The NRL has been run and won for another weekend, with winners showered with praise and losers taunted and booed until throats and fingers are sore on keyboards across social media. But the NRL weekend can’t be completely over until someone special has had their final say. So for your rugby league pleasure, we present the AI Greg Norman NRL Round 26 Review.
The Gurgler website will drown you with stats and facts about the weekend of rugby league that was soon, so why not let AI Greg Norman, courtesy of the Grok AI generation give you the full NRL Round 26 Review in picture. And colour.
Note that sometimes what Grok gives and what we ask for are two different things. And those wonderful mistakes will often be included in the AI Greg Norman NRL Reviews.
AI Greg Norman NRL Round 26 Review
Bulldogs 28 Penrith 4
Greg asks where are all the players? As Penrith rest 16 front line players for the Thursday ex-Blockbuster clash v Bulldogs. Canterbury got the win but Pdnrith’s second stringers impressed.
Warriors 22 Parramatta 26
The Eel’s form about-face continues as they eat up the Warriors chances of a top four finish. Even a home final isn’t guaranteed now.
Melbourne 10 Roosters 40
Craig Bellamy’s big celebration night is spoiled with a second half collapse to the Roosters. AI Greg knows a thing or two about a late choke and the disappointment.
Canberra 24 Wests Tigers 10
Canberra win the Minor Premiership, and what an achievement given they were widely predicted to finish bottom four, not top one. Greg sings an appropriate tune to celebrate. And anyone who says Minor Premierships don’t matter are either too bitter for life or haven’t won one in a while and are jealous. Probably jealous of AI Greg’s range too.
St George Illawarra 24 Manly Warringah 40
Manly’s Great Escape continues as they stay mathematically able to make the finals. DCE is the star again.
North Queensland 30 Brisbane 38
Loads of points and action as the Broncos break into the top four.
Cronulla 40 Newcastle 16
Cronulla kick a team while they’re down as they also give themselves a chance of a top four finish.
Dolphins 36 Gold Coast 30
The Dolphins do just enough to keep their finals hopes alive, all while nearly confirming the Titans to a wooden spoon.
Called The Metal Gatekeepers, the 20-minute weekly show is hosted by two veteran metalheads Cody (34) and Tristan (35), who met when they played in the death metal band Acid Lobotomy in the early 2000s.
“It’s a simple format,” said Cody, “the first 10 minutes is me and Tristan going through the latest metal albums and telling the viewers what they should be listening to and what is poser garbage for wusses!”
“And then we have Posers Pwned, where we get some random viewer on and destroy their disgusting taste in metal, tell them what a hopeless poser they are, and why they should stop pretending and go listen to some pop garbage instead,” said Tristan.
With Cody and Tristan both in part-time customer service jobs and ‘free family-based living arrangements’, they have time to pour hours of research into the show.
Though the show, now in its fourth episode, has copped a big backlash in the comments sections, with a lot of commenters calling them “out of touch”, “elitist nerds”, “losers”, “weirdos who look like that gamer guy from South Park“, and “arrogant d—heads”.
But Cody and Tristan don’t care.
“It sucks that most of our ‘fans’ are posers who make the mistake listening to a wide variety of metal,” said Cody.
“Real metalheads listen to the same handful of albums over and over until they’re burned into their brains and it can be appreciated on a scientific level, something the posers who only listen to an album a couple of times will never understand,” said Tristan. “The hate from the idiots who watch us only fuels us to go even harder. We’re trying to educate people here.”
Away from the money, the fame and overpriced subscription of the Premier League is the gloriousness of the three divisions below of the English Football League. 72 Teams from all over England and Wales, battling in competitions where winners and losers don’t feel pre-determined and thousands of games every week. Taking the time to share our thoughts on a few games and who are this week’s winners and losers is our English Football League Tips & Stats – 29-31 August 2025.
We also throw in some useful stats and a side track of our weekly English Football League Top Five
English Football League Tips
We use our huge database of English Football stats and calculate a rating for this weekend’s matches, and our SuperTips Computer 3000 tells us below what the choicest cuts are for English Football tipping glory.
It’s all about quality over quantity.
English Football League Tips – Championship
Middlesbrough to beat Sheff Utd
Charlton to beat QPR
Draw – Blackburn v Norwich
Draw – Millwall v Wrexham
Coventry to beat Oxford
Swansea to beat Sheff Wed
Last week 3/6
English Football League Tips – League One
Cardiff to beat Plymouth
Draw – Doncaster v Rotherham
Draw – Burton v Luton
Exeter to beat Peterborough
Draw – Lincoln v Mansfield
Draw – Reading v Port Vale
Draw – Wigan v Stockport
Last week 1/3
English Football League Tips – League Two
Salford to beat Cheltenham
Draw – Barnet v Colchester
Chesterfield to beat Crawley
Accrington to beat Shrewsbury
Last week 3/5
English Football League Stats
Using more of the stats, we present our English Football League stats summaries for the season so far in an easy to read and/or ignore format.
English Football League Stats – Championship
English Football League Stats – League One
English Football League Stats – League Two
English Football League Top Five – Best Non Home League One Kits
For fun and a little bit of filler to get to the minimum word count, each week we’ll offer up a top five stat, point of interest or thing from the English Football League.
This week it is our view on the best kits from the League One that aren’t home kits.
Picture from the Football Kit Archive – a great place to explore current and historical kits.
