Round 26 finally locked in the eight teams who will play finals but it will be down to Round 27 to lock in spots one through four, then six through eight.
The Sharks are locked into fifth (baring an 80 point score-line) but look like shot ducks after a horror effort against the Eels.
The Roosters hopes for a home final ended (again, baring an 80 point score-line) after a second straight loss. They lost their halfback on the day also.
The Panthers and Warriors continued their brilliant runs and have set up the literal perfect Round 27 minor premiership shootout.
Even the sides out of title contention had a huge influence on the competition across what was an amazing round of rugby league.
Below are 20 thoughts from Round 26 of NRL action:
1. The Jai arrow walk on this past Saturday afternoon is the greatest thing I've ever seen in rugby league. Sometimes our game just gets it right and this was the perfect example. It was a brilliant moment in front of his friends and family, and thousands of well wishes. Special stuff!
2. With Sam Walker going down injured, and being ruled out for the season, there's a temptation to put a red line through the Roosters. Daly Cherry-Evans was brought to the club to be the final piece, not the chief conductor. He struggled last year in the role and as brilliant as he has been in 2026, this is an all-time ask from here.
3. Sam Walker may have done his future earnings a massive disservice over the past month. His form had dipped, massively, prior to his injury. I still have no doubt he'll cash in on a monster contract. It just might not be to quite the terms he had been able to demand post Origin.
4. The new rule kick off proved itself to be a colossal waste of time last Thursday. The only time it was used was when the Storm, down to 12 men, opted to receive the ball after the Broncos scored. It actively rewarded them in a position where their act of foul play should have benefited the Broncos. Trash that right away!
5. Referee interpretations changed over the weekend. There were multiple occasions where referees applies rules differently to how they have all season. Here are two. A Newcastle player dove on the ground, with the ball. All year it has been a penalty if the defender picked him up or tried to roll him over the sideline. This weekend it was let go, forcing a Knights error. The most horrible incident though was Liam Kennedy ignoring 25 weeks of precedent in over ruling a call from the referee who was less than two metres away. Klein awarded the try, meaning huge evidence to prove it wasn't a try was needed to overturn. That was not provided. There's actually a clear photo doing the rounds on social media showing a clear try. Again, why do we have the Bunker?
6. A huge deal was made out of Craig Fitzgibbon punching a monitor in the box during the Sharks loss to the Eels on Sunday afternoon. It's not a big deal. That's 90 per cent of the Sharks fan base every Tuesday at 4pm as he continues to name over the hill players at the expense of the Sharks future stars.
Me at 4pm every Tuesday for Fitzgibbons copy and paste pic.twitter.com/a5fodgWMfH
— Angry Dan (@SuthoDan2) August 30, 2026
7. More on Fitzgibbon tomorrow (keep an eye out) but it was yet another coaching disaster-class from the Sharks mentor this past weekend. Mawene Hiroti, a centre, hurt himself and needed to exit the field. Instead of going to the specialist centre on the bench, Fitzgibbon acted for Briton Nikora, who was burned within literal minutes. I don't know what goes through that blokes head sometimes.
8. What about the fact Addin Fonua-Blake was clearly hip-dropped only for the Bunker to take so long to review what we all saw in real time, that the Sharks didn't get the ball back? Liam Kennedy let it run for so long that Klein had to bin Junior Paulo for the tackle, but was unable to give the Sharks the ball and the penalty. Not good two weeks out from finals.
9. Brilliant scenes in Auckland as Nathan and Ivan Cleary were seen cheering on Jett Cleary in his NRL debut. The best part was that every try Jett set up put the Panthers hold on the Minor Premiership lead more in jeopardy. One of rugby league's magnificent quirks.
10. The Brisbane Broncos bungled the retirement send off of legend Adam Reynolds in the worst possible way. Not only did they deny him a final home game, in a game that flat chat did not matter, but they played a Kia ad over his lap of honour. Truly awful stuff for a bloke who helped deliver a premiership.
11. Adam Reynolds walking back his comments, possibly after being reminded about post career employment at the Broncos, was peak embarrassing also. Reece Walsh liking the post was blown out of proportion but it's just another moment that proves something is not right at Red Hill.
12. Players need to learn to listen to referees when it comes to Captain's Challenges. A few times over the past few weeks a referee has indicated that a challenge is laughable, only for players to insist. This week we saw a challenge made for "not square at marker", which as the referee pointed out, cannot be challenged!
13. Success of the Wild Card weekend across at the AFL means we're probably two years from seeing the same thing. PVL doesn't like missing out. Two massive crowds at the MCG make it a no-brainer if you want to sell the idea. Personally I hate it but money talks.
14. Hey, is a catch complete when a player "holds" it now, without having to land? We saw a moment on Friday night where a 20 metre tap was awarded as a player held the ball, losing control before landing and securing the catch. Maybe we are becoming the AFL.
15. Back to the Broncos, we need to end this "let's go Broncos, let's go" chanting on the live mic ... now! I hated it at Penrith last week and I hated it this weekend. Whoever came up with that idea needs to go to the AFL. The worst punishment of all.
16. The Warriors continue to win despite being on their seventh choice halfback. Jett Cleary debuted two weeks out from finals, beside a guy with two previous NRL appearances to his name. Andrew Webster is 100% the coach of the year.
17. Dogs fans hate it when you bag their team but but it's unforgivable for that roster to miss the Finals. The Reed Mahoney chat seems to annoy them but they have to admit Gould, Ciraldo and co. got it wrong. They still don't know who the six is, even a week out from what would have been Finals.
18. The Panthers losing so many stars to PNG will surely bring about the end of their run, right? Well, it hasn't happened every time they lose rep quality stars over the past five years, so why would it now? I think Ivan Cleary stepping away is the biggest test of their system.
19. Speaking of Penrith, every grade they played in this year qualified for finals. Sg Ball, Harold Matts, NSW Cup, and Jersey Flegg, as well as First Grade. They won the Minor Premiership in NSW Cup to boot. The reign of terror is not yet complete.
20. Nathan Cleary has shown he doesn't care about the Minor Premiership and is likely to rest players. They'll know in advance what they need to do to capture the shield. The Warriors will want to add to their one Minor Premiership (2002) and will surely go all out to set the tone.
