Lachlan Hubner: 2026 Year in Review
Lachlan Hubner spent 2026 as a regular middle contributor for South Sydney, a lock and interchange presence across 24 NRL appearances this season. That was the most games he has played in a season, ahead of 20 for Souths in 2025 and 4 for the Dolphins before that, and it lifted his career total to 48 NRL games. He almost played every game for the Club, and he will hit 50 NRL games next year, a positive milestone sitting just ahead of a forward still building his Premiership story in the red and green.
The Rockhampton junior, who came through Central Queensland before his first NRL football with the Dolphins, answered the same brief week after week: hit the ruck, make the tackle, and give South Sydney's middle a platform whether he started at lock or came from the interchange. He finished the campaign with one try, two try assists and about 1750 running metres at roughly 73 metres a game, while making 520 tackles at 89% efficiency across those 24 appearances. Five starts and a heavy interchange load told the selection story.
Defence carried the peaks. His season-high 37 tackles against the North Queensland Cowboys set the ceiling, a shift that summed up the work rate he brought to the middle third. He followed that theme with 36 tackles against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and 34 against the Melbourne Storm, three games that framed him as a tackle machine whenever the contest asked for volume. Those shout-outs sat inside a broader defensive year that kept him among the Club's most reliable middle contributors.
Attacking flashes sat beside that defensive base. He crossed for his try of the season against the Dolphins in round one, opening the year with a four-pointer against his former club, and he added try assists as the campaign unfolded. His biggest metre night came against the Melbourne Storm, when he covered 164 running metres in a long middle stint, and he ran for 121 metres against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks as South Sydney asked him to eat sets through the middle. Offloads and tackle breaks gave him a second gear around the basic lock work, so he was not only stopping sets but helping start the next one.
What marked the season was availability and trust. 24 NRL appearances this season, stepping up from 20 the year before, showed a forward who had become a weekly part of South Sydney's middle rotation. Moving between lock and the interchange according to selection, he kept producing the same honest contribution: metres when they were needed, tackles when the line was under pressure, and the kind of continuous presence that turns a depth forward into a campaign regular. From four Dolphins games to a career-high 24 in South Sydney colours, the arc of 2026 was volume, reliability and a clear step forward in Premiership football.
A reward for that body of work was featuring in his first NRL Finals series, coming into the Elimination Final against the Newcastle Knights at Allianz Stadium. By season's end his 2026 ledger read as a middle forward's breakthrough year in the red and green: 24 NRL appearances this season, a career-high game count, 520 tackles at 89%, and a career sitting on 48 NRL games with 50 waiting next season.
