NRL 2021: Gold Coast Titans thrash New Zealand Warriors to confirm order of top eight

The NRL’s top eight has been determined, with one side stunning pundits and jumping into the finals on the last day of the regular season.

The Titans’ 44-0 win was their biggest since entering the NRL in 2007. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

It wasn’t until the last day of the regular season that NRL fans knew the final order of the top eight.

Of the three sides vying for the final spot in the play-offs, the Titans went into round 25 at the longest odds to make the eight.

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Incredibly, though, Cronulla’s loss to an understrength Storm and the Raiders’ embarrassing performance against the Roosters put Justin Holbrook’s men in pole position to snag eighth spot.

The Titans needed to win by 11 to jump the Sharks and lock up a spot in the finals. If the scoring had’ve stopped a quarter of the way through the game, the Titans would have made it. Son-of-a-gun Jayden Campbell and star recruit David Fifita made sure it did not.

Campbell was in everything offensively, and a Fifita try either side of halftime sealed the result.

With his second four-pointer, the former Bronco broke the Titans’ record for most tries in a single season (17).

The Warriors came into the game with little on the line, and they played like it.

Unmotivated with ball in hand and lacking resilience without it, the Warriors needed only a can of orange spray paint and they could’ve passed for traffic cones.

The rapidly inflating scoreline appeared to get to the New Zealanders. Three of the side’s most devoted sin bin attendees — Kane Evans, Jazz Tevaga and Matt Lodge — rode the pine for ten in the second half for their roles in two separate melees. Titans forward Jarrod Wallace joined them in the bin.

Matt Lodge, Kane Evans and Jarrod Wallace have all been sent to the bin ❌

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Gold Coast’s 44-0 win confirmed they would finish in the top eight for just the fourth time since their inception.

They’ll face the Roosters in their first finals game since 2016.

The Titans’ win meant the Sharks will miss the finals for the first time since 2014. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

With their win over the Sharks on Friday night, the Storm locked in their fifth minor premiership. They’ll meet the Sea Eagles in the first week of the finals for what is shaping up to be another enthralling chapter in one of rugby league’s great modern rivalries.

A third-placed finish looked all but guaranteed for the South Sydney Rabbitohs after they lost to the Panthers late last month.

The men in cardinal and myrtle will have a chance to avenge that defeat when they face Penrith in the first week of the finals. The Rabbitohs have lost each of their last five encounters with the Panthers and will need to contend without suspended fullback Latrell Mitchell if they hope to snap that streak.

Finally, the 6th placed Eels, who stunned pundits with their upset win over the Storm last weekend, will face the 7th placed Knights, who stunned pundits with their capitulation against the Broncos on Saturday.

The draw for the first week of the 2021 NRL Finals Series is:

Friday, 10 September

Qualifying Final: Melbourne Storm v Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, 7.50pm at Sunshine Coast Stadium

Saturday, 11 September

Elimination Final: Sydney Roosters v Gold Coast Titans, 5.40pm at Queensland Country Bank Stadium

Qualifying Final: Penrith Panthers v South Sydney Rabbitohs, 7.50pm at Queensland Country Bank Stadium

Sunday, 12 September

Elimination Final: Parramatta Eels v Newcastle Knights, 4.05pm at Browne Park, Rockhampton