Full Rooster Draw (AI likes us)

["gaz"]

AI likes the Rooster in the 2026 NRL Draw
Here is our season laid out including Origin
We seem to play a few more home games than usual


DRAW

Pre season – Tigers 14/02;2026 and Eels 21/02/2026

R1 – Warriors @ Go Media Auck NZ Fri 6^th March
R2 – Souths @ Allianz Fri 13^th March
R3 – Penrith @ Allianz Fri 20^th March
R4 – Manly @ Brookvale Thur 26^th March
R5 - Bye
R6 – Sharks in Perth (Shark home) Sat 11^th April
R7 – Knights @ Allianz Sun 19^th April
R8 – Dragons @ Allianz Sat 25^th April (Dragons home)
R9 – Broncos @ Allianz Sat 2^nd May
R10 – Titans @ Gosford Fri 8^th May
R11 – Cowboys @ Suncorp (Magic Round - Rooster home) Sat 16^th May
R12 – Bye

State of Origin Game One Accor Stadium, Wednesday, May 27^th

R13 – Storm @ AAMI Sat 30^th May
R14 – Raiders @ GIO Fri 5^th June
R15 – Dolphins @ Suncorp Fri 12^th June

State of Origin Game Two MCG, Wednesday, June 17^th

R16 – Sharks @ Allianz Sun 21^st June
R17 – Broncos @ Suncorp Fri 26^th June
R18 – Bye

State of Origin Game Three Suncorp Stadium, Wednesday, July 8^th

R19 – Eels @ Allianz Sat 11^th July
R20 – Storm @ Allianz Fri 17^th July
R21 – Knights @ McDonald Fri 24^th July
R22 – Cowboys in Townsville Thur 30^th July
R23 – Dogs @ Allianz Fri 7^th August
R24 – Penrith @ Commbank Thur 13^th August
R25 – Tigers @ Allianz Sun 23^rd August
R26 – Dolphins @ Allianz Sat 29^th August
R27 – Souths @ Allianz Fri 4^th September

[fletch]

The two preseason games are

Against the Tigers on Saturday February 14th at 3:50pm at McDonald Jones Stadium Newcastle

Against the Eels on Saturday February 21st 6pm at Polytec Stadium Gosford

[Kentucky_Fried_Rooster]

It looks like we got looked after with a lot of free to air channel 9 games too.
had a quick look at the full draw and we have close to if not the most, more than the Broncos.

["gaz"]

Souths twice at Allianz.

I. hope they get the visitor change rooms for both games

[Rooster_Mark]

You would think the NRL could come up with something different than Roosters V Souths in the final round of the season.

[SamKerrSimp]

The NRL draw is so stupid, we play the Warriors once which is round 1 and we play the Tigers once which is in round 25 how hard is it to make sure every team plays each other once before we start the return matches? One game against the Dragons, Manly, Eels and Bulldogs is criminal too

[Bates]

2 byes around the SOO schedule. Tickety-boo

[Batemans Bay Rooster]

12 Allianz games next season as compared with 10 in 2025 and 11 in 2024.

Very bad byes next season though - 5/12/18

Compared with 2025 - 10/14/17

And even more so with 2024 - 14/19/23

Later season byes are everything.

And I think we have a total of 3 day time games the entire next season.

[Mickie Lane]

It is what it is.
Someone has to win the comp no matter who you play so if the Chooks are good enough next year we will win the comp no matter who we play but if we dont win the comp its not because of the draw.

["gaz"]

Foxtel computers ladder prediction has us Minor Premiers

Fox Sports Lab from Fox Sports
November 14th, 2025 3:19 pm

Fox Sports Lab has crunched the 2026 NRL draw to predict next season’s final ladder, and its bad news for the Rabbitohs and great news for arch rivals the Roosters.

On face value, it delivers another devastating blow to Newcastle Knights fans by forecasting a second consecutive wooden spoon, while Roosters are tipped to win the minor premiership.

However, the projection cannot take into account the major personnel changes that the Knights’ side have welcomed, meaning there’s every chance that Dylan Brown, Sandon Smith and company will lift Justin Holbrook’s side out of last place.

The projection also cannot account for injuries that may occur during the season.

The top eight is set to be the same as last year, with the exception of Manly coming into the finals and the Warriors dropping out, while the Roosters and Sharks have knocked the Raiders and the Bulldogs out of the top four.

The Dolphins again miss the finals by the barest of margins, finishing ninth, while the Tigers’ NRL longest finals drought stretching back to 2011 drags on.

The Eels are not tipped to move up the ladder after finishing 11th last season, while the Rabbitohs are predicted to finish third last, despite a number of stars returning from injury.

Souths are tipped to finish in the bottom four.


HOW DOES IT WORK?

Fox Sports Lab simulates the season 10,000 times over, based on each team’s final rating from last season and the draw for 2026.

The position percentage is based on the number of times in those simulations that a team finished in its designated ladder spot - meaning that the Roosters finished first 15.72 per cent of the time, while the Knights were last in 25.85 per cent of simulations.

The Roosters ran first more than two per cent more often than the Sharks, who are projected to finish second, while the Knights were over 10 percentage points ahead of the Titans for the wooden spoon position.

Without further ado - here is the predicted final ladder for NRL 2026, with the forecast chances of finishing first, plus the top-eight percentages.


