"Pretty straightforward": Gardiner makes his Grand Final prediction

The NRL finals are officially upon us.

And with that in mind, Ben Gardiner has his prediction for who will feature in the Grand Final and lift the Provan-Summons Trophy.

With the Brisbane Broncos and the rest of last year’s top four not returning to the top eight, it guarantees that we’ll see a new premier in 2026.

But the Perth Bears assistant coach believes we could see the Grand Final clash three weeks early in the first week of finals between two perennial finalist.

“I think it's still pretty straightforward for me who's gonna be in the Grand Final,” Gardiner told SEN’s Front Office with Vossy.

“I still think that the Panthers (and) Roosters will be the Grand Final.

“I think the Roosters, I do like the fact that they rested their players last week, I do think it will be helpful for them, I think it'll give them time to prepare to go into the match against the Panthers.

“We talked about the psychological advantage that they were able to gather, going into that match last time by winning.

“So going into the finals, I reckon that they might struggle in this first week.

“But I think that what they need is, they need to make momentum to get themselves to the Grand Final, whereas the Panthers, they're gonna wanna do the standard.

“They're gonna want to win, have a week off and then go bang, get to the Grand Final, win the Grand Final.”

Should Gardiner’s prediction come true, it would mark the second Grand Final that these two sides have featured in the NRL era, having played one another in 2003 with Penrith winning 18-6.

The finals get underway from Friday night when South Sydney hosts Newcastle at Allianz Stadium from 7:50pm, with SEN’s coverage beginning from 6pm AEST.

SEN League will have live coverage of all nine games across our radio network and on the SEN app.