Another year of NRL awaits, and another year of wild sporting opinion and bold predictions will be served up over the next month or so by so many people, most of them pretenders, one of them a nasty, awful man who pretends to like rugby league, but no one does it better than our resident sporting prediction guru Tipstradamus, and he’s here to offer up this year’s serving of Bold 2026 NRL Season Predictions.
Our resident sports-sayer Tipstradamus who also goes by the name Gregstradamus is wheeled out only once a year, from a subterranean abode somewhere in the Great Dividing Range shaped like the Space City Shopping Centre in Kallangur that has a TV room with a 360 degree array of televisions showing only sporting content. But what he lacks in quantity he makes up for with quality, and we’re lucky enough that he found time in between the Ashes, 23 divisions of English and European football, Snooker, Big Bash, NFL but never rugby union to provide his Bold 2026 NRL Season Predictions.
Only Tipstradamus has the special ability to predict boldly, but fairly, and to have such an eye for the left-field that you simply won’t believe that these Bold 2026 NRL Season Predictions would ever happen.
Maybe most of the bold predictions won’t, or many, if any, but who is going to argue against someone with such experience, style and attitude.
Bold 2026 NRL Season Predictions
PETER V’LANDYS WILL BAN KICK OFFS, INTRODUCE MAGIC TRIES INSTEAD OF CONVERSIONS, EXTEND THE TACKLE COUNT TO EIGHT, INTRODUCE 50 METRE PENALTIES LIKE THE AFL, AND EXTEND CAPTAIN’S CHALLENGES TO THREE PER HALF IN RESPONSE TO PEOPLE COMPLAINING THE NRL GOES TO SH!T DURING THE ORIGIN PERIOD
Peter V’landys is a pioneer, but he does like to tinker with the game, occasionally for good. But the NRL’s insistence that Origin is not standalone, will be met with the acknowledgment that the NRL does suck during Origin. So PVL being the innovator announces just before Magic Round that the period before the first State of Origin game and after the third State of Origin game will feature new experimental laws for that period only. And then realise it’s easier to have standalone Origin.
THE NRL WILL ANNOUNCE THEY ARE EXPANDING THE LAS VEGAS ROUND TO AN INTERNATIONAL ROUND
Our bold prediction for rugby league world domination involves Peter V’landys cooking up a deal to have Round 1 fixtures not only in Las Vegas but around the world.
They will announce four double headers, in places of interest, who have enough money to get on board, spread across the globe so essentially we get close to 24 hours of NRL to start the season.
The first double header will remain in Las Vegas, but shifted so it plays on a Saturday morning Australian time. From there the circus heads to Shanghai, where China finally get their taste of rugby league after decades of campaigning from Roy and HG with two games. Then onto one of the Middle East Oil nations, probably Saudi Arabia because of their links with LIV and Greg Norman for the third double header. And it all ends at Wembley for the last two games of the International Round.
Teams will be given two weeks between Rounds 1 and 2, and fans will likely need it too. It also means scrapping the formal pre-season competition, which wouldn’t be a bad thing.
PHIL GOULD WILL SENSATIONALLY QUIT THE BULLDOGS TO RUN IN POLITICS OR AT A MINIMUM HOST A NEW LATE NIGHT PHONE-IN CHAT SHOW ON SKY NEWS.
Following Phil Gould on Twitter or X (whatever) is quite an interesting read, if you can find it in between Elon Musk agreeing with people, and people on lefts and rights doing pro and anti Trump stuff. Gus always gives forthright answers to questions from fans and rugby league enthusiasts. As long as you don’t annoy him.
But he seems to have a more political edge of late, which leads to this bold prediction of an exit from rugby league, and into the world of politics. Which party we’re not quite sure yet, but maybe he wouldn’t need one. We’re sure his career will last longer than Mal Meninga’s political career.
The minimum of a phone-in chat show on Sky News sounds like a great idea, apart from the Sky News part. Perhaps Channel Nein could change the format of their NRL chat-fest into a Gus-fronted thriving conversation street.
The beauty for Gus is, like Penrith, he has a ten year lease on claiming premierships due to his work already completed at the club.
CRAIG BELLAMY TO FINALLY SHATTER A COACH’S BOX WINDOW AS MELBOURNE START THE YEAR OFF SLOW. WELL, AFTER THE STANDARD ROUND ONE AS PER USUAL.
There’s nothing funnier during a Melbourne Storm home game, or any Storm game, than to see Craig Bellamy going Bell-istic, screaming in the Coaches Box. Not necessarily at anyone, just anything.
We predict that not only will that continue, but Bellamy will crank it up to 11 in 2026.
With the squad looking more unsettled than ever, with 2027 moves, injuries, retirements and more having seen the squad forced to change. But after the standard Round One win the Storm will struggle and be struggling to feature in the top four come halfway through the season.
So with this unfamiliar territory of not winning most weeks, Craig Bellamy will be on edge for more games and eventually lead to the Coaches box-shattering explosion of glass and spit. Needless to say, journalists who live on the wild side wear raincoats to the post-match Press Conference.
A LATE SEASON CYCLONE RUINS BRISBANE MAGIC ROUND PLANS, SO THE NRL QUICKLY CHANGES THE VENUE BACK TO SYDNEY OR AUCKLAND’S EDEN PARK.
