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Have the Reds answered their biggest questions for 2026?
The Queensland Reds are primed to be the best Australian side in Super Rugby Pacific in 2026.
Everything from recruitment to retention, to tough lessons learned in 2025, the Reds have all the right ingredients to finally kick on and cause real issues for the top teams.
They have gained Wallabies and Flying Fijian flyhalf options, promoted from their pathways, and retained an unchanged coaching cohort for the third year in a row.
All this bodes well for a side that has just been missing that last bit of finesse and maturity in their strategy to really be able to call themselves contenders.
While they are dealing with injuries to key men Harry Wilson and Tate McDermott, there is a host of Super Rugby-ready players in the squad to give them good cover in the meantime.
The Reds have the shared knowledge and talent to go deep in 2026, but before a ball has been kicked, it is still unknown whether they will play with the strategic prowess necessary to pick apart the frontrunners.
Results 2025 – Finished 5th, 8 Wins, 0 Draw, 6 Losses, Points Diff 54
It was a slow start to the 2025 season for the men from Ballymore; despite having three consecutive wins from their opening three rounds, they were playing a high-risk, high-offload game that often saw them punished.
This helter-skelter play came to an abrupt end in round 4 when they were put to the sword, 43-19, by the Crusaders in Christchurch.
Loose carries and willy-nilly offloads were capitalised on, and the Reds had no answers when their globe-trotter antics were nullified by a ruthless Canterbury side, which saw young-gun Macca Springer score five tries against the Queenslanders.
After this, the Reds tightened up their play but weren’t able to truly put lesser sides away, always just managing to do enough but not delivering a convincing win.
Tough losses to the Chiefs and Brumbies really stalled their momentum until they nabbed a win against the Blues in round 11.
However, they followed this up with a poor showing against the Fiji Drua a week later, losing 36-33 in Fiji.
Yes, they struggled to field their preferred side for much of the season due to lengthy injuries to key Wallabies, but the Reds never made it easy on themselves strategically.
This detailed look back on the 2025 season and the revision of their injury list is all to say, minor tweaks and a bit of luck with the injury gods could see this side explode in 2026.
Strategy elements like kicking were largely absent from their arsenal in 2025, as illustrated by the fact that they kicked the fewest times per match on average of any side in the comp.
And yet, the Reds made the third-most tackles at the best tackle success rate of any side.
Pair these defensive numbers with the fact that the Reds scored the second-most points per 22m entry, and conceded the second-fewest points once sides entered their 22m zone, and it becomes clear there were inefficiencies in their 2025 plans.
This is not to mention their vehement rejection of taking penalty shots on goal. Had they taken a few more, they likely would’ve been competition leaders in points scored per 22m entry, and perhaps would’ve made a top-four finish with a home final.
Defending for long periods when your depth is stretched is far from ideal from an energy levels and pressure perspective.
This all points to issues with gameplay between the two 22m zones.
A word from the Reds coach
Les Kiss is in his third year as head coach of the Queensland side, and alongside him, he has a trusted group of tight-knit assistants whom he trusts.
This connection and continuity at the top level is likely a strong reason for the Reds’ success over the last couple of years, and their ability to overcome the injury woes in 2025.
Kiss is under no illusions about how tough a competition Super Rugby Pacific is, but he is confident the IP of the playing group and coaching cohort is getting to where it needs to be to be true contenders.
“This game is a game of fine margins, last year one win difference probably puts us in the picture of a home final… and that’s the truth, we’ve got to be one game better this year,” Kiss told the Off The Ruck YouTube channel.
“It seems to be proven that a home final does make a difference; someone’s gonna prove that wrong one day, but that seems the way it is, so it’s important that we get those small margin wins that we need.”
Close losses to the Drua and the Brumbies really stung Kiss and his men in their ability to separate themselves from the pack in the middle of the table.
In the end, those losses cost them when it came to the business end of the season, where they had to travel to Christchurch in the quarter finals.
When asked about the kicking strategy going into 2026, Kiss was adamant that part of their game had changed, but was quick to emphasise that kicking with purpose was very much the goal.
“Kicking is important; we just want to make sure it’s meaningful.”
