Ah, Las Vegas – It was nice, it was different, it was unusual, it got a great crowd of 40,000, and there was a moment that American fans could relate to…

A racist incident.

Good to see that alleged incident improved when Spencer Leniu described it as just being “Fun and games on the field” and invited the Broncos for a chat back at the hotel both teams were staying at, which several Broncos players took up and had a physical altercation with Leniu.

With the way this all went down, all the ARL Commission needed was a drive-by shooting at Reece Walsh and the Vegas police mistakenly arresting Latrell Mitchell pre-game for all kinds of ratings records to be broken.

Instead, all we got was that Manly fan getting punched out of Allegiant Stadium..

So, looking at the fixtures for the first games in Australasia this season, as the Tigers enjoy their best start to a season in a long time by getting the Round 1 bye:

– The Newcastle Knights host the Raiders in Newcastle, once again, just shy of 6 months since the epic Elimination Final that finished off Jack Wighton’s tenure in Canberra and ended the Raiders’ 2023 season.

– Fresh off their best season in 12 years, the New Zealand Warriors host the Sharks in Auckland, and it’s great to see Cronulla back in the country that produced Shark Attack by Split Enz, and it’s also great to see former Dally M winner Roger Tuivasa-Sheck back in the NRL after his stint in rugby union didn’t quite work out, as he ultimately didn’t get selected for the All Blacks in the World Cup… Sonny Bill Williams, he is not.

– The Storm host the Threepeating Panthers at AAMI Park in the primetime Friday slot on Channel Nine, and the Storm’s Round 1 winning streak that stretches all the way back to 2004 (20 games in all) is under serious threat… funnily enough, this is the first game between the Storm and Panthers at AAMI Park since the end of 2018, in which time the Storm have had more home games at Suncorp (3) and Docklands (1) against the Panthers than they have at their actual home ground.

– Arch-rivals Parramatta and Canterbury go at each other in the Saturday twilight slot, with the Berries continuing to bring familiar faces into the squad, namely 3-time Penrith premiership player Stephen Crichton, who is now the captain of the club, former Souths fullback Blake Taaffe, former Knight Kurt ‘Manfred’ Mann, former Shark Connor Tracey, who also used to work for International Rescue, and former Roosters half Drew Hutchison.

– The clash of the new coaches on Saturday night as the Gold Coast Titans, now coached by Des Hasler, face St George-Illawarra, who are no longer sponsored by St George Bank, but have made up for that by signing Shane Flanagan as coach, so their salary cap should be water tight.

– And we finish off Round 1 with the first Queensland Derby of 2024, as the Redcliffe Dolphins host the North Queensland Cowboys at Suncorp, and it’ll be the first of 8 home games the Dolphins play at the Graveyard in 2023, as they’ll now play a mere 3 at their actual home stadium in Redcliffe, plus another game in Perth.

I can only assume they crunched the numbers and realised it was probably more financially viable to play at Lang Park, despite the tyranny of distance between central Brisbane and the spiritual home of the Bee Gees.

So, on to the Succinct Tips for the remainder of Round 1, here we go….

Running score = 0/2

Lock of the Week

Quite a forgettable one last week as I parcelled up the Broncos to deliver as the Lock, but it turned out they hadn’t immediately covered off their player losses from 2023, as they could never get the lead at any stage of the night, and ultimately the Roosters put them away with 7 minutes to spare in a tough old game of footy.

Now, looking at this week’s games, and I think we can finish off the start of the 2024 season with an old favourite, but it’s not the song I usually use….

Because in the land of Split Enz, the Sharks are going to be seeing red at the hands of the Warriors!