Faster than an Aston Martin, more expendable than either Alpine driver, a tenth as excited about Lando Norris than Sky F1, and with more hope of getting out of Q1 than certain drivers, it’s the F1 Donkey with his unique view on F1 and more. Before each race The F1 Donkey puts the ass in sass and unloads his alternative, slightly unhinged thoughts on F1 including this week’s Bold 2025 Dutch Grand Prix Predictions and opinion.
The F1 Donkey’s Pre Dutch Grand Prix Thoughts
The long agonising four week wait is over, and Formula 1 fianlly returns this weekend.
I have filled the break watching various seasons of BBC F1 highlights on YouTube, especially the 1980’s. What an era.
Aside from all the big names of Alain Prost, Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, Ayrton Senna, Thierry Boutsen, Rene Arnoux, Piercarlo Ghinzani, Adrian Campos, and Teo but not Corrado Fabi, the cars, the race and of course the commentators all had so much colour.
Not like today where Osca Piastri stands out because he is even more boring that most of the drivers.
Back onto the commentators, Murray Walker was the star of those highlights. Sure he loved Mansell and his dogged British determination, but he never let it blind himself from the Boutsens, the Danners, the Bergers and dare I say the Brundles of every race. Unlike the paltry Fox News style bias of the modern day Sky F1 team. Where even a Lando Norris fart should be hung in every garage and motorsport circuit pitlane around the world.
And of course James Hunt being James Hunt. He didn’t care, and occasionally didn’t show up, but he was James Hunt. He had beefs with drivers, he swore on camera, but he was honest and great. Praise and criticism handed out harshly, truly and fairly.
But also the cars had personality. For one thing, they all looked different. Some looked awful, others beautiful, but they were unique. And most importantly, they used to break down a lot. Despite knowing the result due to my uncanny ability to remember every grand prix winner from 1980 to 1999, it is still fun watching and trying to remember when the car leading was cruelly denied by a malfunction. Or an errant backmarker. And sometimes both at the same time and more. But the cars are so bulletproof these days that they are as boring as the drivers.
Talking of boring, over the break the new Cadillac team announced their driver line up for 2026, and while some might say it’s boring, it’s also safe. And Valtteri Bottas’ new lease of life on social media means he is one of the most interesting F1 drivers these days. That could be a bit like saying that he’s the most interesting delicious tasting of 50 bowls of vanilla ice cream, but still. Sergio Perez was a safe pair of hands in midfield cars back in the day, and his departure from Red Bull shows that the Red Bull is not even good enough to be classed a midfield car. If Max can’t drive it, then it is sh!t. Although, that doesn’t mean Sergio Perez shouldn’t have done better in 2023/2024. He should have. He was equally as terrible as the car.
But both have figured potentially being 21st and 22nd is better than being third (driver) or not at all. Who can blame them.
I just think Cadillac missed an opportunity.
With a four week break, there was no F1, and plenty of fans waiting around for that elusive Oscar Piastri chuckle or a little bit of Hulk news, or to see which driver can ruin their career at Alpine next. And Sky F1 spent the summer break at the Dry Cleaners.
Cadillac should have whittled their candidates down to 3-8 and had a week-long shootout for the drives for 2026. At Laguna Seca, because that track is awesome, or even better, Road America. Three days of testing, followed by races on the Thursday and Friday, with points being awarded for laps covered, positions in race, and points taken away for crashing.
The top two may well have still been Bottas and Perez, but what a way to unveil them then with a podium celebration for the two race drivers and reserve for 2026.
It might be as interesting as Cadillac get, so missed opportunity.
Onwards then, for this week’s bold predictions, and we’ve thrown in some extra stats for excellent F1 filler.
The NRL Donkey’s Bold 2025 Dutch Grand Prix Predictions
And here they are, in a convenient team by team format, so you can ignore them all at your convenience or peril. Depending on the outcome of our prediction.
McLAREN
Feels like a Lando Norris weekend. Maybe there will be just a point in it after leaving the Netherlands. But the comes the double qualifying choke.
RED BULL
Max Verstappen for pole position, and if he manages that he’s an outside chance for winning this race on the narrow track.
MERCEDES
George Russell to be early front nuisance value. Kimi back on track with a double top six qualifying and finish.
FERRARI
Charles Leclerc to outqualify and outrace a lacklustre Lewis Hamilton. (Pasted from last few GPs). Massive questions being asked of Hamilton heading into Italian Grand Prix.
WILLIAMS
Carlos Sainz to pull out a top six qualifying effort and points with an outside chance of a Ferrari return being wafted under his nose.
ALPINE
Colapinto is a certainty to run into a wall at some stage over the weekend.
RACING BULLS
As obscure a race as a team can manage.
ASTON MARTIN
Alonso heroics. F1 Nudity from Lance Stroll.
HAAS
Slightly further back and even more un-noticeable than Racing Bulls.
SAUBER
Bortoleto 10th in qualifying beating his team mate The Hulk in 11th by 0.005 seconds. Point for one of them.
The NRL Donkey’s Bold 2025 Dutch Grand Prix Stats
Our stats team told me I should include some graphs to go with the poisonous viewpoint. So here then are some form stats for qualifying and the race, and after that a computerised guess at who will win the race. Spoiler alert: it’s a McLaren.
Dutch Grand Prix – DRIVER PREVIEW RATINGS
The stats boffins at The Gurgler have compiled a whole bunch of stats from this season, and recent seasons at this weekend’s venue, added a multiplier for recent results and come up with a score out of 100% which equates to each driver’s chances of doing well this weekend. Just to make finding a winner for a race more complicated than it needs to be.
Here are The Gurgler Driver Preview Ratings for this weekend.
F1 2025 Season Stuff
We’ve worked hard getting ready for the 2025 F1 Season, and this is our best work below.
Most of the big football competitions are underway for their new seasons, but that doesn’t mean other football isn’t happening and isn’t great, and that doesn’t mean all the games need a winner and a loser. They say there can only be winners and losers in sport, but of course they’re wrong and they’re fools, there’s always the draw, and who doesn’t love a draw where everyone wins. Those winners include canny punters who look for value, and The Gurgler website is always happy to help with opinion and stats, so welcome to our 2025-26 Season Football Draws Selections for 28-31 August 2025.
Our resident draw expert Frankington Stanley runs his keen eye over the many football divisions around the world to find the best draws for you. He’s sort of like the John West of Football draws, he hates Dog Salmon and lop sided fixtures.
Frankington Stanley is not fussy, no country or continent is out of bounds, and the more obscure the better. And some of them are quite obscure. They don’t even feature on the Who Scored website.
So grab an oversized spoon for another weekly serving of the finest Football Draw tips from all over the world, where The Gurgler and Frankington Stanley take the stale out of stalemate.
Football Draws Selections – Best of the Week
Poland – I Liga – 2025/2026 – Gornik Leczna v Stal Rzeszow
SATURDAY 30 AUGUST 6:30PM
No draws H2H in the last six games but plenty of draws this season. Gornik Leczna are struggling in 17th place on the table, and have drawn their last five games. Which includes their last two home games. Stal Rzeszow have two draws already in their seven games. Fans of Red Cards may not be disappointed either, this fixture sees one every two games from the last six.
Football Draws Selections – Premier League Special
LIVERPOOL v ARSENAL
SUNDAY 31 AUGUST 4:30PM
It’s three draws in a row for this fixture at Liverpool. Five of the last eight games on a Sunday at Liverpool ended in a draw.
Football Draws Selections – Other Solid Choices
Egypt – Premier League – 2025/2026 – Smouha SC v Petrojet
SATURDAY 31 AUGUST 7PM
Frankington Stanley’s favourite team for draws Smouha duly delivered last weekend and are primed to draw again this weekend. The second last game at Smouha between these sides was 0-0, where everyone wins. Even better, between the combined eight games of these sides so far in this season’s Egyptian Premier League, there’s five draws. Smouha are 2/2 for home draws this season and Petrojet have fueled up with 1/2 away draws.
Turkey – 1. Lig – 2025/2026 – Umraniyespor v Esenler Erokspor
SATURDAY 31 AUGUST 5PM
For a start, the last game between these sides, conveniently played at Umraniyespor ended 1-1. As for this season both teams are W1 D1 L1 with Umraniyespor’s for and against a delightful 3-3 after three games.
Belgium – Jupiler Pro League – 2025/2026 – Westerlo v Royal Antwerp
SATURDAY 31 AUGUST 5:15PM
Just the two draws in the last six games is nothing to get too excited about, but Royal Antwerp’s two draws from two away games certainly is.
Poland – I Liga – 2025/2026 – Gornik Leczna v Stal Rzeszow
SATURDAY 31 AUGUST 6:30PM
Whilst there are no draws in the last six H2H, Gornik Leczna have drawn their last five games. Stal Rzeszow have drawn two of their seven games but won two as well. So you might be barely interested in the fact that despite Gornik Leczna not winning a game so far, they have the same goals scored and conceded as Stal Rzeszow.
Finland -Ykkonen – 2025 – PK-35 v JIPPO
FRIDAY 30 AUGUST 4:30PM
The last two games played between these sides ended 1-1. PK=35 have drawn three of their last five games. Jippo have drawn two of their last three away.
Bulgaria -A PFG – 2025/2026 – Montana v Dobrudzha Dobrich
FRIDAY 30 AUGUST 3:30PM
The last two games between these sides ended in a draw, and three of the last four clashes. Montana have drawn two of their three home games this season. Dobrudzha Dobrich have lost all three away games, so will probably settle for a draw. As they should. So should you.
Cyprus – First Division – 2025/2026 – Akritas Chlorakas v Enosis Paralimni
FRIDAY 30 AUGUST 5PM
Two of the last four games between these sides at Akritas Chlorakas have ended in a draw. As for this season it is early, and only Akritas Chlorakas have played a game out of these two sides, and they drew. Nice.
Denmark – Superliga – 2025/2026 – OB v FC Nordsjaelland
SUNDAY 31 AUGUST 3PM
The last game between these teams was 1-1, conveniently at OB.
Slovakia – Super Liga – 2025/2026 – Komarno v Skalica
SATURDAY 31 AUGUST 5PM
The last two games between these sides at Komarno have ended in a draw. Throw in three draws in five games to start the season for Skalica and you have draw.
Shinier than a new Everton Stadium, with later goals than a Newcastle-Liverpool clash, and less disappointing than Man Utd it’s our 2025-26 Premier League Predictions Week 3.
Each gameweek in this 2025-26 Premier League season we offer up a stat filled prediction preview, with some barely interesting stats and visuals, just enough to bluff your way through various tipping competitions or betting shops.
We also attempted to guess the final Premier League ladder in advance. Follow the link to that here.
Barely Interesting Stats – 2025-26 Premier League Predictions Week 3 – Stats and Thoughts
Help yourself to a buffet of barely interesting stats, quick one liners and more to help pick a winner.
