{"id":881436,"date":"2026-09-05T23:02:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T23:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/881436\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T23:02:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T23:02:14","slug":"how-penrith-panthers-and-new-zealand-warriors-can-win-the-nrl-minor-premiership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/881436\/","title":{"rendered":"How Penrith Panthers and New Zealand Warriors can win the NRL minor premiership"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NRL minor premiership is still up for grabs heading into the final day of the home-and-away season, with the New Zealand Warriors on top and the Penrith Panthers ready to pounce.<\/p>\n

The Warriors moved to outright first with a narrow win in Auckland on Saturday, but the Panthers only need a slender win on Sunday afternoon to reclaim top spot, where they have spent much of the 2026 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Warriors and Panthers will finish in the top two, and in practical terms there is little different between the two spots entering the finals series.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both sides will host two matches in the finals, including qualifying finals next week.<\/p>\n

But the minor premier does get a monetary prize, and confidence heading into finals footy, knowing they finished on top of the pile after 27 gruelling rounds of rugby league.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here is how the Warriors and Panthers can win the minor premiership, and what happens when first and second are level on points, and point differential.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NRL top two<\/p>\n

1st: New Zealand Warriors \u2014 42, \u00a0points for 728, points against\u00a0418, point differential +3102nd: Penrith Panthers \u2014 40, \u00a0points for 645, points against\u00a0337, point differential +308How the Warriors can become minor premiersPanthers fail to beat Wests TigersPanthers defeat Tigers by one point<\/p>\n

With a nail-biting one-point win over Manly yesterday in Auckland, the New Zealand Warriors put themselves in outright first on the NRL ladder.<\/p>\n

ABC NRL Daily podcast<\/a><\/p>\n

Andrew Moore and the ABC NRL team bring you your daily dose of NRL conversation. The team give you the context and depth beyond the headlines.<\/p>\n

But their fate is out of their hands.<\/p>\n

If the Tigers cause an upset and defeat the Panthers this afternoon, then the Warriors will win the minor premiership.<\/p>\n

If the Panthers beat the Tigers, they will draw level on points with the Warriors, and then the minor premiership will be decided by point differential.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Warriors hold a very narrow two-point advantage over the Panthers in the points differential \u2014 Warriors +310, Panthers +308.<\/p>\n

That means if the Panthers can only manage a one-point win over the Tigers at Western Sydney Stadium, then the Warriors would finish first by having a superior points differential +310-+309.<\/p>\n

How the Panthers can become minor premiersDefeat Wests Tigers by two or more points<\/p>\n

The first thing the Panthers must do is beat Wests Tigers.<\/p>\n

Then, how much they beat the Tigers by will decide who finishes first and second on the NRL ladder.<\/p>\n

The Panthers will finish as minor premiers if they beat the Warriors by two or more points.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If two teams finish on the same points and have the same points differential, the NRL splits the two sides based on a tiebreaker: points for divided by points against, then multiplied by 100 (Points for \/ points against x 100).<\/p>\n

If this tiebreaker is needed, then the Panthers will finish higher as their defence this year has conceded much less than the Warriors, greatly assisting that tiebreaker maths equation.<\/p>\n

Who will the Panthers and Warriors face in the first week of finals?<\/p>\n

By finishing in the top two, the Warriors and Panthers have earned the right to host two matches in the finals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Each will host qualifying finals in week one. If they win, they will host a preliminary final in week three.<\/p>\n

If the Panthers or Warriors lose in week one, they then host a cut-throat semifinal in week two against a side that was victorious in week one elimination finals played between the teams that finished fifth-eighth.<\/p>\n

In week one, whoever finishes first will host the Sydney Roosters (4th) and the team that finishes second will host the Dolphins (3rd).<\/p>\n

The NRL will announce dates and times for week one of the final once all matches in round 27 finish.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NRL minor premiership is still up for grabs heading into the final day of the home-and-away season,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":881437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,16695,761,762,2613,158,21261,363334,4598,85],"class_list":["post-881436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-minor-premiership","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-new-zealand-warriors","tag-nrl","tag-nrl-finals","tag-nrl-ladder","tag-penrith-panthers","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881436","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=881436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/881437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}