There is a lot to cover after every round in the NRL. Throughout the 2024 season, this is a place where I’ll cover what is most important, a few little things I liked from the round, something to keep an eye on in the next one, and a try I particularly enjoyed.
The Tough Carry: Quick positives for the bottom nine teams
Tackle 1 is often the toughest carry of the set. It can make or break it. Here, it’s my biggest talking point from the round that was.
Round 27 doesn’t always teach us a lot. Half of the competition is playing for pride and starting to think about their Bali holidays. Those in the Top 8 are often locked into a position and planning ahead for Week 1 of the NRL Finals.
With that, I’m scanning the teams whose seasons end after Round 27 and touching on the positives that first come to mind.
Wests Tigers
It’s another season they’re left holding the wooden spoon, but this one feels different. They’re not rotating the same middling players through the roster. Instead, Wests are stacked with young talent, and we can assume at least some of those players will improve for 2025.
They won’t all kick on. That’s not how footy works. However, Lachlan Galvin has shown he has a future in the NRL. He threw a peach at Junior Tupou on Friday night, but it’s the build-up and adjustment that is most encouraging.
The youngster throws a long cutout pass to Josh Feledy while getting cleaned up by the defender four-in from the sideline.
He returns two plays later but with a key difference.
In swinging to the shortside late, Galvin is able to get at Dylan Brown three in which isolates the two-man. With runners inside and outside the two-in defender, Sean Russell is on his heels on the wing and unable to get up into the passing lane.
Smart footy.
It won’t be a quick fix for the Tigers. They used an NRL-high 37 players this year and are young enough that consistency will continue to be a struggle in the next. But it’s difficult to imagine this group being left with the wooden spoon in 12 months time.
South Sydney Rabbitohs
The South Sydney Rabbitohs looked like a team that had checked out towards the end of the season. When it comes to the effort areas – kick pressure, marker movements, stick in a tackle, tieing in the middle – Souths haven’t been there.
The positive: Wayne Bennett. Effort areas have never been a problem for Wayne Bennett’s teams. If nothing else, the group will have a focus on the little things within the game. From there, the talent that is still scattered throughout this roster can start to climb the ladder back towards finals relevance.
Parramatta Eels
Injuries decimated the Parramatta Eels in 2024. Every team has to deal with them at some stage. Still, Mitchell Moses playing only eight games made things too difficult for Parramatta this year. Moses is one of the best halfbacks in the NRL right now. Despite all of the dysfunction and uncertainty around the club this year, he’s good enough to make them competitive.
Clint Gutherson tried his guts out, as he does. Will Penesini took another step in his NRL career to score 10 tries, hand out five try assists, and average 128 running metres per game. Replicating or improving on his 2023 numbers in a beaten team is a positive sign for the future.
However, the rest of the roster is relatively uncertain now that Dylan Brown is expected to miss time to start the 2025 season. The coaching staff has been turned over. The playing roster looks to be next. While Parramatta managed to avoid the wooden spoon this year, my guess is that they will be part of the conversation again in March.
Gold Coast Titans
It looked at one stage like the Gold Coast Titans might struggle to win a game they started the NRL season that poorly. However, with a few good periods through the middle, the Titans managed to put themselves in the finals conversation.
Their 14th-placed finish feels about right in the end. Still, they’ve uncovered one of the best young talents in the game in the process.
Des Hasler’s fullback headache didn’t get much easier this year, with Keano Kini playing too well to be left out of the side. The 20-year-old featured six times in 2023, but when given his chance in 2024, he took it with both hands to average 212 running metres per game while scoring six tries and handing out seven try assists.
Kini’s feet are incredible. What he lacks for in size, he more than makes up for in his ability to break and evade tackles.
AJ Brimson never really got going this season. Meanwhile, Jayden Campbell seems to have found a home in the halves. Hasler might be settled on how his team will look for Round 1 in 2025, but the options and the possible headache is a good one to have.
NZ Warriors
Shaun Johnson’s final play in the NRL couldn’t have been much better. Doing it in an NRL Grand Final would obviously have been better but realistically, most players don’t have a choice in when they retire. He’s done it knowing he can still throw a winner.
It will take some time to really accept that Johnson is done with rugby league and the Warriors. However, Luke Metcalf is fit and healthy and ready to help ease the pain.
James Fisher-Harris’ arrival might help a little, too…
Brisbane Broncos
Coming off an NRL Grand Final and falling out of the Top 8, it’s difficult to take any positives out of the season for the Brisbane Broncos.
