found a gorgeous cutout ball to winger Jamayne Isaako who converted his own try from the sideline.
An incredible reverse flick pass on the last tackle by Broncos prop Ben Talty put Walsh over straight after halftime.
Reynolds was key in the build-up after another crafty grubber trapped the Dolphins in their own in-goal.
The Broncos repelled several attacking raids before Mam served up a try on a platter for Dolphins centre Jake Averillo with a terrible pass that went behind Walsh.
The kick-chase and clean-up work of Broncos second-rower Jordan Riki was a highlight as was the dynamic running of his Dolphins counterpart Finefeuiaki.
Carrigan was the Battle Medal winner as man of the match.