NRL finals series 2024: anyone can win this year’s NRL premiership | Bulldog’s Bite

There is no team in standout form heading into this year’s NRL finals series, writes DEAN RITCHIE. With the ultimate prize up for grabs, who is best placed to take advantage?

For all the hype, anticipation and excitement, this could be the weakest finals series in years.

There are plenty of good sides, but none that are great.

I can’t find a truly elite side.

Without sounding disrespectful, they all sit on a mediocre level side-by-side.

I ask you this.

Would one team contesting this year’s finals have beaten any of the last six premiers?

Answer? No.

As wonderful and exhilarating as this NRL season has been, the usual high-quality teams that light up the finals just won’t be there this year.

No team is in standout form and the overall standard and depth is substandard compared to previous seasons.

Why? The season is too long and the game has become too fast.

This could be the weakest finals series in years, writes Dean Ritchie. Picture: Getty Images

Teams heading into the finals are mentally and physically buggered, hence some of the lopsided score lines over the weekend.

In fact, there could be robust arguments mounted over why all of the finals-bound teams will struggle to claim rugby league’s top prize.

Melbourne (they did rest 11 players), Bulldogs, Roosters and Sharks all lost last weekend, as did the Dragons.

I can find more reasons why a side will lose than win.

Melbourne has done exceedingly well this year but there’s no way this Storm side would beat the teams that won grand finals in 2017 and 2020.

To think that this Melbourne side is four points clear shows the competition is inferior compared to recent seasons.

The Storm are gritty and disciplined – and Craig Bellamy will have them ready for the finals – but the ’17 premiership side would beat this team by 12 points.

And you cannot tell me this year’s Penrith side would beat any of the teams which have claimed successive titles over the past three seasons?

Penrith is still probably the best side in the NRL but the Panthers have still fallen back to the field – rival teams haven’t caught up.

Melbourne Storm rested 11 players in Round 26. Picture: Getty Images

Most coaches agree the season is too long and the NRL is also aware.

Manly was beaten by last-placed Wests Tigers 13 days ago and Canberra has bowled over hot-shots Penrith and the Roosters in successive weeks.

Results are askew and no team is jumping from the pack.

There have also been a lot of injuries spaced out evenly across the season. Melbourne, Penrith, Canberra and the Roosters have rarely been at full strength once this season.

This year’s finals will be interesting but the usual top-tier calibre sides will be missing.

There’s some damn fine footy sides ready to compete but are any of them exceptionally extraordinary?

Nup.

The NRL’s heavyweights have rarely been at full strength once this season, with a spate of injuries. Picture: Getty Images

DOG TREATS

The mysterious Coach Whisperer, Bradley C Stubbs, reckons he could have helped inspire Brisbane to a top two finish this year – if he’d been consulted.

“A media report suggested I am working with Kevin Walters. This is untrue. If I was working with Kevin, the Broncos would be in the top two on the table,” he said.

“But I do wish my mate, Kevin, all the very best for the rest of the year.”

*****

Talk about a power lunch.

We spotted the great John Singleton sharing a meal with swimming legend Dawn Fraser and NFL great Colin Scotts at Saddles in Mount White last week.

“It was a wonderful lunch at ‘Singo’s restaurant,” Scotts said

(L-R) Colin Scotts, Dawn Fraser and John Singleton spotted at lunch together.

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Well-known Sydney businessman Mark Bouris is certainly a man of the people.

The Sydney Roosters director spurned the delights of a private suite to sit among the general public for Sunday’s match against Canberra.

TV personality Scott Cam was also spotted in the Allianz Stadium crowd.

*****

Which former State of Origin star was a key figure behind a player’s shock code swap recently?

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Bulldogs NRLW signing Tegan Dymock and her dad Jim.

Canterbury this week announced Tegan Dymock – the daughter of Bulldogs legend Jimmy – had signed a two-year deal with the club’s 2025 NRLW squad.

A club press statement read: “Dymock, who has been instrumental in Cronulla’s undefeated campaign so far, is another member of the Bulldogs family who will join the club’s inaugural NRLW season.

“A tough and versatile lock forward, Tegan is the daughter of 1995 (Canterbury) premiership-winner and former interim coach, Jim.”

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Which entertainers will be named to perform at the NRL grand final? We’re told the choice will be Australian artists who are popular among the game’s younger fans.

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Notice the amount of empty seats for England’s cricket Test match against Sri Lanka at Lord’s last week?

We’re reliably told the cheapest adult tickets cost a whopping 95 pounds – $185 Aus.

English broadcaster Jonathan Agnew wrote: “There are times administrators need to give Test cricket a bit of a leg-up, a bit of help.”

*****

Which recently inducted Hall of Famer travelled to Sydney last weekend to attend an NRL game?

Originally published as NRL finals series 2024: anyone can win this year’s NRL premiership | Bulldog’s Bite