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Opinion
We’ve had two rounds in the NRL and already some trends are emerging about which teams look set for finals contention and which ones are heading the other way.
Four teams are yet to win a game – South Sydney, Manly, the Warriors and Wests Tigers – and while there’s plenty of optimism for the Rabbitohs and Sea Eagles to break out of their funk, the other two look like they’re in for a long winter ahead.
But it’s only early days – the Tigers are hoping the return of Adam Doueihi will spark a mid-season resurgence while the Warriors also have a key playmaker in Shaun Johnson on the injured list who should make a difference when he returns.
Last year’s wooden spooners Canterbury have shown improvement by splitting their first two games of 2022 while North Queensland, who finished in second-last spot last season, have done likewise.
As always, let us know in the comments who you think will be the cellar dwellers for this season.
Raiders, Dragons, Warriors, Tigers: It’s been a tough start for these teams and they’ve got a few players unavailable which will make it tough for them as the season goes on.
Warriors, Tigers, Broncos, Bulldogs: All signs point to the Wests Tigers collecting the wooden spoon but the Warriors are a Reece Walsh injury away from giving them a run for their money. Brisbane and Canterbury are better than last season but the Dogs still lack an on-field organiser and discipline while the Broncos are uber reliant on Adam Reynolds’ ageing frame.
(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
Bulldogs, Cowboys, Warriors, Tigers: The Dogs will be better than 2021, probably by quite a lot, but will still be a few years off actually being good. They’ll finish with around eight wins, which is big improvement on their three last time out.
The Cowboys are going to struggle because they struggle to win outside of Townsville and are very dependent on certain players being fit, especially Jason Taumalolo.
The Warriors are set to struggle a lot based on their first two rounds. If they get everyone on deck that might be different but a third year on the road might well end up being too much for them. The outside backs lack a lot and all the Walshs and Johnsons in the world can’t save that.
The Tigers are the worst team in the league on the evidence of two weeks and will probably be the first to sack their coach too. If they do that they might improve in the long run but likely not enough to lift themselves off the bottom of the table.
Tigers, Warriors, Bulldogs, Raiders: The Raiders are my surprise packets to drop to the bottom four but they’re missing key personnel and have been on the slide for a few years now. The Warriors will continue to struggle under a coach who hasn’t had success in seemingly ever, while the Bulldogs are better than last year but remember how bad they were in 2021?
As for the spoon, it’s the Tigers’ turn to take home the dreaded timberware – they were dreadful against the Knights and ‘brave’ against a seriously undermanned Storm but still couldn’t win. It’ll be a pattern.
Cowboys, Tigers, Warriors, Bulldogs: After the first two rounds, the Tigers look like the team most likely to get the wooden spoon. The Bulldogs and Cowboys do seem to have shown signs of improvement, but the Tigers look disinterested already and it’s only Round 2.
On paper, the Warriors have a good squad, but it’s remains to be seen whether sure their coach has the ability to take advantage of the talent in the team.
Josh Curran. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
Raiders, Warriors, Cowboys, Tigers: A caveat: 6-14 will be pretty tight so finishing bottom four won’t necessarily mean a season is a true shocker. In saying that – Canberra are in a world of hurt with severe ‘spinal’ injuries and are now stuck with journeymen and kids in key positions for the rest of the season. They need on-field leaders to really stand up.
New Zealand, as usual, are battling but lacking polish. They need to be able to play at home. North Queensland haven’t evolved as much as expected under Todd Payten. Wests Tigers have fallen on their face and can’t get up. Their whole set-up needs a true knockdown/rebuild, which isn’t easy to do in the NRL.
Tigers, Warriors, Cowboys, Bulldogs: The worst kept secret in rugby league is the fact that the Tigers will finish last on the NRL ladder in 2022. Wests simply do not have the talent pool to do much better, are likely to have a sacked coach at some point in the season and the inept performance against the Knights on Sunday was just one of plenty more to come.
The Warriors continue to be a side of which many remain unconvinced. Brave against the Titans on the weekend, the long-term forecast appears to be another season of inconsistency where their best is pretty good and their worst befitting of a bottom-four side.
While the Cowboys look likely to develop, there does appear to still be a long way to go when it comes to potentially cracking the top eight. The Raiders’ scalp was a good one to claim, yet a tough stretch of matches over the next month or so could well see them found out and back mired in the battling pack.
Everybody seems convinced that the Bulldogs will be better in 2022, however there has been little evidence of that so far. Sure, the win against the Cowboys in Round 1 was gutsy, yet it was also littered with all the clunky attack of recent seasons. Until a reliable solution at halfback takes over the helm, Canterbury may well settle in 13th come season’s end.
(Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)
Cowboys, Bulldogs, Tigers, Warriors: The coaches of these four teams are under the most pressure. Underperforming players, inconsistent efforts, new combinations that will take a while to click and outside noise that will eventually have an impact. Warriors look like they’ll be taking home the spoon. Another year away from home will take its toll.
Canterbury – 13th: They will surely improve on previous seasons, but a rebuild takes time.
Cowboys – 14th: They’ll pull off some wins against higher teams but they still have limited cattle.
Warriors – 15th: They’ll put up some good fights, and even win some, but another year on the road is just too much to overcome.
Tigers – 16th: Gee, it is really hard to see where the wins are coming from. There’ll be one or two but the spoon looks to be theirs in 2022.
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