Squad breakdown: Dragons & Raiders 2025 NRL SuperCoach analysis

The Brisbane Broncos enter the 2025 season with high hopes with Michael Maguire at the helm.



Does Madge’s hard-nosed style of coaching galvanise the group or put them offside?



Only time will tell, however early pre-season signs suggest the former.



Coming off a highly underwhelming season by their standards suggests there’s Supercoach value aplenty to begin the year.



After the opening two rounds they spend plenty of time in Queensland in the early parts of the season which is a major bonus.



Let’s take a look at their NRL Supercoach prospects ahead of round 1.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Brisbane Broncos</h2>



<ol>
<li>Reece Walsh</li>



<li>Selwyn Cobbo</li>



<li>Kotoni Staggs</li>



<li>Deine Mariner</li>



<li>Jesse Arthars</li>



<li>Ben Hunt</li>



<li>Adam Reynolds</li>



<li>Payne Haas</li>



<li>Cory Paix</li>



<li>Patrick Carrigan</li>



<li>Brendan Piakura</li>



<li>Jordan Riki</li>



<li>Kobe Hetherington</li>



<li>Billy Walters</li>



<li>Corey Jensen</li>



<li>Ben Te Kura</li>



<li>Xavier Willison</li>
</ol>



Unavailable:&nbsp;Blake Mozer (shoulder, TBC), Ezra Mam (suspended, round 10)



Analysis:&nbsp;Selwyn Cobbo is likely to shift to the right wing, pushing Deine Mariner into the centres.



A shoulder injury to rookie hooker Blake Mozer will see him miss at least the early stages of the season, meaning Billy Walters and Cory Paix will fight for the starting hooker spot which will be part of a rotation.



Pat Carrigan is likely to move into the front-row, with Kobe Hetherington starting at lock.



Jack Gosiewski is reportedly in contention to start in the back-row ahead of Brendan Piakura.



Fletcher Baker will compete with Ben Te Kura for the final bench spot.



Draw: Roosters (A), Raiders (A), Cowboys (H), Dolphins (A, Suncorp), Roosters (H), Warriors (A), Bulldogs (H)



First five round rating: 6/10



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Guns</h2>



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Reece Walsh I FLB I $738,400



With Latrell Mitchell out of the opening stages of the season, 30% of coaches are looking for a new fullback, with Walsh a popular option.



He’s priced on a 75 point average, minus his injury impacted game last season (one point in 4 minutes) he averaged 81.15 points.



He did goal-kick at stages last season with Adam Reynolds out.



While goal-kicking would be an enormous boost, in games non goal kicking last year (one game kicked one goal v Penrith, included) he averaged 84.4 points per game.



He also averaged 80 points per game in 2023 in a sign of potential bigger things to come.



With a decent draw to begin he looks a quality starting play.



Buy rating: 6/10



Payne Haas I FRF I $669,200



Playing through minor injuries last season contributed to a reduction in average from 74 in 2023 to 68 in 2024.



Without his injury impact game last season (18 points in 11 minutes) he averaged 72.23 points per game.



A fully fit Haas in what should be improved Broncos outfit could easily see him eclipse 70 points per game and more.



While I believe he may be slightly undervalued, I do feel there’s better priced FRFs to begin the season.



Buy rating: 5/10



Pat Carrigan I 2RF I $642,500



Carrigan is 2RF only to start the season, but is likely to be named at prop and gain 2RF-FRF dual positioning by round 6.



He’s consistently a mid-60s averaging player and could be a very reliable plug into the FRF slot once he gets the update, but not to begin at 2RF with little upside.



Buy rating: 3/10



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Mid-rangers</h2>



Selwyn Cobbo I CTW I $550,800



Cobbo averaged 56 points per game with the shift to centre.



He moves back to the wing in 2025 where he averaged 59 in 2023, granted it was a red-hot team that reached the grand final.



A more mature player now, Cobbo could easily go 60+ with Reece Walsh, Adam Reynolds and Ben Hunt creating opportunities for him.



Not one I’ll start with, but he’s certainly a player to monitor early on if the Broncos show signs of life.