We’re scraping the bottom of the barrel if Reece Walsh, Payne Haas, Ezra Mam and Adam Reynolds missing time this season and perhaps not being so banged up heading into the next is all we’ve got.
The young players forced to feature more heavily have benefited. Brendan Piakura (18 games), Xavier Willison (19), Deine Mariner (21), Blake Mozer (8) and Ben Te Kura (3) are all 22-years old and under. Some now with considerable NRL experience.
With Adam Reynolds now 34 and very much in the final years of his career, the Broncos are in a premiership window. Despite the results this season, it’s open. How the young players develop around Reynolds will determine how open it remains in 2025.
St George-Illawarra Dragons
Shane Flanagan summed up a lot of the season for the St George Illawarra Dragons in his post-match press conference.
“No resilience. No Patience.”
This Dragons side really impressed, though. They exceeded expectations and did so by playing a tough brand of footy when up for it.
Flanagan has Damien Cook and Val Holmes arriving next season. He trusts they will bring the resilience he craves, and he mentioned he will “add some more” over the offseason.
With resilience comes some consistency. The Red V’s best is among the best in the NRL – think Round 22 against the Melbourne Storm. However, their worst is why a lot of people had them among the wooden spoon contenders before Round 1 – the last three weeks being the prime example.
Flanagan said he’s “got a lot of work to do,” but he’s starting from a relatively firm base.
The Dolphins
Injuries and age caught up with the Dolphins in the end, but this is a Top 8 quality team. To make it to Round 27 with a chance to feature in the finals is a significant achievement, even if it doesn’t feel like it following their defeat to the Knights.
I’m still very confused about Isaiya Katoa being dropped, but he’s a quality NRL half who will be among the best in the position next year. Jeremy Marshall-King might be the most underrated player in the game. It remains to be seen what the Dolphins do with Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow. Regardless, the Dolphins will play with one of the most electric centres or fullbacks next season.
If the Dolphins can get lucky in the injury department through the middle of the field, year three will be when they play finals footy for the first time in club history.
Canberra Raiders
The only way this season could have felt more Canberra Raiders is if the Dolphins and Knights had produced the Round 27 draw Ricky Stuart’s team needed to sneak into the finals before they upset somebody in Week 1.
In what has become fairly typical Raiders fashion, they lost to teams they should have beaten and beat some few expected them to even keep close to.
Being down 18-0 after 12 minutes before winning on a Corey Horsburgh grubber and collect in the dying stages is wildly fitting for a Raiders side that constantly displays the resilience Flanagan desires for his Dragons side.
If the Raiders can find the talent in key spine positions, they’re going to be a problem. Ethan Strange is one of my favourite prospects in the NRL. I’m not sure we know where Kaeo Weekes best fits, but he’s a first grader. Chevy Stewart isn’t far from being able to make the leap, too.
Setting up for a shot: RLW
Teams play to points with the following tackle in mind. Here, I’m touching on something to watch next week as we try to keep ahead of things happening on the field website.
Changes are coming to Rugby League Writers.
You may have noticed that I have been flying solo for about a month. Oscar is under the pump with real-life adult things, and that will bring change for the 2025 season. Perhaps as early as the 2024 NRL Finals. He will let you know about all of that soon.
In the meantime, I’ll still be sending out my usual pieces and a couple of extras as we approach the NRL Grand Final.
Some may have noticed the odd bug in the website. Unfortunately, the web development aspect is pushed to the side during the season. I’m looking at options for next year in between scrums and yardage sets. Things might start to look a little bit different as I tinker with various platforms, so excuse any problems there.
But that’s another NRL regular season done—our fifth. Thanks for the support so far and your patience as we sort out a few things in the next couple of weeks.
Try Time: We’ve got an exciting young player here…
Sometimes, it’s a piece of magic. Other times, it’s a basic move made to look easy. Whatever it is, all great sets end in points, so we’re doing the same here.
Who doesn’t love a try on NRL debut?
It’s hard not to get excited about the prospects of Mark Nawaqanitawase after this effort. He looks to be an incredible athlete with the potential to be an aerial wizard. The 23-year-old carries the ball hard and, most importantly for an NRL winger, is prepared to do the tough stuff out of yardage.
An off-season learning his craft will help. We could have a really good winger on our hands here. Seeing a rugby union convert make a successful switch would be great. Nawaqanitawase looks like he could be the one.