Trindall returns from shoulder dislocation to lead Sharks in finals win

What a great day of rugby league.

The Dolphins are going to host a preliminary final, while the Warriors get a second chance against Newcastle.

Cronulla advances to week two, while North Queensland can prepare for cricket season.

There is one more match left in the opening week of the NRL finals, as the Panthers host the Roosters tomorrow.

ABC Sport will be with you for live blog coverage.

We hope you join us then.

Goodnight.

— reporting by AAP

Parramatta have scored a thrilling 33-28 come-from-behind victory over the Cowboys, and the Sharks have handed the Dragons the wooden spoon with a 16-8 win in the final round of NRLW action.

None of Saturday’s teams were in finals contention, but pride was still on the line, and both games were genuine contests.

The matches were played under the experimental rule that allows the side conceding a try to choose whether to kick off or receive, and both games saw teams use the latter option and score shortly after.

In the day’s first game, the Eels scored five second-half tries and overcame a 16-point deficit to win a thriller at CommBank Stadium.

After losing their opening six matches of the season, the Eels ended 2026 with four wins from their last five starts.

The Cowboys’ Charlize Lloyd-Phillips got the scoring under way after just four minutes, but suffered a suspected ACL injury in the process.

Parramatta took less than three minutes to reply, strike centre Rory Owen crossing for her sixth try in four games, before former Wallaroos star Ash Marsters posted the only other try of the half to see the Cowboys up 10-6 at the break.

Cowboys hooker Alisha Foord snuck over two minutes into the second half, and another four-pointer followed quickly to Makenzie Weale to give North Queensland a 22-6 lead.

However, with veteran Kennedy Cherrington sin-binned, the 12-player Eels scored tries to Zali Fay and Jasmin Morrissey to get within six points.

Keilee Joseph then made it three tries in eight minutes to tie things up.

Cowboys interchange hooker Nadia Windleborn put her side back on top, before Joseph again tied the scores.

It didn’t take as long for points in the second period, with Sharks half Chantay Kiria-Ratu delivering a beautiful short ball two minutes in for China Polata to run 50m to score.

Four minutes later Georgia Hannaway dived over from dummy half for Cronulla’s second.

Ellie Johnston made it three tries within 13 minutes for the Sharks, and when Dragons centre Tyra Ekepati was sin-binned for a high shot it looked like Cronulla may run away with it, but the Dragons held strong in those 10 minutes.

Shenae Ciesiolka scored a consolation try for the Dragons in her 50th NRLW appearance, but it was too little, too late.

— reporting by AAP

Braydon Trindall has produced 80 of the gutsiest minutes in a Cronulla jersey, defying shoulder pain to boot the Sharks to a 26-16 knockout win over North Queensland.

After entering the finals with four losses from their past five games, Trindall’s return helped the Sharks hit back in Saturday’s elimination final at the Sydney Football Stadium.

Sione Katoa scored a double to help end the season of the Cowboys side he will join next year, while Siosifa Talakai busted seven tackles and also scored Cronulla’s opening try.

But the hero of the night was Trindall, who dislocated his shoulder against Canberra just four weeks ago.

The five-eighth spent most of the night awkwardly carrying his right arm, but was barely beaten in defence as the Cowboys failed to pick him out.

And while Trindall played with virtually one arm, he at least had his kicking boot.

Twice he forced an error out of Scott Drinkwater with his mid-field bombs, with one of those leading to a Katoa first-half try from the ensuing scrum.

With his arm looking slightly more comfortable in the second half, Trindall then put Will Kennedy over for the decisive try with a long ball for his fullback to make it 26-12.

That was Trindall’s 31st assist of the year, with no player having laid on more tries in 2026.

Trindall delayed surgery to be fit to play the finals, and while the No.6 didn’t look comfortable the good news for Cronulla is he got through the game.

The Sharks will no doubt need him next week if they are to cause an upset against the winner of Penrith or Sydney Roosters.

For a side who had the worst defensive record of any finalist of the NRL-era, the Cowboys did well to hang on in Saturday night’s game for as long as they did.

In the first 20 minutes alone, Cronulla had 79 per cent of the ball and 22 tackles on the Cowboys’ line.

But unlike when they let in 82 points against the Roosters in round 22 and conceded 50 against Canberra last week, North Queensland kept turning up.

Tom Dearden twice denied Jesse Colquhoun close to the line, while Drinkwater and Braidon Burns pulled off a tremendous try-saver on KL Iro.

North Queensland even got back to 12-6 down at halftime through Burns, and 16-12 with 22 minutes to go when Dearden put on a long cut-out ball for Zac Laybutt.

