NRL Finals Race Goes to Six Rounds With the Roosters Clear and Four Clubs Split by Six Points
The Sydney Roosters lead on 38 points with a 16-5 record, but fourth to eighth is separated by six points with 27 rounds to get through and the Grand Final set for 4 October.
Six rounds of the 2026 NRL regular season are left and only one thing looks settled. The Sydney Roosters sit top on 38 points from 21 games with a 16-5 record and a points differential of +163. Everything behind them is live.
The top of the ladder
Penrith and the New Zealand Warriors are level on 36 points, two behind the Roosters and holding the other two spots inside the top four. That is the placing worth fighting for: the top four earn the double chance in week one of the finals, and in a competition where the minor premiership rarely decides a title, a second life in September is the real prize.
The Dolphins are fourth on 34 points, close enough to make the top four a four-club argument rather than a formality.
The scrap for eighth
North Queensland currently hold the last finals place on 28 points from 22 games. Six points separate fourth from eighth, which in NRL terms is three wins with six rounds to play — nothing like a gap.
Points differential is the first tiebreaker when clubs finish level, so a heavy loss in a dead rubber can cost a club a September campaign as surely as a narrow one in a contest.
Where the season ends
The competition runs 27 regular-season rounds. The top eight then move into the finals series, and the Grand Final is on 4 October at Accor Stadium.
At the other end, St George Illawarra are last on 14 points with a differential of -263, the worst in the competition and a number that has been climbing all winter.
Following it on Playdash
Playdash covers every NRL round with head-to-head and line markets, total points, first tryscorer and anytime tryscorer, plus margin bands. Season-long markets on the premiership, the minor premiership, top-four and top-eight finishes and the wooden spoon stay open through the run home and into the finals series.
Ladder positions and records as published on 18 August 2026; standings move every round and clubs have played an uneven number of games.