Footy IQ

The season's done and the World Cup is days away, and it still feels strange. Chris and Blake ask who they actually want to win, why the Kiwis' pack scares them, and whether Mitch Moses is the right seven for a Kangaroos team that can't out-muscle New Zealand. Then the money: why most World Cup players earn $850 a game, and why November 1 matters to the NRL's top 10 per cent. Blake explains how deals really get started.

NRL Grand Final review: the Roosters beat the Knights 19–18, and Footy IQ breaks down what actually happened. Chris Danks and Blake Austin look at how the Knights hung on for dear life with less than half the ball, how Kalyn Ponga delivered a near 80-minute performance, and how the Knights' first try came out of a flat line from Fletcher Sharpe. Blake explains why a front-foot attack that looks risky isn't, and what clubs can really do about it in 2027. Plus: Trent Robinson's call on Spencer Leniu, the Clive Churchill Medal for James Tedesco, the debate over six-again versus the penalty, and the pre-game entertainment. Then the Super League Grand Final: Wakefield Trinity beat Warrington, a former Warrington player's view, and what a Wakefield versus Roosters World Club Challenge could look like. Footy IQ is tactical NRL analysis: systems, decision-making and trends, not noise. Subscribe for the weekly NRL breakdown on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

NRL Grand Final preview and prelim finals review. Footy IQ breaks down how the Newcastle Knights beat Penrith with 12 men for 44 minutes, and what they'll need to survive the Sydney Roosters' pack on Sunday night.Chris Danks and Blake Austin unpack why Penrith couldn't break a 12-man line: Dylan Edwards' decisions, Cogger and Cole's ball share, and Blaize Talagi's night against Bradman Best. Then the Knights' long-range attack, with tries averaging 57.3 metres out (h/t Rugby League Eye Test). Plus the Crossland send-off and Blake's case that the NRL can't send-off its way out of the hip-drop problem.On the Roosters: Sam Walker's return, Robert Toia, Naufahu Whyte, Lindsay Collins, and Mark Nawaqanitawase's intercepts. In the GF preview, can the Knights hold up for the first 20, target Daly Cherry-Evans with lead-and-sweep shifts, and will Kalyn Ponga finally have his 20 minutes?Subscribe for tactical NRL breakdowns every week.

Finals Week 2 is done and the NRL is down to four. Chris Danks and Blake Austin break down a weekend that ended with Ashley Klein withdrawn from preliminary final consideration — and ask why the game reversed its own rule interpretation inside seven days.Blake goes deep on Cronulla: why this isn't a rebuild, why the Sharks are obsessed with the long side of the field, what a fresh set of eyes would unlock in Nicho Hynes and Will Kennedy, and the question nobody at the club seems willing to answer — why not just swap the numbers on Hynes and Braydon Trindall?Plus: why the Warriors' defence didn't actually collapse, why a home crowd can be a hindrance, the case for a second New Zealand team, Phoenix Crossland and the halfback-to-hooker path, our full NRL Team of the Year, and why Blake still has Andrew Webster as Coach of the Year ahead of Justin Holbrook.Blake's Big Call Alert: Penrith is the best possible draw Newcastle could have got.

Four finals, four good games, and one question the NRL won't answer: why did Cronulla lose their home final, and why is the crowd conversation being pinned on fans?Howabout...tell us the actual reason, then show us that moving it fixed anything. And if we're going to play finals in big stadiums, work out how to fill them, because $9 for a Cornetto and four kids is $36 before you've sat down.Also: Cleary cleared, defending Kalyn Ponga, the double-movement rule rewritten, and why the Warriors did everything right and still don't have a knockout punch.

NRL finals 2026 are here, and the Warriors v Dolphins qualifying final at Go Media Stadium might be the closest fixture of the lot. Two meetings this season, both decided by two points, 44-all on aggregate — and Saturday is the first time these two have met at Go Media all year.Chris Danks and Blake Austin unpack Andrew Webster's edge defence argument and whether he's right that it's the less alarming kind of problem, why the Dolphins' first 20 minutes will decide the game, and why fatigue is the thing that actually breaks an edge.Also on the show: whether Penrith have the easiest path of any minor premier in years, the 50-point rule that rules three teams out of contention, why Erin Clark and Wayde Egan still don't get the credit they deserve, how a field goal is really set up, and what the Storm did against 12 men that nobody else is doing.Footy IQ is smart footy talk — systems, decision-making and trends over hot takes.

Fitzgibbon said his side is uptight. That's an unusual thing for a coach to say out loud a week out from a final — and it raises a question we spent most of this episode on: what can a coach actually do about it in seven days? Simplify the game plan, shorten the shift, change the kicking pattern — or is "uptight" just the word we reach for after a side gets beaten?Plus Blake on what makes Cody Walker different from every other five-eighth in the game, and why Sam Walker's injury might quietly help the Roosters.

The Warriors are top of the ladder, 8-2 at home, and every pundit in the country is treating a finals trip to Auckland like a death sentence. Blake Austin isn't convinced the players see it that way — he reckons most finals sides will still turn up with an arrogance about it, and that he'd have wanted the trip himself.Plus: Adam Reynolds' career ends on a calf strain, Josh Papali'i's last home game in Canberra, why every contender is suddenly carrying a bopper on the bench, and what Blake got wrong about Penrith last week.

Penrith lost 12-6 on Thursday night and looked more like Penrith than they have in a month. The Roosters needed near-best footy and a very specific plan to beat them — hammering the Panthers' left edge until Daly Cherry-Evans found the space twice in a game that produced three tries all night. Chris and Blake break down what that actually means for both sides come September.Plus: why the Warriors' system is built well enough that Luke Hansen can start at halfback with one NRL game to his name, why everyone should want to play the Cowboys right now, and Canberra's edge speed exposing Cronulla.

Penrith say Isaah Yeo won't need surgery — but they still have four weeks to solve a problem they haven't had to solve all year. Chris Danks and Blake Austin on what actually changes without him.Also this week: Ricky Stuart's press conference after Canberra's elimination and the one decision he singled out; how the Warriors' 28-12 win over Penrith became a blueprint; why Cronulla's loss to the Dragons is less alarming than it looks; Manly's big off-season; whether the Dolphins are a genuine premiership threat (Blake isn't convinced); and the Cameron Munster MRC decision — should how badly a player is hurt change the grading of the tackle?Footy IQ is a tactical NRL show from The Sporting News — systems, decisions and trends, not hot takes. New episodes every week.