13th – Gold Coast Titans
NRL season 2024 was the year that could’ve been for the Gold Coast Titans.
New Head Coach Des Hasler had plenty of balls in the air to begin the season, juggling with all four spine positions while introducing a completely new system on both sides of the ball.
Already figuring things out on the run, the Titans then lost Tino Fa’asuamaleuai and Jayden Campbell in the early rounds and had to start all over again.
A 15 week period in the middle of the year (Rounds 8 – 22) is the best and truest indication of the direction Hasler has this Gold Coast side headed.
Finally settling on a nice balance between Kieran Foran, Campbell and Keano Kini in attack, the Titans won eight from 13 as well as dropping narrow games to Melbourne and Newcastle.
During this period we saw a Gold Coast side who chanced their arm in yardage, cashed in through repeatable actions down their left edge and defended aggressively from the middle.
Inside 12 months, Hasler has found his first-choice spine and developed some very likable combinations on either edge (David Fifita, Brian Kelly and Alofiana Khan-Pereira are going to be a problem for seasons to come).
There are still questions around where AJ Brimson fits into this roster but there’s plenty to be optimistic about on the Gold Coast for season 2025.
14th – New Zealand Warriors
If 2024 was the year that could’ve been for the Titans, then it was the year that never was for the One New Zealand Warriors.
A combination of bad luck and bad form saw the host of players who enjoyed career-years in 2023 fail to carry that quality into season 2024.
Not once did we see the same starting 13 players take the field in consecutive weeks as Head Coach Andrew Webster constantly responded to a growing injury list, and that lack of continuity and cohesion cost the Warriors in pressure moments.
Their clinical right edge wasn’t nearly as efficient this year and New Zealand’s third-best defence of 2023 feels like a distant memory after conceding an average 24 points per game this season.
They’ll farwell some key names over the summer but the addition of James Fisher-Harris and a healthy Luke Metcalf is reason enough to believe the Wahs will be back up again in season 2025.
15th – South Sydney Rabbitohs
The best ability is availability and South Sydney drew the short straw in that regard this year.
Jason Demetriou’s mid-season departure speaks volumes about a variety of issues that plagued the club in 2024, but the casualty ward alone was a significant factor.
The Rabbitohs simply had too many key players miss too many games this season to ever be a real chance; starting quality names like Jai Arrow, Lachlan Ilias, Latrell Mitchell, Tevita Tatola, Isaiah Tass, Campbell Graham, Tyrone Munro and Siliva Havili all managed less than 15 appearances this season.
As recently as in NRL Round 25, just five first-choice Rabbitohs started the game against the Newcastle Knights.
Add to that a defensive system that will rank as one of the worst we’ve ever seen in the NRL and South Sydney barely left the blocks in the 2024 premiership race – but…
Wayne Bennett will return over the summer to manage a roster that has barely a handful of positions locked in for season 2025.
With some player movement still to come, it’s going to be a very competitive offseason in Redfern.
16th – Parramatta Eels
Injuries were certainly a factor for Parramatta this year but a top-heavy roster was always a concern coming into NRL season 2024.
You can’t plan for Mitchell Moses to manage just eight appearances but the issues are in the players around him.
Clint Gutherson isn’t getting any younger and his body appeared to pay the price at times this year while Dylan Brown’s form (understandably) struggled without a genuine halfback beside him.
In the pack, the Eels haven’t seen the best of Junior Paulo, Reagan Campbell-Gillard or Ryan Matterson for a while and don’t have the depth there or in the backline to navigate an injury-affected campaign.
New Head Coach Jason Ryles has already made some moves in the player market and will presumably make a few more as he looks to balance out this Eels roster.
17th – Wests Tigers
Featuring in a Spoon Bowl in NRL Round 27 is not how you want your season to end but as I said on the NRL Unpopular Opinions podcast last week, I still think 2024 was a positive year for the Tigers.
For too long we’ve watched Wests fumble from season to season without any clear direction or plan; particularly in attack.
Heading into NRL season 2025 though, a settled spine of Jahream Bula, Lachlan Galvin, Jarome Luai and Api Koroisau is much more than a Tigers coach has had to work with in recent years.
Benji Marshall still has some pieces to add to the pack and backline, but a genuine, quality spine is top priority in the NRL and Wests finally have one to build a squad around.
It may still take some time to balance out the rest of this roster but I’m confident the Tigers will show immediate improvement in all key areas in season 2025.
Written by Oscar Pannifex | rugbyleaguewriters.com