Roosters Secure 2026 NRL and NRLW Premiership Titles

Roosters captain and Clive Churchill medallist James Tedesco addressed supporters gathered outside Easts Bondi Junction in the hours after last night’s grand final, to kick off celebrations following a thrilling victory.

The Roosters players hoisted the Provan-Summons trophy to their adoring fans in the early hours of this morning, when a handful of squad members spoke to the crowd, gathered on the street, from the balcony of the leagues club.

Tedesco, who ran for more than 380 metres in an outstanding grand final performance, dedicated the victory to the Roosters faithful.

“Thank you every single one of you for supporting us all year, whether its at home or away, or out at Homebush you guys turned up, supported us all year, so I can’t thank you enough, let’s celebrate well,” Tedesco said.

Daly Cherry-Evans, who kicked the field-goal that proved the difference on Sunday, thanked the supporters for “making me one of your own this year”.

“It’s been a pleasure, it’s going to be a year I’ll remember for the rest of my life, so let’s celebrate it for the next week,” said Cherry-Evans, who marked his NRL swansong with a premiership.

Mark Nawaqanitawase, Suia Wong and Tommy Talau have popped up at a Bondi café, enjoying a coffee after what was a long night of celebrations.

Wong hasn’t changed out of his jersey from the Roosters’ thrilling 19-18 victory over the Knights, as the players showed off their premiership rings to the patrons and workers at the café.

The trio is due at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the next hour, where the Roosters faithful will congregate to celebrate its premierships in both the NRL and NRLW competitions.

The playing groups celebrated long into the night at Easts Bondi Junction, arriving at the leagues club in the early hours of Monday following their respective triumphs at Accor Stadium.

One of the victims of the out-of-control car that ploughed into Knights fans on Saturday says he is “very proud” of his team’s performance, after watching the game from John Hunter Hospital while nursing a string of injuries from the crash.

Clancy, a foundation Knights supporter, suffered a broken left collarbone, fracture in his right foot, some broken ribs and some small spinal fractures after a P-plater allegedly drove into a handful of fans lining the roads to cheer on the team as they travelled to Sydney.

The 48-year-old, speaking from his hospital bed this morning, described last night’s match as an “up and down” viewing experience, saying he was disappointed with the result but proud of the players.

“Considering with all the stats and that, they should’ve been flogged, but they held in there, defence was good, it was a good game,” Clancy told Nine’s Today moments ago.

“Novocastrians always stick together through thick and thin. All the wooden spoons we’ve won, but the crowds still turn out at games no matter what.”

ARLC executive chairman Peter V’landys always gets what he wants.

At least, that’s the conclusion some fans have drawn on social media after Tones and I’s hit Dance Monkey blasted through Accor Stadium’s speakers following Knights forward Francis Manuleleua scoring the first try of the match.

In case you missed it, the Australian singer was meant to be the pre-game entertainment’s headline act, but pulled out days before due to “prior commitments”.

Initial reports cited the singer’s refusal to perform Dance Monkey – her biggest hit – prompted the league to cancel her appearance.

Jarome Luai, Stephen Crichton and Brian To’o were on hand at Accor Stadium to support former Panthers teammate Spencer Leniu, as the Roosters firebrand collected his fourth premiership ring last night.

The players came through the Panthers youth system together and have remained close, despite now playing for different clubs.

Leniu went into the stands to embrace his former teammates after the win, where they snapped a picture as the celebrations kicked off.

The Roosters forward made a huge impact in his 25-minute cameo off the bench, including forcing a Newcastle error metres from their tryline.

A sea of adoring fans was what greeted the heartbroken Knights as the team’s bus pulled into the Newcastle Exhibition & Convention Centre at 2.40am today, a sight coach Justin Holbrook said was “unbelievable”.

“I’m so disappointed we didn’t win,” Holbrook, who put the team in their first grand final in 25 years in his first season as head coach, told Today shortly after arriving back home.

“Anyway, it’s unreal … terrific to have so much support for the players, considering we lost, it’s unbelievable, really proud.”

Fans had been lining up around Thomas Street in Wallsend to cheer for their heroes since about 1.30am, more than an hour before the bus drove through its police green light corridor.

The team may have lost the premiership by one point, but they’ve won hearts and minds.

Mark Nawaqanitawase emerged from the Easts Bondi Junction moments ago, where he briefly spoke to awaiting media.

Nawaqanitawase scored two tries en route to a premiership ring at Accor Stadium, in what was his sign-off from the rugby league arena.

“Absolutely stoked, great win with the lads,” he told Seven’s Sunrise this morning. “Enjoying it at the moment, just can’t believe it happened.”

Nawaqanitawase flashed his premiership ring to the camera, and said he was looking forward to celebrating alongside Roosters supporters at the Sydney Cricket Ground later this morning.

Rugby league’s newly minted executive chairman Peter V’landys welcomed a suite of celebrities and powerbrokers into his Accor Stadium Presidents Suite last night, including David Brat, US President Donald Trump’s new ambassador to Australia, who was pictured speaking with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese ahead of the match.

Close to the pair was former Australian golfing great Greg Norman, who has been a conduit between Australian officials and the golf-loving Trump.

NSW Premier Chris Minns also dropped into the suite, as did his Queensland counterpart David Crisafulli and NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane.

Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn was also doing the rounds, as was One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce.

Clive Churchill Medal Winner James Tedesco scored a 9/10 in our player ratings, after running for more than 380 metres in an outstanding grand final performance. He was joined by Mark Nawaqanitawase and Naufahu Whyte as the Roosters’ best performers.

While on the losing side, Newcastle skipper Kalyn Ponga scored an 8/10 for his valiant performance, while back-rower Francis Manuleleua also scored well.

Read the entire ratings from Robert Dillon and Phil Mitchell here.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the celebrations following the NRL grand final, in which the Sydney Roosters triumphed over the Newcastle Knights in a 19-18 thriller.

The Roosters returned to Sydney’s eastern suburbs hours after full-time last night, where they hoisted the Provan-Summons trophy to their adoring fans gathered at Easts Bondi Junction.

More celebrations are likely this morning, when members and supporters are expected to gather at the Sydney Cricket Ground to revel in the premierships of both their NRL and NRLW sides.