SAT 12:30PM – CHELSEA v FULHAM
Chelsea looked more like the World Champions they are last weekend, but is a Ful-ham easier to beat than a West Ham. Probably not.
The last three games between these sides at Chelsea have ended with a win to each side and a draw.
Chelsea have won four in a row at home on a Saturday v Fulham, and are unbeaten in ten Saturday home games v Fulham with a last loss in 1979.
Fulham had a decent W3 D1 L2 record away to London clubs last season.
Fulham have made a two draw start to the season. Their previous draws going backwards through last season was on January 5th.
SAT 3PM – TOTTENHAM v BOURNEMOUTH
New manager working a treat for Spurs, so far. Meanwhile, Bournemouth are Bournemouth.
The last three games at Spurs have seen a win a piece and a draw.
Bournemouth ended up with W1 D1 v Spurs last season in the EPL.
Bournemouth’s record away at London clubs last season was W1 L1 D5.
Only Liverpool and Nottingham Forest won more games (3) v big six sides away last season than Bournemouth.
SAT 3PM – WOLVES v EVERTON
No points, no goals, not a great start for Wolves.
Wolves (W2 D2) are unbeaten in their last four home games v Everton.
Despite starting the season with two losses and no goals, Wolves have a higher Expected Goals total than Aston Villa.
Everton (4.76) and Wolves (4.6) have the worst and third worst total for Expected Goals against.
Wolves (-8) and Everton (-6.5) have the worst and second worst net shots for/against per game this season.
SAT 3PM – SUNDERLAND v BRENTFORD
Sunderland come back down to earth, beaten by a Championship team. Brentford’s season meanwhile is underway with a first win last weekend.
Brentford (W3 D2) are unbeaten in their last five games v Sunderland.
Sunderland (1.12) have the third best Expected Goals against this season. Brentford are fifth worst (3.52).
SAT 3PM – MANCHESTER UNITED v BURNLEY
If Manchester United can’t beat Burnley, they may well join them.
Man Utd are unbeaten (W4 D2) in their last six games v Burnley.
But they have won only two of their last seven home games v Burnley (W2 D4 L1).
The last two games at Man Utd on a Saturday v Burnley have ended in a draw. However, Man Utd are also unbeaten in their last 12 games v Burnley at home on a Saturday (W8 D4).
Manchester United are leading the Premier League for Shots attempted per game this season. (16)
SAT 5:30PM – LEEDS v NEWCASTLE
A wonderful northern clash between two of the Premier League’s most passionate fans. Both attempting to shrug off disappointment from last round.
Leeds (W1 D2 L5) have won just one of their last eight v Newcastle at home.
It W4 D1 for Newcastle at Leeds for the last five games on a Saturday.
Leeds have the equal lowest number of Shots on Target per games this season with two.
SUN 2PM – NOTTINGHAM FOREST v WEST HAM
West Ham looked cooked already.
Nottingham Forest have won three in a row v West Ham.
Nottingham Forest have won their last four home games v West Ham by a combined 11-0.
Nottingham Forest (W3 D3 L3) had almost an identical record on a Sunday last season as West Ham (W3 D2 L3).
SUN 2PM – BRIGHTON v MANCHESTER CITY
At least for Man City they’re not playing Spurs.
Brighton (W1 D1) were unbeaten in last season’s fixtures v Man City.
The last five games at Brighton v Man City have seen two wins each and a draw.
Man City have won the only game v Brighton on a Sunday.
SUN 4:30PM – LIVERPOOL v ARSENAL
A top two clash if ever we have seen one. Likely to be fighting for the title all season.
Four of the last five league games between Liverpool and Arsenal have ended in a draw.
It’s three draws in a row for this fixture at Liverpool.
Liverpool are unbeaten at home in their last 12 matches v Arsenal (W6 D6).
Arsenal were the only team last season not to lose to one of the big six teams (W5 D5) but Liverpool had a higher points per game (W6 D3 L1).
Arsenal have the edge on Liverpool H2H on a Sunday. Unbeaten in five with a W2 D3 record.
Five of the last eight games on a Sunday at Liverpool ended in a draw.
SUN 7PM – ASTON VILLA v CRYSTAL PALACE
A clash so interesting that it is moved to a timeslot that no one wants to watch a game of football.
Crystal Palace are unbeaten in their last four games v Astion Villa.
Aston Villa (W2 D1) have never lost to Crystal Palace on a Sunday.
2025-26 Premier League Season Stats
Each week we’ll bring you the best of the stats we can be bothered compiling to help you agree or disagree with our selections.
Been too distracted by NRL coach sackings? Do you need some last-minute NRL tipping advice? Or simply want something else to blame when the tips go wrong? Either way, saddle up for The Gurgler’s NRL Round 26 Ratings and Late Mail.
In a new additional to our stable of NRL stats and tipping products, we have used all the stats we have, smashed them against each other like atoms, and come up with a H2H rating.
It includes this year’s form with a bias because it is this year, but we don’t forget historic stats of the H2H against this week’s opponents, and the ground and day the teams are playing on, plus their record v top and lower half teams.
Then slice up the scores out of 100% between the two sides. The bigger the percentage, the more likely to win.
2025 NRL Round 26 Ratings
Here are the H2H ratings and winners for the second last weekend of the regular season.
2025 NRL Round 26 Late Mail
THU – BULLDOGS v PANTHERS (Olympic Stadium)
This could have been some kind of game before Penrith decided to rest a thousand first grade players. It’s almost not even worth doing a summary. But you can’t blame Penrith for looking after themselves but do need to ask the question how it has all come to this. Are we going to be left with ten full, decent rounds of NRL? There’s a massive quality v quantity debate to be had.
Anyways, a few stats below, that were much better when teams were at full strength. Penrith have won eight in a row v Bulldogs, with a last loss in 2019. In 2025, between the Bulldogs and Panthers there’s just one win in eight games combined on a Thursday, and one game was them playing each other.
In a mirror of the 2024 season, Penrith lost to Melbourne in Round 24, then Canberra in Round 25. That ended up pretty well for Penrith from memory.
FRI – WARRIORS v PARRAMATTA
A tricky game for the Warriors, fourth v fourth last but the Eels are getting things together, helped by the return of Mitchell Moses and sticking with youth. The H2H says Eels – Parramatta have won five of the last six games v Warriors. But so had the Gold Coast before last weekend too and Parramatta have won all three games v Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium on a Friday plus Parramatta have won five of the six games played v Warriors on a Friday anywhere. But Fridays suit the Warriors too, they are W3 L1 at Mt Smart on a Friday this season and it’s W4 L1 on a Friday anywhere, with the other game being in Christchurch. Eels aren’t great on the road though, Parramatta have won three of 11 away games this season, but two of the wins were on a Friday.
Unlike the previous games, there’s nothing to really report on the player front.
FRI – MELBOURNE v ROOSTERS
A high quality clash on paper that sees some players rested for the Storm, but not to the extent of the Panthers. Xavier Coates, Nick Meaney, Eli Katoa and Josh King are all rested this week and Harry Grant is suspended. Big man Nelson Asofa-Solomona returns though, providing a great rival to the Roosters big forwards in a clash that should be fun. Sam Walker is out but Sandon Smith is in, so not too bad, and Daniel Tupou returns. This gives the Roosters a slight advantage on players, but the stats aren’t great.
Melbourne have won seven in a row v Roosters and 12 of the last 13. Melbourne have won four in a row at home v Roosters. The Roosters have a poor record v the last two premiers in the NRL – Melbourne and Penrith. They have won just two of the last 25 games played since 2020. Melbourne lead the competition for winning against top eight sides this season (top eight art time of fixture) with a W5 L3 record. Roosters vs top half record is W4 L7.
Melbourne are also hard to beat at home on a Friday. Melbourne have won eight in a row on a Friday at home with a last loss in 2023 at Marvel Stadium. Melbourne have won 15 of their last 16 at AAMI Park on a Friday. Roosters are W5 L5 on a Friday this season and W2 L4 away on a Friday.
SAT – CANBERRA v WESTS TIGERS
Depending on the above result, the Raiders could seal the Minor Premiership on Saturday. Luckily they’re playing the Tigers who they have a great record against. Canberra have won 13 of their last 15 games v Wests Tigers. Canberra have won their last four home games v Tigers, and Canberra have won five in a row on a Saturday v Tigers with a last loss in 2014 plus Canberra are W6 L1 for home games on a Saturday v Wests Tigers.
Top v bottom stats suit the Raiders too. Canberra are 9/9 for games v bottom half sides at home this season. Wests Tigers are 0/5 v top half teams away. (Top/Bottom Half at time of fixture not current ladder).
Xavier Savage is out for the season, which sad, but Savelio Tamale is in which is good. Adam Doueihi is out for the Tigers which hurts, as he has been a big part of their recent turnaround in wins. Latu Fainu is a solid replacement, not necessarily a game breaker though.
SAT – ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA v MANLY (Kogarah)
Manly’s finals hopes are still hanging on like DCE’s 2026 options, and should beat the Dragons, but probably won’t. Stats are pretty thin for either side – The Dragons have won their last two Saturday games, both at home. Overall in 2025 their Saturday record anywhere is W4 L8. Manly’s Saturday record this season is W6 L2. The wins and losses are the same home and away but Manly have won three Saturday away games in a row. Both teams have woeful form v fellow Sydney clubs. Dragons are at 25% win rate this season while Manly is 36% but that drops to 1/5 away.
Some decent ins for the Dragons this weekend with Jaydn Su’A, Jack de Belin, Hame Sele and Tyrell Sloan. No changes and no excuses for Manly if they fail to beat the Dragons.
SAT – NORTH QUEENSLAND v BRISBANE
The big Queensland rivalry with both teams finding form, but the Cowboys are only playing for nuisance value for their Queensland foes. The Broncos have the edge in stats Brisbane have won five in a row v Cowboys. Two of those were in Townsville on a Saturday. Brisbane are also 5/5 v Qld teams this season, so Queensland derbies aren’t a problem. Cowboys are W2 L3 v Qld teams this season with both wins v Titans. North Qld are W1 L4 for their last five Saturday games v Qld sides. North Qld (W1 D1 L5) have won one of their last seven on a Saturday but Brisbane have lost four in a row on a Saturday away from home.
Adam Reynolds is named among the reserves, which is a big in if it he makes it further up the list. No changes for the Cowboys who are gunning for three straight wins for the first time since April this season.
SUN – CRONULLA v NEWCASTLE
Newcastle seem to have finally parted ways with their coach, and you do wonder with the gloom he brings that Newcastle will be uplifted this weekend against the Sharks. The stats certainly aren’t on their side. Cronulla have won five of their last six v Newcastle. The only loss for Cronulla at home in the last eight games v Newcastle was in Redcliffe. Cronulla have won nine of their last 11 games v Newcastle on a Sunday. Sunday stats are even worse with Cronulla have won six in a row on Sunday. Newcastle have lost all seven Sunday games this season.
