The Tackle: The Brisbane Broncos victory song one young fan will never forget

It’s the team song one young Broncos fan will never forget. Archer was the guest of honour at Suncorp Stadium and thanks to Pat Carrigan his wish was granted at fulltime. WATCH HERE

Archer sings the team song with Pat Carrigan and the Broncos. Picture: Broncos/Instagram

Fatima Kdouh reveals her likes and dislikes from Round 17 of the NRL, revealing a touching moment in the Broncos sheds after their win over the Warriors.

ARCHER SHINES BRIGHT

They’re the moments that remind NRL players and fans of the impact the game reaches far further than 80 minutes of football.

Young Broncos fan Archer was the main attraction in Brisbane’s team song after disposing of the Warriors on Saturday.

Archer was a guest of honour at Suncorp Stadium, where Broncos helped make the youngster’s Starlight wish come true.

In a touching moment, Broncos star Pat Carrigan made sure to invite Archer to sing the team song with players, after the young fan watched his favourite team win three games straight over the weekend.

The Starlight foundation helps seriously ill kids get through tough times by creating memorable experiences.

ROUND 17 DISLIKES

BLOOD IN THE WATER

Craig Fitzgibbon will need another honesty session this week, focusing on Cronulla’s lack of resilience.

The Sharks have slumped from sixth to 10th on the ladder on 18 points - alongside Manly, Dolphins and Dragons - after going down to Melbourne on Sunday.

Cronulla was in the contest for 65 minutes but had no answers when the Storm tightened the screws.

Fox League analyst Cooper Cronk said the Sharks put the cue in the rack when under the pump.

“For 65 minutes it was 10-6, they were competing and they probably didn’t have the finesse they needed at different stages,” Cronk said.

“The problem with the Sharks is, when something goes wrong against them... it’s a slippery slope.

The Sharks lack resilience when things go wrong. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

“You can’t have that in big games in September.

“They’ve got enough consistency in their game... but when Nick Meaney scored in the 65th minute, it was like they went ‘oh, we can’t win this game’ and the cue went in the rack.”

It’s a scathing assessment of a side that should be challenging for a top-four spot.

Cronulla have the bye before a crucial clash against the Dolphins and Sharks fans are calling for a spine reshuffle that would see Daniel Atkinson in the halves and Nicho Hynes shifted to fullback.

Fitzgibbon has resisted the move but after one win from their past five games, pulling the trigger could spark Cronulla’s campaign back on track.

POSITIONAL WOES

Lehi Hopoate is Manly’s long-term fullback but the question over whether he is the right man for the job over Tom Trbojevic right now remains.

The Sea Eagles youngster had a tough night under the high ball against the Tigers at the back and finished with three errors.

While Trbojevic, out of position at centre, had some teething issues defensively.

The win over the Tigers will likely see Trbojevic’s centre experiment continue this week against the Rabbitohs.

But Melbourne is waiting for Manly the following week and Storm coach Craig Bellamy will no doubt look to exploit Hopoate’s shakiness under the high ball.

It shapes as the clash that could determine how long-lived the fullback experiment will be.

Hopoate drops.

TIGERS MAMED

An under-manned Tigers outfit will look to Terrell May when the prop takes on his former side, the Roosters, this week.

May’s bombshell exit from the Roosters in November, six months after extending at the Bondi Junction club, sent the rumour mill into overdrive.

But May has been of the Tigers’ best this season and Benji Marshall will lean on the forward leader with the club set to be without spine players Jarome Luai (Origin), Api Koroisau (concussion), Heath Mason (suspension) and Jahream Bula (hamstring).

But despite the heavy losses in the spine it won’t be a family affair for the Mays.

Taylan May is edging closer to making an NRL return and would have been an option in the outside backs given could centre Adam Doueihi set to shift into halves alongside Latu Fainu at halfback against the Tricolours.

Terrell May will lead an undermanned Wests Tigers outfit. Picture: Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images

But Taylan, who was named in NSW Cup last Saturday but did not take the field, is still not ready to make a comeback.

Given the Tigers are facing seven-straight losses and a battle to avoid a fourth wooden spoon, Taylan’s injection could give Marshall outfit a much needed x-factor in the back end of the season.

It might not be enough to save the Tigers, who face a tough run over the five weeks with clashes against the Roosters, Warriors, Panthers and Canterbury.

The Roosters will also be down on manpower this week with a slew of stars set to be unavailable through Origin duties.

That won’t make Marshall’s task any easier on Sunday, with Robinson’s rookie brigade led the likes of Blake Steep, Salesi Foekti and Benaiah Ioelu in cracking form.

FOXX’S SIDELINE FLIRT

Josh Addo-Carr’s football boot was the hottest talking point over the weekend.

Did his left foot touch the sideline?

Why didn’t the Bunker review the play after Sean Russell crossed the tryline on the back of Addo-Carr’s break?

The NRL is comfortable with the touch judge’s decision to raise his flag, believing Addo-Carr had touched the white paint as he sprinted dangerously close to the sideline.

The Bunker is not able to intervene in general play unless for foul play, goal line dropouts and 20 metre restarts. The Bunker can review a foot into touch - and things like knock ons, grounding, obstruction etc - but only in a point scoring play.

On the face of it Addo-Carr break, finished off by Russell appeared to be exactly that.

But the play was rendered dead as soon as the touch judge raised his flag, making anything after that point redundant.

