‘Shocking’ moment that could decide Dragons coach’s fate
A howler from the bunker may well have cost Dean Young any chance of getting the Dragons coaching job full-time next season.
Young took over from Shane Flanagan early in the season, and after a poor start, the Dragons have definitely looked a better team in recent weeks.
Dean Young is in his second stint as Dragons interim coach. Getty
But in what was effectively the wooden spoon bowl, a shocking bunker call gifted the Raiders a try that turned the game.
A loose Dragons pass was clearly touched by Raiders centre Simi Sasagi and landed straight in the hands of winger Xavier Savage, who was several metres in front of him and raced away to score untouched.
Everyone at the ground and watching on TV could see it was clearly offside - except Bunker official Adam Gee and the on-field referee and touch judges.
The last-placed Dragons were right in the game until that point but the ‘try’ helped give the Raiders a 24-16 win, leaving Young’s men firmly planted at the bottom.
Young’s record now stands at one win from eight games and it will be hard for the St George Illawarra board to hand him the reins for 2027 on those figures.
The former premiership-winning forward is locked in a battle with another Dragons favourite, Ben Hornby, for the job.
As it stands, Hornby is favourite for the post, especially with the backing of his mentor at Souths, Wayne Bennett.
Milestone misfortune no longer a worry
Jason Taumalolo must have spent last week with a part of his mindset dreading his 300th game.
Milestone games have not been kind to the gentle giant - he lost his debut, his 50th game, his 100th game, his 150th, his 200th, his 250th and recently his record-breaking 295th.
But for his 300th, the football gods smiled on big JT - and how.
A win at home against the premiership favourites, as well as topping the Cowboys’ run metres in the impressive 26-12 defeat of Penrith.
The 33-year-old is playing as well as at any stage of his career - and coach Todd Payten needs to take a lot of the credit for that.
Prior to Payten’s arrival in Townsville in 2021, Taumalolo was an 80-minute player, and the new coach caused a storm by cutting his minutes.
But Payten was thinking long term - and the big prop is now reaping the rewards.
Lucky call that revived Isaako’s footy career
Jamayne Isaako scores for the Dolphins. Getty Images
There are few better redemption stories in rugby league than that of Dolphins point scoring wizard Jamayne Isaako.
Isaako’s career looked over when he played just 12 games in 2022, released by the Broncos mid-year and picked up by the Titans.
But Wayne Bennett decided to throw the athletic winger a bone the following year for the Dolphins’ debut season - and remarkably he hasn’t missed a game since.
Even more amazing, he became the first player since 1908 to score 12 or more points in a match in nine straight games in Saturday’s thriller against the Warriors.
Isaako bagged two tries and cooly potted the late conversion from wide out that gave the Phins an epic 26-24 win over the Warriors.
Given they lost ball-playing general Isaiya Katoa early in the game with a serious wrist injury, it was a superb win by the Dolphins over a brave Warriors team in a game that lived up to the pre-match hype.
Little-known Kiwi starring for Roosters
The Roosters have plenty of big name forwards, but a little known Kiwi is eclipsing them all in 2026.
Naufahu Whyte, still only 24, which is young by front-rower standards, has been a revelation for the club and won the battle with Payne Haas and co on Friday night at Suncorp as the Roosters prevailed 24-18.
Whyte ran for nearly 200 metres, got away some smart offloads and bent back the Broncos line time and again.
The strongly built forward has played all 15 games this season and appears set for a huge final series in the Roosters’ engine room.
Dogs gun drawing inspiration from Grant
Has Bailey Hayward been studying videos of the game’s best hooker Harry Grant?
Hayward has been a much maligned player in the Bulldogs′ poor start to 2026 but produced his best game of the year - and by a long way - as Canterbury produced a classy 30-12 defeat of the Titans on the Gold Coast on Friday night.
Hayward made several Grant-like runs and produced a glorious 20 metre try pass, as well as topping the tackle count.
So criticised not long ago, the Doggies have suddenly won three straight games - and four of their last five - to appear finals bound.
The other big talking point was Stephen Crichton’s super display at five-eighth, coming up with two try assists in each half.
Milestone moment a career lowlight
Mitchell Moses takes the field with family ahead of his 250th NRL game. Getty Images
Mitchell Moses’ 250th career game may well go down as one of the career lowlights of the champion playmaker - the night that could have ended his representative career.
In his first game for the Eels in a month, Moses had a ‘shocker’ as the Rabbitohs charged into the top four with an easy 32-12 win.
Moses went from bad to worse with six missed tackles and four errors as the Eels crumbled against the well drilled Bunnies.
Two of his missed tackles were on Cody Walker as the Rabbitohs veteran skipped straight past him for the simplest of tries.
Laurie Daley hasn’t used form as much of a gauge so far in the Origin series and curiously picked Moses ahead of Ethan Strange again.
Tallis Duncan, a second-rower playing out of position in the centres, also bagged two tries for Souths and is a Blues player in the making.