For a second straight season a weather event halts rugby league in Brisbane, and again the bold prediction is a very late season cyclone crashes into Brisbane.
Sadly this time it is Magic Round, and the games will be shifted to Sydney or a left-field selection of Auckland’s Eden Park, given the potential cyclone affects most of the eastern coast of Australia.
The NRL and Travel partners talk refunding Magic Round travelers with hugely discounted flights to Auckland and tickets to the game.
It works so well in Auckland that the NRL can Magic Round in Brisbane for 2027 and move it too Auckland for a further three years.
NRL WILL FINALLY BREAK INTO THE US MARKET AS A PRE-PLANNED ALL-IN BRAWL ERUPTS IN THE BULLDOGS V DRAGONS GAME WHILST DONALD TRUMP IS IN THE GRANDSTAND, WHO GIVES IT THE THUMBS UP WHICH LEADS TO GENERAL MAGA APPROVAL.
The NRL’s move into the US through the Las Vegas round has been quite successful, but has lacked the complete break through, cut-through if you like of rugby league in the US. That will change after the 2026 edition.
With US President taking time out from president-ing, the NRL has never had a a more important and official audience for their game. And the NRL doesn’t disappoint.
Given the US President’s apparently like for UFC, judging by how many bouts he goes to, the Bulldogs and Dragons players secretly agree before the game that the first scrum after the ten-minute mark would be the flashpoint for a bit of biff. Much like the infamous “Cattle Dog” cry in the 90’s era State of Origin, someone will yell the agreed term, and it’s on.
Much like UFC, and very un-much like NRL’s US equivalent NFL, there’s no padding, helmets, or anything soft. Just hard fists hitting hard heads. With the US President giving the whole brawl a Roman Emperor’s style of thumbs up, the MAGA fans watching at home get on board, and soon enough rugby league is added the US President’s material for speeches going forward.
THE NRL WILL GO VIRAL DURING THE SEASON WHEN TWO MASCOTS ARE INVOLVED IN A FIGHT ON THE SIDELINES
Even more viral than the Bulldogs v Dragon Vegas Prime-Time bout, will be another fight, this time between just two combatants, and much more funny.
This will take place originally on the sideline with a dance-off, featuring only the sweetest, street-ready break dancing moves. But when one mascot disses the fly girl of the other mascot, the fisticuffs begin.
The fighting gets so intense and robust, that it eventually spills onto the field and gets in the way of the actual game.
It eventually ends after two minutes when players from each team separate the two mascots after a lot of effort. That’s after another fight break out when one of the players also disses the fly girl of the same mascot.
PETER V’LANDYS WILL TELL WHOEVER GETS THE TV RIGHTS THAT THEY CAN GO AND F–K THEMSELVES IF THEY DON’T PUT THE NRL GRAND FINAL ON AT 3PM ON THE SUNDAY.
Peter V’landys is a guy that gets things done, his way, and while rugby league fans admire the swift decision making to a point, the decisions aren’t usually applauded by rugby league fans. Until 2026.
With the TV Broadcast rights up for grabs, the TV companies think they have the upper hand, but they’re wrong.
Our bold prediction is that The Man of Feathers aka V’landys head into all broadcast meetings this season and tell the TV companies that the Grand Final will be at 3pm on that first Sunday in October. If not, the NRL won’t even entertain the rest of the TV rights.
Eventually, with tails between legs the TV companies reluctantly agree, and Channel Nein are beaten to the NRL broadcast rights, because they are sh!t.
THE 100 METRE DASH WIL LRETURN TO THE GRAND FINAL ENTERTAINMENT LINE UP TO PROMOTE THE BRISBANE 2032 OLYMPICS
As part of the new daytime Grand Final discussed above, the return of the rugby league sprint race will take place. It will be sponsored by the 2032 Brisbane Olympics Committee in the hope they have something tangible to show for their paltry efforts on the 2032 Games up until now.
This will work as across half time and full time breaks in the two curtain raisers will be three heats of six players, one from each club including Perth Bears, the top two from each hear making the final. For both men and women.
Potentially this NRL sprint race will either get more kids into rugby league, or see a spike of kids into Little Athletics. Either way, it’s a winner.
Lee Oudneryn vs Martin Offiah 100 metre race in 1992 – YouTube
AFTER LEADING PENRITH TO THEIR 5TH & 6TH TITLE OVER THE NEXT TWO SEASONS, NATHAN CLEARY WILL SIGN TO PLAY AND BE THE FACE FOR THE NEW PNG CHIEFS TEAM.
After a blip in 2025 where the Panthers didn’t make or win the Grand Final, Penrith could be back winning both the 2026 NRL title this season and the next in 2027.
With a sense of achievement and status reached, Nathan Clear could be looking forward to a new challenge, and the biggest one in rugby league over the next few seasons will be getting the new PNG Chiefs into the competition and compeditive.
Who better than one of the game’s best players, and the man who led the Panthers to four straight titles. Given the love of his life Mary Fowler has some PNG heritage, it ticks every box. He would become a rugby league god in another part of the rugby league world.
THE TIPSTRADAMUS 2026 SPORTS TIPPING 16 CHALLENGE
If you would like to follow our general Sports 2026 Bold Predictions, and join our Sports tipping contest so you can take on the might of Tipstradamus, please follow the link below.
