Suncorp Stadium will play host to Friday’s
Round 17 NRL game between Brisbane Broncos and
Sydney Roosters. The game kicks off at 8:00 pm with Sydney Roosters heading into the game as favourites with the bookmakers. Continue reading for our in-depth preview of the Brisbane Broncos vs.
Sydney Roosters
game and give you our free tips and bets.

When: Friday June 26, 2026 at 8:00 pm

Where: Suncorp Stadium

Bet 💰: Bet On This Match HERE

Brisbane Broncos vs Sydney Roosters Odds

Brisbane Broncos vs Sydney Roosters Preview

Two of the competition’s biggest clubs meet at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night looking to rediscover consistency.

Brisbane’s season remains frustratingly difficult to assess. The Broncos have shown glimpses of their best football but have been unable to string together consecutive performances, leaving them chasing a finals position.

The Roosters have endured similar issues. Trent Robinson’s side has alternated impressive victories with disappointing defeats, making it difficult to gauge where it sits among the competition’s contenders.

The battle through the middle could prove decisive, with Sydney’s forward pack continuing to perform strongly despite mixed results. With a bye looming, the Roosters have extra incentive to head into the break on a positive note, while Brisbane desperately needs a statement win on home soil.

Suncorp Stadium will play host to Saturday’s
Round 17 NRL game between Dolphins and
New Zealand Warriors. The game kicks off at 3:00 pm with Dolphins heading into the game as favourites with the bookmakers. Continue reading for our in-depth preview of the Dolphins vs.
New Zealand Warriors
game and give you our free tips and bets.

When: Saturday June 27, 2026 at 3:00 pm

Where: Suncorp Stadium

Bet 💰: Bet On This Match HERE

Dolphins vs New Zealand Warriors Odds

Dolphins vs New Zealand Warriors Preview

One of the round’s most intriguing clashes takes place at Suncorp Stadium when the Dolphins host the Warriors on Saturday afternoon.

New Zealand continues to defy expectations despite missing several key players, producing another impressive display in last week’s victory over North Queensland. Hooker Wayde Egan remains central to the Warriors’ success, controlling matches with his creativity around the ruck.

The Dolphins have been equally impressive, establishing themselves as genuine finals contenders through a combination of attacking flair and strong squad depth. Regardless of personnel changes, they have maintained a consistent style of football throughout the season.

With both sides sitting comfortably inside the top-eight conversation, this shapes as a significant test of credentials. Expect a high-quality contest between two teams that have built their success on discipline, effort and resilience.

Harry Kane will extend his Bayern Munich contract, Manchester City plan major rebuild, while Rayo Vallecano left-back Pep Chavarria is a target for Chelsea.

England captain Harry Kane, 32, will sign a new contract at Bayern Munich despite interest from Barcelona. (Athletic – subscription required), external

The appointment of Enzo Maresca at Manchester City could lead to a major rebuild with England full-back Rico Lewis, 21, Netherlands defender Nathan Ake, 31, Spanish midfielder Nico Gonzalez, 24, Portugal defender Ruben Dias, 29, and Brazil winger Savinho, 22, all potentially up for sale. (Mail), external

Manchester City are ready to hijack Tottenham‘s move for Newcastle and Italy midfielder Sandro Tonali, 26, despite having already agreed to sign 23-year-old England midfielder Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest. (Marca – in Spanish), external

AC Milan are ready to bid £21.5m for England midfielder Mason Mount, 27, but Manchester United do not want to sell him. (Mail), external

Hull City are set to sign Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland, 33, with Croat Ivor Pandur, 26, heading in the opposite direction as part of a swap deal to bring the Englishman back to the Premier League. (Sun), external

Chelsea have identified Rayo Vallecano’s Spanish left-back Pep Chavarria, 28, as the man to replace 27-year-old Spain full-back Marc Cucurella after his sale to Real Madrid. (Marca – in Spanish), external

Borussia Dortmund’s Germany midfielder Felix Nmecha, 25, is ready to reject a move from Newcastle he prefers a switch to Manchester United. (Bild via Sport Witness), external

Bayern Munich winger Michael Olise is aware that several clubs, including Real Madrid and Paris St-Germain, are keeping an eye on his performances for France at the World Cup, with the 24-year-old set to meet with the German side after the tournament to discuss his future. (AS – in Spanish), external

RB Leipzig say Ivory Coast winger Yan Diomande will remain at the club next season despite the 19-year-old reportedly choosing Paris St-Germain as his next destination. (Florian Plettenberg), external

Enzo Maresca is far from the first Chelsea manager to see his tenure at Stamford Bridge come to an “unexpected and abrupt” end. In a rare change of pace, this end came solely on the manager’s terms.

