From The Couch 2026 Frank Hydes: With the 2026 season almost wrapped up, here are the nominations and winners of the first annual Frank Hyde Awards for excellence in the media.
Best Play-By-Play (TV)
Nominations: Dan Ginnane (Fox), Matt Russell (Fox), Andrew Voss (Fox)[Text Wrapping Break]Winner: Dan Ginnane
Best Play-By-Play (Radio)[Text Wrapping Break]Nominations: Dan Ginnane (Triple M), Anthony Maroon (Triple M), Andrew Moore (ABC)[Text Wrapping Break]Winner: Andrew Moore
Best Colour (TV)[Text Wrapping Break]Nominations: Greg Alexander (Fox), Cooper Cronk (Fox), Luke Keary (Fox)[Text Wrapping Break]Winner: Greg Alexander
Best Colour (Radio)[Text Wrapping Break]Nominations: James Graham (Triple M), Wade Graham (Triple M), Luke Lewis (ABC)[Text Wrapping Break]Winner: James Graham
Best Sideline (TV)[Text Wrapping Break]Nominations: Jake Duke (Fox), Lara Pitt (Fox), Eloise Soiher (Fox)[Text Wrapping Break]Winner: Lara Pitt
Best Sideline (Radio)[Text Wrapping Break]Nominations: Johnny Gibbs (ABC)[Text Wrapping Break]Winner: Johnny Gibbs
Best New Face[Text Wrapping Break]Nominations: Grace Hayden (Fox), Luke Keary (Fox/Triple M), Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (Fox)[Text Wrapping Break]Winner: Luke Keary
Best Host[Text Wrapping Break]Nominations: Matthew Johns (Fox), Yvonne Sampson (Fox), Jess Yates (Fox)[Text Wrapping Break]Winner: Yvonne Sampson
Best Podcast
Nominations: The Bye Round, Hello Sport, Kenty, Matty & Cronk[Text Wrapping Break]Winner: The Bye Round
Best Print Journalist
Nominations: Peter Badel (Courier Mail), Michael Carayanis (Daily Telegraph), Brent Read (Daily Telegraph)[Text Wrapping Break]Winner: Michael Carayanis
A Lost Year: Canterbury’s wretched 2026 finally came to an end on Saturday evening when North Queensland defeated the Wests Tigers. It brings the curtain down on a wasted season where obstinence, roster mismanagement and poor selection decisions ensured the Bulldogs missed the playoffs for the eighth time in the last decade. Whatever way it is chopped – and internally it will not be chopped with any kind of honesty – Canterbury’s failure to make the eight sits entirely with the front office and the coaching staff, namely Phil Gould and Cameron Ciraldo. Roster decisions came home to roost, seeing Canterbury regress significantly. The Bulldogs will likely finish the season 12-12 with a close to square points differential if they do what they are expected to do against the Broncos. Their defence has been solid. Their attack substandard. They put together banners wins over Penrith and New Zealand but went 2-8 against Top 8 sides with just one single-score loss. A 9-4 record against teams that missed was not good enough. The story does not lie in those numbers though, it lies in the roster that was completely mismanaged. The Bulldogs attempted to return to the finals with Bailey Hayward and Connor Tracey as the club’s first choice hooker and fullback respectively while Lachlan Galvin was thrown in at halfback not only without a proper match in the halves but an attacking coach who came off an historically bad attacking year because he has not idea how to coach attack. The spine the Bulldogs rolled out was a bottom five spine even accounting for Galvin and Matt Burton’s talent. The persistence in playing Jaeman Salmon at lock was nearly as dumb. He is not Isaah Yeo, he will never be Isaah Yeo and has almost none of the attributes of Isaah Yeo other than the fact he is a human male playing Rugby League. The refusal to play Josh Curran was just as astonishing. Sticking with Marcelo Montoya was after he was done. On and on it went. Those in charge at Canterbury should be honest about this year and realise that the only way to save this generation of talent – and the money spent – is to change course. That does not mean firing Gould or Ciraldo – though it could – but enforcing strategic change to start valuing playmakers, signing off on assistant coaches and ensuring the coach does not stubbornly stick with personal favourites.
