Whoops, the 2015 NRL premiership race is wide open again

A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece that opined that the 2015 NRL premiership race had three contenders, and plenty of pretenders.

I nominated the Sydney Roosters, North Queensland Cowboys and South Sydney Rabbitohs as the three teams that would win this year’s competition, based upon the first two team’s impressive form, and the latter team’s mantle of being the defending premiers.

Silly, silly me.

What I failed to include in the piece was the caveat that I was not factoring in any injuries to key players of those teams. I should have known better, and deserve any criticism that comes my way, but considering it’s not something one can predict I’ll give myself a little latitude.

Which is extremely convenient because after the round’s action the premiership race is now wide open, due to a number of serious injuries to star players from those three teams.

On Friday night, the Bunnies’ best player, Greg Inglis, limped off the field with a knee injury. The next day, the Cowboys’ Michael Morgan and James Tamou were both taken from the field on stretchers and transported to hospital with neck and ankle injuries, respectively. Then on Saturday night, the Roosters suffered potentially season-ending injuries to both Mitchell Pearce (hamstring) and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (knee).

Though injuries are a part of sport, to see three of the best teams lose some of their best players was more than a little depressing. As fans of the game – first and foremost – we always want to see the best players playing, especially come finals time.

Though the full extent of all these injuries isn’t known at the time of writing, it’s been confirmed that Inglis will definitely miss at least Thursday night’s clash with the Broncos after he had minor surgery on his knee Monday afternoon.

Sadly for the Roosters, Waerea-Hargreaves is confirmed to be out for the rest of the season, while Pearce is estimated to miss at least a month of action.

Meanwhile, for the Cowboys, Tamou has been cleared of any serious damage to his neck, but there is no word on if he will miss any time. The news on Morgan isn’t as positive, with fears he may be done for the year.

Though all three teams have depth, and probably believe they can cover the injuries if absolutely needed, I’m not nearly as confident.

Souths can’t win the competition without Inglis and need him back on deck as soon as possible. However, it’s clear he won’t be 100 per cent healthy any time soon either, which increases the concerns about a team that already had form issues.

Morgan is arguably North Queensland’s second most important player, and if he were to be ruled out for the rest of the season the Cowboys would suddenly drop dramatically in favouritism.

The Roosters can probably do the best job of replacing their lost stars, but one can’t deny that the Chooks’ mission to win the premiership would get exponentially harder.

So where does that leave the competition?

Brisbane remains tied at the top of the ladder with the Roosters and Cowboys and have been consistently good all year long. However, Saturday night was a ‘statement game’ for the Broncos: a chance to come to Sydney, knock-off the Roosters, and show everyone that they’re serious premiership contenders this season.

Sadly, despite the injuries to Pearce and Waerea-Hargreaves, along with plenty of opportunities to win the game, Brisbane couldn’t get it done. The Roosters deserved to win the match, but Wayne Bennett’s men still had their chances and just couldn’t capitalise.

It’s foolish to eliminate the Broncos based on just one game, so I’m not, especially when it was an entertaining and brilliant performance from both teams, but the fact remains that questions about Brisbane in big games against good teams are still somewhat unanswered.

Thursday night’s encounter against the Rabbitohs now takes on greater importance for Brisbane, as they need a confidence-builder heading into the finals.

Cronulla bounced back from a Melbourne Storm belting the week before, but how much credence should we put into a win against Wests? The Tigers are essentially the NRL’s Washington Generals at this point of the season. Google it if you don’t get the reference.

Despite last night’s loss, Melbourne are the NRL’s best kept secret, because you can get good betting value for a team that has premiership experience, still trots out superstars Cam Smith and Cooper Cronk surrounded with hard-working role players, and is coached by Craig Bellamy. I would never rule the Storm out – despite the minor detail that I did three weeks ago.

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs suddenly look dangerous in attack – the one area they looked horrible in all year long. With their dominating forward pack and the coaching nous of Des Hasler, the Dogs’ fans hopes are high again, and rightfully so.

The 2015 NRL premiership race? It be wide open, folks.

Which all just proves what an idiot I am for making outlandish statements on teams’ fortunes when there was still plenty of football to go in the season.

Lesson learnt.