To think that the last time the Knights played in an NRL Grand Final, Accor Stadium hadn’t been reconfigured yet

90,414 in attendance, the third and last time an NRL Grand Final had a crowd exceeding 90,000 fans.

Well friends, here we are, the 2026 NRL Grand Final, and as expected we will be seeing Penrith play the Dolphins on Sunday, but it will not be in a First Grade decider, it’ll be in the NSW Cup vs Queensland Cup match in the early afternoon, as the Roosters and Knights both sprang the upsets on the Dolphins and Panthers respectively (The first time since 2005 that both underdogs won the Prelims), the Knights continuing the Cinderella turnaround as they become the first team since the 2010 Roosters to reach the Grand Final the year after winning the wooden spoon, with the 1933-34 Western Suburbs team still the last team to win the premiership the year after a wooden spoon…

Either way this will be the last hurrah for several players – Mark Nawaqanitawase going back to rugby union (in Japan), Daly Cherry-Evans departing to Hull FC in the Super League as the second-most capped First Grade player in history (378th game on Sunday), Dane Gagai, the only Knights player who has previously played in a Grand Final, going back to the Brisbane Broncos after enduring through the very worst years of the Newcastle Knights, currently sitting on the all-time record of 339 games without a premiership… So much at stake, and for teams representing communities beset by tragic events, the Roosters with the Bondi massacre, and the Knights most recently having that utter lunatic plough into their own fans yesterday.

Of course, the other amazing thing about this NRL Grand Final is we’re going to see the end of a major drought:

The Knights could become the first team since Canterbury in 1995 to win the premiership from outside the Top 4 (The Bulldogs were 6th), and only the third team to ever win from outside the Top 4, the other being the 1993 Brisbane Broncos (5th)

Or the Roosters will be the first team in First Grade history to concede 50+ points in a game and win the premiership.

That, and the similarities between 2010 and 2026 keep rumbling in:

A Queensland team wins their maiden final against the New Zealand Warriors.

A Queensland team advances to the Preliminary Final at Suncorp and gets defeated by the Roosters.

The reigning wooden spooner comes from outside the Top 4 to make the Grand Final…

And the Roosters are featuring in both Grand Finals.

Some other interesting facts:

The Knights have played a Sydney team in each of their 3 Grand Final appearances (Manly, Parramatta & Easts)

This is the Roosters’ 9th Grand Final appearance of the NRL era, and they’ll have played 9 different teams (Broncos in 2000, NZ Warriors 2002, Penrith 2003, Canterbury 2004, St George-Illawarra 2010, Manly 2013, Melbourne 2018, Canberra 2019, Newcastle 2026)

And, this is this is the first Grand Final since 2021 in which both captains played in the same position (Nathan Cleary and Adam Reynolds both played halfback), the first grand final of the modern era in which both captains play at fullback, and either way it’ll be the first Grand Final since 2013 to have the winning captain as the fullback, and of course that year it was Anthony Minichello captaining the Roosters to a premiership.

So on that note, I will briefly mention that I will be in attendance at Accor Stadium on Sunday night, which I’m dead certain is the first time I’ve been in Sydney for an NRL Grand Final since 2005…

Great fun lies ahead.

So on that note, the lucky last Succinct NRL Tips:

Preliminary Final Picks = 0/2

Prelim Finals Progress Score = 136/212 (64.1%)

I do have the Roosters winning by a small margin, and on that note, for one last piece of entertainment…

After accepting the NRL’s last hour SOS to play on Sunday, here’s Newcastle’s own Screaming Jets!