With almost a third of the 2015 NRL season having now passed, let’s now take a look back at how the season has unfolded so far.
After eight rounds, the Brisbane Broncos and St George Illawarra Dragons jointly lead the competition with six wins each, with the Melbourne Storm and North Queensland Cowboys rounding out the top four with five wins apiece.
The fact that the Dragons are up there is a massive surprise given the club were touted as wooden spoon favourites at the beginning of the season and had lost their first two games without so much firing a shot in attack.
The poor start to the season led to a Twitter campaign by the club’s fans, fed up by the lack of success in the years that followed their premiership win in 2010, to #SaveOurSaints and #OustDoust.
It looked set to continue when they fell three tries behind a quarter into their match against the Canberra Raiders at GIO Stadium. But since half-time of that match, the club has conceded just six tries in defence.
Six straight wins later and the club has rediscovered the form that saw them win the premiership in 2010. Benji Marshall has reaped the benefits of a full pre-season since joining the club nearly twelve months ago and he was named man of the match in the Anzac Day win over the Roosters.
The other big story after Round 8 is the rebirth of the Brisbane Broncos under Wayne Bennett, who returned to the club this year after three-year stints at both the Dragons and the Newcastle Knights.
After the club was thrashed 36-6 by South Sydney in Round 1, the club has worked its way up to the top of the ladder and has lost just once more up to this point, a narrow 12-10 verdict against the Dragons at Kogarah Oval in Round 7.
Fullback Anthony Milford has slotted into the Broncos’ backline well and with Darius Boyd still to return from an Achilles injury, the club could emerge as one of the dark horses of the competition.
The Melbourne Storm still remain up there as one of the top teams of the competition, despite pre-season predictions that they and the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles could be headed for a decline this season after so many years in the upper half of the ladder.
True to pre-season predictions, the Sea Eagles find themselves in last place on the ladder after registering just two wins from their opening eight matches, both against the Storm in Rounds 2 and 8.
It’s very clear that the club’s long period of sustained success, in which it has not missed the finals since 2004 and won two premierships, as well as salary cap constraints, is starting to catch up to the current squad.
On top of Glenn Stewart and Anthony Watmough leaving the club at the end of last season, the halves, Kieran Foran and Daly Cherry-Evans, will also depart for the Parramatta Eels and Gold Coast Titans at the end of this season.
But the biggest surprise has to come out of the last two premiers, with both the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Sydney Roosters failing to live up to pre-season expectations, though they do have injuries to deal with on both fronts.
The two sides sit in sixth and twelfth on the ladder respectively – the latter having lost four games in a row for the first time since Trent Robinson replaced Brian Smith as head coach at the end of 2012.
The injuries to high-profile recruit Blake Ferguson, as well as that of Queensland Origin star Aidan Guerra, have contributed to the losing streak. However, the Chooks have been competitive throughout, with the club’s last three losses in particular being by no more than four points.
Therefore, to say the least the Roosters haven’t been playing that badly and that is reflected in their points differential which is a league-best second (+37) only behind the Storm (+42).
The absence of Adam Reynolds for the Rabbitohs hasn’t helped either, with the club having now lost three on the trot since he went down with a serious knee injury in the controversial Good Friday match against the Bulldogs in Round 5.
The club faces a fourth straight loss when it fronts up to the joint-ladder leading Dragons in two Mondays time. In the meantime, the club can use this weekend off to regroup ahead of the dreaded State of Origin period which is expected to cost the club the services of Greg Inglis and Chris McQueen.
The Sharks had emerged as one of the form teams over the past month, notching up victories over the Roosters, Knights and Rabbitohs before losing to the Penrith Panthers 26-18 last Sunday.
The big name coming out of Remondis Stadium is Jack Bird, who earned praise for his performances since debuting against the Roosters in Round 5. So impressive was his form that the struggling Ben Barba has been used on the bench since returning from suspension in Round 6.
The Parramatta Eels and New Zealand Warriors have both failed to fire in 2015, despite the high expectations placed on them this season.
The Eels’ Round 4 win over the Rabbitohs raised some optimism and hopes among their fans, but there have been some disappointing losses as well including a home loss to the Gold Coast Titans in Round 6.
And after narrowly failing to make the finals last season, the New Zealand Warriors have also underperformed this season, suffering defeats to all three Queensland clubs and only winning in Australia once, against the Raiders in Round 2.
While the Raiders are the only team that are yet to win at home this season, they have won four matches from five on the road, including a recent 30-22 victory over the wounded South Sydney Rabbitohs in Cairns on the weekend.
Those are just some of the biggest stories to emerge from the first eight rounds of the 2015 NRL season. And there will be some questions asked of the teams as we enter the dreaded State of Origin period.
Can the Rabbitohs and Roosters rediscover their mojo? Just how far can the Broncos and Dragons go this season?
Which teams should we be watching out for in the run to September? And can the Sea Eagles avoid the wooden spoon?
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