The big winners of Round 25 were...
New Zealand Warriors, who just keep on somehow holding onto their place in the top four.
It seemed doomed just two weeks ago when they had scored only 48 points across three consecutive defeats, but they made the most of a couple of soft kill after coming from behind to just get over the top of the Dragons.
Things were a lot easier on this occasion as they pounced on some dreadful Titans errors in the opening 20 minutes to claim control of a game that, in the words of Gold Coast coach Des Hasler, was "handed to them".
But the Warriors are the huge winners of the week for other reasons.
The biggest surprise perhaps was that the Panthers, who were appearing near invincible at the same time that the Warriors were falling away, were on the wrong end of consecutive golden point thrillers against fellow Premiership contenders Canberra and Melbourne.
With that in mind, the Panthers are probably still deserving of a top-four spot on current form, but the Wahs now have the ability to shut the door on all of those beneath them and obtain the all-important double chance and at least one final on home soil.
The big losers of Round 25 were...
A third consecutive defeat for the Dolphins means the league's newcomers now have their fate in someone else's hands.
Their all-out attack has produced some of the most entertaining footy of the season - and an enormous average of 53 total points per game - but of course it has come at a cost defensively.
The Dolphins are the second-most prolific points scorers (per game) of the league, but those around them such as Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane all have generally reliable defences to fall back on when things don't work. The same can't be said about the Dolphins, who were hit for a massive 58 points by a Manly side who themselves were on a lengthy losing streak.
"I thought we started well," said Dolphins head coach Kristian Wolff.
"I thought we showed the desire that we needed at the start of the game - certainly for the first 20 minutes.
“I thought we were on top there and as soon as things turned against us, we literally didn’t have a lot of resilience about our defence in particular. It's something we’ve got to fix up quickly.
“It’s a disappointing one, no doubt about that."
Now they have to defeat potential minor premiers Canberra in the final round and hope the Roosters drop points against South Sydney. Stranger things have happened, but good luck with that.
Harry Grant also gets a special mention as the one man to be suspended by the judiciary on Monday for a Grade 2 shoulder charge. But it comes at the perfect time for the Storm captain who may have wanted a rest anyway, now that his side locked up a top-two finish.
The NRL finally has its first coach sacking of 2025
We almost got through an entire season without a head coach getting axed, but the Gold Coast Titans finally ran out of patience with 64-year-old Des Hasler.
It was in the makings for a long time, particularly as Hasler's future depended on the likely wooden spooners reaching the finals this year, but we found out just hours later that it's all part of a plan.
The highly regarded Josh Hannay was unveiled as Hasler's successor on Monday afternoon and has big wraps on him after a decade of assistant coaching both at Cronulla and within the Queensland Origin setup.
Hasler and Hannay will finish out the 2025 season in their current positions before Hannay addresses Titans supporters as their new head coach.
Ken Irvine Medal leaderboard
There wasn't much of a change in the top try scorers list other than Melbourne Storm winger Xavier Coates moving into an outright lead with a single try on Friday night.
Try of the Week
This could very well be the try of the season! What a great sight it is to see some flying Fijians in full flight.
We'll let Fox League's Brenton Speed do all the talking here, because his commentary brought this incredible team effort to the next level.