What better way to round out the weekend than tuning in to Fox Sports and the Nine Network for a couple of slashing Sunday clashes?
From the two Las Vegas games in Round 1 to a heaving CommBank Stadium in Rounds 2 and 3 and Brookie going off in Round 4, the 2025 season will deliver a host of epic Sunday showdowns.
With the 2025 draw released, NRL.com runs the rule over five of the best Sunday matches in the first half of the season.
Click here for the full 2025 Draw
Sunday Sizzlers
Round 2, Sunday March 16 - Eels v Wests Tigers at CommBank Stadium (Nine/Fox) 4.05pm AEDT
Wests Tigers have found wins hard to come by in recent seasons but they have no trouble lifting for games against the Eels - knocking them off in Round 6, 2022 to post their first win of the season and then again in Round 4 of the 2024 season when an Aidan Sezer field goal provided a 17-16 win for the Tigers. Expect sparks to fly at CommBank Stadium as Jarome Luai matches wits with NSW Blues teammate Mitch Moses and the revamped Tigers look to get their campaign off to a flyer. A 60-26 loss to the Eels in the final round of 2024 will still be stinging the back-to-back-to-back wooden spooners and they get a shot at redemption early in 2025.
Will's power
Round 3, Sunday March 23 - Eels v Bulldogs at CommBank Stadium (Nine/Fox) 4.05pm AEDT
Plenty of added spice to this time honoured rivalry with flyer Josh Addo-Carr donning the Eels colours against the club that showed him the door in October, and rookie Parra coach Jason Ryles taking on another of the new breed of mentors in Cameron Ciraldo. The sides met twice in 2024 with the Eels getting the job done in style in Round 1 before the Bulldogs struck back in Round 14, part of a hot run between Rounds 12-18 that well and truly set them on the course for the finals.
Bulldogs get the crowd roaring early
Round 5, Sunday April 6 - Sea Eagles v Storm at 4 Pines Park (Nine/Fox) 4.05pm AEST
Never a dull moment when the boys from Brookie square off against the Storm and 4 Pines Park will be bursting at the seams for this one. The halves showdown of DCE and Brooks vs Hughes and Munster looms as a classic and the menace of Haumole Olakau'atu and Eli Katoa on the edges will have both defences on red alert. After meeting in back-to-back grand finals in 2007 and 2008, Manly and Melbourne took it up a notch in the infamous Battle of Brookvale in 2011 and they have produced any number of humdingers since then.
Sea Eagles v Storm – Round 12, 2024
Round 9, Sunday May 4 - Storm v Raiders at Suncorp Stadium (Fox) 6.25pm AEST
Magic Round's final act sees two close friends face off, with former teammates Craig Bellamy and Ricky Stuart lining up as opposing coaches. Since knocking off the Raiders twice in 2019 en route to a grand final berth, the Green Machine have made a habit of lifting for the Storm. In 2024 it was Melbourne getting the job done 16-6 at AAMI Park and they will look to repeat the dose on neutral territory in Brisbane. The battle between veteran Raiders big men Josh Papalii and Joe Tapine and the Storm's Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Josh King should be an absolute cracker.
Storm v Raiders – Round 17, 2024
Round 12, Sunday May 25 - Warriors v Raiders at Go Media Stadium (Nine/Fox) 4.05pm AEST, 6.05pm local time
Come the midway point of the season and we'll have a pretty fair indication of how the Warriors are tracking in their bid to return to the glory days of 2023 and whether Ricky's Raiders are looking the goods for a finals return after missing out only on points differential in 2024. Two of the world's best front-rowers James Fisher-Harris and Joe Tapine lock horns in a battle of epic proportions while the freakish skills of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Taine Tuaupiki, Xavier Savage, Ethan Strange and Kaeo Weekes is guaranteed to have the Auckland crowd on its feet.
