What a wild old week in Rugbaleeg, and in the last week alone we’ve seen:

The Canberra Raiders pull off the home run try of the season seconds after coming within inches of losing to Penrith in Golden Point, a play now dubbed the Mudgee Miracle, and the miracle that may have all but destroyed Penrith’s dreams of the Fivepeat

The Tigers pull off a 100 metre Benji Marshall-esque relay try featuring flick passes, while wearing 2005 NRL Grand Final heritage gear in front of Benji Marshall… only to give up 3 tries in the last 15 minutes and lose.

Des Hasler get his marching orders from the Titans, marking the end of an error, and sadly it might mean the end of one of the great coaches of First Grade rugby league… also it looks like he’ll be replaced by Josh Hannay, meaning Todd Payten is pretty safe in Townsville:

Brandon Smith get charged by Queensland Police for supplying dangerous drugs and disclosing insider knowledge for betting, a scandal that has now involved his former Roosters teammate Victor Radley as he allegedly asked Smith for a hook-up on a golf trip, although Victor’s had that many concussions he can use the Alan Bond defense.

Adam O’Brien jumped before the Knights pushed him, ending his 6-season run in the Hunter that did have the Knights consistently playing Top 8 football, albeit they only won 1 final and never looked like taking the next great leap into the Top 4.

And now we’ve had the Panthers decide to tank before the finals now that they can’t make the Top 4, with Ivan Cleary making 16 changes to make tonight’s game against Canterbury all but meaningless, as the Panthers now accept they must do what no team has done since the 1995 Bulldogs, and that’s win the premiership from outside the Top 4.

Now, time for Round 26… THE COUNTDOWN TO THE FINALS IS ON.

– Canterbury host Penrith at Accor Stadium in a game that has lost all meaning with 16 Panthers players out, much to Channel Nine’s detriment, which means the Bulldogs can pretty much walk up and get their first win against the Panthers at the Olympic Stadium since 2018, and end their 8-game losing streak to Penrith.

– With a Top 4 finish in sight, the New Zealand Warriors host Parramatta at Mt Smart as Josh Addo-Carr plays his 200th NRL game, and Foxx has a superb record of 155 tries through the first 199 games (0.778 per game), and out of the active tryscorers, only the soon-to-be record holder Alex Johnston has a better strike rate (0.867)… in fact, the only time Foxx didn’t score 10+ tries in a season was his debut year in 2016.

– The Melbourne Storm host the Sydney Roosters at AAMI Park, as the Storm have opted to rest a few players as their Top 2 spot is secure and the Raiders are looking hard to catch for the minor premiership, and that loss to the Eels last week could be absolutely brutal for the Roosters’ Top 8 chances, but aside from all of that, it’s time for the milestone of the season to date…

CRAIG BELLAMY’S 600TH GAME AS COACH OF THE MELBOURNE STORM.

The fourth coach to reach 600 First Grade games, joining Wayne Bennett, Tim Sheens and Brian Smith, joining Bennett as the only coaches to coach 600 games with one club, and what a record Bellyache has set – 23 consecutive years with the same club (All-time record), 23 consecutive winning seasons (Not quite matching St George’s record of 28 consecutive from 1946 to 1973), 21 finals appearances (Soon to be 22), 3 legal premierships, 5 legal minor premierships, a winning percentage of 70%, and has never lost the opening game of the season.

What’s also interesting is that if you count the games that Bellamy coached at the Broncos in 2002 while Wayne Bennett was on State of Origin duty, it’s actually his 602nd NRL game, but Friday night is absolutely his 600th game in charge of the Storm.

– The Canberra Raiders host the Wests Tigers in Canberra, and we’ll see a sold-out GIO Stadium on Saturday afternoon for the Raiders’ scheduled home farewell before their first final in a fortnight, and depending on the results on Friday night, the Green Machine crowd could see a first minor premiership since 1990… of course, they would’ve finished as minor premiers in 1993, only for Ricky Stuart to shatter his ankle in the Raiders’ record 68-0 thumping of Parramatta in Round 21… the Raiders didn’t win again that year.

– St George-Illawarra host Manly at Jubilee, and here we one of the few teams the joint venture Dragons can genuinely claim to having the wood over, because their 24-13 all-time record against Manly is the Sea Eagles’ worst H2H percentage (35.13%) against any team they’ve ever played against, and furthermore the Sea Eagles haven’t won at Kogarah since 2014… so when you look at it, the Sea Eagles have 1 win in Wollongong since 2005, and 2 wins at Kogarah since 2004… a great hoodoo to break when you’re chasing a finals spot.

– The 30th anniversary Queensland Derby, the 66th in all, as the North Queensland Cowboys host the Brisbane Broncos in Townsville, with the Broncos still holding an outside chance of a Top 4 spot despite everything they’ve gone through this year, while the Cowboys finally showed signs of life last week in coming back from 12 points down with 15 to play to take out Wests at Leichhardt last week, and given this is the Cowboys’ last game for the year, I wonder if they’ll wheel out highlights from the 2015 Grand Final, given it is the 10th anniversary this year.

– The Cronulla Sharks host the soon-to-be coachless Newcastle Knights at Shark Park, as the Knights struggle desperately to avoid the oncoming buzzsaw that is the Wooden Spoon and much like the Broncos the Sharks are not without a hope of a Top 4 spot, because if the Warriors and Broncos both drop 1 of their last 2 games (Not impossible) and the Sharks win out, they’ll smuggle their way into 4th spot on Points Differential… but it’s easier said than done, because the Sharks do have the Bulldogs next week.

– And the lucky last game has the South East Queensland Derby between the Dolphins and the Titans at Suncorp, and with the Dolphins’ defensive line so depleted that they’ve given up 160 points in 3 games, the Titans could seriously win this game and just about save themselves from the spoon… but the Dolphins, despite their defensive horrors, are still a live chance of playing in September, especially if the Roosters fall to the Storm like we think they will.

And now for the Succinct Round 26 Tips:

Round 25 score = 3/8

Progressive Score = 112/188 (59.57%)

And finally, as a tribute to Craig Bellamy, here’s him slowly roasting in his own rage during the last 6 minutes of the 2020 Grand Final, featuring the legendary chair kick with 10 seconds to play:

Surely the funniest part is that after the siren went and the Storm won the premiership, all of Bellamy’s assistants are hugging and celebrating…. while he just grabs his clipboard and marches out of the box.