Let’s get one thing straight from the start: leaving in the manner he did is not a good look for the new Manchester City manager. Breaking his long-term contract when he “had no right to terminate” puts him very much in the wrong. But considering Chelsea’s history, it’s hard to take them seriously as the victim.

“No one wants to change its head coach midway through a season,” read Chelsea’s barbed statement towards Maresca, released moments after his appointment at City was made official. The irony is laughably blatant; BlueCo have changed their head coach midway through the four of the last five seasons, and twice last year.

Chelsea’s infuriating lack of patience for managers is in their DNA. It’s a trait that has carried over from the Roman Abramovich era to now and is maligned by their own fans, symptomatic of the generally haphazard, unforgiving and reactionary running of the club.

Maresca was clearly delighted to get out from under this sort of operation. “City is an incredibly well-run football club,” he said in quotes that accompanied the announcement of his Etihad Stadium arrival. “Everything they do is innovative, planned and purposeful. For a manager, that is a dream situation. It provides the consistency I need to do my job effectively.” It felt as if this had been directed towards his former employers, probably knowing what they had in store for him.

New Blues manager Xabi Alonso, meanwhile, will likely be left embarrassed by this whole messy break-up. Chelsea have acted like someone still hung up on their ex over being dumped… while already being in a new relationship. Before the Spaniard’s even touched down in London, he’s already seen a red flag.

After all, Maresca and Chelsea had mutated into a match made in hell. Two weeks before his resignation, he had complained about how he had just endured the “worst 48 hours” at the club since joining, in an extraordinary post-match press conference of Chelsea’s win over Everton. We now have clarification as to why: the two parties were evidently at loggerheads with Chelsea feeling Maresca’s “head and heart were focused on another club and another opportunity”. They were right – and in a delightful coincidence, Chelsea will come up against Maresca almost exactly one year on from that famous outburst on 12 December at the Etihad Stadium.

The club had the grounds to pursue Maresca and City for compensation and a settlement has been reached with both, receiving a fee of £17m from their Premier League rivals and, unusually, a further undisclosed figure from the Italian to the Blues. But in going explosively public with their complaints, they have opened themselves up to accusations of hypocrisy.

Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter, two managers who both once felt the BlueCo scythe mid-season, will probably roll their eyes reading that statement. Both are focused on bigger things now – they are managing in the knockouts of the World Cup. Instead, the epicentre of frustration will lie in Alsace.

Chelsea responded to abruptly losing their manager mid-season by ensuring that disruption and unhappiness was felt across multiple fronts of the BlueCo family. Returning to the sister club they have pillaged since 2023, Chelsea snapped up then-Strasbourg manager Liam Rosenior, in the middle of the season.

The details surrounding any break clause in Rosenior’s contract at Strasbourg went undisclosed. Whatever it was, we know BlueCo wrote it. In line with a Strasbourg trend, Rosenior had been groomed for an eventual move to Stamford Bridge, though it came far sooner than it should have.

Chelsea paid the Ligue 1 outfit the “market rate” in compensation for Rosenior, which was reportedly £2.5m. This was more a formality than anything – all negotiation power clubs would usually have in this scenario was absent for Strasbourg given they share Chelsea’s owners.

Compensation therefore failed to touch the sides of the wrath at the Meinau, where Strasbourg fans still go silent at the beginning of every home match in protest of multi-ownership and being a “pawn” in Chelsea’s game.

Rosenior’s Chelsea reign proved spectacularly ill-fated. He went on the club’s worst run of form since 1912 before he became the latest to lose his job at Stamford Bridge before the season’s conclusion, with Chelsea completely out of Champions League contention. Strasbourg, meanwhile, missed out on Europe under hastily hired new boss Gary O’Neil – something they were on course to get under Rosenior.

BlueCo is allowed to think that Maresca’s defiance was the first fallen domino that led to two of their clubs enduring a season collapse. Chelsea’s statement effectively blames him directly for their “hugely disappointing” 2025/26.

But for a club whose job security is so infamously poor, to come out and air their dirty laundry one of their managers who – for once – left them, gives an air of double standards, as well as a disconnect with their own reality. Their decisions that followed his resignation – particularly the one surrounding Rosenior’s appointment – were dire across the board and all contributed to the capitulation witnessed in the months that followed.

Maresca is already fighting fires surrounding any questions of disloyalty. He’s immediately vowed not leave Man City after signing for his third spell on the club’s coaching staff – this time, he’s at the helm. “This is the third time – hopefully it’s the last time I come back and I don’t leave anymore.” Despite being made to look like an unappreciated rebound, Chelsea will hope Alonso still harbours a similar sentiment.