Dally M awards 2026 LIVE updates: Nathan Cleary tipped to claim first-ever Dally M Medal from hospital bed; Newcastle Knights’ open training session set to be swamped by fans

Grand finals produce unexpected heroes, and we already have one, in the form of 88-year-old grandmother Dawn Dunning. Dunning convinced her sister Ailsa, 86, and friend June Hill, 88, to farewell Knights fans as they bussed their way to Accor Stadium for last weekend’s preliminary final victory against Penrith.

Footage of the octogenarians waving their flags quickly went viral, culminating in the trio appearing on the Today Show on Wednesday morning.

“Very overwhelming, it’s hard to take, I can tell you,” Dunning quipped when asked about her new-found celebrity status.

“We had a great time waving down all the buses. We had that many cars blow their horns at us, it was just ridiculous. We couldn’t get over it. It was the funniest day we’ve ever had.

The NRL will stage a stirring tribute to Jai Arrow during Sunday’s grand final in place of the customary pre-game entertainment.

Australian Rugby League Commission executive chairman Peter V’landys has teased a must-watch “surprise” in store ahead of kick-off between the Sydney Roosters and Newcastle Knights at Accor Stadium following the breakdown of talks with Australian artist Tones and I.

According to sources with knowledge of grand final plans, it will involve Arrow – who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease earlier this year – completing a lap of honour to the strains of the Gerry and the Pacemakers song You’ll Never Walk Alone, which will be performed by a collection of Australian artists.

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The Newcastle business community is also embracing the “our town, our team” ethos. Eat Your Water, an independent surf brand on Darby Street at Cooks Hill, has repainted its shopfront red and blue.

Customers are also offered a 25 per cent discount, a nod to the 25 years since the team’s last premiership victory. The paint hadn’t even dried and already the store’s Instagram page had an additional 150,000 views.

“The customers love it,” said store owner Liam Scanlan.

“One of the comments I saw was, ‘It’s good to see a business put their money where their mouth is and not just have an AI slop or a fake storefront.’”

It’s 26 degrees and sunny in Newcastle right now, but that hasn’t deterred 12,000 fans from turning up on a workday to watch the Knights open training session at McDonald Jones Stadium.

The stadium will be open on Sunday as a live site with free entry for fans, but they’ll be asked to book tickets from tomorrow because of the expected demand.

From our man on the ground: Adrian Proszenko has it on solid authority from Newcastle sources that the speculation promising young hooker Diesel Hagan is in line for grand final debut is off the mark.

Regular bench dummy-half Harrison Graham will come into the starting line-up for the suspended Phoenix Crossland. But Hagan (no relation to 2021 premiership-winning coach Michael) has been named in the reserves, prompting suggestions he could play his first game in Sunday’s decider.

He’s yet to play any NRL at all, so it would be one hell of a gamble, and it won’t be happening according to our man.

McDonald Jones Stadium will be opening as a fan site for the grand final. It will be free to enter but Knights supporters need to register for tickets.

Free tickets can be booked on the Ticketmaster website from 10am on Thursday – and are expected to GO FAST.

Gates on the day open at 3.30pm – fans will also be able to watch the women’s grand final from inside the stadium.

The Knights may be a “Newcastle” side but anyone from the Hunter will tell you they belong to the region.

While McDonald Jones Stadium in Broadmeadow will be the main focal point on Sunday, there are other sites also popping up.

Maitland is opening its sportsground to fans with a 10-metre screen going up there (gates open at 3.30pm).

Brisbane Broncos fullback Tamika Upton has already won the Dally M medal twice, and when voting was hidden after four rounds, she was in front again.

After 12 rounds of footy, this is what the Dally M leaderboard looked like: