There was another fascinating twist in the battles for fourth and eighth positions at the weekend when New Zealand and Brisbane both had crucial victories.
The big winners of Round 24 are...
After we listed them as the big losers last week for the on-field result and the injury fallout, it's only fair that Brisbane Broncos get all the glory and the positive attention after bouncing back in style after moving two wins ahead of south-east rivals Dolphins with a stellar second-half performance.
Ben Hunt and Billy Walters both performed excellently as the new halves pairing and Kotoni Staggs had one of his best shifts of the season, whilst Reece Walsh earned high praise from his captain and coach for a second half 40/20 that was seen as one of the turning points of the match.
"Tonight he really got the balance right," Broncos skipper Pat Carrigan said of Walsh.
“He was really calm out there, talking really well to the boys, and I think that instilled a lot of confidence in him, but that was a big play.
“He’s a hard taskmaster on himself, but I think he found that balance tonight and he was massive for us."
Fourth place is still within reach thanks to their superior points differential to the Warriors, though it would require them to beat the Storm in the final round and for the Panthers to drop points along the way.
The big losers of Round 24 are...
Manly Sea Eagles now appear to be dead, buried and cremated following a run of four consecutive losses, two of them to sides not even in contention for the finals. On that basis, they can hardly make a complaint other than perhaps feeling a little sorry for themselves given the impact injuries to some middle forwards have had on their structure and strength.
Head coach Anthony Seibold continues to be in the news amidst rumours last week that some ex-players are pushing for him to be replaced by 41-year-old Broncos assistant coach Matt Ballin next season, and a humiliating 26-12 loss to Wests Tigers certainly didn't help Seibold's case, not least because it came with one of Manly's worst performances of 2025.
"With everything on the line with regard to our season and to perform like that, way below our best, was disappointing," Seibold said after the match.
“We’ve come off the back of a really tough month of footy where we’ve played three of the top four teams, it’s taken a fair bit of juice out of us.
“After a great win away against the Storm we had ourselves well entrenched in the finals, but the last month has been really disappointing.
“It’s going to be tough now - we’re relying on other results. It means you’re hoping, and hope’s not a great strategy.”
Could that mean DCE has three NRL games to go?
Manly's late season form slump has intensified the attention on 36-year-old Daly Cherry Evans, who beyond choosing to end his Manly journey has not confirmed what he'll be doing in 2026.
Cherry-Evans was all but set to spend one swansong year as a player at the Sydney Roosters next year before transitioning to their coaching staff, but rumours of a rethink at Easts are running wild since it was revealed by veteran News Corp journalist Phil Rothfield that Cherry-Evans' player move has not yet been registered with the NRL.
That leaves the Roosters with some space to renege on the offer and bring DCE immediately into the coaching staff in 2026, or effectively pay him his agreed salary to have a year off as an unregistered player so that their salary cap remains unimpacted.
He couldn't hide his disappointment at the weekend with how the last month has unfolded, telling reporters: "I’m definitely not happy with losing four in a row.
“Everything else to be honest with you, I’m doing the best I can and feeling like I can hold my head up high.”
Ken Irvine Medal Leaderboard
It's such a shame that there's not a greater hype around the top individual try scorer of the year because the race to win the Ken Irvine Medal continues to take many fascinating twists.
This time it was a hat-trick from Rooster Daniel Tupou and a double from Xavier Coates which saw them both join Dolphins fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow on 18 tries each.
None of them have a bye remaining in the season so it will make for a fascinating three-game run home, particularly if Coates is rested prior to the finals.
Tries of the Week
We thought this had been wrapped up on Thursday night when Melbourne Storm pair Xavier Coates and Harry Grant pulled off a pair of excellent tries, but they were both overshadowed by this incredible team effort from the Broncos, including a perfectly weighted kick from Billy Walters.
As a runner-up, how about this for déjà vu?
Xavier Coates came agonisingly close to completing a coast-to-coast intercept try against the Broncos last week with the play that infamously led to the busted hamstrings for both Adam Reynolds and Ezra Mam.
Penrith suffered no such misfortune on this occasion but Coates was just able to find the line at a point of the match where Penrith were well in control. The rest, as they say, is history.