Following the completion of the eighth round of the 2025 NRL season, several teams will look to change up their team, while others will enter Round 9 with the exact same line-up.
Kayal Iro (Cronulla Sharks), Max Plath (The Dolphins), Brian To'o (Penrith Panthers), Josh Schuster (South Sydney Rabbitohs) and Nelson Asofa-Solomona (Melbourne Storm) are just a few players who are set to be available for selection heading into Round 9.
However, while some return, the likes of Matt Burton (Canterbury Bulldogs), Scott Sorensen (Penrith Panthers), Latrell Mitchell (South Sydney Rabbitohs), Mawene Hiroti (Cronulla Sharks) and Josh Curran (Canterbury Bulldogs) have been ruled out for this week.
Wests Tigers vs St George Illawarra Dragons
The Wests Tigers are expected to remain unchanged for this week.
This comes after co-captain Apisai Koroisau (knee) picked up an injury at the end of last round's match against the Cronulla Sharks but is expected to be fit to play.
Api Koroisau came off in Golden Point with what the Tigers described as “a bit of a sore knee”. Post match they were also optimistic “it didn’t look too serious”.
Video shows contact causing knee to collapse in - if anything brings concern for MCL sprain. Hopefully nothing to it pic.twitter.com/yhG9bQLd0g
— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) April 27, 2025
"He had a bit of a sore knee," coach Benji Marshall said.
"It can't have been that bad, after he went down he ran another 40m. Api will be fine, it didn't look too serious."
Projected Round 9 Team: 1. Jahream Bula 2. Sunia Turuva 3. Adam Doueihi 4. Starford To'a 5. Brent Naden 6. Lachlan Galvin 7. Jarome Luai 8. Terrell May 9. Apisai Koroisau 10. Fonua Pole 11. Samuela Fainu 12. Alex Seyfarth 13. Alex Twal 14. Tallyn Da Silva 15. Royce Hunt 16. Jack Bird 17. Sione Fainu
After another loss last week, Dragons coach Shane Flanagan will reportedly shake-up his halves this week in a bombshell twist.
According to News Corp, Flanagan is set to axe Lachlan Ilias and replace him with either Jonah Glover or Lyhkan King-Togia, who recently agreed to a two-year contract extension with the club despite interest from the Newcastle Knights.
It has since been revealed that it will be King-Togia will accompany Kyle Flanagan in the halves.
Hamish Stewart (concussion) is expected to return after undergoing the NRL's 11-day stand-down mandatory concussion protocols.
Projected Round 9 Team: 1. Clinton Gutherson 2. Tyrell Sloan 3. Moses Suli 4. Valentine Holmes 5. Sione Finau 6. Kyle Flanagan 7. Lyhkan King-Togia 8. Toby Couchman 9. Damien Cook 10. David Klemmer 11. Luciano Leilua 12. Jaydn Su'A 13. Jack de Belin 14. Jacob Liddle 15. Emre Guler 16. Hamish Stewart 17. Dylan Egan
