{"id":865403,"date":"2026-08-23T10:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T10:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/865403\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T10:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T10:18:12","slug":"nrl-2026-wests-tigers-produce-upset-of-the-year-to-stun-the-roosters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/865403\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Wests Tigers produce upset of the year to stun the Roosters"},"content":{"rendered":"

David slayed Goliath, but that has nothing on Sunday\u2019s shock result that has thrown the minor premiership race wide open after the Wests Tigers snapped an eight-game losing streak to knock off the Roosters on their home deck. <\/p>\n

The Roosters started the round on top of the table but have fallen down to third after the Tigers produced one of the biggest upsets in rugby league history to beat them 25-24 at Allianz Stadium thanks to a Jock Madden field goal with a minute to go.<\/p>\n

Trent Robinson\u2019s men had won eight in a row and were fresh from knocking off the Panthers in a heavyweight bout where they proved to the world that they can match it with the best team of the decade. <\/p>\n

They had everything to play for against a team that was in disarray, but they produced one of their worst performances in years as their attack fell flat and inexplicably opted against going right for the first hour of the contest. <\/p>\n

Sloppy errors, clunky passes and decoy runners colliding with defenders stopped them at every turn to take their top-two hopes out of their control ahead of a monster showdown with the Dolphins on Saturday.<\/p>\n

JOCK STAR<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been the year from hell for the Tigers on many levels, but this was a performance that their fans can be proud of.<\/p>\n

They had every right to throw in the towel after Alex Twal was forced off in the opening set after copping some friendly fire from Tony Sukkar, before Billy Smith crossed a minute later.<\/p>\n

But they found the fight that\u2019s been missing for the second half of the season as they found a way to ruffle the Roosters\u2019 feathers.<\/p>\n

Patrick Herbert threw the final pass for their three first half tries which included a Jeral Skelton double, while Sukkar grabbed one of his own after Smith dropped the ball coming off his own line. <\/p>\n

Not even a try to Smith on the stroke of half-time to tie things up could dampen their spirits as the left edge took over with a cracking Samuela Fainu offload leading to a try, before Api Koroisau scored another and then nailed a 40\/20. <\/p>\n

The Roosters looked like they were going to pinch it when they tied things up late, but a poor offload from Naufahu Whyte gifted the Tigers one last chance which they nailed with Madden drilling the field goal from nearly 30 metres out. <\/p>\n

This was a special effort from the Tigers who had to defend 38 tackles inside their own 20 metres, with Fainu limping off late.<\/p>\n

OFF THE MARK<\/p>\n

The Roosters finally looked like themselves when they started going right, with Robert Toia getting them back in the game before Mark Nawaqanitawase was denied another when he lost control over the line.<\/p>\n

The superstar winger then produced a moment of magic to set up Sam Walker who then nailed a penalty from 35 metres out to tie things up. <\/p>\n

But one poor pass killed the comeback, with Victor Radley on report for a high shot before he came off late with a head knock.<\/p>\n

The result leaves the Warriors in top spot with two rounds to go. <\/p>\n

Originally published as Utter madness as Wests Tigers stun the Roosters to throw the minor premiership race wide open<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David slayed Goliath, but that has nothing on Sunday\u2019s shock result that has thrown the minor premiership race…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[434115,434142,434138,434114,434139,434160,434119,434132,434118,390373,434125,434133,383804,383301,434126,380327,408891,434127,379486,434161,387445,398846,376637,318760,400721,57709,377167,434129,21398,64,63,4442,434149,17106,13478,434159,434117,432208,434147,434157,434122,387603,434113,16308,434151,434140,394589,434154,434144,4582,434155,31165,25901,434143,78628,434112,761,762,45626,434163,158,421874,434134,415634,434131,8207,4542,9747,9120,237215,4478,434146,434123,13477,434152,85,434130,8825,377205,434136,434145,205158,377455,434162,54179,434150,347190,377479,434121,74713,377185,401945,434128,434120,434135,434124,5991,174850,377482,356269,380344,420583,383393,36522,426023,12644,387590,54798,378969,416974,434141,434116,434148,434156,434153,434111,434137,4411,4048,16690,420681,434158,4534,4515,32388],"class_list":["post-865403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-s-men","tag-s-shock-result","tag-24-5-point-outsiders","tag-35-metres","tag-38-tackles","tag-a-40-20","tag-a-cracking-samuela-fainu-offload","tag-a-head-knock-the-result","tag-a-heavyweight-bout","tag-a-high-shot","tag-a-jeral-skelton-double","tag-a-jock-madden-field-goal","tag-a-minute","tag-a-moment","tag-a-monster-showdown","tag-a-penalty","tag-a-performance","tag-a-poor-offload","tag-a-row","tag-a-special-effort","tag-a-team","tag-a-try","tag-a-way","tag-afternoon","tag-alex-twal","tag-allianz-stadium","tag-an-eight-game-losing-streak","tag-an-upset","tag-api-koroisau","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-billy-smith","tag-clunky-passes","tag-control","tag-david","tag-decoy-runners","tag-defenders","tag-disarray","tag-even-a-try","tag-every-right","tag-every-turn","tag-fainu","tag-feathers-patrick-herbert","tag-finals","tag-go-trent","tag-goliath","tag-his-own","tag-his-own-line","tag-insanity","tag-jarome-luai","tag-late-off","tag-madden","tag-magic","tag-many-levels","tag-mark-nawaqanitawase","tag-natch-report","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-naufahu-whyte","tag-nearly-30-metres","tag-nrl","tag-nrl-team","tag-of-they","tag-one-last-chance","tag-one-poor-pass","tag-report","tag-robert-toia","tag-robinson","tag-roosters","tag-rugby-league-history","tag-sam-walker","tag-saturday-jock-starit","tag-sloppy-errors","tag-smith","tag-some-friendly-fire","tag-sports","tag-sukkar","tag-sunday","tag-the-ball","tag-the-best-team","tag-the-biggest-upsets","tag-the-comeback","tag-the-contest","tag-the-decade","tag-the-dolphins","tag-the-field-goal","tag-the-fight","tag-the-final-pass","tag-the-first-hour","tag-the-game","tag-the-impossible","tag-the-left-edge","tag-the-line-the-superstar-winger","tag-the-markthe-roosters","tag-the-minor-premiership-race","tag-the-opening-set","tag-the-panthers","tag-the-roosters","tag-the-round","tag-the-season","tag-the-second-half","tag-the-stroke","tag-the-table","tag-the-tigers","tag-the-towel","tag-the-warriors","tag-the-wests-tigers","tag-the-world","tag-the-year","tag-their-attack","tag-their-control","tag-their-fans","tag-their-own-20-metres","tag-their-spirits","tag-their-three-first-half-tries","tag-their-top-two-hopes","tag-their-worst-performances","tag-tony-sukkar","tag-top","tag-top-spot","tag-two-rounds","tag-utter-madness","tag-victor-radley","tag-wests-tigers","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}