Buy rating: 5/10



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Kobe Hetherington I 2RF I $338,800



Originally I was very keen on Hetherington, however after deeper dives into Kobe Hetherington I’m a long way from convinced he’s a good buy.



The lure of a starting lock role was enticing, but his PPM is very poor at 0.86 last year.



He offloaded three times in 23 games and busted just 22 tackles.&nbsp;



He did look good in the club’s trial against the Titans.



Buy rating: 6/10



Jesse Arthars I CTW I $341,600&nbsp;



I’ve always been a fan of Arthars in actual NRL, however 2024 was a down year by his standards.



In his defence, the entire Broncos outfit had a down year.



He starred in the All Stars game claiming man of the match honours in an early sign of form.



He averaged just 35 points per game last season with a very ordinary 21 in base.



The season prior he averaged 37 points per game with only 18 in base, in a team that went within minutes of winning a grand final.



While I won’t start with him, he may be relevant at some stage if the Broncos fire.



Reece Walsh is the key, if he’s dishing tries up on a platter for Arthars he can go on runs and earn some cash.



If you bought you’d be very reluctant to play him in your 17 due to the low floor, but hopefully he jags a few tries at stages and banks some nice coin.



Buy rating: 6/10



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Cheapies</h2>



Jack Gosiewski I 2RF I $232,600&nbsp;



Jack Gosiewski is pushing for a starting role alongside Brendan Piakura.



If he lands the spot in round 1 we can reassess, but it feels extremely trappy to me.



Even if he does the minutes will be a question mark as Jordan Riki will play 80 on one edge, and Piakura would replace Gosiewski on the other.



In his past four seasons he’s scored from 0.6-0.69 points per minute which is very poor.



In seven games in 2023 he averaged 69 minutes per game, for just 44 points per game.



An 80-minute role would be excellent at his price, but there’s plenty of red flags.



Buy rating: 5/10



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Cory Paix I HOK I $232,600



Mozer’s injury leaves Paix and Billy Walters in line to share the hooking duties to begin the season.



The minute split likely looks something like a 50/30 which wouldn’t warrant investing, even at 60/20 it’s not great.



They could also switch between starting and bench at any point, while Mozer could return round 2 and thwart the plans even more.



A watch for me.



Buy rating: 5/10



Ben Te Kura I FRF I $232,600



Te Kura may not make the bench for round 1, and if he does the minutes will be limited.



Monitor and reassess if greater minutes look like they’re on the radar.



Buy rating: 3/10



The Canberra Raiders enter 2025 with plenty of doubters following the departures of a number of key veterans.



However they do boast several key rookies who have another year of experience under their belt after debuts last season.



It’s also a brave move to doubt Ricky Stuart who has a habit of getting the best out of the cattle he has in front of him.



Is it another transition year or is it the start of something special?



We’ll find out soon enough.



They have a number of rookies who will be hugely Supercoach relevant in 2025, but are likely to be an injury away from getting a start.



Let’s take a look at the Raiders Supercoach prospects to start the season.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Canberra Raiders</h2>



<ol>
<li>Kaeo Weekes</li>



<li>Albert Hopoate (Savelio Tamale)</li>



<li>Matthew Timoko</li>



<li>Sebastian Kris</li>



<li>Xavier Savage</li>



<li>Ethan Strange</li>



<li>Jamal Fogarty</li>



<li>Josh Papali’i</li>



<li>Tom Starling</li>



<li>Joseph Tapine</li>



<li>Hudson Young</li>



<li>Zac Hosking</li>



<li>Morgan Smithies</li>



<li>Danny Levi</li>



<li>Corey Horsburgh</li>



<li>Matty Nicholson</li>



<li>Ata Mariota</li>
</ol>



Unavailable: Albert Hopoate, personal reasons, available Round 2.



Analysis:&nbsp;The Raiders have a host of different combinations at their disposal with a number of promising rookies on the way up.



Raiders Jersey Flegg player of the year Owen Pattie has impressed during the pre-season and will push both Tom Starling and Danny Levi for round 1 spots.



