Ducking for cover like a Melbourne Storm assistant coach, only slightly less corrupt than a powerful sporting body, attempting to sell himself to PNG to get some of that sweet sweet Government-Free moolah, asking the nearest president to overturn his ban at the local RSL for a drunken walk through a fountain, and playing out of position for the good of the team, it’s time for some Rugby League tips and opinion from The Gurgler’s NRL Donkey. The NRL Donkey provides his NRL Donkey’s 2026 NRL Round 21 Review & Ratings on the weekend of rugby league that was.
This NRL Donkey’s 2026 NRL Round 21 Review & Ratings is all new and offers up a second serving of Donkey rugby league in a week. Why would the world need twice the NRL Donkey? First of all, how rude. Secondly, because no one delivers rugby league with such an honest, almost churlish attitude, not afraid to tell rugby league what he thinks. Sort of like Pauline Hanson but with none of the racism. The NRL Donkey hates everything and everyone equally. And now he gives it with both barrels – and both ends of a rugby league weekend in the NRL, with a review with a match by match thoughts and a preview with all the opinion and more.
Related – more serious Rugby League gear
NRL Donkey’s 2026 NRL Round 21 Review
Here’s the NRL Donkey’s thoughts and mini rants on all of the games from the previous weekend.
THU 8PM – PARRAMATTA v PENRITH
The Penrith machine rolls on, but the Thursday hoodoo is there. If the Eels were a better side they would have won on Thursday. But they’re not, and Penrith are a machine.
FRI 6PM – NEWCASTLE v ROOSTERS
One of those games where a side counts the real cost of a loss. Only problem is that the side that won didn’t get all the crucial injuries the losing side did. So misery doubled down. Poor Newcastle. They lost their best player in 2026 and their most expensive player for the season it seems.
FRI 8PM – SOUTH SYDNEY v MELBOURNE
A great game but Craig Bellamy really looks like he could give it away soon. Rugby League will be a sadder place without him, and Fo Sports will have to think of something else to do than quickly show him losing his mind at Storm misfortune. Somehow the Rabbitohs are in 6th place on the ladder, which is strange as it feels like they only play good every third week. Seven of their ten wins have come at the Olympic Stadium.
SAT 3PM – CANBERRA 56 WESTS TIGERS 10
The Tigers looked like they wanted to put down a marker this weekend, to take their midweek Adam Doueihi inspired shambles and ensure everyone know they are the worst club in the NRL right now with a 56-10 loss. And it was a dedicated sh!t effort, no late collapse, just a steady stream of sh!t seeing Canberra scoring 28 points in each half. Although ultimately we might find out it is a massive plot on behalf of NRL super agent Isaac Moses, a man who appears to have fun annoying the Tigers, it was still a terrible effort and those cynical Tigers fans who called the Tigers won’t win another game after handing the Dragons their second win of the season could be proven correct.
SAT 5:30PM – BULLDOGS v WAHS
Bulldogs have now won four in a row against the Warriors, and have opened up the finals series a little, giving themselves a chance to disrupt the top eight as well as open up chances for other teams in the top four shootout. That doesn’t mean I’ll be cheering for a Bulldogs finals tilt, because at best their football is dull, but I also don’t wish them harm in their chances. Maybe this was the loss you should have before the finals for the Wahs, the people’s pick for the 2026 title. As long as they shouldn’t have too many more lossses.
SAT 7:30PM – NORTH QUEENSLAND v BRISBANE
Surely that’s the Broncos’ finals done and dusted. Although until the boffins and calculators at the Lab and News Ltd boardrooms concede it’s no mathematical chance, you know Broncos will still get talked up for finals. They will have to win all their remaining games, and get more favours than a family member of a federal politician to get there.
SUN 2PM – ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA v GOLD COAST @ Kogarah
As if we needed anymore convincing that the Dragons will finish last, they are flogged at home by the team that were second last heading into Round 21. Gold Coast meanwhile overtake the Broncos on the ladder on points difference. Not that you’ll hear about that in the highly respected Courier Mail.
SUN 4PM – MANLY v CRONULLA
Cronulla have now won eight of their last nine and are in prime position to finish in the top four and lose both finals games as is traditional. It’s also a similar record against Manly for them too. Coastal supremacy staying in the Shire for another year. Alarm bells ringing for the newly hired full time coach, they have a similar last seven record to the Dragons.
AI Greg’s Best AI Round 20 Pic
Ahh, no one does pictorial rugby league like AI Gemini and Greg Norman. Here’s this weekend’s best.
NO LOCKS
NRL Donkey’s 2026 NRL Round 21 Ratings
The Gurgler website is famed for the many, many stats and visuals on offer, and the NRL Donkey was feeling a little left out.
But of course the NRL Donkey doesn’t want to celebrate the good, his cynicism won’t allow it, so he has found two ways to celebrate the mediocre. The first is taking The Gurgler’s all-new Player Ratings system, where stats are used to determine a player score out of ten, and flipping it’s on it’s head by taking the worst scores in each position. Secondly, he has devised a way of seeing which players was the worst contributor, coming up with a points system for all manners of errors, penalties, missed tackles, and gave it the subtle title of the Sh!t Play Inde.
Plus AI Greg is here for his best of from the weekend.
NRL Donkey’s Stats – Not Quite Team of the Week
Here are the lowest ranked players per position to create the Not Quite Team of the Week.
NRL Donkey’s Stats – Sh!t Play Index
Compiling missed tackles, penalties, errors on a sliding scale, here are the top 10 most “influential” players this weekend.
