The last weekend of the 2022 NRL regular season promises to be one of the most frantic in years, with second place through to eighth yet to be decided.
Parramatta and Melbourne square off in a virtual playoff for fourth spot, while Sydney Roosters and South Sydney meet in a derby that could see the winner snare a crucial fifth-place finish. Cronulla and North Queensland are both hoping to finish second and earn a home qualifying final against the other.
Meanwhile, Brisbane need to beat St George Illawarra and for Canberra to lose to last-place Wests Tigers to jump from ninth into the finals.
As these frenzied finishes to the home-and-away rounds of yesteryear highlight, anything is possible with so much at stake.
1960 – Four-team Gridlock Forces Finals Delay
Four-time champs St George had already wrapped up the minor premiership heading into the last round, with Balmain in outright second (22 points) and Western Suburbs, Eastern Suburbs, Manly and Canterbury in equal-third (20 points) as the clubs grappled for a spot in the four-team finals series.
The dominant Dragons’ 13-9 defeat of the Tigers only served to complicate the logjam. Wests, Easts and Canterbury chalked up wins join the Tigers in a share of second, while the Sea Eagles’ campaign ended courtesy of a 10-7 loss to also-ran neighbours North Sydney.
The four-way tie for second necessitated an unprecedented series of playoff matches, which delayed the start finals by a week. But the chasing pack was merely making up the numbers as the mighty Saints thumped weary Easts – who played six games in 28 days – 31-6 in the grand final.
For-and-against was still decades away from being used to separate teams on the competition ladder.
1975 – Frantic Final Round Creates Three-way Playoff
Easts, Manly and St George had the top three spots locked down heading into the last round, but five clubs remained in contention for the other two finals berths. Canterbury sat fourth on 22 points, with Balmain one point behind in fifth, and the desperate trio of Wests, Cronulla and Parramatta on 19 points.
The Magpies eliminated the Sharks from the equation with a 31-17 victory in the first game of the weekend, before the Eels stayed alive by defeating Norths. The make-up of the final five hinged on the last game of the regular season – the Bulldogs-Tigers clash at Belmore.
Canterbury prevailed 17-16 in front of a bumper home crowd to seal fourth place, while the Tigers were plunged into a three-way, fifth-place playoff with the Eels and Magpies. The Eels went on to claim fifth with consecutive midweek victories over their playoff adversaries.
1986 – Clutch Tigers, Toothless Dragons In Thrilling Finale
The make-up of the ’86 finals rested on the results of a dramatic series of Round 26 clashes. Souths entered the weekend in top spot on 36 points, one ahead of Parramatta, while Canberra and Manly sat on 33 points. Balmain, St George and Norths were in a three-way deadlock for fifth on 28 points.
Garry Schofield scored a hat-trick as the Tigers confirmed at least an equal-fifth finish with a 38-20 upset of the Rabbitohs, who were subsequently ousted for the minor premiership following the Eels’ 22-6 defeat of the Sea Eagles.
The Dragons blew a fifth-place playoff berth with an 18-all draw against the 11th-placed Raiders, finishing one point adrift of the Tigers largely thanks to Michael O’Connor’s off day with the boot. The Bears booked a playoff date with Balmain via a 17-10 victory over Cronulla.
1988 – Sharks Rise, Panthers Slide In Last-round Reshuffle
Cronulla and Canterbury were locked on 32 competition points at the top of a congested premiership ladder, with Penrith in outright third on 30 points. Canberra, Manly, Balmain and Brisbane were tied for fourth on 28 points to set up a riveting final-round weekend.
Eighth-placed Souths upset the Bulldogs on Friday and the Sharks sealed the minor premiership with a two-point eclipse of St George on Sunday.
Canberra hammered Gold Coast 24-4, before Manly downed Penrith 18-4 to catapult the Raiders and Sea Eagles into third and fourth respectively, relegating the Panthers to fifth on percentages.
The Tigers halted the Broncos’ bid for a debut-season finals appearance with a 20-10 victory, setting up a midweek playoff for fifth spot with the Panthers, which they duly won before going on a stunning sudden-death run all the way to the grand final.
1991 – Raiders Alive As Magpies Throw Away Top-three Spot
Penrith was home and hosed for the minor premiership heading into the final round, six points clear of a serious logjam with no other teams guaranteed their place in the post-season.
Manly, Wests and Norths were in a three-way tie for second on 27 points, Canberra sat one point back in fifth and St George and Canterbury were still alive on 25 points.
The Sea Eagles sealed second with a 30-20 win over the battling Eels, while the Magpies put themselves at the mercy of their rivals with a 28-14 loss to the in-form but out-of-contention Broncos. The Bears grabbed third place by easily overcoming the Seagulls.
In the most pivotal match of the round, the Raiders clinched fourth spot by pumping the Dragons 40-8 and ending their season. The Bulldogs overturned a 16-point deficit to beat the Sharks 26-16 on the back of Welsh wizard Jonathan Davies’ brilliance, elevating them into a fifth-place playoff against Wests.
1995 – Bears Squeak Into Last Finals Spot
A frenzied grab for post-season berths developed on the eve of the inaugural eight-team finals series, which saw the league do away with playoffs for teams who finished on the same competition points at the end of the season. The top six teams were locked in with one round to play, but seventh and eighth were still up for grabs.
St George and newcomers Auckland were tied on 24 points, with Norths a point behind in ninth and Sydney City still in the hunt on 22 points.
The Dragons accounted for Western Reds to confirm their place in the finals, while Jason Taylor’s last-gasp sideline conversion saw the Bears escape with a draw against lowly Gold Coast to slide past the Warriors into eighth on for-and-against.
