The THREE historic records that could be broken in the NRL grand final

The Newcastle Knights have progressed to the NRL grand final after a thrilling performance in the preliminary showdown against the Panthers.

In a match that will be remembered forever, there were countless storylines emerging.

No bigger than Nathan Cleary suffering a compound fracture in his left leg and immediately being rushed to hospital following a Phoenix Crossland hip drop tackle.

Crossland will miss the grand final after being directly referred to the judiciary by the NRL's match review committee and copping a four match ban.

To make the Knights' triumph even more impressive, they spent more than half of the game with Crossland sent off the field, conjuring up an all-time win to move to the big dance.

Now they face the Sydney Roosters, making it one of the most intriguing deciders in quite a while, given some long-standing NRL records will be broken no matter who takes out the title.

Here's what's on offer on Sunday, and what record will be broken, changing the course of NRL history.

No team was won the NRL premiership after conceding 50+ points during the season

This only affects the Sydney Roosters if they are to raise the trophy on Sunday night. The Roosters made the bold decision to rest countless stars in their final hit out of the regular season against South Sydney.

Plenty of inexperienced players filled the tri-colours' lineup, which saw the Rabbitohs dominate in a 50-20 win. Yes, it was essentially their NSW Cup side taking the field, but the team still lost by 50 in the NRL competition, so it counts.

The Roosters, who will enter the match as the bookie's favourites, are the closest a team has ever been to smashing this record.

We have seen an increase of 50+ scorelines in correlation with the NRL's attempts to speed up the game, bringing in more fatigue and opening up the field for more try scoring opportunities.

This year, eight teams have conceded 50 points, with Wests Tigers (x3), Parramatta Eels (x2), Dolphins (x2), North Queensland Cowboys (x2), Gold Coast Titans, Melbourne Storm, St George Illawarra Dragons, and Roosters all conceding the half century.

The number of 50-point concessions has stayed consistently up since 2021 (10 teams that year), when the NRL really ramped up the six-again's and increased flow in the ruck.

The statistics post-2020 show a notable increase in 50-point activity, making it inevitable moving forward that the 50-point concession title record is bound to be broken, even if it's not this year.

Legitimately good sides are being put to the half-century sword, including the Dolphins conceding 50+ twice in 2026 but still making it to a prelim.

We are closing in on a big change in history, and if the game continues to speed up, it's likely going to become the norm that most teams could have the half-century put on them and still have the ability to shake it off.

It's up to the Roosters now to decide if we leave this ongoing conversation in the past.

No team has won the NRL premiership from outside the top four in the NRL era

Meanwhile, if the Knights are victorious on Sunday, they will be the first team since the 1995 Bulldogs to raise the trophy from the bottom four of the finals.

But since the finals system was different back in the 90s, it makes it more impressive in modern days to achieve this.

Given the current finals system heavily rewards teams for finishing higher on the ladder, it's no surprise it's been a long time between dates.

The Knights can create their own slice of history in more than one way if they thwart the tri-colours.

It'll mean the Novocastrians are the lowest-ranked team ever to win an NRL title.

On top of that, 2026 marks the first year both teams who had the week off lost their prelim since 2005, leaving two sides who have 'had to do it the hard way' fighting for the title.

Courtesy of Randomstatsguy on Instagram, before this year, teams that had the semi-final week off had won 14 of the last 16 preliminaries, marking 2026 a unique year in the history books.

It shows the league is currently in a healthy position, especially given the call-outs that there isn't enough talent for the NRL's expansion ambitions.

Since the start of the NRL era in 1998, there has really been one way to prove you can take out the trophy: becoming embedded at the pointy end of the ladder following the end of the regular season.

All of that goes out the window if the Knights can upset the Roosters, and coaches in future years to come will be taking notes on how their side placed from fifth to eighth can replicate Newcastle's looming magic.

BONUS: Can the Knights become the first team in almost 100 years to go from wooden spooners to premiers?

The most impressive part of the Knights' 2026 season is the incredible turnaround under new coach Justin Holbrook. The group looks united, hungry, and ready to work for each other at all times. Signs of a fantastic coach.

From finishing dead last in 2025 to where they are now is nothing short of miraculous.

The best part is the fact that it's very clear this isn't a fluke.

The emergence of young players such as their dynamic back row pairing in Jermain McEwen and Francis Mnuelelua looks to dominate the league for years to come.

Throw in Lachlan Crouch and Cody Hopwood, who are two young stars with less than 2 games under their belt and are seriously impressive prospects.

This time last year, the Knights had to be thinking, 'How do we get ourselves out of this?', fast-forward 12 months later, they are on the doorstep of bringing their first title in 25 years back to the Hunter.

The last time a team went from a spoon to a trophy in the following year was the Western Suburbs Magpies in 1934.

It's clearly extremely difficult to replicate that kind of turnaround, and with the greatest respect to the 13-man code in the 1930s, it's a much more difficult thing to do now.

Despite narrowly missing out on Dally M Coach of the Year honours, it will seriously bring Holbrook into conversations as one of the greatest coaching moves of all time by the Knights.

With the whole town getting behind the club and some serious hype generating behind them, it's an eerily similar feeling to the Cronulla Sharks' drought-breaking premiership ten years ago.

Going into the match, everyone expected the Storm to win, but plenty of support was thrown behind Cronulla among the rest of the NRL world to win their maiden premiership.

On that day, they created some magic and got the job done.

Knights now find themselves in that opportunity a decade later.

The 2026 premiership winner will be decided at 7:30pm on Sunday night.