The NRL grand final will be decided by a mistake. The key is to avoid making one

October 2, 2026 — 5:00am

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

“A man of genius makes no mistakes,” wrote James Joyce in Ulysses, a novel both unrivalled and unreadable – and based on the same Homeric legend as The Odyssey, one of the year’s most watched films.

The NRL grand final – always the most watched game of the NRL premiership season – has in common with Homer’s ancient Greek poem long journeys home to capture a prize.

The journeys of the Roosters and Knights have been marked by mistakes, suggesting that, although the accolade is sprinkled around the NRL like stardust, there are no geniuses in rugby league.

Mistakes in attack proved fatal in both preliminary finals, as demonstrated by the opening and closing tries in each match.

Mark Nawaqanitawase seized an intercept to score the Roosters’ first try in their 36-20 victory over the Dolphins, while Newcastle’s Sandon Smith snatched a panicked opposition pass to score his team’s 79th-minute clincher in the epic win over the Panthers on Sunday.

“Marky Mark”, heading back to rugby union, is widely labelled a genius – while Smith, an unheralded halfback rejected by the Roosters, typifies the working-class grit of his club and the northern England origins of the game itself.

Both players exploited mistakes in attack of the sort which are becoming increasingly consequential as a........

© Brisbane Times