Chevy Stewart (fullback) and Ethan Sanders (halves) can also push their cases for round 1 starting spots with strong performances in the pre-season trials, granted it’d force a reshuffle in the spine.



If either did start, it’d like see Ethan Strange shift to centre which would create further backline movement.



The spine could look very different come the Las Vegas opener based on pre-season performances.



Zac Hosking is in doubt with a calf injury but is firming after being confirmed to travel to Vegas, with English recruit Matty Nicholson to start in the back-row if unavailable.



Albert Hopoate will miss the Vegas opener as he awaits the birth of his child, with Savelio Tamale likely to start on the wing for the Raiders.



Draw: Warriors (Vegas), Broncos (H), Sea Eagles (A), Cowboys (A), Sharks (H), Eels (Darwin), Titans (A)



First five round rating: 5/10



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Guns</h2>



Joe Tapine I FRF I $655,100



Tapine is much like Haas in terms of early Supercoach credentials, he’s rock solid and won’t let you down but there’s little starting value.



He’s averaged 64-67 points per game last season which will likely be similar in 2025.



He also averaged 54 minutes per game last season which is unlikely to increase at least in the early parts of the season.



As with most Raiders forwards, if Ricky Stuart gives him a licence to free the arm and offload more it’ll enhance his Supercoach credentials substantially.



Buy rating: 5/10



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Mid-rangers:</h2>



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Kaeo Weekes I FLB-5/8 I $530,900



Weekes interests me based on eye test rather than raw numbers which tell a different story.



He trained as a five-eighth last season, whereas this pre-season has all been about the number one jumper.



The prospect of getting a livewire fullback in the SC five-eighth slot is enticing.



He looked lethal in a short cameo in the trial clash with the Sharks, and is clearly a player on the up.



He’s priced on a 54 point average, surprisingly he only averaged 47.85 points in seven games at fullback.



With improvement I think he can increase this by a decent margin, however his low floor is concerning, his base of 25 at fullback isn’t great.



He’s not exactly a high volume player at the back.



I won’t start him on fear of his low floor, but it wouldn’t shock me to see him as one of the more purchased players at five-eighth comes round 3 before initial price changes.



Buy rating: 6/10



Zac Hosking I 2RF I $513,900



Hosking’s a good looking unit, but unfortunately there’s no Supercoach points awarded for that.



He’s also had his fair share of injuries in recent seasons, while he’s also in some doubt for the Vegas opener despite reports suggesting he’ll feature.



He opened last season with scores of 92 and 109 which is superb, however he did have two tries and two-assists in these clashes.



In these games he had a base of 47 and 48, then he had a base of 48 in just 59 minutes in the following game.



As an 80 minute edge back-rower he’s a value proposition to begin the season, but coming off another niggle will he get the entire game?



Buy rating: 4/10



Corey Horsburgh I 2RF-FRF I $355,500



Big Red may start in round 1, and even if off the bench he should see decent game time.



He averaged 45 points in 44 minutes last season.



Playing just five games though, he’s priced on a 36 point average.



He averaged 62 points in the 2023 season.



Buy rating: 9/10



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Cheapies</h2>



Savelio Tamale I CTW I $232,600



Tamale looks set to start in Vegas, which may be short-lived as Albert Hopoate is unavailable with the impending birth of his child.&nbsp;



Watching the Raiders trial with the Sharks I am a little concerned he may not get much quality ball on the left wing outside Ethan Strange.



Buy rating: 6/10



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Owen Pattie I HOK I $198,800&nbsp;



Pattie starred in the Raiders trial win over Penrith with two tries in short succession.



He didn’t feature in their second trial clash.



What does this mean?



It’s Ricky Stuart, I have no idea.



He’ll be a chance for a bench spot in Vegas, with Tom Starling and Danny Levi the frontrunners for the split role at this stage.



If he’s off the bench he probably gets 30 minutes at most which wouldn’t warrant buying, but watch this space, the kid can play.



If the starting opportunity arises at any stage he has the potential to become the cheapie of the year.



Buy rating: 2/10



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Squad breakdown: Broncos & Raiders 2025 NRL SuperCoach analysis

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