Key events
Angus Fontaine
After 210 games, 17,000 minutes and more than 10,000 points, it all comes down to the 2026 NRL grand final. One decider. Two desperate teams. The Roosters, a star-studded outfit with four premierships in 25 years and speed, power and tactical brilliance across the park. And the Knights, 25 years without a title and coming off a wooden spoon last year, yet riding an irresistible wave built on blue-collar courage and underdog characters.
Preamble
Jonathan Howcroft
Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of Sydney Roosters v Newcastle Knights from Accor Stadium. Kick-off in Sydney is scheduled for 7.30pm local time (6.30pm AEST).
The showpiece fixture in Australian rugby league brings together one of the unlikelier pairings in the sport’s history.
Newcastle ended 2025 with the wooden spoon and a points difference of -300, while a seemingly transitional Sydney scrambled to eighth place. 12 months on and the Knights are a maverick attack-happy feel good story, and the Roosters have a new lease of life being led around the park by a pair of Queensland halves at opposite ends of their careers.
Nonetheless, the biggest day on the rugby league calendar pits fourth v seventh in a clash featuring just two of the 14 men selected in the official NRL team of the season (Roosters Rob Toia and Naufahu Whyte).
This is reflective of a topsy-turvy campaign, one that saw reigning premiers Brisbane implode, Melbourne finally regress to the mean, and the rising Bulldogs and Raiders hit speed humps.
Penrith looked imperious through the winter and the Warriors blossomed in spring, but neither could shake off the irrepressible Knights and the staggering belief instilled in them by Justin Holbrook, who has masterminded one of the all-time great single-season overhauls – not just in results but in mindset and style of play.
The presence of a genuine underdog has electrified grand final week, the experience enriched by tales of former glories from Novocastrian die-hards that haven’t been told in many a year.
But Easts are not short of narrative themselves with the inspirational Daly Cherry-Evans, along with fan favourites Mark Nawaqanitawase and Angus Crichton, leaving Bondi at the end of the season and desperate to sign-off with silverware.
Since 2019 the grand final has only witnessed one blowout, with the annual occasion turning into a near guaranteed source of nail-biting drama. It’s also become customary for superhuman feats to earn the Clive Churchill Medal with Nathan Cleary and Reece Walsh setting scarcely believable standards of brilliance in recent seasons.
Let’s hope we’re in for more of the same tonight.
I’ll be back with final team lists and more shortly. Please send me your emails and keep me company throughout the evening. The address is jonathan.howcroft.freelance@theguardian.com.
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