Mid-season NRL report card: Brisbane Broncos a rugby league disaster
While Nathan Cleary has pushed Penrith to the top of the class, Brisbane isn’t the only big club facing a long finish to the season. Paul Crawley rates the aces and dunces from the 2020 NRL season so far.
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Check out the aces and dunces in the race to the 2020 NRL finals.
1st PANTHERS: A+
Prediction: 3rd
Record: 8 wins, 1 loss, 1 draw Points differential: +96
I wasn’t a fan of Ivan Cleary blowing kisses at a Wests Tigers punter a few weeks back, regardless of how poorly the bloke was behaving. But what is impressive is the job Cleary has done getting the Panthers to the top of the NRL ladder at the halfway point of what has been an incredibly tough season so far.
From picking up buy-of-the-season Api Koroisau to the continued improvement of players across the board, including big Billy Kikau, James Fisher-Harris and young sensation Stephen Crichton.
However, the most spectacular development relates to his son, Nathan. Since taking full control following James Maloney’s departure, young Cleary’s game has now evolved to the point where he is consistently the NRL’s most dominant No.7. Perhaps most surprisingly, he’s still only 22.
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2nd EELS: A+
Prediction: 4th
Record: 8 wins, 2 losses Points differential: +110
Can be prone to occasional stumbles, like they had against Manly last round. But Parramatta is still a serious footy team and a legitimate title contender. While the focus was on who the Sea Eagles were missing last week, don’t forget Brad Arthur was also without Mitchell Moses, Ryan Matterson and Blake Ferguson. They have conceded the fewest points this season — just under 12 a game — and have strike power all over the park with more run metres, tackle busts and offloads than any rivals.
3rd STORM: A
Prediction: 1st
Record: 8 wins, 2 losses Points differential: +109
For the past few years I’ve been writing a similar report card at this point of the season relating to why the Storm continue to surprise. The thing is, it’s no longer a surprise. Last year Craig Bellamy lost Billy Slater on the back of Cooper Cronk’s exit and we assumed it would be Bellamy’s greatest challenge since the salary cap scandal. Yet they finished runaway minor premiers. But they’ve gone to another level again this year — and the brutal physicality of their round-eight win over the Roosters was the season’s benchmark.
4th KNIGHTS: B+
Prediction: 7th
Record: 6 wins, 3 losses, 1 draw Points differential: +47
The jury’s still out on the Knights as far as I’m concerned. They were a lot better against Souths last round but Kalyn Ponga needs to play that way every week for Newcastle to be up with the fair-dinkum contenders. If only they all played with the same intensity as young Bradman Best. You could throw the 18-year-old a NSW Origin jumper right now and he wouldn’t look out of place. Kurt Mann also deserves a mention, as did Daniel Saifiti before his injury. In their favour is that five out of their next seven games are in Newcastle.
5th ROOSTERS: B+
Prediction: 2nd
Record: 6 wins, 4 losses Points differential: +152
A season-ending injury to Victor Radley is the main reason I’ve now got the Storm as the team to beat. But while Radley is a huge loss, as long as Luke Keary and James Tedesco stay injury-free they will take some beating. They are scoring just under 29 points a game and five tries — the most of any team. They didn’t play well against Canberra last round yet were a forward pass away from winning — similar to when they played against Melbourne and mistakes cost them but they still only lost by two points. The best team since the Brisbane and Canberra sides of the 1990s.
6th RAIDERS: A
Prediction: 5th
Record: 6 wins, 4 losses Points differential: +35
Have beaten Melbourne and the Roosters since the COVID-19 resumption, and to get the points against the premiers last round, given their huge injury toll, was a massive effort. Still, missing Josh Hodgson for the rest of the season is the Raiders’ Mount Everest mission, although it sure helps having John Bateman being named on the extended bench this week. Won’t write them off and, as we saw against the Roosters, losing Hodgson may even make Jack Wighton and George Williams more dangerous because it’s now their job to own the result.
7th WESTS TIGERS: B
Prediction: 10th
Record: 5 wins, 5 losses Points differential: +68
Hooray for Harry Grant. He plays with a flair and energy that are just a joy to watch, and has sure added some much-needed class to the Tigers. The way coach Michael Maguire has gone about challenging everyone by having the bravery to drop Benji Marshall and Luke Brooks has also set a benchmark for performance. Still, beating the Broncos 48-0 last week was one thing, let’s see them back it up against Parra before we start spruiking their finals credentials. I’ve still got them finishing 10th because consistency has been the club’s Achilles heel for years, having not strung together three wins since early 2018, and not winning four straight since 2012.
