The numbers that matter
The big winners of Round 20
As we all know, the Dolphins' 2026 campaign has been far from perfect.
But one thing we can say with confidence is that they have been better than most at standing up and delivering when their backs were against the wall.
A disastrous 52-18 loss to Anthony Seibold's Sea Eagles in Round 5 was immediately followed up with a spirited second-half performance against ladder leaders Penrith in which they took the Panthers to extra time despite being 18-0 down at half-time, and then a narrow two-point loss to the Warriors in New Zealand.
Granted, they weren't victories, but Kristian Woolf's side showed in that fortnight that hefty and unexpected losses weren't going to dent their confidence.
So we were especially interested to see how they would bounce back from a 66-point loss that, whilst it was without their Origin stars, was well below what is to be expected of any finals contender.
They showed that their second half against the Sharks was nothing more than an aberration, getting back to some of the footy that has seen them win nine of their last 11 second halves and nine of their last 11 games in general.
Even better, it was against a rival who had been staking a finals claim of their own with back-to-back victories over Penrith and Manly.
The big losers of Round 20
Speaking of Manly, the Sheen surrounding 'Fozball' has well and truly evaporated to be replaced by a dirty rust that is eating into their slim finals hopes.
The Sea Eagles experienced a new coach bounce like few other clubs have in recent years if not decades, winning seven of their first eight games under first-timer Kieran Foran, who at the beginning of his tenure candidly admitted that he didn't know if he yet had what it takes to be an NRL head coach.
Now after the high highs come the pressure of the low lows.
The Sea Eagles could consider themselves a tad unlucky to have lost four of their last five games given two of them came via the golden point lottery, though the most concerning aspect is that Foran said he's yet to work out why the team have been "self-inflicting a lot of pain" via costly errors.
“Our energy and intent is there and our purpose, but just the style of footy that we’re playing isn’t helping us," Foran said after a 38-32 loss to the lowly Gold Coast Titans.
“We’re just not putting together long periods of really good play at the moment. I know I’ve been touching on it for the past month. A positive play quickly followed up by a negative play.
“I said to the guys before that really good block we had of wins we were putting together lots and lots of positive plays and really building the contest.
“We’re just not doing that at the moment which is allowing teams back into the contest and it’s not playing the way that we want to play.
“We’ve got to work out why that is happening and we’ve got to work it out.”
Team of the Week
Who had predicted that Toby Couchman would produce the highest NRL.com fantasy score of this week?
If you've had him in your squad throughout the year, you probably wouldn't be so surprised - it's his fifth 80+ score of the year already.
Who scored a brace this week?
No hat-tricks in Round 20 but we saw doubles for eight players: Brian To'o (Panthers), Greg Marzhew (Knights), Kaeo Weekes (Raiders), Josh Curran (Bulldogs), Oliver Pascoe and JoJo Fifita (Titans), Jason Saab (Sea Eagles) and Jamayne Isaako (Dolphins).
Marzhew moved up to equal-third on the Ken Irvine Medal leaderboard as a result, bumping out Melbourne's Will Warbrick who ended his Storm career with an Achilles injury at the weekend.
Try of the Week
The naughty boys
Potential suspensions:
Latu Fainu (Wests Tigers) - Dangerous contact - 2 or 3 matches
Owen Pattie (Raiders) - Dangerous contact - 1 or 2 matches
David Fifita (Rabbitohs) - Dangerous contact - 1 or 2 matches
Adam Doueihi (Wests Tigers) - High tackle - 1 or 2 matches
High-range fines:
Heilum Luki (Cowboys) - Dangerous contact - $1800 or $2500 fine
Alex Twal (Wests Tigers) - Contrary contact - $1800 or $2500 fine
Low-range fines:
Jack Howarth (Storm) - Crusher tackle - $1500 or $2000 fine
Morgan Knowles (Dolphins) - High tackle - $1000 or $1500 fine
Ethan Strange (Raiders) - High tackle - $1000 or $1500 fine
Cody Ramsey (Roosters) - Dangerous contact - $1000 or $1500 fine
Lachlan Crouch (Knights) - Dangerous throw - $1000 or $1500 fine
Heamasi Makasini (Wests Tigers) - High tackle - $1000 or $1500 fine
Jack Hetherington (Storm) - High tackle - $1000 or $1500 fine
Dean Ieremia (Titans) - Dangerous contact - $750 or $1000 fine
Freddy Lussick (Panthers) - Dangerous contact - $750 or $1000 fine
Enari Tuala (Bulldogs) - High tackle - $750 or $1000 fine
Ben Talty (Broncos) - High tackle - $1000 or $1500 fine
Next weekend's fixtures
Aaron Murphy has been with Flashscore since 2018 and, as the founding editor of the Australian newsdesk, has reported on-site at several major events in Melbourne including the Australian Open, State of Origin, A-League, NBL and international cricket. You can read his pieces here and contact him on X or LinkedIn.
