With the NRL regular season over, it’s time to review what went wrong for the eliminated teams. We begin today with the teams that finished 16 through 13 on the ladder.
Cronulla Sharks
The other shoe finally drops. After 18 months waiting for ASADA to make good on the ‘darkest day in Australian sport’, Sharks players from the 2011 squad finally received paltry bans at the end of a truly horrible season.
The Sharks were rarely competitive as they went through 37 different players and two coaches and limped into last place.
Best player: Michael Gordon. The fullback cum centre played every game for the club and at times felt like the only legitimate first grade player on the field.
Highlight: Down 22-0 after 50 minutes of the second (for Sydney viewers) Friday night game in Round 16, Sharks fan could have been forgiven for switching off.
But wow-wee what a comeback! The Sharks overran a lacklustre Broncos outfit for what would be one of only five wins all season.
Honourable Mention: the club does seem to have developed some talent with Valentine Holmes and Jacob Gagan looking lively in their short stints in the top grade.
Lowlight: Let’s just go with everything else.
Dishonorable mention: Todd Carney. Photo. Enough said.
Reason for hope: Gee its tough. Perhaps the best news for the Sharks is that the ASADA mess is now (hopefully) behind them. However problems still remain.
Paul Gallen barely played this season and seems to build his entire season around Origin rather than the Sharks. More importantly though, after firing Todd Carney, the club has no talent in the halves – which is a huge problem given that they were already scoring at a paltry 14 points per game.
2015 prediction: Bottom four. With no talent in the halves it will be tough. The nightmare continues.
Canberra Raiders
Well that was unpleasant. A year that people forget actually started well enough – two and two after four rounds including a terrific away win against the Rabbitohs, before falling off a cliff around about the time the Sea Eagles ran in their 37th try before halftime in Round 8.
The Raiders never recovered and many people continued to dance on the grave of Ricky Stuart. The club salvaged some pride winning three straight at the end of the season and road tested some future combinations, notably Jack Wighton at fullback and Mitch Cornish at halfback
Best player: Paul Vaughan. Narrowly beats out Jarrod Croker dues to his versatility in playing prop, edge and lock at various stages. Was Ricky’s plug-a-hole man in 2014 but will hope to press for NSW selection as a genuine prop in 2015.
Highlight: By a wide, wide margin – Vaughan’s last minute match-winning try against the Melbourne Storm in Round 7.
Honourable Mention: The re-signing of standout player, local boy and captain-in-waiting Jarrod Croker, to a three-year extension.
Lowlight: Many candidates, not the least of which was conceding 50 on three separate occasions. Instead lets look at the sad, sad sight of watching Terry Campese shamble through the season as a shadow of his former self
Dishonourable mention: the swings and misses in the recruitment as James Tedesco, Kevin Proctor and Josh Mansour all reportedly took less money to stay at their current clubs.
Reason for hope: The haters will say that no hope can exist while Ricky Stuart is coach but, and stop me if you’ve heard this one before, there is a lot of young talent on that roster.
The aforementioned Jack Wighton was dynamite at fullback and Mitch Cornish finally found his feet as a starting player. The boy mountain Shannon Boyd and the Italian stallion Paul Vaughan could make for a truly intimidating prop rotation.
Perhaps most intriguingly of all, the club has looked to Super League and nabbed Hull KR player of the year, and England backup hooker Josh Hodgson, to add some spark.
2015 prediction: Fringe of the eight. The revival begins, the talented kids begin to deliver
Gold Coast Titans
Yet another team that had bright beginnings to the year, before turning slowly and steadily sour. After eight rounds the Titans were six and two and sitting third on the ladder. They subsequently went three and thirteen over the remainder of the season and ended up punting foundation coach John Cartwright.
Injuries were a large part of the problem, with key contributors like Albert Kelly (12 appearances), Aidan Sezer (13 appearances) and Greg Bird (17 appearances) all missing significant time.
Best Player: Paul Carter. With key players missing so much time, the best player award for the Titans goes to a worker rather than a star. Carter impressed throughout the season with his versatility and his hard-nosed tackling and ball running.
Highlight: After slaying the Storm in Melbourne on a Sunday afternoon in Round 5, the Titans ascended to the top of the NRL ladder a position they would hold for two glorious weeks.
Honourable Mention: The dramatic come from behind win against the Bulldogs in the last game of the season to send out original Titans Mark Minichello and Luke Bailey as winners.
Lowlight: losing at home to a horrific, out-of-form Canberra Raiders team in Round 18.
Dishonourable Mention: did I mention they went 3 and 13 after Round 8?
Reason for hope: Best case scenario is that the players who missed significant time through injury manage to stay on the park next year and new coach Neil Henry is able to harness the precious attacking talents of players like Kelly, Sezer and Zillman.
2015 Prediction: lost in the mire, 14th to 10th. Still too many lost games to key players. Improvement, but marginal.
Wests Tigers
If you look up the phrase ‘hopes and dreams crushed’ you will see a photo of a Wests Tigers fan. In a familiar tale at this end of the table the Tigers began the season brightly as portents and prophesies about their remarkable core of young talent multiplied.
However as the season wore on, the youngsters wore down and the administration of the club spectacularly collapsed. The team was consistently in the eight through to the end of the Origin period, but flamed out in a forgettable six game losing streak.
Best Player: Pat Richards. Edges out the young hope Luke Brooks and the utility with ability Blake Austin. Richards defied a recent trend of Super League returnees failing to deliver as his solid defence and professionalism added much needed experience to a young backline.
Highlight: After a delayed start to his first grade career after some unpleasantness in the under 20s Origin game, Mitchell Moses announced himself with a stunning four try-assist performance in only his third game against the Bulldogs.
Just when opposition teams had begun to figure out Luke Brooks, along came his mate to up the ante.
Honourable Mention(s): every single Pat Richards up and under kickoff and the excellent response of the club to the plight of Simon Dwyer.
Lowlight: the truly pathetic will-he-or-won’t-he-be-fired saga with regard to Mick Potter.
Dishonourable mention: the realisation that maybe Benji Marshall wasn’t the problem in the frayed Benji-Robbie Farah relationship?
Reason for Hope: Brooks, Moses, Aaron Woods, Farah, Curtis Sironen, Dave Noafaluma and Tedesco all signed up until the end of 2017. If they can’t win with that core, then they should be demoted to NSW Cup.
2015 prediction: Incomplete. Until we know what they’re going to do at coach then its simply too hard to know what is going to happen with this team.
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