The big winners of Round 20 are...
It's hard to know where to begin considering that every top-eight side bar Melbourne Storm moved one step closer to the finals, and even the Storm need not be worried having won six on the trot prior to that narrow loss at home to Manly Sea Eagles.
The Sea Eagles are probably the side who got the most out of their weekend success after they needed a big scalp to boost their belief and confidence heading into a tricky three-week period.
Anthony Seibold's men now have a 4-2 record as underdogs this year, but it was the six out of ten games they lost as favourites earlier in the season that had his job under threat.
Seibold has escaped a lot of scrutiny in part thanks to the pressure being on the likes of Adam O'Brien, Todd Payten and Des Hasler at the same time, and now his side are in a much better position with Trbojevic brothers Tom and Jake flying and 20-year-old Lehi Hopoate playing some exciting footy at fullback.
Melbourne was the scalp they desperately needed, because their next three games also involves difficult tests against Canterbury and Canberra. They simply couldn't afford to go into them short of belief with Cronulla also surging and the Dolphins doing enough to hang on.
It's going to be a very fun race to the finals, that's for sure.
The big losers of Round 20 are...
It's by no means panic stations for Melbourne or even the Sydney Roosters despite the latter falling to Cronulla and Wests, but it's now almost certainly curtains for the rest of the pack, headed by St George Illawarra Dragons after their fifth loss in six weeks.
It was yet another heartbreaking case of 'oh so close' for Shane Flanagan's men as they fell to their sixth defeat of less than eight points, leaving many to ponder how 2025 could have turned out had they not been so poor in defence throughout the first half of the season.
Flanagan took his frustrations out on the refereeing both on and outside the ground, arguing after the match that "game was taken away from us (by) wrong decisions".
In fact, they became the first team of the competition to be involved in eight matches with a margin of under 6.5 points and they were on the wrong side of three-quarters of them.
They tidied things up against the Bulldogs but Jethro Rinakama again saved Canterbury's bacon, whilst there were also glimpses of why Lachlan Galvin was poached mid-season in controversial circumstances.
Australia has a new head coach for the return of The Ashes
Ever heard of a head coach getting a three-game trial?
That's what will be happening to Queensland legend Kevin Walters after it emerged at the weekend that he'll be contracted to lead Australia during their end of year tour of England, which will feature the long-awaited return of rugby league's Ashes series.
The position was vacated by Mal Meninga earlier this year when he committed himself to the foundation of the Perth Bears ahead of their entry into the NRL in 2027.
Walter was unable to confirm his appointment when asked on Sunday but did nothing whatsoever to rule it out, which only acted as a semi-confirmation of an imminent announcement.
"We’ll just wait and see," Walters said.
"Obviously I’d be very privileged and grateful to get the opportunity to coach Australia."
The Australian Rugby League Commission prevents current club coaches from taking on dual roles, meaning that the likes of Wayne Bennett and Craig Bellamy could not be considered for the role despite the games taking place in the off-season.
Ken Irvine Medal Leaderboard
There's just no stopping Dolphins dynamo Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow after he recorded his fifth brace of the league season at the weekend in the Dolphins' high-scoring 43-24 win over North Queensland.
Don't forget his 17 tries for 2025 come despite failing to score in any of the opening four rounds, during which the Dolphins began the season with a four-game losing streak.
Hot and cold Storm winger Xavier Coates picked up his second hat-trick in four appearances after piling down three against bothh the Sharks and Sea Eagles. Ironically, they lost both of those games whilst winning his two appearances inbetween - despite him not finding the line once!
There are a total of nine players with either 13 or 12 tries in the campaign, but they've all got a lot of catching up to do now.
Try of the Week: Round 20
We simply can't go past 18-year-old second rower Leka Halasima, who made the most of a fortunate deflection to complete the Warriors' magnificent comeback win against Newcastle. They now have a two-game buffer inside the top-four, so it could be one of their defining moments of the season.