NRL Supercoach 2026: Brisbane Broncos squad analysis

The Brisbane Broncos will be out to achieve what no other club has since way back in 2024, winning back-to-back NRL titles.

I remember when defending your title was seemingly impossible, damn you Penrith…

Outside of a questionable logo design, not much will change for the Broncos in 2026.

Selwyn Cobbo has departed for the Dolphins, otherwise they’ll run out in a very similar manner to last season with few headaches around their roster.

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With little roster movement, coming off a premiership, there’s not a tonne of value to chase in their Supercoach contingent early on, but there’s certainly a number of guns that you could look to set-and-forget in the early stages of the season.

Absolutely nothing would surprise me with this club, they could begin the season with their tail’s up from the grand final win and start the early part of the season looking unbeatable.

They’re also just as likely to carry a title hangover into the early part of the year and take time to bounce back into form after a slow start, I have no idea, but I can’t wait to see it unfold.

Let’s take a look at their NRL Supercoach prospects for the 2026 season.

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Predicted Round 1 starting team

1. Reece Walsh

2. Josiah Karapani

3. Kotoni Staggs

4. Gehamat Shibasaki

5. Deine Mariner

6. Ezra Mam

7. Adam Reynolds

8. Corey Jensen

9. Ben Hunt

10. Payne Haas

11. Brendan Piakura

12. Jordan Riki

13. Patrick Carrigan

14. Cory Paix

15. Aublix Tawha

16. Xavier Willison

17. Ben Talty

Analysis: The Broncos outfit fairly well picks itself from last season.

Ezra Mam will return to the starting side at five-eighth, pushing Ben Hunt to hooker.

With Billy Walters unavailable to begin the season, Cory Paix and rookie hooker Blake Mozer will battle for a bench role.

Josiah Karapani will look to lock down his spot on the wing with Selwyn Cobbo departing for the Dolphins, however both wingers will face competition from Jesse Arthars who will be looking to bounce back from an underwhelming season by his standards.

Brendan Piakura is in doubt to start the year due to injury, with Aublix Tawha impressing at Red Hill and a chance to start in his place.

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Fixtures

Round 1: Panthers (H)

Round 2: Eels (H)

Round 3: Storm (A)

Round 4: Dolphins (H)

Round 5: Titans (A)

Verdict: Leaving South East Queensland just once in the first five rounds is generous, so this is a great starting point for the Broncos who have three of five at Suncorp Stadium.

They play two top eight sides and three bottom eight sides, however I do expect the Eels and Dolphins to be improvers in 2026.

I have their draw leaning slightly to the easier side due to the lack of travel, however fixtures against the Panthers and Storm in the first three rounds are brutal, while the Dolphins won’t be pushovers either.

We may be able to pounce on a few discounted options come the favourable round 5 Titans match-up.

Byes: (Major bye rounds are 12, 15, 18)

Round 12, 16, 19

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Start

Reece Walsh I $835,600 I FLB

If trying to predict the Broncos early form is hard, predicting Reece Walsh’s early Supercoach output is near impossible.

I expect him to score well, but will he hit his huge early price tag based on his 85 point average?

As you’ll hear me repeat over and over again throughout the pre-season, attack reliant players typically start the season slow and finish huge, Walsh is a good example of this.

He started last season with a 56.2 point average in his first five games, then finished his final six games with an average of 126.3 points.

Generally I wouldn’t go near him, but there is something special about him so he could easily enough hit his starting value in points.

It was there for all to see that a switched flicked in his head late last year that culminated in an unstoppable Supercoach force.

I really like the Kalyn Ponga and Keano Kini starting combo at fullback, I’ll be very tempted to add Walsh in the flex spot though.

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Payne Haas I $852,700 I FRF

If attack reliant players typically start the Supercoach season slow, workhorses typically start reliably.

In 2025 Haas averaged 95.2 points per game across his first five games, this was with just one try to his name.

While big Supercoach output has always been strong for Haas, last year was truly the rise of the front-row forward with a number of players joining the game’s elite.

His 87 point average was substantially his highest in Supercoach, 13 clear of his 74 point mark in 2023.

For that reason I don’t see any value in him as such and he may start below that mark, however I do see merit in starting him and locking him in as skipper for guaranteed strong double points in the first five rounds.

At the price I think we’ll need a decent crop of cheapies to justify buying, but at this stage I’m very keen on Haas largely as that safety first skipper early on.

Consider

Outside of the two guns above and the cheapies below, I don’t have much interest in terms of pre-season looks.

The Broncos won the comp and have had little roster changeover, meaning players are priced at around their peaks and there’s likely not a tonne of improvement to come.

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Cheapies

Brendan Piakura I $305,300 I 2RF

I feel like we have the Piakura chat every pre-season, and typically it ends in disappointment.

Mixed form and injury saw the Broncos back-rower average just 31 points last season.

The reality is though if you can get a premiership winning forward, playing 80 minutes on the edge with attacking upside at $300k, it’s a pretty hard case to ignore.

Head knocks and injuries are always the concern, but he doesn’t have to start in your team at all which takes away some of the risk.

He’s priced on a 31 point average from 52 minutes per game, in nine games over 60 minutes last season he averaged 43.4 points per game.

At the price I’ll find him very hard to ignore barring a plethora of 2RF cheapies emerging.

Blake Mozer I $216,800 I HOK

As it stands Mozer probably doesn’t make the 17, but he is touted as their future number 9 and he’s been waiting in the wings for a while now as he develops his game.

Walters is injured, so if anything happens to Ben Hunt or either of the halves he could catapult into the starting 9 role ahead of Cory Paix which would make him a round 1 must.

Benjamin Te Kura I $235,600 I FRF

Te Kura is likely to be the biggest beneficiary out of Kobe Hetherington’s departure.

The Manly-bound forward averaged a healthy 42 minutes per game last season, and Te Kura could be the man to fill the void.

Te Kura scored at a strong 1.15 points per minute in just 17 minutes per game last season, and 1.38 points per minute in 21 minutes per game in 2024.

If he can elevate his minutes to say 30+ he’ll likely be a nice slow-burning cash cow to plug in your FRF reserves.

If any Broncos middles went down injured in the pre-season it’d make Te Kura a near must should more game time open up.