The Warriors’ destiny remained in their hands, but they were obliterated 44-6 by a red-hot Brisbane side. Norths’ fortunate draw also thwarted the Roosters, who swamped the Tigers 44-6 but finished in ninth due to the Bears’ superior percentages.
1997 – Magpies Stunned By Spooners
Tom Raudonikis-coached Western Suburbs appeared destined for the ARL’s seven-team finals series in 1997, despite heading into the final round in ninth spot on 20 competition points.
Illawarra and Gold Coast, drawn to play each other in the last round, were tied on 21 points in sixth-equal on the ladder; eighth-placed Balmain (20 points) faced the daunting task of taking on heavyweights Newcastle, while Wests squared off against last-placed South Queensland.
The Steelers prevailed 28-6 to leave the Chargers’ bid for a maiden finals berth on tenterhooks, before the Tigers bowed out of the race with a 34-10 loss to the Knights.
The last place in the finals was there for the Magpies’ taking, but the lowly Crushers sprung a Suncorp Stadium upset to streak away 39-18 – a record victory in the club’s last-ever match, and just its fourth win of the season.
The unlikely result gifted Gold Coast seventh spot, and the perennial minnows turned the tables to eliminate Illawarra in the first week of the finals.
2002 – Warriors Last Team Standing As Eagles’ Wings Clipped
The late-season stripping of 37 competition points from runaway leaders the Bulldogs for salary cap breaches threw the 2002 minor premiership race wide open. Newcastle occupied top spot by one point from Brisbane with one game remaining, with the Warriors a point further back.
The Warriors accounted for Wests Tigers to keep their chances of a maiden minor premiership alive, while the Broncos went down to the brooding Bulldogs hours later, slipping to third.
The Knights needed to beat eighth-placed St George Illawarra or lose by less than 10 points to secure first position but were swamped 40-22 by the desperate Dragons. The Saints snatched seventh spot after their upset win, while Canberra prevailed 25-16 in an eighth-place shootout with Melbourne.
The Dragons and the Raiders leapfrogged hapless Northern Eagles, who were seventh heading into the weekend before inexplicably crumbling 68-28 to also-rans Penrith in their last match as a joint venture.
2007 – Tigers Blow Finals Chance
A finals berth went begging for Wests Tigers following a last-minute loss to bottom-placed Newcastle in the final round of the ’07 NRL season.
The Tigers needed a Friday night victory and for Brisbane to lose to Parramatta on Sunday to finish eighth. But after leading 12-6 at the break, the Tigers’ season finished in gut-wrenching defeat – Kurt Gidley slotted a penalty goal on fulltime to snatch a 24-22 victory for the Knights, who in turn offloaded the wooden spoon to Penrith.
Guaranteed at least eighth spot, the Broncos had the opportunity to climb up to fifth but were buried under a Jarryd Hayne-inspired Eels avalanche to go down by a club-record 68-22 scoreline.
2008 – Minor Premiership Goes Down To The Wire, Warriors Leapfrog Knights
Intriguing struggles developed at both ends of the Top 8 as the 2008 regular season reached its climax. Manly, Melbourne and Cronulla entered the final round tied for first spot – the Sea Eagles boasted a +272 points differential, the Storm stood on +264, while the Sharks were well back on +61.
Manly took the Sharks – who defeated North Queensland 28-22 – out of the equation by comfortably putting away Penrith 34-16 on Saturday night, leaving the fate of the JJ Giltinan Shield in the hands of Melbourne.
Needing to win by 27 points to clinch their third consecutive minor premiership, the Storm mauled Souths 42-4 at Olympic Park, taking out top spot.
More was at stake lower down the ladder as Newcastle and New Zealand jostled for the last place in the finals. Locked on 28 competition points, the Knights sat in eighth going into the weekend with a 139-point healthier for-and-against than the Warriors.
Brisbane did the Warriors a solid by shutting out Newcastle 24-2, and the Auckland-based club capitalised with a 28-6 defeat of Parramatta on the back of a Manu Vatuvei hat-trick. The Warriors subsequently became the first eighth-placed club to beat the minor premiers under the McIntyre system, toppling Melbourne 18-15.
2014 – Roosters Go Top, Warriors Create Agonising History
Brisbane, the Warriors and Parramatta went into Round 26 in a three-way tie for eighth spot. The Broncos lost 22-12 to Melbourne to ensure a nervous wait, while the Eels’ 33-20 defeat to 15th-placed Canberra took them out of the running.
The Warriors needed an away win – or a loss by no more than three points – against Penrith, but the Auckland-based club’s finals dream went up in flames via a 22-6 defeat to the fourth-placed Panthers.
Further up the ladder, Sydney Roosters snatched the minor premiership with a 22-18 win over Souths followed by competition leader Manly’s loss to North Queensland, jumping from third to first.
A mere 13 for-and-against points shy of the Broncos, no club has missed the finals by a smaller margin than the 2014 Warriors, who had axed coach Matt Elliott after five rounds.
2021 – Titans Leapfrog Sharks To End Finals Hiatus
For the first time in several years, a team in the Top 8 heading into the last round fell out of the finals.
Eighth-placed Cronulla, which had a -24 points differential, and Canberra (-73) were tied on 22 points, with Gold Coast (-47) two points back.
The Raiders were effectively put out of the running by a 40-16 Thursday night loss to the Roosters. The Sharks had the misfortune of playing the Storm – who needed a win to pip the Panthers for the minor premiership – on the Saturday and went down 28-16.
That left the Titans with the equation of needing to win by 12 points or more against the Warriors at home. The ill-disciplined, tackle-shy Warriors did the Sharks few favours as the Titans ran away with a club-record 44-0 – and their first finals berth since 2016.