From surprise contenders to chronic failures, we rate every NRL team’s season
Who gets the top marks and who is this season’s biggest disappointment? PAUL CRAWLEY delivers his verdict on every NRL club in our end of season report cards.
Opinion
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With the ‘school’ year almost over and the exams about to start, Paul Crawley hands out the report cards. See how your team went below.
RAIDERS
Grade: A+
My tip mid-season: 6th
Currently: 3rd
Plenty were calling for Ricky Stuart’s head at the end of last season. But what this year’s charge up the ladder has shown is that it wasn’t Ricky to blame, but the fact Josh Hodgson and Jack Wighton only played one game together all last season. Last Sunday’s comeback win over Cronulla again highlighted the growing maturity in a side that has long been able to go punch for punch with the best but have now learnt how to close out tight games.
Hodgson, Josh Papalii and John Bateman have been the pick of the forwards while Wighton’s a revelation at five-eighth and Charnze Nicholl-Klokstad one of the finds of the year. Deserve to be ranked alongside the genuine contenders.
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SEA EAGLES
Grade: A+
My tip mid-season: 7th
Currently: 5th
Along with the Raiders and Parra, the Sea Eagles have been this season’s great improvers. Finished 15th last year with virtually the same squad when Trent Barrett threw up his hands and declared the joint was just too backward to take forward. Des Hasler has knocked that theory on the head. Half the starting side would have been flat out getting a run at most rival NRL clubs at the start of this season.
It’s not fair that Tom Trbojevic has gone down with another serious injury. While I reckon that has ruined their chance of having a significant impact in the finals, that doesn’t mean this season can be judged anything other than an outstanding success.
STORM
Grade: A+
My tip mid-season: 2nd
Currently: 1st
I put my hand up, I am not a massive fan of the style of footy the Storm play. But it’s not their fault the refs let them get away with blatantly slowing down the ruck. And it’s probably no use whingeing about it any further because NRL head of football Graham Annesley has come out and said Melbourne’s wrestle is no worse than any other team, like that makes it all hunky dory.
Still, there is no denying what Craig Bellamy has done without Billy Slater on the back of Cooper Cronk’s exit makes this year’s runaway minor premiership win up with the great achievements of his illustrious coaching career. Will take a power of stopping in the finals.
LISTEN! Matty Johns and Paul Kent are joined by Balmain champion Steve ‘Blocker’ Roach, talking up the big eighth place battle at Leichhardt Oval Sunday, look at some of Manly’s best ever hit men and the time Kenty got completely jammed by Mark Geyer.
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ROOSTERS
Grade: A+
My tip mid-season: 1st
Currently: 2nd
A terrific effort from everyone involved at the Roosters to be sitting second on the ladder a week out from the finals. Not only have they managed to stay focused on the back of last year’s premiership but they have also had to contend with more than their share of significant injuries without missing a beat.
You quickly forget that Luke Keary was out for ages battling the effects of concussion while co-captains Jake Friend and Boyd Cordner spent extended periods on the sideline among others. But like Melbourne, Trent Robinson has developed a culture where there is trust in every player who is called on. As good a chance of going back-to-back that I have seen in the NRL era.
EELS
Grade: A
My tip mid-season: 12th
Currently: Sixth
If not for two really rotten calls in last Friday’s golden point loss to Brisbane, last year’s wooden spooners would enter the final round with a chance of finishing top four. I rate Brad Arthur up with Ricky Stuart and Des Hasler in the shootout for Dally M coach of the year. He came into this season under huge pressure to keep his job, as did more than half his squad.
Mitchell Moses for one deserves credit for the way he has knuckled down to get his career back on track. It won’t shock me if Moses is challenging Nathan Cleary for the NSW No.7 jumper next year. Clint Gutherson has also shown why he’s worth every cent of his $700,000-a-season contract management made him beg for.
BULLDOGS
Grade: B+
My tip mid-season: 16th
Currently: 13th
Don’t have the talent to match the top teams but one thing that never beats the Bulldogs is lack of effort. Go into the last round having won six of their past nine which has taken the heat off Dean Pay. In fact, I’m starting to think Pay will be coaching Canterbury for some years to come given the way he has rediscovered the famous Dogs of War spirit.
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak has been an outstanding addition while Will Hopoate rarely gets the credit he deserves. In the forwards captain courageous Josh Jackson and Aiden Tolman have been consistently wholehearted while Corey Harawira-Naera is developing into a real weapon. Kieran Foran should also hold his head high.
RABBITOHS
Grade: B+
My tip mid-season: 3rd
Currently: 4th
To be still in the fight for a top four finish despite having the three Burgess brothers basically injured or suspended for the back end of the season, along with Adam Reynolds carrying a nasty back injury, is all you really need to highlight the job Wayne Bennett has done so far this year.
But we will really find out where Souths stand after they take on the Roosters and Sam Burgess goes head-to-head with Jared Waerea-Hargreaves. Given how everyone is questioning if Sam’s best days are behind him given his shoulder injury, you just know the fiery Englishman will go out and really make it personal with Waerea-Hargreaves who is the Roosters’ undisputed enforcer.
TIGERS
Grade: B+
My tip mid-season: 14th
Currently: 9th
If you told me at the start of the year Ivan Cleary would miss the finals at Penrith but Michael Maguire would have the Tigers still in the fight going into the final round I would have said in your dreams. This Sunday is shaping up to be one of the most memorable afternoons at Leichhardt Oval since probably going all the way back to those great Balmain days of Blocker, Junior, Benny, Sirro and Garry Jack.
