Dual-code winger Nawaqanitawase stars as Roosters win NRL Final — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Mark Nawaqanitawase scored two tries — one in each half — to lead the Sydney Roosters to a 19-18 NRL Grand Final win over the Newcastle Knights before 80,814 at Stadium Australia.
- Sydney Roosters clinched their first Premiership since 2019 and 16th overall, holding on after Greg Marzhew's late try cut the lead to one point with four minutes remaining.
- Newcastle Knights were trying to win their first title since 2001 and become the first club since 1934 to win the Premiership after finishing bottom the previous season, after racing to a 12-0 lead through Manuleleua and Kalyn Ponga tries.
- Daly Cherry-Evans, 37, playing his final NRL match before joining Super League side Hull FC for 2027, slotted a drop-goal to extend the Roosters' lead to seven points.
- Billy Smith forced his way over in the 47th minute for a converted try that levelled the scores at 12-12, sparking the Roosters' comeback before Sam Walker's penalty put Sydney in front for the first time.
- Nawaqanitawase, 26, played four years with the Waratahs in Super Rugby before switching to rugby league with the Roosters in 2024 and was the first union-to-league switcher to play for the Kangaroos since Scott Gourley in 1991; he now moves to play union in Japan.
Why it matters: The Roosters ended a six-year Premiership drought while Nawaqanitawase delivered the ideal swansong before his second code switch — this time to Japan — and fellow veteran Cherry-Evans exits the NRL on his own terms aged 37, bound for Hull FC in 2027.
Ask SkimNews
