Source :- THE AGE NEWS
We’re halfway through the opening week of the 2026 NRL finals series, with South Sydney the first team knocked out of the playoffs and the Dolphins the first to book their place in the final four.
Either Cronulla or North Queensland will end their season tonight, with the winning side to advance to a clash with either the Roosters or Panthers next week.
The Cowboys take the field at Allianz Stadium first, with a decent contingent of the crowd having travelled down from North Queensland, then Cameron McInnes leads out the Sharks for what could be the veteran lock’s final game in the NRL.
McInnes is off to the Super League next year, while the Sharks are favoured to win tonight.
The Cowboys will kick off.
North Queensland desperately need to find consistency in their game. And I don’t necessarily mean from week-to-week, I mean from one set to the next. The Cowboys’ strength is their right-side attack and they’ll ask plenty of questions of Cronulla, but their own defence is a real issue too – 41.5 missed tackles ranks them 16th in the NRL for the season.
For the Sharks, it’s the same question every year as they limp into the finals with one win from their last five games. Have they got another gear? Personally, I don’t think so, I think the Cowboys have got an upset in them.
Time to step up: All eyes are on Braydon Trindall returning from injury but for me, it’s Nicho Hynes who needs to fire. He needs to own the result. That’s the responsibility that comes with being the highest-paid player at your club and a marquee player.
Scott Drinkwater is North Queensland’s most creative player when he jumps into the front line. They’re all-in on him – good, bad, rocks or diamonds, that’s just how he plays.
New York-based billionaire Mike Dorrell has become the Cronulla Sharks’ billionaire benefactor, having committed $1 million a year to the NRL club over five years.
The co-founder of infrastructure investment giant Stonepeak, the former Macquarie banker will be at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night as Cronulla take on North Queensland in an elimination final.
He is Australia’s ninth-wealthiest person with $13.82 billion to his name, according to the AFR Rich List, but as Craig Fitzgibbon’s team looks to book a spot in the second week of the playoffs, he’ll be just another Sharks tragic hoping they can return to the Sutherland Shire with a win.
In an interview with this masthead, Dorrell said he had donated to Cronulla because of his respect for chairman Steve Mace, chief executive Dino Mezzatesta and coach Fitzgibbon, and got a kick out of being involved with a club which two of his brothers also support.
“It’s like anything when you grow up with … it’s just so deep in your DNA,” he said. “I love the Sharks. There’s not that much I want for life, but [I thought] if I could put a bit of money into the Sharks, just given my love of the game and my love of that team, I’m excited to do it. I think it’s given me and my brothers a pretty big thrill because we’re such Sharks fans.”
We’re about an hour away from kick-off in tonight’s second game, between Cronulla and North Queensland at Allianz Stadium. We’ll bring you more news closer to kickoff, but here are the official line-ups for that contest.
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks
1. William Kennedy 2. Sione Katoa 3. Riley Jones 4. KL Iro 5. Ronaldo Mulitalo 6. Braydon Trindall 7. Nicho Hynes 8. Addin Fonua-Blake 9. Blayke Brailey 10. Jesse Colquhoun 11. Briton Nikora 12. Teig Wilton 13. Cameron McInnes
Interchange: 14. Siosifa Talakai 15. Billy Burns 16. Oregon Kaufusi 17. Thomas Hazelton 19. Toby Rudolf 20. Niwhai Puru
North Queensland Cowboys
For nearly four decades Brisbane has been the Broncos’ turf, a status earned with seven premierships and a galaxy of stars.
On the penultimate weekend of this season, however, Suncorp Stadium will be painted red and white.
The new kids on the block, the Dolphins, are the toast of the town, booking a home preliminary final with a come-from-behind 26-16 victory over the New Zealand Warriors at Go Media Stadium in Auckland.
The club has a long and rich history in Brisbane suburban football stretching back to 1947, but the NRL iteration is in its infancy and this was its finest hour to date.
Each team only had one line break apiece in the first half; then the Dolphins exploded in the second, finishing with five line breaks and 65 tackle busts. Oddly, no six-agains were awarded in the second half after there were eight in the first 40 minutes.
And that ends a disappointing game for the Warriors, who lost Leka Halasima to a hamstring injury before kick-off and had a couple of players sin binned but still looked in control of this contest with a 16-8 lead heading into the final 20 minutes.
They did kick five penalty goals – and in hindsight they may regret not pushing for a try on any of those occasions, having finished the regular season as the highest scoring team in the competition.
The Dolphins meanwhile are flying, extending their winning streak to eight games and now earning a week off in the second week of the finals.
Full-time: Dolphins 26 defeat Warriors 16
