NRL week 26 preview talking points: CNK gets lucky, it’s miracle time for Eels and do you really like what you do for a living?

Into the last fortnight for NRL season 2023. Here come your NRL midweek talking points.

CNK needed to be punished, for the good of the game

Yes, I know the ‘tackled in the air’ rule doesn’t apply on a ball that has bounced. Yes, I know Manly’s Rueben Garrick wasn’t trying to catch a kick when he got flipped by New Zealand’s Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.

NRL Head of Football Graham Annesley hinted at potential rule changes but warned the issue is if all contact in the air is punishable, then tries in the corner may be affected:

“One of the reasons that the rule only applies to kicks on the full is because we have to ensure that there are no unintentional consequences if the rule changes,” he said.

So that’s what it is. But what Nicoll-Klokstad did was incredibly dangerous and should have been dealt with as such. Dangerous conduct, contrary conduct, there’s a few to pick from.

Garrick ended up with a fractured back, a ‘fractured transverse process’ which sounds bad but is on the lower end of severity for a back fracture. He’s unlikely to play this week and if Manly have any brains, he won’t play again in 2023.

The rule needs to be sorted out, or other punishments need to be considered.

Good games this week

A decisive week for a few clubs, starting Thursday with Penrith and Parramatta. The Eels are in miracle territory to make the finals and it’ll take knocking over the game’s best to stay alive.

Somewhat quirkily, Parra have won three of their last five against the Panthers and match up well, but things are very different now.

The Warriors are entrenched in the top four but can keep limber with a solid win against the Dragons, who are giving teams a challenge but still coming up short. Their matchup precedes Friday night primetime with the Dolphins and Cowboys at Suncorp Stadium, a critical two points for North Queensland after taking a bad beating last week up north.

Saturday afternoon sees Melbourne hosting the Gold Coast, in what you’d expect would be a run of the mill win for the top four, but the Storm have combined irrepressible form with pretty ordinary outings.

(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

The Roosters seek to delay the inevitable for another week when they play Wests Tigers Saturday twilight. It won’t be easy with James Tedesco out through concussion rules, but the interest here is watching the return of the marvelled-then-maligned young halfback Sam Walker, who in true Roosters fashion was blamed for everything that went wrong before it became quite obvious he wasn’t the problem at all.

Saturday night has Brisbane headed to the capital to face Canberra, who are not quite safe in the top eight but are also not in great nick. Brisbane have no real incentive to go hard and will be without halfback Adam Reynolds due to a calf injury, it’s up to Jock Madden to get the job done.

Sunday’s first kickoff doesn’t matter in the scheme of the season but fans of Canterbury and Manly will fancy their chances of a win when they face off at Accor stadium.

The round wraps up with a great matchup when the Sharks travel to Newcastle for the Knights, who are on fire and surging up the standings. The Sharks are also in decent knick after two solid wins over decent opposition, but this will be the true test of their defence with Newcastle scoring at will of late.

South Sydney have the bye and with the week they’ve had on and off the field, they must be ecstatic to just be out of the limelight.

Week 26 random observations

• Former Canberra grand final halfback Aidan Sezer is headed to Wests Tigers from the UK Super League. He’s a solid 7 who’ll be a good pickup for Benji Marshall’s new regime.
• In June, Manly extended the contract of 22-year old five-eighth turned back rower Josh Schuster through until the end of the 2027 season (on roughly $800,000 a year if reports are to be believed). He’s now been dropped for the second time this year and it looks like he’s in for a hell of a preseason. Who’s making those recruitment calls?
• While the NRL might be pretty loaded with cash here it’s not the same for the world’s other big comp – the UK Super League just renewed their broadcast deal with Sky TV and took a haircut on the already low-ish £24 million a year deal.
• An interesting admission from retiring Bulldog Tevita Pangai Junior telling Channel Nine he never really wanted to play rugby league and was forced to play by his parents. He’s hardly the first of us who’s spent a career doing something he doesn’t really like, but it was interesting to hear someone say it out loud.

What’s got you talking ahead of round 26, Roarers?