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.
Penrith Panthers vs Brisbane Broncos
Ivan Cleary will need to make at least one change this week as the Penrith Panthers attempt the change their fortunes around and move off the bottom of the NRL ladder.
Luke Garner (concussion) will return to the side and replace Scott Sorensen (suspension) in the back-row.
Meanwhile, Samoan international and NSW Blues winger Brian To'o is a chance to return from a hamstring injury.
Projected Round 9 Team: 1. Dylan Edwards 2. Paul Alamoti 3. Izack Tago 4. Casey McLean 5. Thomas Jenkins 6. Blaize Talagi 7. Nathan Cleary 8. Moses Leota 9. Luke Sommerton 10. Lindsay Smith 11. Luke Garner 12. Liam Martin 13. Isaah Yeo 14. Brad Schneider 15. Isaiah Papali'i 16. Liam Henry 17. Mavrik Geyer
The Broncos will receive back-rower Jordan Riki (infection) back for Round 9 but will be sweating on the availability of star veteran halfback Adam Reynolds.
However, Zero Tackle understands that he will play.
Adam Reynolds came off with a shoulder injury - suffered early when scoring a try but played through til just before full time.
Mechanism fairly textbook for shoulder instability event (eg subluxation) - Broncos hopeful it is only a burner (Reynolds does have a history). pic.twitter.com/6bJzZiD6MZ
— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) April 24, 2025
"It's a little sore. It went dead on me when I scored the try and got pins and needles. Then I got it pretty bad that last one," Reynolds said during the post-match press conference.
"It's okay now, but I'll see the medical staff when we get back.
"It went dead with pins and needles and was sort of burning. The last one felt pretty bad, worse than when I scored the try."
In other team news, Jordan Riki will return pushing Brendan Piakura to the interchange bench and Xavier Willison will remain in the back-row, per News Corp.
Projected Round 9 Team: 1. Selwyn Cobbo 1. Deine Mariner 3. Kotoni Staggs 4. Gehamat Shibasaki 5. Jesse Arthars 6. Ben Hunt 7. Adam Reynolds 8. Patrick Carrigan 9. Billy Walters 10. Payne Haas 11. Jordan Riki 12. Brendan Piakura 13. Kobe Hetherington 14. Cory Paix 15. Corey Jensen 16. Xavier Willison 17. Tyson Smoothy