But ultimately the pressure told, and while a late Jaxon Purdue try offered a faint hope the Sharks were never really endangered.

The only down side for Cronulla will be the crowd of 17,429, which marked the lowest for a final at the Sydney Football Stadium since 2012.

Officials will no doubt point out that only an extra few thousand fans turned up than would have fit in at Shark Park, had they been able to play there.

There is one match left this weekend, as the Penrith Panthers host the Sydney Roosters at Western Sydney Stadium.

The winner of that match will host a preliminary final in week three, while the loser will host a semifinal next week against the Cronulla Sharks.

Here is how the rest of the NRL finals shape up:

Tomorrow

Qualifying final

• Penrith Panthers vs Sydney Roosters

Week 2

Semifinals

• Panthers/Roosters vs Sharks
• Warriors vs Knights

Week 3

Preliminary finals

• Panthers/Roosters vs Warriors/Knights
• Dolphins vs Panthers/Roosters/Sharks

Grand final

• Preliminary final 1 winner vs Preliminary final 2 winner

The Cronulla Sharks are through to the second week of the NRL finals, eliminating the North Queensland Cowboys in a tense knock-out final.

The Cowboys make a break down the right.

The ball is passed to Tom Dearden, but Sharks winger Ronaldo Mulitalo hits him with a great shot, and the power of that tackle forces Dearden over the sideline.

Sharks 26

Cowboys 16

The Cowboys are throwing everything at the Sharks.

There are a lot of tired Sharks out there.

The Cowboys, near the goal-line, throw the ball around in a bid to score a special try.

But Teig Wilton is there to snatch the ball out of the air and save the day for the Sharks.

Sharks 26

Cowboys 16

 North Queensland is keeping themselves alive.

Left centre Jaxon Purdue steps off his left foot and then charges over the line to score.

The Cowboys had to score then, and they did.

Scott Drinkwater hooks his conversion attempt wide.

Sharks 26

Cowboys 16

Nicho Hynes, you are a star.

Final play, 10 metres out, Hynes shaped to kick to the corner but then stepped off his left foot to beat Cowboys prop Jason Taumalolo, and ran to score under the post.

Cowboys fullback Scott Drinkwater had already started running to the corner expecting a kick, so there was no protection behind Taumalolo.

Hynes converts from in front.

Sharks 26

Cowboys 12

A huge moment in this elimination final.

The Sharks go to the left on the final play of the set.

Cowboys centre Tom Chester jams in, and that was the wrong decision.

Sharks fullback Will Kennedy runs around Chester, is tripped up by the Cowboys’ centre, but is able to crawl over the line.

Nicho Hynes’ conversion attempt curls and hits the post for the second time today. He is two out of five off the boot.

Sharks 20

Cowboys 12

Wonderful attacking footy from the Cowboys.

Attacking close to the line, Tom Dearden throws a 20-metre cut-out pass to left winger Zac Laybutt who is unmarked and scores.

Scott Drinkwater convets the try.

The Cowboys are back in this contest.

Sharks 16

Cowboys 12

The Sharks have conceded a penalty on their goal line, with Sione Katoa penalised for tackling a Cowboy in the air.

The Sharks challenge, and it’s a poor challenge.

The Cowboys attack with a grubber to the in-goal and force a goal-line dropout.

Sharks 16

Cowboys 6

Sharks winger Sione Katoa has intercepted a pass from Cowboys fullback Scott Drinkwater, and runs 60 metres to score.

It was an all-or-nothing play from Katoa, as the Cowboys had an overlap.

Nicho Hynes misses the conversion attempt.

Sharks 16

Cowboys 6

The Cowboys have made a bright start to the second half, and they have earned a goal-line dropout after the Sharks left a high kick bounce and went into their own in-goal.

The Sharks wil be running to the right of your screen in this half.

That brings an end to the first half at the Sydney Football Stadium.

The Sharks have scored two tries, and also had two others taken away (rightly) by the Bunkers.

The Cowboys did not have many attacking chances, but they were able to score a try.

The Sharks were the better side in that half, but the Cowboys have earned the right to still be in this contest.

The Sharks have been denied by the Bunker

Nicho Hynes kicked to the left winger and Ronaldo Mulitalo leapt high, caught the ball, then passed back to KL Iro.

Iro goes for the corner and gets the footy down.

But the Bunker wants to have a look at this. Iro was offside when Hynes kicked the ball.

NO TRY.

The Cowboys have been let off the hook.

Sharks 12

Cowboys 6