2026 PREDICTED NRL LADDER

1. SYDNEY ROOSTERS (15.72%) - top eight 76.90%

2. CRONULLA SHARKS (13.56%) - top eight 73.49%

3. MLBOURNE STORM (13.67%) - top eight 72.55%

4. BRISBANE BRONCOS (9.78%) - top eight 66.67%

5. PENRITH PANTHERS (9.73%) - top eight 65.65%

6. CANBERRA RAIDERS (9.13%) - top eight 64.09%

7. CANTERBURY BULLDOGS (6.60%) - top eight 58.98%

8. MANLY SEA EAGLES (5.25%) - top eight 53.63%

9. DOLPHINS (4.26%) - top eight 48.41%

10. NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS (3.00%) - top eight 41.62%

11. PARRAMATTA EELS (2.89%) - top eight 40.20%

12. NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS (2.79%) - top eight 38.87%

13. ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS (1.04%) - top eight 25.54%

14. WESTS TIGERS (1.00%) - top eight 23.22%

15. SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS (0.76%) - top eight 22.98%

16. GOLD COAST TITANS (0.62%) - top eight 17.10%

17. NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS (0.20%) - top eight 10.10%

[BTRD]

I expect us to be in the GF in 2026.

[Bates]

Even AI get's the games biggest rivalry and we play Souffs last round again.

We should play them 1st round if they want to maximise their TV audience. Both teams would be close to full strength with fans chomping at the bit to watch some footy again.

Fark Souffs!

[mightyrooster]

You would think the NRL could come up with something different than Roosters V Souths in the final round of the season.

It’s the AI that does the draw. All its fault apparently

[bondi.boy]

Foxtel computers ladder prediction has us Minor Premiers

Fox Sports Lab from Fox Sports
November 14th, 2025 3:19 pm

Fox Sports Lab has crunched the 2026 NRL draw to predict next season’s final ladder, and its bad news for the Rabbitohs and great news for arch rivals the Roosters.

On face value, it delivers another devastating blow to Newcastle Knights fans by forecasting a second consecutive wooden spoon, while Roosters are tipped to win the minor premiership.

However, the projection cannot take into account the major personnel changes that the Knights’ side have welcomed, meaning there’s every chance that Dylan Brown, Sandon Smith and company will lift Justin Holbrook’s side out of last place.

The projection also cannot account for injuries that may occur during the season.

The top eight is set to be the same as last year, with the exception of Manly coming into the finals and the Warriors dropping out, while the Roosters and Sharks have knocked the Raiders and the Bulldogs out of the top four.

The Dolphins again miss the finals by the barest of margins, finishing ninth, while the Tigers’ NRL longest finals drought stretching back to 2011 drags on.

The Eels are not tipped to move up the ladder after finishing 11th last season, while the Rabbitohs are predicted to finish third last, despite a number of stars returning from injury.

Souths are tipped to finish in the bottom four.


HOW DOES IT WORK?

Fox Sports Lab simulates the season 10,000 times over, based on each team’s final rating from last season and the draw for 2026.

The position percentage is based on the number of times in those simulations that a team finished in its designated ladder spot - meaning that the Roosters finished first 15.72 per cent of the time, while the Knights were last in 25.85 per cent of simulations.

The Roosters ran first more than two per cent more often than the Sharks, who are projected to finish second, while the Knights were over 10 percentage points ahead of the Titans for the wooden spoon position.

Without further ado - here is the predicted final ladder for NRL 2026, with the forecast chances of finishing first, plus the top-eight percentages.


2026 PREDICTED NRL LADDER

1. SYDNEY ROOSTERS (15.72%) - top eight 76.90%

2. CRONULLA SHARKS (13.56%) - top eight 73.49%

3. MLBOURNE STORM (13.67%) - top eight 72.55%

4. BRISBANE BRONCOS (9.78%) - top eight 66.67%

5. PENRITH PANTHERS (9.73%) - top eight 65.65%

6. CANBERRA RAIDERS (9.13%) - top eight 64.09%

7. CANTERBURY BULLDOGS (6.60%) - top eight 58.98%

8. MANLY SEA EAGLES (5.25%) - top eight 53.63%

9. DOLPHINS (4.26%) - top eight 48.41%

10. NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS (3.00%) - top eight 41.62%

11. PARRAMATTA EELS (2.89%) - top eight 40.20%

12. NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS (2.79%) - top eight 38.87%

13. ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS (1.04%) - top eight 25.54%

14. WESTS TIGERS (1.00%) - top eight 23.22%

15. SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS (0.76%) - top eight 22.98%

16. GOLD COAST TITANS (0.62%) - top eight 17.10%

17. NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS (0.20%) - top eight 10.10%

We'll need to explode out of the blocks at season's start to make the 8.
Sharks are already in the 8, easy draw ... and there's massive competition for the other 7 spots.

We can't afford to get left behind and be having to win every game for the last 6 rounds to make the 8.

[SupermanSupportsEasts4Eva]

Not jumping up down about the draw this year. Play Riff, Storm.and Broncos twice. Play a few of the cellar dwellers once. Two byes leading into SOO will be handy. If we don't make the top 4 it's not caz of the draw. It'll be caz we dropped games we shouldn't have. I've forgotten how many we lost this year after leading at the 60min mark. Hopefully, DCE can help close these ones out.