Ducking for cover like a Melbourne Storm Assistant Coach, in training for the next mascot race, rejecting any future playing contracts under $2M per season, and refusing to play most positions and play in reserve grade, 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 26 Expert Tips as well as offers an alternative, slightly unhinged view full of sass of the world of rugby league and beyond for another week.
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The NRL Donkey’s NRL Round 26 Weekly Opinion
Just two rounds to go of the regular season and good to see the Broncos although out of contention on the field for finals, they are doing very well in the competition to be the worst run club in the NRL for 2026.
Well, not really, that is and always will be the Wests Tigers, but the Broncos are pushing to make the final after their season of dross despite having one of the better squads in the NRL, and one of the best up and coming forwards in Xavier Willison.
The Adam Reynolds saga this week really does show either a club badly divided, a head coach madman at the helm, or a combination of a lot of little things.
Firstly, it seems the Broncos or Broncos coaching staff are the ones to have stopped Adam Reynolds playing some minutes to say goodbye to the Broncos fans before his end of season retirement. Reynolds seemed keen to play, and why not, he’s been sort-of injured for the last two seasons, so why not one or two more games. It’s been good enough for the Broncos to flog him to near breaking point to get themselves over the line over the past few seasons, but now, after just your second win since Anzac Day last weekend in Canberra it’s so important to be professional.
Even the NRL don’t care about this game, as they are trailing some new rules. They only do that for games involving teams not making finals or pre-season. Which gives you the level of this game.
Adam Reynolds deserves, no demands respect. After South Sydney’s absurd decision to effectively let him go to concentrate on youth then hire Jack Wighton, Reynolds had led the Broncos to two Grand Finals and winning one. I’ll overlook that Reynolds should really have them home for the other one. Maybe coincidental, likely not, that the first Grand Final since 2015 and the first Premiership since 2006 all happened when Adam Reynolds was leading the charge. And so you can’t give him a few minutes to get on the field, work a little magic, wave to the crowd and soak up some love. Some of the fitter, younger, less important players haven’t done much more than that this season, hence their lowly position on the ladder.
This is a team whose only eliminated the chance of not finishing last in the previous round.
Look at South Sydney’s handling of getting Jai Arrow to 100 games for the club. And that’s a team that can still play finals.
Maybe it all points to something rotten in the state of the Broncos, and maybe it won’t improve next year or until Michale Maguire leaves and Adam Reynolds takes over as coach.
A shame he won’t get a decent farewell, but fans of the Broncos will always thank him for winning their 2025 title, and in general for making the club slightly more likeable. And Souths fans will always remember that try against the Roosters, where Warren Smith so wonderfully put it “You can take me now I have seen it all”.
Talking of all, here’s this week’s tips and opinion on each game.
The NRL Donkey’s NRL Round 26 Expert Tips
THU 8PM – BRISBANE v MELBOURNE
Fancy these teams meeting at this time of year with nothing to play for except which team has dudded their fans this season the most. I’d say the Broncos, they have much better players. Melbourne are sort-of in a transition phase, where the only real transition for the Broncos is Payne transitioning himself the f—k out of the Broncos and Xavier Willison transitioning himself into the Broncos MVP. This game is such a non-event that the NRL are treating it like pre-season and trying some new rules. Scorn on underperforming teams aside, it is a good idea though.
Brisbane by 6
FRI 6PM – MANLY v ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA
Battle of the two Interim > Full Time coaches, and fair to say that the Dragons have done a better job with better results, which isn’t something you’d say often this season for the Dragons for much. So Manly’s big win over Newcastle felt like it came out of nowhere, or nothing. Like the nothing they scored the week before. It’s lazy to say it was all Tom Trbojevic, but won’t stop me saying it. The Dragons are now destined for the wooden spoon after losing last weekend, and they deserve because they have lost the most games, but they haven’t as awful as their early season ladder position suggested. Either way, not a game I’ll be changing my plans for or watching.
Manly by 24
FRI 8PM – PENRITH v BULLDOGS @ CommBank Stadium
Penrith can end the Bulldogs season with a win here and their rugby league machine like instincts will send them to victory. Penrith are about as close to AI as rugby league gets.
Penrith by 14
SAT 3PM – GOLD COAST v SOUTH SYDNEY
What an outstanding gesture from Souths and the NRL in giving Jai Arrow a chance to bring up 100 games for the Rabbitohs, and at a ground he played on plenty of times. Jai Arrow was 14 when the Titans won their last game at CBUS Stadium against the Rabbitohs back in 2009, 11 losses in a row have followed. So long ago the Stadium was probably called something else.
Souths by 10
SAT 5:30PM – ROOSTERS v DOLPHINS
Good to see the Dolphins did it for Ray Stone last weekend, beating the Eels in the week he announced his retirement. And they’d better keep on winning for Ray Stone. Or else.
Dolphins by 4
SAT 7:30PM – NORTH QUEENSLAND v WESTS TIGERS
Should be lots of points. A win for the Cowboys could just about settle the top eight a week early. But maybe we don’t want that, as old mate Man O Feathers will use that as ammo for a wildcard weekend, which is a dumb idea. Surely the Tigers won’t get a team that far off their usual pace than the Roosters were last round. Although, this is the Cowboys. The last time a Sydney team visited them the side scored 82 points.
Cowboys by 26
SUN 2PM – WARRIORS v NEWCASTLE
Just another step towards a Wahs Minor Premiership that only the most rugby-league-hating buffoon couldn’t enjoy. Newcastle are hard to trust now after their loss to Manly last weekend. Nice to see the old classic Wahs timeslot of 2pm Oz kickoff back.
Warriors by 6
SUN 4PM – PARRAMATTA v CRONULLA
Last round was another weekend where Parramatta weren’t quite as terrible as their ladder position suggests, and I’m not convinced the Sharks wobbles are over. Sure, we usually have to wait for the finals or a game against the top six to see a Cronulla choke, but the Eels have some solid stats on their side and an upset wouldn’t surprise. And yes, it’s a classic Sunday Sydney v Sydney. In honour of Ray Warren, and to a lesser extent, Gus.
Parramatta by 8
READ MORE: THE GURGLER’S FULL NRL 2026 GEAR
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