{"id":904452,"date":"2026-09-25T02:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T02:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/904452\/"},"modified":"2026-09-25T02:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T02:30:13","slug":"nrl-finals-2026-dolphins-v-roosters-preview-mark-nawaqanitawase-selwyn-cobbo-battle-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/904452\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL finals 2026 Dolphins v Roosters preview: Mark Nawaqanitawase Selwyn Cobbo battle, comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

He\u2019s been in the NRL<\/a> for basically five minutes, but Mark Nawaqanitawase<\/a> has achieved more in his short career than others do over years.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s played State of Origin<\/a>, he\u2019s played for the Kangaroos<\/a>, and he\u2019s a win away from playing in a grand final<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mark Nawaqanitawase scores against the Sharks last weekend.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

Since making the switch from rugby sevens after the Paris 2024<\/a> Olympics, \u2018Marky Mark\u2019 has undeniably set the NRL on fire. He\u2019s scored tries for fun \u2013 and stopped just as many \u2013 opposite some of the best wingers in the game, and done it all with a smile.<\/p>\n

He scored on debut in the final round of the 2024 season, and virtually hasn\u2019t stopped. He\u2019s scored 43 tries from 45 appearances, including nine doubles, four hat-tricks and even a four-try haul against the Storm in late 2025.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a clich\u00e9 in sport for a player to say they\u2019re taking it a game at a time, but Nawaqanitawase has been savouring every moment he can with the Roosters before he returns to rugby later this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just happy to be playing another game,\u201d he told media including nine.com.au after the Roosters\u2019 semi final win over the Sharks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, I want to get to the (grand final), but there\u2019s a process to that, and that\u2019s being able to play each week with everyone. It\u2019s exciting to go again.<\/p>\n

“I’ve got to try and enjoy every day with a lot of my teammates, with the people at the club.”<\/p>\n

Nawaqanitawase arrived in the NRL after a four-year stint with the NSW Waratahs<\/a>, during which time he also played 11 Tests for the Wallabies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He is returning to the 15-man game with an eye to the home Rugby World Cup<\/a> next October-November. He is not expecting to play any internationals in either code this year, opting to join his new Japanese club rather than play for Australia at the Rugby League World Cup next month.<\/p>\n

But before he leaves, he has one more NRL bucket list item to tick off.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust to play for the Roosters<\/a> was a big thing for me \u2026 a huge honour\u201d Nawaqanitawase said.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, representing Australia, to don the Blues<\/a> jersey as well, they\u2019re all great feats. I guess this is another one \u2013 going to my first prelim.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Cobbo and Nawaqanitawase leap for a high ball during Origin III.\u00a0NRL Images<\/p>\n

His rivalry with Ronaldo Mulitalo was one of the most fierce in the competition, and he will on Friday night find himself opposite Dolphins flyer Selwyn Cobbo<\/a> \u2013 as he did during Origin.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s having a terrific year, the Dolphins<\/a> are doing really well \u2026 I versed him in Origin, so I know it\u2019s going to be good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a tough effort. He\u2019s a great player, he\u2019s physically a great athlete as well. I will be ready for it.<\/p>\n

“Do or die.”<\/p>\n

The Roosters flew to Brisbane on Thursday ahead of Friday night\u2019s game at Suncorp Stadium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He\u2019s been in the NRL for basically five minutes, but Mark Nawaqanitawase has achieved more in his short…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":904453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-904452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904452","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=904452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/904453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=904452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=904452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=904452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}