NRL finals 2026 LIVE updates: Dolphins and Roosters go head-to-head in preliminary final

Hello and welcome to our coverage of the biggest game of the NRL season so far, with the Dolphins and Roosters vying to become the first team to earn a spot in next week’s grand final.

Tonight’s clash feels like a good old-fashioned David and Goliath battle – except this time David is the favourite to win it.

The underdogs with the bookies are the Roosters: perennial premiership contenders, blessed with perhaps the most talented squad in the competition, complete with the recruitment of premiership-winning halfback Daly Cherry-Evans – who is bidding to “do a Cooper Cronk” and win a title with the Roosters at the end of his career.

This will be the farewell season for Cherry-Evans and also superstar winger Mark Nawaqanitawase, who will return to rugby union at the end of this season. Has he got another freakish try in store tonight?

Up against them is a Dolphins side playing in its first ever NRL finals series, and now just 80 minutes away from a place in the decider. Isaiya Katoa, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Herbie Farnworth headline arguably the best backline in the league, and they’ll have a home crowd behind them at Suncorp Stadium.

Kick-off is at 7.50pm. It should be a cracker.