Which NRL team should you cheer for now that yours has missed the finals?

So, is your team getting ready for Mad Monday?

It may be a case of another season done, another finals series missed. You know this all too well, but it doesn’t make it any easier.

Or maybe you are walking around in circles so confused, just in absolute disbelief that your team didn’t make the top 8.

Whether it be the familiar feeling of disappointment or the feeling of complete shock, you must accept and acknowledge that you are not playing finals footy.

It’s ok. Have a cry. Let it out. You are in a safe space. We have all been there.

Alright. Once you have picked yourself up off the floor, dusted yourself off, and stopped going over and over that one game you should have won in your head, you are ready to decide who your finals team will be.

You need to do this. Knowing your boys won’t be playing for premiership glory is hard, but there is someone else out there to cheer for. No, it’s not the same, but it’s something.

So, what are your options? Let’s have a look.

Do you love winning, and don’t care if people like you or not? Then the Storm are your team. They are just a next level – they have done everything right this year, are a first-class side and finished the regular season at the top.

Craig Bellamy and his boys are ready to add another trophy to the grand final cabinet and have shown again and again that they can do it with everyone behind them or against them.

Do you like winning, have bad manners and are over-the-top about everything? Then jump on the Penrith bandwagon.

Their attitude and post-try celebrations have frustrated many, but their fans wouldn’t have them any other way. The old saying “You can’t win a grand final until you have lost one” might come true this year if the Panthers play their cards right.

They were the bridesmaids last year but have shown that they are more than ready to go one step further this year.

Do you like fairy tales, and hate when clubs are known as ‘one-man teams’? Then make your way over to The Burrow.

South Sydney will be saying farewell to their Commander in Chief Wayne Bennett and one of their most beloved sons Adam Reynolds at the end of this season, and they would love nothing more then to send them both out with a premiership. And they would also like to show everyone they can win without Latrell.

You may have come to the realisation – like I did in my article last week – that you don’t hate Manly as much as you once did, and you really like the Trbojevic brothers.

Then give them a go. After the phenomenal season Tommy Turbo has had, seeing as he will more than likely take out the Dally M, you may feel he deserves the premiership trophy at the end of the year too.

(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

Are you a fan of the Chumbawumba song Tubthumping? Then the Roosters are for you.

“I get knocked down, but I get up again, you are never going to keep me down” must have been their mantra this year, because it didn’t matter how many of their superstars were injured, suspended, or forced into early retirement, the Tricolours have dug deep, continued to show up every week, and despite all the obstacles they have faced this year, they still easily made it into the top 8.

Are you a sympathetic soul who takes pity on those who are suffering and less fortunate? Then slowly walk over and put your arms around the Eels. Each year, after they win their first game of the season, they declare “This is our year!” And then, it is not.

They haven’t won a premiership for 35 years and are very sad about it. If you are drawn to helping the needy, go and show them some love and support.

Eels head coach Brad Arthur (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

Are you the kind of person that always has a big night out, then wakes up the next morning not knowing how you got home safely? Or maybe you sleep in every day, and then somehow manage to fumble and fluke your way to getting to work on time?

Then Newcastle is your team. Going into the finals having won as many games as they have lost, and with a point’s differential worse than the 11th placed Dragons, even the Knights themselves are wondering how they made it.

And finally, do you want to step out of the shadows of your older brothers? Or do you get invited to parties under sufferance, and everyone is surprised when you turn up? Then, get behind the Titans.

Up until yesterday afternoon the boys were planning their end of season trip, but after thrashing the Warriors they shocked everyone by taking eighth spot. And they would also love to rub a grand final win in the faces of the Broncos and the Cowboys.

So that’s it! There are your choices. I hope I have been helpful.

I’m sorry if your team didn’t make it. As the saying goes, there is always next year.

Despite who you are cheering for during these next few weeks, or who the last one standing is at the end, it is going to be a cracking final series and I can’t wait.