NRL

For all the talk of the Dolphins and their suspect defence, it’s another Queensland team that’s really allowed the floodgates to open in 2026.

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The North Queensland Cowboys will officially head into the 2026 NRL finals with historically bad defence.

En route to a 13 win-11 loss record the Cowboys let in a whopping 652 points in 2026 — the most points conceded by a top eight team in the NRL era.

The previous record was held by the Canberra Raiders who conceded 623 points in 2023 yet still scraped into 8th place despite a points differential of -137. (They then lost to the Knights in Week 1 of the finals.)

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While North Queensland’s 2026 differential is considerably better than that (-84) it was still the twelfth worst in the NRL this season with four teams that missed this year’s finals — the Sea Eagles, Storm, Raiders and Bulldogs — all boasting better for-and-against records. 

Of course, the Cowboys’ record wasn’t helped by several home thrashings including the record 82-12 embarrassment at the hands of the Roosters back in Round 22 and last weekend’s 50-30 loss to the Raiders.

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Reuben Cotter fastest ever NRL sin bin

On the subject of unwanted records, Cowboys lock Reuben Cotter set another in Round 27 with the fastest ever sin binning in the NRL era when he caught his former Maroons teammate Josh Papali’i high with the very first tackle of the match against the Raiders.

According to @RandomStatsGuy Cotter received his marching orders after just 15 seconds, beating the previous record of 17 seconds set by former Storm enforcer Nelson Asofa-Solomona in 2024.

Cotter has been subsequently hit with a Grade 2 careless high tackle charge by the NRL Match Review Committee and faces a one match ban with an early guilty plea, rising to two matches if he unsuccessfully fights the charge/grading at the judiciary.

The Cowboys face the Sharks on Saturday night at Allianz Stadium in the second NRL elimination final. Kickoff at 7:50pm (AEST).

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