So given those stats, if Newcastle wins that is pure coach sacked bounce.
KL Iro returns for the Sharks which sees Siosifa Talakai drop to the bench for impact, which works well. No changes named for the Knights, but with a new coach who knows. Greg Marzhew is named as 18th man and it would be a shame for them if he remained there if fit. No forgetting that the Knights can’t allow the Titans to win one more games than them over the last two games as they will eat the wooden spoon for 2025 instead.
SUN – DOLPHINS v GOLD COAST (Suncorp Stadium)
Dolphins need to win. Somehow they have been gifted a second/third chance at finals, so if they can’t beat the Titans, who are last and who the Dolphins have a good record against, then they don’t deserve any more chances. Dolphins lead the Titans H2H 4-1, but the only loss is at Suncorp Stadium.
But, the Titans have also sacked their head coach, although he’s staying put for the last two games. But this is a battle of one teams striving for first finals against one that needs to win to avoid last.
Gold Coast have a bad record v Qld sides this season – they have lost all five games v Qld sides this season. But on a Sunday Gold Coast are W5 L1 v Qld sides at Suncorp Stadium. Also, Dolphins have won only one of their last seven Sunday games.
Kodi Nikorima returns for the Dolphins after being a late scratching last weekend, and the fallout sees Jake Averillo move back to centre. The Hammer remains at centre while Trai Fuller remains at fullback. Why not, we’ll see if last weekend v Manly was a blip or a trend. The Dolphins need to win so may as well go out swinging. No changes for the Titans of note.
2025 NRL Round 25 Review + Round 26 Preview
Here’s the best of our wrap ups of last weekend and look forward to this weekend.
Just two rounds to go and still so much to sort out and like throwing confetti out of a window you just don’t know where it is all going to land. Talking of parties, our 2025 NRL Round 26 Tips Predictions & Stats Preview is going to party like it’s 1999, which probably means Melbourne will win the comp. At least it would make Craig Bellamy happy. Maybe.
Each week this season we offer up a quick preview glance for each match, throw in a bunch of barely interesting stats, and mix in a pinch of opinion, some spicy tips and you have a rugby league soup with probably more flavour than one could ever need or want. It’s all you can eat NRL stats.
2025 NRL Round 26 Tips
Here are our tips for the week ahead. How did we get to here? By going through all the visuals and stats below.
PENRITH by 4
PARRAMATTA by 8
MELBOURNE by 16
CANBERRA by 24
ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA by 2
BRISBANE by 12
CRONULLA by 20
DOLPHINS by 16
Our famed barely interesting stats all in the one place for you convenience and arguments.
THU – BULLDOGS v PANTHERS (Olympic Stadium)
Penrith have won eight in a row v Bulldogs, with a last loss in 2019.
Bulldogs have won three of the last five games at the Olympic Stadium though.
H2H on a Thursday is Penrith two wins and Bulldogs one.
Bulldogs have lost all three games on a Thursday this season, which includes a loss to the Panthers.
Penrith aren’t much better than the Bulldogs on a Thursday this season with their only win in five games being against the Bulldogs. So between the Bulldogs and Panthers there’s just one win in eight games combined on a Thursday, and one game was them playing each other.
In a mirror of the 2024 season, Penrith lost to Melbourne in Round 24, then Canberra in Round 25. That ended up pretty well for Penrith from memory.
FRI – WARRIORS v PARRAMATTA
Parramatta have won five of the last six games v Warriors. But so had the Gold Coast before last weekend too.
Parramatta have won all three games v Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium on a Friday.
Parramatta have won five of the six games played v Warriors on a Friday anywhere.
Warriors are W3 L1 at Mt Smart on a Friday this season.
It’s W4 L1 on a Friday anywhere, with the other game being in Christchurch.
Parramatta have won their last three Friday games, two of them away.
Parramatta have won three of 11 away games this season, but two of the wins were on a Friday.
FRI – MELBOURNE v ROOSTERS
Melbourne have won seven in a row v Roosters and 12 of the last 13.
Melbourne have won four in a row at home v Roosters.
The H2H on a Friday at AAMI Park is 3-2 to the Storm.
Melbourne have won eight in a row on a Friday at home with a last loss in 2023 at Marvel Stadium.
Melbourne have won 15 of their last 16 at AAMI Park on a Friday.
Roosters are W5 L5 on a Friday this season and W2 L4 away on a Friday.
Melbourne lead the competition for winning against top eight sides (top eight art time of fixture) with a W5 L3 record.
Roosters vs top half record is W4 L7.
SAT – CANBERRA v WESTS TIGERS
Canberra have won 13 of their last 15 games v Wests Tigers.
Canberra have won their last four home games v Tigers, conceding exactly 12 points in three of those games.
Canberra have won five in a row on a Saturday v Tigers with a last loss in 2014.
Canberra are W6 L1 for home games on a Saturday v Wests Tigers.
Canberra are W3 L1 at home on a Saturday this season.
Wests Tigers have won one game in their last 12 away games on a Saturday.
Canberra are 9/9 for games v bottom half sides at home this season. Wests Tigers are 0/5 v top half teams away. (Top/Bottom Half at tiem of fixture not current ladder).
SAT – ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA v MANLY (Kogarah)
The last time a team won both of these games in a season was 2017.
St George Illawarra have won their last two and seven of the nine games v Manly at Kogarah.