“If it’s a contestable kick, what’s the plan around that? What are we ready to do? We don’t just want to kick and hope they lose the ball… Our long kicking game, what’s the type of chase pressure we have, have we got the backfield covered?”
“We wanna have many tools; to be able to run, and kick, as we see it, and certainly we’ve made some adaptations about how we are going to approach that this year.”
Kicking is crucial in rugby, but it’s equally important to be able to execute when you have your desired outcome.
50/22m kicks are a great weapon to turn momentum and to generate pressure, similar to winning penalties that allow you to kick into the opposition’s 22m zone, but you have to be able to nail the resulting lineout, and that’s something the Reds struggled with in 2025.
In 2025, the Reds operated the third-worst lineout in the competition, operating at 84.5%. Time and time again, this hurt their ability to keep sides under pressure and to exert pressure when they were in the right parts of the field.
Losing longtime Reds second-rowers like Angus Blyth and Ryan Smith are blows for the lineout stocks at Ballymore, but the return of Wallaby Matt Faessler to the hooking stocks and the rise of the other hookers do help.
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Player to keep an eye on: Matt Faessler
The Wallaby hooker only played six games for an average of 42 minutes for his club in 2025, a number which he is set to double should his body allow it.
“I had a bit of a rocky year last year, fair few injuries… for me it’s about getting my body right, getting back into the rhythm of it and hopefully getting some solid minutes under my belt this year,” Faessler told the Off The Ruck YouTube channel.
Faessler has proven to have one of the truest lineout throws in the country, something which the Reds will rely on in improving their fortunes in 2026.
He won’t be alone in this endeavour; fellow Wallaby rake Josh Nasser and Wallaby hopeful Richie Asiata both are looking to push for starting spots as well.
It’s this level of depth at hooker which will be crucial in pushing this side on to higher heights.
While Faessler is a great lineout thrower, the 27-year-old is also developing into a genuine Test-level scrummager, and this will be equally as important to the Reds’ fortunes.
In 2025, experienced players like Alex Hodgman, Sef Fa’agase, and Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen held the scrum to a competition-leading 96.6%.
Unfortunately, Hodgman has now retired, and Fa’agase has been let go to the Western Force.
The Reds have nonetheless gained Wallaby/All Black Aiden Ross in the loosehead prop stocks, and youngster Zane Nonggorr has truly come of age in the past 12 months on the tighthead side.
Nevertheless, after Nonggorr, JTA, and Ross, the propping stocks are vastly inexperienced, and the strength of Faessler and his fellow hookers will be crucial if they are to go one better in 2026.
Faessler’s leadership will also be important for this group, with the likes of McDermott and Wilson sidelined for the moment, newly appointed captain Fraser McReight will need to lean on the experienced heads of Faessler, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Hunter Paisami, Jock Campbell, and JTA.
Reds predicted finish for SRP 2026 – 5th/4th
As mentioned in the introduction, the Reds can surpass the Brumbies in 2026, but it will take both maturity and nous because there’s no doubt they have the talent and connection.
It’s one of the healthiest-looking rosters for some time, aside from Wilson and McDermott being out injured, and it’s a squad now backed by a fully fledged system with good connection throughout.
If the lineout can make marked improvements, and the kicking strategy changes, then Kiss’ DNA and the belief this group has in itself can do the rest.
For the Reds to surpass the Brums, they must take their consistency to greater heights, they must put lesser sides away by comfortable margins, and stay in the fight with the top three sides.
The competition leaders in 2026 appear to be the Chiefs, Crusaders, and Hurricanes.
In 2026, the Reds must remind everyone of their ability to beat New Zealand sides in Aotearoa.
The Reds have the Hurricanes in round 7, Blues in round 11, and Moana Pasifika in round 15.
The Reds should aim to win all of these and, at the very least, make them tight, dogged affairs.
Two wins from these three could prove crucial in their push for the top four and a home final.
Brumbies still prove their hoodoo side regardless of where they play each other, so the round-4 clash in Canberra and the round-12 game at home should both be circled in their calendar.
The Reds lacked finesse in 2025; in 2026, they have the roadmap to go one better. So, before a ball has been kicked, the Reds appear to be set for a big Super Rugby Pacific season.
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