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8th RABBITOHS: D
Prediction: 9th
Record: 5 wins, 5 losses Points differential: +32
A really disappointing effort so far and the finger needs to be pointed at the Rabbitohs’ big-gun spine. If Cody Walker, Damien Cook, Adam Reynolds and Latrell Mitchell don’t lift — and soon — the Bunnies can forget about the finals this year. The fact is as hardworking as their pack is, they just don’t have the firepower to dominate like they used to when Sam Burgess and John Sutton were leading the charge — and for that reason they’re not in my eight as it stands. Yet they showed in the final 15 minutes against Newcastle last weekend what they are capable of if they put their minds to it, although that only adds to the disappointment.
9th SHARKS: C
Prediction: 8th
Record: 5 wins, 5 losses Points differential: +32
Have the ability to beat any team but don’t have the consistency. If they find it, look out. While they got 50 put on them by Penrith in round nine, the two weeks before they put 40 on both the Titans and Manly, and did the same against the Warriors last round. Shaun Johnson deserves credit for turning his season around and Sione Katoa has been outstanding. If Matt Moylan and Andrew Fifita can shake off their injuries you wouldn’t want to be facing Cronulla in the run home. But that’s the big if.
10th SEA EAGLES: C
Prediction: 7th
Record: 5 wins, 5 losses Points differential: -26
No luck on the injury front or with refereeing decisions, which is why Manly get a pass mark — just. Were robbed against Parra in round four and against Newcastle in round eight, while they’ve been without Tom Trbojevic and Dylan Walker since round six. But while the win against Canberra was one of their gutsiest, they were shocking against the Sharks and the Dragons. Will take a lot out of last week’s win over the Eels without Turbo and Walker and come charging home.
11th DRAGONS: D
Prediction: 11th
Record: 4 wins, 6 losses Points differential: -10
A huge game against arch rivals Cronulla this Saturday is going to tell us a lot more about how far the Dragons have come in the past six weeks since that disastrous loss to Canterbury. Paul McGregor looked gone but they have bounced back with four wins and only two defeats. They are playing with much more confidence since Ben Hunt moved to dummy half. But Corey Norman’s form is still nowhere near where it needs to be for the Dragons to trouble the better teams.
12th COWBOYS: D-
Prediction: 12th
Record: 3 wins, 7 losses Points differential: -70
The fact that their only premiership-winning coach Paul Green was sent packing at the season’s halfway point highlights what another shocker of a year it has been for North Queensland. That the 12th-placed Cowboys are travelling the best of the northern state’s three teams should be an embarrassment to Queensland rugby league. Occasionally show some spark with the ball but their defence has been dreadful, and trying to find a positive is not easy, aside from Jason Taumalolo.
13th WARRIORS: D
Prediction: 16th
Record: 3 wins, 7 losses. Points differential: -133
Hard to be too tough on the Warriors given what they have had to deal with. But to be honest you just knew this was going to be another forgettable year the moment they went to Newcastle for the opening round and got pumped 20-0. From that moment, Steve Kearney was always going to struggle to keep his job. Averaging under 13 points a game is the worst in the club’s history, while conceding 26 points is their worst since 2004 (second worst in club history).
14th BRONCOS: F
Prediction: 13th
Record: 3 wins, 7 losses Points differential: -157
This is not just embarrassing now, what’s going on at Brisbane is a rugby league disaster. Remember, Andrew Johns predicted the Broncos would win the comp last year — and just about every expert had them as top-four contenders. But the game’s most powerful and resourced club is now plummeting towards its worst-ever finish, losing seven of eight games since the return from the COVID-19 shutdown, while conceding a phenomenal 31 points a game on average. Currently 14th on the ladder. To put that in perspective, the Broncos’ previous worst result was 12th in 2013 — that goes back to when they entered the league in 1988.
15th TITANS: E
Prediction: 15th
Record: 3 wins, 7 losses Points differential: -159
If your child was struggling at school as much as the Titans do every year on the NRL ladder, you’d probably tell them it was time to cut their losses and go out and find a real job. Seriously, they get the same salary cap every year as the rest of the NRL clubs but it’s always money down the drain. This year again their statistics are entering all-time low proportions, scoring a club record fewest points (128), conceding their most (287) and having their worst points differential after 10 games. If you want a positive, at least they beat the Broncos.
16th BULLDOGS: C-
Prediction: 14th
Record: 1 win, 9 losses Points differential: -126
They might be last on the ladder but at least the Bulldogs’ players still turn up and give close to their best more often than not. So I don’t blame the players for what has gone wrong at Canterbury in recent years. As for the board and the administration, that’s another matter. How a club as rich and powerful as Canterbury got into such a sad state is the real embarrassment.
Originally published as Mid-season NRL report card: Brisbane Broncos a rugby league disaster