When you blow it up … I think he’s just touched the line https://t.co/upphSy6guDpic.twitter.com/wuLNdZlL4a

— BUZZ ROTHFIELD (@BuzzRothfield) June 28, 2025

Parramatta did have a challenge up their sleeve and could have taken the issue up with the referee and the bunker.

But again, with the play dead on the back of the raised flag it would only have been ruled a mutual infringement - if the Bunker overturned the touch judge.

Under the rules the mutual infringement would have resulted in an Eels play the ball.

It was a huge call in the context of the game with Parramatta trailing 20-26 the Dragons when the decision was made with just over 15 minutes left on the clock.

The call generated plenty of debate among fans, with many believing the touch judge got it wrong.

But fans would have been as vocal even if the call had gone the other way, or left to the bunker to decide.

While the NRL has no issues with the adjudication of the controversial moment, it has raised questions about whether the rule should be changed.

BURGEONING CASUALTY WARD

Round 17 proved brutal.

Storm livewire Sua Fa’alogo was the latest star to go down on Sunday after picking up a hamstring injury against Cronulla.

But he wasn’t alone.

Warriors key man Luke Metcalf suffered a suspected season-ending ACL injury in the loss to the Broncos, while fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (knee) is also facing time on the sideline

Rabbitohs veteran playmaker Cody Walker cut a dejected figure as he failed to finish Saturday’s heavy loss to the Dolphins.

Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf is likely to turn to either Kurt Donoghoe or Jake Averillo in the halves with five-eighth Kodi Nikorima suffering a hamstring injury in the same game.

The Dragons also face naming a makeshift outfit against the Raiders with Christian Tuipulotu (hamstring), Toby Couchman (shoulder), Viliame Fifita (concussion) Hamish Stewart (concussion) and Nathan Lawson (shoulder).

MAJOR GALVIN FLAW EXPOSED

Cameron Ciraldo has a plan A, plan B and plan C for prized recruit Lachlan Galvin but Penrith champion Nathan Cleary has exposed a tactical flaw in what appears to be the Canterbury coach’s preferred strategy.

Moving halfback Toby Sexton into hooker for Galvin to be injected into the halves worked a treat against the lowly placed Parramatta three weeks ago.

But against the footy smarts of Cleary, Ciraldo’s plan A didn’t stand a chance, it all-but backfired.

The issue for the Canterbury coach now is that other sides will now use Cleary’s tactics to exploit the Bulldogs’ spine rotation in a similar fashion.

Galvin was injected into the halves in the 51st minute, leaving five-eighth Matt Burton with the long kicking duties.

Burton went to his signature bomb in his first attacking kick with Galvin on the field, and for his second, Burton attempted to kick long for territory.

Nathan Cleary try

Except, Cleary had anticipated the kick and knowing the ball would be on Burton’s foot and he charged it down, going on to score what would be the decisive try in the narrow 8-6 win.

“He is one of the smartest players in our game Nathan Cleary,” Cronk said on Fox League.

“He realised Matt Burton is the no.1 kicker... normally he does it with a pass or a kick, but this time he did it with his footy IQ and awareness.

“The reason why he isolated Matt Burton, is Reed Mahoney went off the field, Sexton into dummy half and Lachlan Galvin playing on the right side and Burton became the main kicker out of their own end.

“Cleary got the head start, put the pressure... he knows that’s a big play.”

But Cleary also showed that Galvin could be isolated too, this time in defence.

Nathan Cleary showed his class yet again. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Lachlan Galvin’s role at the Bulldogs is still under the spotlight. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

As soon as Galvin came onto the field, Cleary targeted the young playmaker, bamboozling him with a show and go, which resulted in a momentum shifting linebreak.

While not many players might be able to emulate Cleary’s heroics, the better teams, especially come finals time will no doubt use the charge down moment as a blueprint.

Ciraldo hasn’t given a clear indication as to what his other plans for Galvin look like. The obvious strategy is to start Galvin in the halves alongside Burton.

But dropping Toby Sexton, who has been commendable at halfback, also comes with the danger of disrupting the continuity of the spine with a little over two months of regular season to play out before the finals.

ROUND 17 LIKES

CENTRAL STAGE

Global rap sensation Central Cee was a surprise guest at CommBank Stadium last Thursday night.

The English musician is in Australia as part of his ‘Can’t Rush Greatness’ world tour but took time out to get a taste of some rugby league after playing Qudos Bank Arena the night before.

He could not have picked a better NRL match to take in, with the Bulldogs and Penrith producing one of the best games of the season.

The rapper was then spotted rubbing shoulders with star-struck players after the game.

Central Cee has a massive 33 million followers across his social media platform on Tiktok and Instagram.

Video of the music star mingling with players after the clash went viral over the weekend on both club social media accounts, already amassing over three million views on Tiktok.

MASTER v APPRENTICE

Replacing star centre Stephen Crichton with someone of his calibre was always going to be difficult for the Panthers.

On Thursday night, Casey McLean showed he had the upside needed to be that guy.

McLean, in the same no.4 jumper that Crichton made his own at Penrith, went toe-to-toe with the Canterbury skipper at every opportunity on Thursday night.

Rather than be intimidated at the challenge of taking on Crichton, McLean embraced it.

He was willing to match him physically, and gave as good as he got in the running sledging battle between them as they got into each other’s face all night at Commbank Stadium.

Canterbury and Penrith go again in Round 26, and the talk won’t be about Cleary or Galvin.

It will be all about a second round ding dong battle between Crichton vs. McLean.

Bring it on.

Originally published as The Tackle: The Brisbane Broncos victory song one young fan will never forget