St George Illawarra have won the only game between these sides at Kogarah on a Saturday. (2012)
St George Illawarra are W2 L2 on a Saturday at Kogarah this season.
The Dragons have won their last two Saturday games, both at home. Overall in 2025 their Saturday record anywhere is W4 L8. Manly’s Saturday record this season is W6 L2. The wins and losses are the same home and away but Manly have won three Saturday away games in a row.
SAT – NORTH QUEENSLAND v BRISBANE
Brisbane have won five in a row v Cowboys. Two of those were in Townsville on a Saturday.
Overall it is Broncos nine wins vs Cowboys six wins in Townsville on a Saturday.
Brisbane are 5/5 v Qld teams this season.
Cowboys are W2 L3 v Qld teams this season with both wins v Titans.
North Qld are W1 L4 for their last five Saturday games v Qld sides.
North Qld (W1 D1 L5) have won one of their last seven on a Saturday.
Brisbane have lost four in a row on a Saturday away from home.
SUN – CRONULLA v NEWCASTLE
Cronulla have won five of their last six v Newcastle.
The only loss for Cronulla at home in the last eight games v Newcastle was in Redcliffe.
Cronulla have won nine of their last 11 games v Newcastle on a Sunday.
Cronulla have won six in a row on Sunday.
Newcastle have lost all seven Sunday games this season.
SUN – DOLPHINS v GOLD COAST (Suncorp Stadium)
Dolphins lead the Titans H2H 4-1, but the only loss is at Suncorp Stadium.
Gold Coast have lost all five games v Qld sides this season.
Dolphins have won only one of their last seven Sunday games.
Dolphins’ Sunday record at Suncorp Stadium is W4 L3.
Gold Coast are W5 L1 v Qld sides at Suncorp Stadium on a Sunday.
2025 NRL Season Stats
The best of the stats from the season that has been so you can try and guess the rest of the season that will be.
Angrier than a room full of Fox League writers, more of an obstruction than an NRL trainer, ducking for cover like a Melbourne Storm Assistant Coach, and wondering what he’s done wrong not to be a current NRL mascot, it’s time for the weekly Rugby League rant of The Gurgler’s NRL Donkey, who provides his NRL Donkey’s 2025 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.
The NRL Donkey’s 2025 NRL Round 26 Weekly Rant
Apparently Round 25 of the NRL was Country Week. Pardon me for caring, but coming from a farm I care a lot about the country, and from watching the NRL over the weekend I saw bugger all Country anything.
To take from their website, “During Round 25 of the Telstra Premiership and Round 8 of the Telstra Women’s Premiership (August 21–24), players from all NRL and NRLW clubs will wear the socks of junior teams across select games and training sessions in a tribute to the local clubs and communities that shaped them, with the hope of inspiring more youngsters to pick up a football.”
First of all, wearing socks is pretty pissweak, let alone “select games” let alone that “select games” being as close to f—-all as they could get.
The Dragons at least had maroon socks for the old Country origin colours. That’s a start, but still pretty pissweak. But at least a Sydney club was trying. At least the Dolphins did some kind of Country tribute by extending their drought in an awful performance. And the Broncos away jerseys looks like an 1980’s special for Dad going off to a regional golf course for a boys weekend. So the final count for 2025 NRL Round 25 Country Week effort was one team wearing a pair of socks. So “Select Games” means “we selected one games with at least half the team of the game involved.”
If you had every player wearing the junior socks of their country clubs, or a tribute jersey, and a whip cracking demonstration pre-game, or some sheep sheering, or a five minute lecture of the importance of the country rugby league on communities or even some Border Collies giving it plenty for the crowd by rounding up sheep. Take that final one to the next level and throw out a Country Week challenge that pitch invaders will be chased and rounded up by on-site Border Collies. And if caught, your $5000 fine will be donated to farmer’s causes.
Or better still, play more than one bloody game in the country. How’s that for an idea NRL HQ jerks.
The reward for that lucky local town of Mudgee was one of the greatest ever NRL Golden Point finishes. Maybe it was the NRL karma gods shining down on the one effort to make Country Round, country.
All eight games should have been played in the country. And if they weren’t because the final weeks of the season are too important to be played at a small country ground, how about you play a few rounds during the Origin period when the NRL gives up on rugby league anyway. Over two to three rounds you could make all the teams play one game at a country venue. All the teams. Yes. Including you Broncos.
Of course the Queensland Cup do it best, they get Country and State of Origin, unlike the NRL.
The 2025 edition saw games played at Augathella, Charters Towers, Emerald, Gayndah, Yarrabah, Moranbah and Goondiwindi. If you haven’t heard of any of those places, then good, that’s what Country Week is all about. And teams get there early and involve themselves in communities.
OK sure, critics will say that’s fine for Queensland Cup because the size of the towns is ten times larger than a regular crowd at a Queensland Cup, which is unfair but probably true, but if the NRL truly cares about the Country, and they should, because a massive chunk of players come from outside Sydney and SEQ, then they should give back properly, every year.
Not just one game and one pair of socks. It really is as pathetic a token effort I’ve seen in sport. Like punishing drug cheats in tennis that are number one in the world, proposing to host the Olympics at a venue that would have been a bigger embarrassment than most of the politicians in Queensland, the NRL defending poor refereeing decisions, most pre-game musical acts before State of Origin, Channel Seven pretending to care about rugby league, Channel Ten, expanding the A League, the A League, FIFA pretending that a World Cup being given to Saudi Arabia is for the good of the game, and most of Lance Stroll’s F1 career.