Shambolic Broncos Humiliate Reynolds: No matter what clumsy attempts the Broncos have made to try to make the controversy over the non-selection of Adam Reynolds for his final home game at Suncorp go away, all the club has managed is to humiliate Reynolds and showcase the organisation as untrustworthy, duplicitous, clumsy and downright Karmichael Hunt-ish. Reynolds may be a prickly character with a penchant for oversensitivity but he has played 323 games, won premierships at two different clubs and sits second on the all-time pointscoring list. He deserved to go out on his own terms and with Brisbane’s wretched season well and truly gone, it should not have mattered how Reynolds managed it. If he could get through with only a 20-minute encore, he should have been afforded it. The excuse from the club that they did not want the final image of Reynolds limping off hurt was laughable – his final image was limping off hurt a number of weeks back. The game also has 120 years of history of allowing players to make decisions on medical advice. His non-selection was nothing more than the desperate, selfish attempt of a coach trying to save his job. A club allowing that to happen just shows how systematically broken it is. To add insult to injury, the club made Reynolds front the media and do an about-face saying he himself withdrew, something nobody came close to believing. The cherry on top was playing a sponsor’s ad as he did his lap of honour. What an utterly disgraceful way to send out such a faithful servant of the game and one of the key figures in ending Brisbane’s long premiership drought.
You’ll Never Walk Alone: They could play Rugby League for another 500 years – and one suspects they will – and the game will not witness a more touching moment than we saw at the Gold Coast on Saturday afternoon when Jai Arrow played his 99th game. The NRL did a remarkable thing in constructing a way for Arrow to make it to 100 games and it is something that nobody who witnessed the scenes of Arrow walking out in full Souths strip to ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ with the longest guard of honour in recorded history, hugging teammates and opponents alike, the spotlight on Arrow as he stood under the posts as he was minded down there by Cody Walker. Sport is important but life is bigger than sport. Arrow played the game the way it should be played, giving it everything, leaving nothing on the paddock. His plight has touched everyone who knew him and everyone who knew of him. There was not a dry eye seeing Arrow struggle out. The NRL doesn’t always get it right but in facilitating this they have created an everlasting image of a legend going through the most trying and most dire of times.
Liam Kennedy Should Never Be Allowed Near an NRL Game Again: Kennedy has proven himself completely incapable of any kind of officiating in the NRL for a long, long time and the most egregious error a Bunker official can make is to break the single most important rule, one that gets relied on over and over again: a decision cannot be overturned without clear evidence. Yet Addin Fonua-Blake had a try overturned after Ashley Klein awarded it when less than a metre away. It was the most disgusting breach of protocol possible and should result in Kennedy’s immediate dismissal.
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New Rules The Bunker Has Made Up On The Run This Year With No Accountability, No Reason and No Consideration: This is just a selection of the interpretations of The Bunker this year –
- A bomb is defused at the moment two hands grip a ball even if the feet are in the air
- Lead runners are allowed to clean out defenders if they were not, in the opinion of The Bunker, going to impact the play
- A ball can be grounded if it is lost and has not been re-gripped as long as there is a finger nail on it
- A ball can be grounded if a ball has been lost and not been re-gripped and rolled across a defender
- Double movement does not exist if your name is Tom Jenkins – even if the ball carrying arm is on the ground and momentum has been stopped
- Disruptors only matter at the beginning and end of the season
- Attackers are allowed to collide with catchers before the catcher has a chance to catch the ball
- Offside off a kick is an Origin-only rule
- A loose ball cannot be kicked if a defender puts their hands on the ball simultaneously
- On-field decisions can be overturned without clear evidence
Vale, Sir Billy Boston: Rugby League lost a true icon last week with the passing of Sir Billy Boston, an absolute giant of the game and one of the finest players to ever play the game. Born in Wales to a mixed race family, Boston was driven to Rugby League by the racism inherent in the elitist rugby union, shifting to Wigan and changing the course of his life and the game forever. Three facts that showcase what a giant Boston was. In 488 games for Wigan, Boston scored 478 tries. He remains the only person in the long history of the game to be knighted. He has statues in Wigan, Cardiff and London. There have been few more transcendent figures or beloved icons in Rugby League than Sir Billy Boston.
