A dominant premier, two new Blues, teams to rise and fall - fearless NRL predictions for 2018
ONCE again, we’ve taken a look at all 16 NRL clubs and dreamt up one bold call for each of them — and some are more out there than others.
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ANOTHER year, another round of fearless predictions that will be hilariously wrong come October.
Once again, we’ve taken a look at all 16 clubs and dreamt up one prediction for each of them — and some are more out there than others.
BRISBANE BRONCOS
James Roberts makes his Origin debut
The fastest man in rugby league should have been playing interstate football a few years ago but with new coach Brad Fittler in charge it seems there will be little to deny Roberts from pulling on the Blue jersey for the first time. Coming off one of the best seasons of his controversial career, if Roberts can stay out of trouble off the field he’ll experience more joy on it — given his attacking instincts, he’s tailor made to suit the style we’ve seen from Fittler-coached teams in the past. Be it for the Roosters, City or Lebanon, Fittler is always keen to let the horses run.
CANBERRA RAIDERS
Josh Hodgson makes an early return
It’s hard to come up with anything too radical for the Raiders that isn’t related to their missing talisman given the settled nature and known qualities of the rest of the roster, so we’ll go out on a limb and says Hodgson makes an earlier than expected return from the knee injury he suffered in last season’s World Cup semi-final. In the past, Hodgson has made early returns from injury and given the aggressive nature with which he’s tackled his rehab a comeback against Manly in Round 12, just before the Raiders bye week, could be the course.
CANTERBURY BULLDOGS
The Michael Lichaa turnaround continues
The Bulldogs have a good combination of middle forwards but there are serious doubts over their ability to create points — Matt Frawley is relatively unproven, Kieran Foran has struggled to stay on the field in recent seasons and Moses Mbye is in a new position. Bizarrely, their most reliable attacking option may turn out to be Michael Lichaa — the No. 9 was superb in the closing weeks of 2017 when he threw Des Hasler’s conservative game plan out the door and followed that up with a top shelf World Cup for Lebanon. If Dean Pay lets Lichaa run the ball and use his creativity, Lichaa could do fine work with the likes of David Klemmer and Aaron Woods — there’s a reason the Bulldogs paid such a price to lure him away from Cronulla once upon a time.
CRONULLA SHARKS
Cronulla’s attack takes a serious hit
As long as they retain their forward pack, the Sharks are always going to be competitive. The 2016 premiers are still experienced, tough and strong in defence, but they’re trying to retool their attack on the fly. Valentine Holmes is still developing as a fullback, Matt Moylan only has a handful of top-flight games in the halves and Josh Dugan’s club form as a centre has been up and down to say the least. The loss of James Maloney means the club will take a hit in terms of structure and kicking game, and that all adds up to less points. Cronulla’s attack dipped from third best in the comp in 2016 to ninth in 2017, so the margin for error is rather narrow.
GOLD COAST TITANS
Lots of points, both scored and conceded
There is some great attacking footy brewing on the Gold Coast. Ash Taylor led the league for try assists last season with 29 and he’s been given additional creative help in the form of Bryce Cartwright and Brenko Lee. Throw in strong finishers like Konrad Hurrell and Anthony Don and scoring points won’t be a worry for the Titans in 2018. Stopping them certainly will be — Lee, Cartwright and Taylor himself have all had defensive struggles in the past and the forward pack lacks the grunt or defensive resolve to shut other teams down consistently, but it’s going to be shootouts galore for the Titans this season.
MANLY SEA EAGLES
Manly slips out of the eight on the back of close losses
Winning close games is what separates the best from the rest in the NRL and is often the difference between a finals berth and being an also ran. The Sea Eagles are a good example — in 2017 they won six games by six points or less en route to their first finals appearance under Trent Barrett. If Manly are to repeat the dose this season they’ll need to once again win the tight ones, but that’s no guarantee. And if it does become a struggle for the Silvertails they could tumble right out of the finals. With the unproven Lachlan Croker at five-eighth, there’s going to be more pressure than ever on Daly Cherry-Evans to steer his team around the park.
MELBOURNE STORM
Jesse Bromwich has the best year of his career
The former Kiwi captain certainly had a good season in 2017 but compared to some of the footy he’s played at various points in his career it was well below what he’s achieved in the past. Bromwich’s 114 metres per game last year is a perfectly respectable total, but he had passed 140 metres per game in each of the three seasons prior. With his first full pre-season in many years under his belt, we’re tipping the 28-year-old to have the best season of his already decorated career and average over 150 metres per game for the first time.
NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS
The Warriors do better than expected
After years of being too high on the Warriors, many pundits are now too low on the most insane club in the NRL. That’s understandable — there had to be some backlash after New Zealand failed to live up to their potential time and time again. But there is too much talent here for them to collect the wooden spoon. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Shaun Johnson are still good enough to win games on their own, off-season recruit Tohu Harris has as good a chance as anyone to break the Warriors curse and Blake Green seems, on the surface at least, to be a fine playmaking partner. They won’t make the finals, but they won’t prop up the competition either.
NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS
Brock Lamb starts by season’s end
The finals might be a bridge too far for the Knights but they’ll certainly be in playoff contention for the majority of the season given their enhanced roster and the prospects they’ve uncovered over the last three campaigns. The pick of those youngsters might well be exciting five-eighth Brock Lamb, who was the club’s best player during the late-season revival last year. Connor Watson was promised the five-eighth jersey when he journeyed north from the Roosters but the recruitment of Mitchell Pearce has left Lamb as the odd man out. At 21, he is well and truly ready for first grade and as talented as Watson is, we’re tipping Lamb to force his way into the starting side by the end of the season.
NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS
The Cowboys win the title in dominant fashion
The Cowboys are my tip to win it all but there’s nothing fearless about that, so let’s up the degree of difficulty and say they’ll lose no more than five matches all season. That’s not quite as dominant as Melbourne were last season, but it’s pretty close — the Storm dropped four games during the regular season en route to the title. With a hellacious forward pack and tremendous depth in the middle and the spine, North Queensland have the ability to produce a season of real domination.
PARRAMATTA EELS
Kane Evans is one of the buys of the year
Brad Arthur has shown himself to be a quality coach when it comes to extracting productive football from unheralded players, particularly front-rowers. Parramatta’s group of middle forwards last year was big on hardworking grinders but had few big names and Arthur managed to propel the likes of Daniel Alvaro, Siosaia Vave and Suaia Matagi to new heights will transforming Nathan Brown into a top-class lock. The Eels were keen on adding a little more size to their rotation and went after Evans, who has shown flashes in his two seasons at the Roosters without fully delivering on his considerable physical potential. The 26-year old has only averaged more than 30 minutes a game once in his four NRL seasons — a rise in playing time and work rate could make him one of the more underrated purchases of the season.
PENRITH PANTHERS
Trent Merrin has a huge comeback season
Merrin had his most difficult year since becoming a starter last season, recording his lowest minutes per game and average metres per game since 2011 and his fewest runs per game since 2010. As a result, the Panthers lock lost his Test and Origin spots despite being a mainstay at both levels in the past. Now that Merrin has a full pre-season behind him, something he lacked last year after the Four Nations tour in 2016, the stage is set for a rollicking comeback. Merrin’s footwork and skill make him one of the best locks in the competition when he’s on and with a renewed fitness and vigour there should be plenty of good stuff in 2018.
SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS
Damien Cook enters Origin calculations
The Blues have a host of contenders to pack down at hooker this year including the incumbent Nathan Peats, Peter Wallace and Cam McInnes, but Cook could really make a run at it if he’s given the proper gametime at South Sydney. Quick off the mark and capable of playing close to 80 minutes, Cook has an electrifying quality to his play that few dummy halves in the competition can match and if he acquits himself well to start with don’t be surprised to see his name enter selection talks.
ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS
The Dragons make the top four
St George Illawarra may never find out how they managed to miss the top eight last season but Ben Hunt and James Graham would be quality purchases for any team, let alone one on the brink of the finals. Gareth Widdop is in the prime of his career and the likes of Paul Vaughan, Jack de Belin and Tyson Frizell give the Red V one of the best packs in the competition. If Euan Aitken and Tim Lafai fire and Matt Dufty becomes the player he seems destined to be, the Dragons should have lofty aspirations for 2018.
SYDNEY ROOSTERS
Sio Siua Taukeiaho is the club’s most improved player
Cooper Cronk and James Tedesco are all but certain to be big successes at Bondi but the player we’re most excited to see is Tongan international Tuakeiaho, who has been named to start at prop in Round 1. The 26-year old has been a valuable contributor for the Roosters ever since he joined the club in 2015 but after a terrific World Cup campaign, where he formed an excellent one-two punch with Jason Taumalolo, he’s poised for a breakout season. Taukeiaho was solid enough last season despite coming back from a knee reconstruction — with a stronger preparation heading into this year he’ll be a real force.
WESTS TIGERS
A rollicking late season finals run falls short
There’s been plenty written and said about the Tigers’ horror run to start the season and it really is a despicable way to get the year going. They play each of last year’s top four in the first month and then take on the Storm again in Round 5. All up, they play 11 top eight teams from last year in the first 14 weeks. But after that things even out and the joint venture has one top eight team from 2017 in the last 11 weeks. Their rough start will likely put them behind the eight ball in terms of finals footy, but we’re thinking they can turn it around late on, only to fall agonizingly short of a finals berth.
