{"id":910155,"date":"2026-09-29T19:54:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T19:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/910155\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T19:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T19:54:13","slug":"nrl-2026-knights-name-phoenix-crossland-ahead-of-judiciary-hearing-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/910155\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Knights name Phoenix Crossland ahead of judiciary hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Knights have named Phoenix Crossland in the No. 9 jersey for Sunday\u2019s grand final, but he\u2019s long odds of playing after he was referred directly to the judiciary for his hip-drop tackle on Nathan Cleary.<\/p>\n

Crossland has pleaded guilty and is now at the mercy of the judiciary panel, with Harrison Graham on standby to make just his third start of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah definitely mate (I can play 80),\u201d Graham said after Sunday\u2019s win over the Panthers. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll obviously have to wait and see what the Phoenix situation is. I don\u2019t really know what\u2019s going to happen, but I\u2019m ready and let\u2019s hope for the best.\u201c <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been our best player all year. He\u2019s been someone who\u2019s been here since the younger grades with the Newcastle Knights and he epitomises what the team is. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf he\u2019s not playing next week then we\u2019ll have him on our shoulder and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll be playing for.\u201c <\/p>\n

Diesel Hagan has joined the extended bench and could make his debut in the grand final if Graham needs a spell at dummy-half.<\/p>\n

The Roosters are unchanged from the side that cruised past the Dolphins, although bench utility Connor Watson is in doubt after he copped a head knock last week.<\/p>\n

Watson will meet with an independent neurologist on Thursday in a bid to be cleared for the grand final in what would be his final game for the club before he joins the Dragons.<\/p>\n

Adam Gee will be in charge for his second grand final after getting his debut in 2023.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s smooth sailing for the Broncos in the NRLW Grand Final, with the Roosters sweating on Jayme Fressard\u2019s fitness after the representative winger failed to finish last week\u2019s game against the Raiders.<\/p>\n

Mia Wood is the logical replacement if Fressard can\u2019t overcome her shoulder injury.<\/p>\n

Originally published as NRL Grand Final squads are in, but the Roosters and Knights may be forced to make late changes<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Knights have named Phoenix Crossland in the No. 9 jersey for Sunday\u2019s grand final, but he\u2019s long…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":910156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[456971,380197,466700,477726,390985,454005,384900,379283,464131,377179,404462,477715,389162,377225,477720,64,63,474023,5366,10966,4568,475321,477719,51998,477723,477732,477728,93513,47999,15900,477717,390377,435721,476119,477718,120954,477714,7992,13307,477716,477727,390342,1203,761,762,43961,51485,158,477729,25993,476108,476123,421891,9120,289210,85,208342,8825,10020,381352,469743,61418,382205,54179,477724,402330,420644,387599,477731,101147,477733,403213,443882,477730,477721,5991,476112,477725,477722,174850,477713,356269,386778,315971,378969,476117,9357],"class_list":["post-910155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-s-fitness","tag-s-game","tag-s-grand-final","tag-s-smooth-sailing","tag-s-win","tag-2023-it","tag-384900","tag-a-bid","tag-a-head-knock","tag-a-nervous-wait","tag-a-roosters-star","tag-a-shock-selection","tag-a-spell","tag-all-year","tag-an-independent-neurologist","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bench-utility-connor-watson","tag-broncos","tag-charge","tag-connor-watson","tag-crossland","tag-diesel-hagan","tag-doubt","tag-dummy-half-the-roosters","tag-fressard","tag-gf","tag-graham","tag-grand-finals","tag-harrison-graham","tag-her-shoulder-injury","tag-his-debut","tag-his-final-game","tag-his-hip-drop-tackle","tag-his-second-grand-final","tag-jayme-fressard","tag-just-his-third-start","tag-knights","tag-last-week","tag-last-week-watson","tag-late-changes","tag-long-odds","tag-nathan-cleary","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-newswire-sport","tag-next-week","tag-nrl","tag-nrl-grand-final-squads","tag-nrlw","tag-our-best-player","tag-our-shoulder","tag-phoenix-crossland","tag-roosters","tag-selection-shock","tag-sports","tag-standby","tag-sunday","tag-teams","tag-the-best","tag-the-biggest-game","tag-the-broncos","tag-the-club","tag-the-dolphins","tag-the-dragons-adam-gee","tag-the-extended-bench","tag-the-grand-final","tag-the-judiciary","tag-the-judiciary-panel","tag-the-knights","tag-the-logical-replacement","tag-the-mercy","tag-the-newcastle-knights","tag-the-no-9-jersey","tag-the-nrlw-grand-final","tag-the-panthers","tag-the-phoenix-situation","tag-the-raiders-mia-wood","tag-the-representative-winger","tag-the-roosters","tag-the-roosters-and-knights","tag-the-season","tag-the-side","tag-the-team","tag-the-year","tag-the-younger-grades","tag-thursday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910155","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=910155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/910155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/910156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=910155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=910155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=910155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}