Klein Just Makes It Up … Again: Ashley Klein disallowed a Sione Katoa try for the most absurd ruling one could possibly imagine – a forward pass to himself. The ruling meant it could not be challenged. Of course, a player cannot pass the ball forward to himself. It is, of course, against the rules to knock the ball forward deliberately – something that could have been challenged and likely would have won. Klein’s mix of arrogance and incompetence is wearing very thin.
Referee Gradings: This week’s gradings – in what was the worst week of officiating for the year:
- Wyatt Raymond (F)
- Nick Pelgrave (D+)
- Gerard Sutton (C-)
- Liam Kennedy (D)
- Todd Smith (B-)
- Grant Atkins (F)
- Adam Gee (C)
- Ashley Klein (F)
The Willie M Team of the Week: This week’s team of the struggling and the sloppy:
1.Connor Tracey (Bul)
2.Josiah Karapani (Bri)
3.Bradman Best (New)
4.Mawene Hiroti (Cro)
5.Jaylan De Groot (GC)
6.Ezra Mam (Bri)
7.Nicho Hynes (Cro)
8.Jacob Saifiti (New)
9.Reece Robson (Roo)
10.Trey Mooney (New)
11.Jaiyden Hunt (Bri)
12.Hamish Stewart (Dra)
13.Alex Seyfarth (Tig)
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14.Chris Randall (GC)
15.Billy Burns (Cro)
16.AJ Jones (Bul)
17.Jacob Webster (Dra)
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Coach: Michael Maguire (Bri)
The 2026 Field Goal Update – 20: Sadly we had not a single field goal across the entire round.
Fun Fact #1: The last defending premier to finish in the bottom four the following season was the Western Suburbs Magpies in 1953.
Fun Fact #2: Victor Radley leads the NRL in reports this year with nine.
Fun Fact #3: Jacob Saifiti was just the second player to be sent off in 2026.
Rumour Mill: Hudson Young appears almost certain to sign with the PNG Chiefs on November 1 after rejecting a big-money offer from the Raiders. Dragons centre Moses Suli is set to shift to Cronulla in 2027 as a replacement for Jesse Ramien. Sean O’Sullivan is set to ink a deal with Bradford. Sebastian Kris’ proposed move to New Zealand is off with the Storm his most likely destination.
The Coaching Crosshairs: Any decision from the Brisbane Broncos to keep Michael Maguire is gutless and weak and merely delaying the inevitable. It does not matter that Maguire helped guide the Broncos to the luckiest and most unlikely of premierships last year – it is clear that he is not the man to lead Brisbane forward and deluding themselves into the fact he is will only send the club deeper into the mire. The club is absolutely in fairyland if it believes it can continue with Maguire. Payne Haas walking out without negotiating, Ben Te’o leaving early in the season, falling out with Adam Reynolds, the horrid losses, the lack of any plan forward, the complete lack of effort … this isn’t just noise. If Maguire does survive – and he likely will as the Broncos are in a complete and utter shambles – then he will not survive 10 weeks next year and will set the Broncos back further as players leave and others refuse to join.
Moronic Coaching Decision of the Week: Michael Maguire not selecting Adam Reynolds for a Suncorp farewell will have ramifications long beyond last week.
Watch It: If you watch one video this week, watch this delightful tribute to the life and legacy of Sir Billy Boston, one that showcased not only what a remarkable footballer he was but what a beloved figure. Watch this ITV tribute here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkNt9P_4mas