Talking of stink, here are this week’s expert tips, and I use the term expert loosely as they were quite average last weekend.
The NRL Donkey’s 2025 NRL Round 26 Expert Tips
THU – BULLDOGS v PANTHERS (Olympic Stadium)
Panthers fans will be hoping they don’t lose in golden point again. Bulldogs fans will be hoping they get that far. Most neutrals will not be sure who they want to lose as long as they hurt each other. Meanwhile, it will and won’t be Lachlan Galvin’s fault.
Panthers by 8
FRI – WARRIORS v PARRAMATTA
A real banana skin this one. Fourth vs fourth last. Their ordinary for and against could come back and bite them, so better keep winning. Rugby League needs top four Warriors.
Warriors by 4
FRI – MELBOURNE v ROOSTERS
Roosters can’t beat Melbourne or Penrith usually, so let’s hope that continues.
Melbourne by 16
SAT – CANBERRA v WESTS TIGERS
Wests Tigers were getting dangerously close to in-form and 9th so they rectified that against the Cowboys. Surely they won’t stop the Raiders celebrations this weekend.
Canberra by 10
SAT – ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA v MANLY (Kogarah)
At least people can stop pretending to like DCE this week. Or that the Dragons are relevant.
Dragons by 2
SAT – NORTH QUEENSLAND v BRISBANE
You wonder if the Cowboys were up for spoiling their fellow Queensland rivals top four hope, and then realise they have now played well two weeks in a row, so that’s a hard no.
Brisbane by 12
SUN – CRONULLA v NEWCASTLE
The who cares game of the week.
Cronulla by 17
SUN – DOLPHINS v GOLD COAST (Suncorp Stadium)
Not that they deserve it, but results mean the Dolphins are still in the hunt for finals. If only they were playing a side that’s last and who just sacked their coach, and are a bit of a rabble, and who they have a great record against. Well, this could be embarrassing if they lose then.
Feeling refreshed from four weeks without F1? Of course you aren’t. So happily here’s our 2025 Dutch F1 Grand Prix Prix-View to give you some kind of Formula One fix.
The Gurgler’s 2025 Dutch F1 Grand Prix Prix-View brings some thoughts on what the race weekend ahead might bring, and we throw in more than a few barely interesting stats.
Essentially a quick summary of what a casual F1 fan needs in the shortest possible time for your convenience.
And for F1 opinion, stand by for the F1 Donkey’s Bold Predictions and Opinion where no one and nothing is safe. And like the cars around him on the grid, Lance Stroll.
2025 Dutch F1 Grand Prix Prix-view – Race Potential Rating
By Anthony Alessio Tralongo – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=114859498
The Gurgler does like to use some obscure drivers in our Race previews and report, so who better to use than Teo Fabi to determine a race rating system.
So before each race we give a rating out of ten for four key category that are loosely based on each letter of Teo Fabi’s surname. Don’t know who Teo Fabi is, you should.
FAST? 7 / 10 – From any angle the track diagram looks like the worst drawing of a Hammerhead Shark you’ve ever seen, and like the animal it can certainly bite. This modern day version isn’t quite as fast as its predecessor, but it is also much safer. There’s some fast sections, and a good long straight coming off a banked corner, which looks fast and that’s a good thing it is doesn’t bring overtaking. But the best part is not necessarily the fastest, but it makes the cars look fast and that is the banked Hugenholtzbocht. Named after the track designer, it is the corner where F1 cars look more like MarioKart than anywhere else.
ACTION? 4 / 10 – Pretty tight circuit for width, so overtaking is limited. WE asked AI to tell us about average overtaking moves and it is apparently lower than Spain, which isn’t good. But there’s at least a chance to see the car goes fast.
BIG HISTORY? – 5 / 10 – It was a regular in F1 up to 1985, and so feels like a great historic track. It’s recent inclusion is off the back of Max-mania which has become a blur of Red Bull domination until last year, where an orange car did the same.
INCLEMENT WEATHER? – 7 /10 – The Weather Channel says over 50% chance of rain on all three days. Including Thunderstorms on Friday afternoon. It could be a cold, wet. miserable weekend for most at the track, but great for armchair fans around the world.
RACE POTENTIAL RATING 58% – Some cool corners to admire these F1 drivers on, and a few corners to catch out the hopeless. But the tight nature means qualifying will be all-important. But there’s enough rain predicted to make it potentially super interesting. Just not too much rain.
DRIVER PREVIEW RATINGS
The stats boffins at The Gurgler have compiled a whole bunch of stats from this season, and recent seasons at this weekend’s venue, added a multiplier for recent results and come up with a score out of 100% which equates to each driver’s chances of doing well this weekend. Just to make finding a winner for a race more complicated than it needs to be.
Here are The Gurgler Driver Preview Ratings for this weekend.
2025 Dutch F1 Grand Prix Prix-view – Stats Summary
Want to know if your favourite driver for this weekend is a master of the track or the track is a master of them? Here then are some barely interesting facts and stats.
Driver Stats – Dutch Grand Prix
Team Stats – Dutch Grand Prix
Stats from 2021 season onwards.
History Stats – Dutch Grand Prix
99 = a DNF. Grid position 20 is overstated as that was also used for cars starting in pitlane. Results from all races for long term history and from 2021 from Grid to Race positions. stated.
F1 2025 Season Stuff
We’ve worked hard getting ready for the 2025 F1 Season, and this is our best work below. Read it before it become too/more irrelevant.