Just imagine if Robbie Farah does play in his final home game alongside Benji Marshall and they knock over Cronulla to make the play offs for the first time since 2011. Cleary’s decision to walk out cut deep with many fans but sometimes things work out for the best.
BRONCOS
Grade: C-
My tip mid-season: 8th
Currently: 7th
Like the kid at school who has all the potential but just lacks self-belief and motivation. You want to give him a kick up the bum but worry he might sulk if you do. Most considered the Broncos top four certainties this year and some good judges like Andrew Johns even talked them up as premiers.
So battling to just make the top eight doesn’t cut it for mine. Could spring an upset in week one of finals but won’t challenge genuine heavyweights this season. Interestingly, only two defeats in last nine games but those were against top four sides Melbourne and South Sydney. The likes of young David Fifita, Payne Haas and Kotoni Staggs have the rugby league world at their feet.
SHARKS
Grade: C-
My tip mid-season: 4th
Currently: 8th
It would break John Morris’ heart that Cronulla has lost five games despite scoring more tries than their opposition. It just shows the value of having a decent goal kicker, although with Shaun Johnson, Chad Townsend and Kyle Flanagan to choose from you’d think the Sharks could get it right. It would have catapulted them from eighth on 24 competition points into second spot.
But instead they will have to beat Wests Tigers on a Sunday afternoon at Leichhardt in the final round blockbuster to survive. While they had a rotten run of injuries still had enough chances and talent to make up for it. If they fail to survive will only have themselves to blame. I’ve tipped the Tigers to cause an upset.
KNIGHTS
Grade: D
My tip mid-season: 5th
Currently: 10th
Andrew Johns hit the nail on the head when he used the word “sabotage” to describe what has gone wrong at Newcastle. I can’t think of too many more disappointing capitulations in recent years where a club’s management, or lack of it, has had such a detrimental impact. When the Knights went on that run of six wins I was really starting to think they could challenge for the top four.
I can only imagine how heartbreaking it must feel for their loyal and long suffering fans. Go back a month and most probably couldn’t have put a face to the name Phil Gardner. I get the feeling they all know who the chief executive is now. The players as well as Nathan Brown also need to take a share of blame.
COWBOYS
Grade: D-
My tip mid-season: 10th
Currently: 12th
I’m not here to knock Paul Green’s coaching credentials because has the runs on the board given he has won a comp and taken the Cowboys to another grand final in his six years in charge. But I just wonder if it might be time for a change. Aside from the disappointing nature of their on-field performances again this year, that recent blow-up between Green and skipper Michael Morgan on a night out after a loss to Newcastle is a really worrying sign.
The Cowboys had their share of bad luck this year starting with missing out on Valentine Holmes followed by the sacking of Ben Barba. But they still have enough talent to be higher up the ladder.
WARRIORS
Grade: D-
My tip mid-season: 11th
Currently: 14th
I’ve given up getting disappointed with the Warriors. The real worry is I think they have too. Every year we say the same thing but rarely does it change. They booted out Shaun Johnson and sold it on the message it was because they were sick of players not performing to the pay packets. While Johnson hasn’t exactly set the world on fire at the Sharks, aside from Roger Tuivasa-Sheck not too many of the Warriors have gone out and regularly led by example.
In fairness, they have copped some really dodgy calls which effectively killed all hope of them making the play offs. Missing Tohu Harris (foot injury) for so long has been a massive loss.
PANTHERS
Grade: E
My tip mid-season: 9th
Currently: 11th
Let’s get this right. You sack Ivan Cleary to bring in Anthony Griffin who has you sitting equal fourth when he was sacked. So you pay out Griffin and bring back Cleary before getting rid of Phil Gould so Cleary can seemingly start a new rebuild because he is obviously not sold on the roster Gus spent eight years building. And after all that you miss the finals, when most were thinking anything but a grand final would be a fail.
Seriously, wouldn’t you love to work for a joint throwing money around like the Panthers. It was again highlighted by the decision to bring back Api Koroisau despite already having an extremely gifted dummy half in Wayde Egan they’d spent years developing.
TITANS
Grade: F
My tip mid-season: 15th
Currently: 16th
Another disastrous year for this NRL wasteland. I was one of those silly enough to actually have the Titans in my top eight at the start of the year because I looked at their roster and forget to remember their history.
They have actually gone from bad to worse since sacking Garth Brennan and I can’t see how a first-time NRL head coach in Justin Holbrook has any hope of turning around this basket-case of a club anytime soon. They need an almost complete player overhaul but who in their right mind would want to go there for anything other than huge money? That’s the trouble in attracting the right sort of player to a club with a history of being a career-killer.
DRAGONS
Grade: F
My tip mid-season: 13th
Currently: 15th
This season’s biggest disappointment bar none. Losing Jack de Belin was the beginning of the end and when Gareth Widdop busted his shoulder the Dragons were done as a genuine contender. But what has been most disappointing was the way they seemingly gave up on even trying to fight their way back into finals contention.
While I agree Paul McGregor must shoulder a lot of responsibility, I struggle to see how recruitment chief Ian Millward has not come under more scrutiny. I know hindsight is a wonderful thing but I just can’t see how Ben Hunt is worth $1.2 million a year, especially when you watched him go head-to-head with Benji Marshall who is on $170,000.
Originally published as From surprise contenders to chronic failures, we rate every NRL team’s season
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