North, south, east and west of the rugby league geographical spectrum will all feature in my top four for the 2015 season.
It is now halfway through the season, so let us ask the question, why do two teams currently in the top four miss out?
Why do the other two teams deserve a place? This article will take into account injury, form, Origin and other factors to determine the top four.
Let us start with the teams that will miss out, most notably the Cowboys, who I think just miss the top four this year.
Reason being their reliance heavily on origin stars Michael Morgan, Johnathan Thurston, James Tamou and Matt Scott who provide both their forward drive and their attacking flare.
Origin will hit them hard and any injury to the above mentioned players will spell disaster. Also to be taken into consideration is that the Cowboys lost their first four games of the season and have had a few narrow wins, against Melbourne, Parramatta and the Wests Tigers.
They could easily lose a few close games this season and a losing streak is not far away.
The Dragons. They are solid team, but they are not solid enough to make the top four. They might just run out puff.
Their spine is solid, with Gareth Widdop, Benji Marshall and Josh Dugan all in good form, but where they really fall down is the lack of any star forward outside of Trent Merrin. Their outside backs apart from Dugan still have a lot to be desired.
The Dragons will continue to beat teams this season but they don’t quite have the firepower to match the top four.
For the Roosters, I think the amount of representative players in the team says it all. To put into that, James Maloney and Daniel Tupou are form players who can’t even get a gig in the NSW team. This is of no concern to Roosters fans.
Much rests of the form of Jared Warea Hardgreaves, if he can be fit, the Roosters are title contenders.The Roosters have been there and done it in 2013 and went within a whisper last year, they are hard to overlook. I think 2015 will be a year that Roosters fans will have plenty to crow about.
The south end of town now, Melbourne. Three words: Cronk, Slater, Smith.
The ‘Big Three’ sum up Melbourne’s season. If Billy Slater recovers from his shoulder injury and Cooper Cronk comes back injury free they will be a force to be reckoned with. Alongside this they have Cameron Smith who is in sensational form, even for the ever performing Australian captain.
Also Craig Bellamy has a knack of turning good players into superstars and the likes of Will Chambers and Ryan Hinchliffe are benefiting from this. While they may struggle after Origin when their stars are out I think that the storm have done enough to scrape into the top four, but only just. Their season depends totally on the injury status of Cronk and Slater,if those two are fit and they breeze into the top four, without them they may be replaced by the Rabbits.
Canterbury are the dark horse the make the four, especially seeing an injury to James Graham will have their inspirational leader sidelined for a few weeks.
Yet the recent form of Josh Reynolds and Moses Mybye is strong and sees Des Hasler having a nice problem to decide his starting halves. The Morris boys will return strong from Origin and the addition of Brett to the team will do wonders.
Lastly to Brisbane. Sitting on top of the ladder, with in-form stars Tony Milford, Jack Reed and Ben Hunt and the experience of Corey Parker and Justin Hodges, the Broncos have ability all over the park.
Throw in coach Wayne Bennet and it is no wonder that they sit atop of the ladder at the halfway mark of the season. Bennett has been in this position before and knows what it takes to muster wins together at the end of the season.
Darius Boyd is only going to get stronger as he continues from his return from injury and their mix of experience and youth will put them in good stead come September.
Here we see how form, experience, youth and Origin will all play a pivotal role in deciding the top four. As history shows us, no team from outside it has ever won a premiership.
The race is on…
Justthetip
Guest
Bails we can't wait. Everyone knows the cowboys have it over the bunnies.
Joe
Roar Rookie
Oops, forgot about Isaac Luke, he definitely is a big part of the Rabbits go forward. If they get some consistency in the 2nd half of the season then yes they should be able to get into the top 4.
Joe
Roar Rookie
After last nights game, I don't think the Storm will make the top 4 if Slater doesn't come back and Cronk is out for a few weeks. They played Parramatta at AAMI and Parramatta had injuries to their fullback and hooker early and a couple of the rest were busted but still played out the game and the Storm still couldn't put them away. We'll win a few games with Smith back but Cronks kicking game especially was sorely missed as the halves managed to hand Parramatta several 7 tackle sets at the back end of the game when they could least afford it. If they make the 8 I'll be happy as it then become a whole new competition.
