New South Wales are the 2026 LCA NRL Wheelchair Championship winners after an emphatic 28-18 win against North Queensland in the final at Coomera Indoor Sports Centre at the Gold Coast.
NSW player-coach Diab Karim was a standout, combining try-scoring with accurate goal-kicking to lead NSW to victory; he scored two tries and four conversions in the exciting clash between the two dominant teams.
Captain Brad Grove, who recently announced his retirement from international level ahead of Rugby League World Cup 2026, said he was proud of his team, including speedy player-of-the-tournament Cory Cannane.
“It feels fantastic to win,” Grove said. “Queensland has been a powerhouse for a long time, and we’ve been working hard to reach that level… I think this result shows that all the effort our team has put in is finally paying off.”
Grove said he was impressed by the standard of competition across the three days.
“There were plenty of standout performers,” he said. “The Wheelaroos players always make an impact, but there were also a lot of emerging players who really impressed throughout the tournament.
"That’s a great sign for the future of the sport and the strength of the competition moving forward.
“The quality right across the championships was outstanding. Even the Affiliated States and Victoria had players who have the potential to progress to the Wheelaroos.
“North Queensland and our own team have some standout players as well. Hopefully many of them will enjoy the opportunities that come with future Wheelaroos camps and help Australia bring home a World Cup.”
ACT accounted for South East and Central Queensland in the playoff for third place, winning 18-6.
ACT captain-coach Toby Popple was thrilled with the win.
“Mate, absolutely unreal,” Topple said. “We’ve got a lot of juniors in this team… new players, couple of us that are experienced heads… our juniors have come so far, even just across this weekend, and our newer players as well…
“It was an unreal team effort. They stuck to the processes and it paid off.”
North Queensland were dominant in Round 3, leading into finals, running in 16 tries against Affiliated States to finish well clear on points for the round.
Bradley Burns top scored for the round with three tries and six conversions for ACT; and Jayson Hooker scored four tries in North Queensland’s win over Affiliated States.
North Queensland’s Bayley McKenna was the standout performer across the entire competition, finishing well clear on both tries and points, also topping the goal-kicking charts; he scored 18 tries and 29 conversions, totalling 134 points.
The next closest was NSW player-coach Diab Karim with nine tries and 20 conversions, totalling 76 points.
Championship final
NSW 28 def. North Queensland 18
Third place play-off
ACT 18 def. South East and Central Queensland 6
Round 3
- NSW 52 def. Victoria
- North Queensland 86 def. Affiliated States 0
- South East and Central Queensland 24 def. New Zealand 14
- ACT 44 def. Affiliated States 14
