2020 NRL Jersey Rankings

2020 NRL Jersey Rankings

James Caughlin

The 2020 NRL season begins this weekend and every side will have their eyes on raising the ultimate prize in October.

Everyone has come up with their own preseason rankings but here at Neds, we have the only one that matters at this time of year: who has the best jersey heading into the new season.

After last year’s wonderful, well written and universally lauded (in the author’s mind at least) 2019 jersey rankings were met with total agreement (allegedly), we’re back to go through the jerseys of all 16 clubs and sort the high end fashion from the bargain bin junk.

Let’s get down to business.

16 – Sharks

The Best ’n’ Less jersey is back again with what looks like an awkward chest hole, they’ve looked a lot better with previous jerseys and a new one can’t come soon enough.

15 – Storm

“Yes, hello Melbourne Victory, can we borrow a design you guys weren’t going to use at any point in the next 20 years? We’ll just make it purple”

The Storm have had some rippers in the past… not so much this one.

14 – Sea Eagles

Manly doesn’t have the most flattering colour palette to work with but they have made it work in the past with the white hoops.

This season they have gone for maroon with a white chevron on the chest that probably looked alright in the original design process but really doesn’t translate onto the players.

13 – Broncos

I wasn’t a huge fan of the Broncos jersey last year and they’ve brought back the same design for 2020.

The maroon to gold to maroon style just doesn’t work although the inverted colour scheme on the away one isn’t as bad.

12 – Rabbitohs

Cody might have been everywhere… except for higher on our list.

The biggest question about how to make this jersey better is simple, should the red stripes be thinner or thicker?

Not to mention there should be a major points deduction for the away jersey just swapping out white for black AND KEEPING THE FEATURE PART OF THE JERSEY EXACTLY THE SAME, IT’S NOT THAT DIFFERENT!

11 – Knights

Newcastle was always going to have a red and blue mixture on their jersey and while this isn’t awful, it doesn’t look great either.

Maybe I’m just nostalgic for the stripes of the Joey Johns era.

10 – Raiders

Last year’s losing grand finalists know their look and the white-collar helps this jersey pop.

The rest of the design is all fairly bland and predictable but the Raiders fans will tell you in between Viking claps “It’s not a fashion competition” as they claim a refereeing conspiracy against them.

9 – Eels

It’s certainly an upgrade on last season’s effort and firmly has the Eels in the middle tier of NRL jerseys for 2020.

It’s not quite elite level but way better than some of the others.

8 – Roosters

Why change a winning formula?

It’s worked for them for the last two seasons, can they complete the hat-trick in 2020?

7 – Bulldogs

It’s the same as last season, there’s no need to go too far off the grid with this design.

Now the main reason why we have them ranked so highly; white & blue hoops gets a huge tick of approval.

6 – Dragons

The Red V, enough said.

5 – Warriors

Any jersey that brings back memories of Stacey Jones is a big winner in my mind.

Same as last year we’ll give props to the Warriors for this one.

4 – Cowboys

Something different for the boys from Townsville in 2020 and this jersey hits all the right areas while still maintaining that “classic Cowboys” look.

To be totally honest, they would have been even higher if they’d decided to roll out their Nines jersey during the season proper.

3 – Panthers

It’s essentially the same design as their 2019 jersey which we rated very highly and are happy to share our thoughts again.

“The Panthers have hit a home run with this jersey that will make them one of the most aesthetically pleasing teams this season.

It’s not flashy, it’s not overdone, it just works. “

Some may find a bright pink away jersey a bit garish, not here though, at the very least it’s a unique look that really stands out.

2 – Tigers

How can you not love this excellent looking jersey, the orange V with white trim pops and will have the Titans looking very slick as they charge to the finals this year.

Bonus points as well for a proper away strip which follows the same design but swaps the black and white parts around.

1 – Titans

Yeah we’re biased, but can you blame us? Justin Holbrook’s outfit will be looking sharp in these jerseys (proudly adorned with the Neds logo front & centre) all season long.

Not to mention a mighty fine away jersey too.