The Prize_Man
Roar Pro
No. He was easily the best last year. Grubby? maybe, but aren't they all "grubby" to some degree?
3 Hats
Guest
Last Season South Sydney...PREMIERS Last Season Cows...a bloody joke who blames the REFS. FOR EVERY PATHETIC LOSS.
Little Red Rooster
Guest
With a mile of help from the officials..it won't happen this year.. You've had your " mercy comp" Souths supporters...
Little Red Rooster
Guest
dont you mean grubbiest forward in the game?
Wayne S
Guest
What about StGeorge??
Doug Graves
Guest
True but all those sides could also pile on the points. Dragons can't. Apart from 1 game against the shambolic sharks their offense is very ordinary at best.
up in the north
Roar Rookie
All I can add to this post is in defence of the Cowbies. They aren't playing good footy yet. But they are blessed by the football gods with a very good start in the first half of the season. I expect JT to have a spell as was indicated earlier in the year, for him at his age it would be a shrewd move after Origin. Finally there's some depth to cover for him with Coote and Morgan and Granville, with either Thompson or Lui chiming in as required. No dramas getting into the final four. As Daryl Kerrigan said, "tell them they're dreaming".
American Dave
Guest
Kiddo you might want to check your shoulder, there appears to be a massive chip on it. As to the rest after spending the last few years being force fed "this pride of the league" tripe, the bunnies should fade away.....
Bails
Guest
NRL Premierships NthQLD 0 Souths 1 see you in rnd 23
Wascally Wabbit
Guest
Joe, we played very poorly against Tigers, but have Issac Luke, Turner and Stewart to come back as well, with hopefully Reynolds' form improving with more game time. What people seem to forget is that we played quite poorly for 3/4 's of 2014, and really only played well towards the end of the season.
Wascally Wabbit
Guest
Bails Premierships Souths - 21 North Queensland - 0
Christian D'Aloia
Roar Guru
Woah, why would justice be served if the Bulldogs are at the bottom of the ladder?
Bails
Guest
steveng, last year 2014 rnd 16 North Queensland 20, South Sydney 18 rnd 23 South Sydney 10, North Queensland 22 2015 rnd 6 South Sydney 12, North Queensland 30 see you in rnd 23
Joe
Roar Rookie
I'll see how the Storm go tonight as that will give a good indication of the cover they have for Slater/Cronk with Munster/Hampton. I'm hoping these two also have a decent combination going as they are pretty much the future of the Storm. The biggest loss as you've said is Smith as there is no adequate cover for him so hopefully he gets through Origin ok. Was disappointed with how the forwards went against the Roosters a few weeks back especially since they had the by the previous week and should have been refreshed. I hope that was a one off performance and they aim up for the rest of the season. Also I think they'll need some strike power out wide without Koroibete so hopefully Duffy gets a chance as he is great under the kicks.
SpongeBob
Guest
Not sure where to view stats like this, I'm pretty sure Storm win a fair bit without those 3, vs the Cowboys with no Thurston basically means no win. The Broncos are often towards the top 10 games in, then slowly dwindle down and are clinging to stay in the top 8 come seasons end. Will be interesting to see how they go this year. But hey, last year Manly a month out from the finals were the team to beat and were short odds of winning it all; only to slump into the finals and get knocked out in straight sets. You just never know!
big J
Guest
Steven G That is BS and you know it!!!!!
big J
Guest
I agree, the Bulldogs won't make the four and if there is any justice in the world, they won't make the eight and be at the bottom of the ladder where they belong ,right next to Manly. Having said that, the Cowboys will make the finals and get shafted again (that will make it four years running), the Broncos are having great year but I doubt they'll be there on GF day. on the Storm if they can be injury free they should make it to the GF. Personally I would love to see the Bunnies and the Storm for the GF, it would be a great game. the Roosters well they aren't even worth a mention.