NRL trials LIVE: Ponga and Papenhuyzen lead star turn-out in Fiji

We’re under way in Fiji, both teams to take advantage of the unlimited interchange.

Newcastle’s thumping win over Cronulla in the first week of the pre-season challenge – yep, it’s still a thing – puts them in pole position for the $100,000 kitty.

Melbourne are no chance after losing to Canterbury. Yet to meet a club that cares about it personally, and still not sure what Manly did with their winnings last year. End-of-season trip maybe? Tommy Turbo’s rehab costs? Behind the bar in Vegas this week?

Storm 0 Knights 0

Warrington: One of the most controversial refereeing decisions in rugby league history has overshadowed Sam Burgess’ home coaching debut for Warrington as the English game clings to survival in the face of insurers walking away from the sport.

Former NRL player Fa’amanu Brown was sent off for Hull FC against Burgess’ Warrington on Saturday morning (AEDT) following an accidental head clash.

Brown was part of a tackle on Wolves back-rower Ben Currie when he was spun around and bumped heads with his rival. Currie was bloodied as a result of the collision.

However, as replays flashed up on the big screen, a bemused Brown was called to speak to the referee and bizarrely sent off with the scores locked at 6-all in the first half.

The travelling supporters made their displeasure known after the Brown decision with chants of “f— the RFL” following last weekend’s opening round of the Super League season when four players sent off.

The major crackdown on high contact comes as the English Super League prepares to move to a rule where the legal tackle height will be lowered to below the armpit in 2025.

Multiple sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorised to comment publicly, said the governing body only had one insurance company willing to indemnify the game given the class actions looming against the sport’s previous handling of concussion.

However, the call to banish Brown for what appeared to be an accident mystified everyone at the ground, including former dual-code international Brian Carney, who said on Sky Sports the incident was “an existential threat to the attractiveness of our game”.

“In a million years, I cannot find a red card for Nu Brown in this instance,” Carney said.

He had support from Burgess, who said he felt “terrible coaching on the other side of that”.

“In terms of player safety and welfare, it’s the best state the game has ever been in,” Burgess said. “If you’re a player in today’s game, you’re in the best hands.

“The worry with the game is, especially on this side of the world, we’re being reactive to legal cases that are going on, rather than just accepting we’re going to have to take it on.”

Read the full story here.

Slight delay to proceedings at Churchill Park, Lautoka. As you’d expect in Fiji in February, it’s rather warm, so much so conditions strayed into the ‘black zone’ in the NRL’s heat index. That’s when play and warm-ups stop – brutal humidity on top of 30-plus degrees, sounds like Sydney doesn’t it?

It’s cooled slightly on the ground, so kick-off will be only 15 minutes late, with the usual 20-minute quarters and extra drinks breaks. Tipping constant player rotations from the coaches, especially for the big boys in the middle.

Braden Hamlin-Uele was just an hour away from officially becoming a New Zealand Warrior before Cronulla reached out to his management with one final offer to keep him in the Shire.

So convinced was he that he was heading back to Auckland for the 2025 season, Hamlin-Uele had even started looking at accommodation, working out moving costs and was even daring to dream about being elevated to the Warriors’ leadership group.

Hamlin-Uele passed on the reported three-year $2.2 million Warriors contract to settle for two years at the Sharks – but only now can it be revealed how close the prop came to being lost to the Shire.

Instead, he will remain with Cronulla and be joined by his former Junior Kiwis roommate Addin Fonua-Blake next year to form one of the most damaging front-row pairings in the game.

“The Warriors set a deadline for last Friday,” Hamlin-Uele said. “I was accommodating that deadline, and we’re talking about half an hour to an hour before I was ready to sign – I thought I was gone.

“The figure from the Warriors was great, financially the deal was amazing, and the three years was great security.

“It got to 8.30pm, it was 10.30pm over there, and the Sharks came to my manager with the last offer and said, ‘We don’t want him to leave, here is our best offer’.

Read all the latest on player movements around the NRL here.

Afternoon one, afternoon all,

Welcome to an early edition of Super Saturday – four games, about nine hours of footy and several time zones. We start in Fiji with Kalyn Ponga, Ryan Papenhuyzen and Melbourne and Newcastle in their final hit-out before round one.

The Warriors and Dolphins take us to Auckland after that, then it’s Brookie for a couple of third-string Manly and Brisbane line-ups (I sharn’t be putting lipstick on that pig, but still, footy is footy), and finally the Dragons and Tigers round us out in Mudgee.

Kick-off from Fiji is at 1:45pm AEDT and we’ll be with you the whole way through. Giddy up.

Melbourne are still resting Cameron Munster, so he’ll go into round one without any footy to his name since last year, but new captain Harry Grant and Jahrome Hughes are back and Ryan Papenhuyzen is back again after a successful stint against Canterbury last week. One son of a gun replaces another on the bench for the Storm – Cole Geyer, son of 1999 premiership hero Matt, comes in for Bronson Garlick, whose old man is ex-Rabbitohs skipper Sean.

Newcastle have Kalyn Ponga on deck, along with Fijian reps Daniel and Jacob Saifiti, and gigantic English kid Kai Pearce-Paul. Keep an eye on him – big things expected of a rather large human.

Storm team: 1. Ryan Papenhuyzen 2. William Warbrick 3. Reimis Smith 4. Nick Meaney 5. Xavier Coates 6. Jonah Pezet 7. Jahrome Hughes 8. Tui Kamikamica 9. Harry Grant 10. Josh King 11. Kane Bradley 12. Eliesa Katoa 13. Trent Loiero 14. Christian Welch 15. Joe Chan 16. Tristan Powell 17. Tyran Wishart 18. Keagan Russell-Smith 19. Dean Ieremia 20. Shawn Blore 21. Cole Geyer 22. Young Tonumaipea 23. Lazarus Vaalepu 24. Jack Howarth

Knights team: 1. Kalyn Ponga 2. Enari Tuala 3. Dane Gagai 4. Bradman Best 5. Greg Marzhew 6. Tyson Gamble 7. Jackson Hastings 8. Jacob Saifiti 9. Phoenix Crossland 10. Leo Thompson 11. Tyson Frizell 12. Dylan Lucas 13. Adam Elliott 14. Jack Cogger 15. Daniel Saifiti 16. Jack Hetherington 17. Kai Pearce-Paul 18. Thomas Cant 19. Riley Jones 20. David Armstrong 21. Will Pryce 22. Jed Cartwright 23. Brodie Jones 24. Thomas Jenkins 25. Fletcher Sharpe 26. Laitia Moceidreke 27. Fletcher Myers