With rugby league just weeks away from returning to our screens, we’re analysing the deciding factors and stylistic changes of each club with one key question for the 2025 NRL season (read Part 1 here).
5. North Queensland Cowboys
What sort of Cowboys do we see this year?
NRL 2025 shapes as a very interesting season for the North Queensland Cowboys.
As a long-term shareholder in Todd Payten stocks, it’s fair to say he’s enjoyed mixed results as Head Coach since arriving in Townsville. Season 2021 was a disaster, season 2022 was a delight and the last two years have been a mix of both.
Brilliant at their best but worryingly poor and disinterested at their worst, can the Cowboys finally carve out a genuine identity under Payten this season? They have key pieces in the right places; Tom Dearden and Reuben Cotter are excellent leaders in crucial positions but can their competitiveness and will to win filter throughout the wider squad?
A guy like Sam McIntyre looks poised for a breakout season and can provide a distributing role through the middle while Clifford and Dearden play the edges. It’s a nice fit on paper with Scott Drinkwater roaming throughout, but whether North Queensland as a whole can back it up defensively is my question for NRL 2025.
We saw them drift in and out of games at times last year – Jeremiah Nanai was their season personified in NRL ‘24 – and the focus must to revert back to the little things that featured so prominently in that winning 2022 campaign.
6. Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
Can Canterbury maintain the rage?
Fresh off one of the great bounce-back campaigns of all time, the challenge now is for Cameron Ciraldo and the Bulldogs to maintain the rage in season 2025 with a target on their back.
Their small forward, high-effort model paid dividends last year as the Bulldogs tackled and willed their way towards an unlikely sixth placed finish. They consistently played above their weight and with a chip on their shoulder (guys like Reed Mahoney, Josh Curran, Kurtis Morran, Bailey Hayward embodied this mentality last year) to ambush a few opponents and make their own luck against a few more.
Defence was undoubtedly Canterbury’s best attribute last year but they found a winning formula in attack as the season progressed.
We know the Bulldogs like to trigger a half-chance through Viliame Kikau before stacking the open side with Matt Burton, Stephen Crichton & Co on the right. I’m interested to see how the Bulldogs mix things up this year now opposing teams know what’s coming; perhaps we see Burton or Connor Tracey down that left short-side a little more often this season.
Within what is a largely settled roster, new recruit Tom Amone is a relative unknown to most but has cult-status potential if he can get his fitness right. This should be the year we see promising rookie Jack Todd work his way into first-grade, too.
Last year was no flash in the pan but it doesn’t get any easier for Canterbury in NRL season 2025.
7. Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
Is Manly’s premiership window still open?
Short answer; yes.
One of the first things on my Neds NRL Christmas Wishlist for 2025 was to see Tom Trbojevic feature in 20+ games for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.
Adding Tommy Turbo to a side that already has repeatable actions on their left edge (through Luke Brooks & Jake Trbjoevic) and on their right (Daly Cherry-Evans and Haumole Olakau’atu) is a daunting prospect for defending teams.
The rapid development of guys like Tolu Koula and Lehi Hopoate suddenly becomes all the more exciting given the pieces already in place around them. Hopoate is probably a fullback but can bide his time on the wing and offer wonderful injury cover at the back. Same with Koula in the centres.
With all this in mind, it’s a simple equation for the Sea Eagles this year. If their pack can perform, they’ve got the spine and backline to play deep into September and beyond.
Sia Taukieaho (33) and Jazz Tevaga (29) are interesting pickups in a pack already featuring guys like Jurbo (30), Josh Aloiai (29), Nathan Brown (31) & Tof Sipley (30). Anthony Siebold has doubled down on experience through the middle and will rely on Taniela Paseka this year to offer a point of difference in the pack.
Still just 27 years old and with 120 NRL games to his name, Paseka’s best footy should be right ahead of him and could be the difference in the Sea Eagles’ 2025 campaign.
8. Newcastle Knights
Can Newcastle finally get the best out of KP?
It’s the flow-on effect from Newcastle’s biggest bug bear over the past few seasons; an incoherent spine that has struggled to get the consistent best out of star fullback Kalyn Ponga.
The rugby league wheel just keeps on turning in the Hunter; Jackson Hastings is on the outer again while Jack Cogger, Tyson Gamble, Phoenix Crossland, Will Pryce and now even Fletcher Sharpe (see below) jostle for a pivot role on KP’s inside.
Of all the names above, ironically it’s arguably Hastings who is best suited to straightening an attack before putting Ponga into positive involvements in the second- or third-layer of a shift. Cogger played a similar role for Penrith but hasn’t looked as sharp outside their systems while Crossland and Sharpe are the latest makeshift options being trialed.
Any option is better than none, though.
Adam O’Briend needs to pick a spine this year and stick with it long enough for combinations to form. Too often in recent years we saw passes hit the deck or players mistime lines as Newcastle played without any cohesion or familiarity in attack.
Until we see some consistency in the Knights spine, we won’t see the consistent best of Ponga in Newcastle colours.
9. Canberra Raiders
Getting a read on Ricky’s rookie Raiders
It’s not so much one specific question as it is a more general evaluation, but I’m keen to get a better read on the immediate future of this young Raiders squad.
Canberra amazed to overcome Jamal Fogarty’s extended injury layoff last year, very nearly featuring in the finals despite constant changes in key positions. Did they overachieve in NRL season 2024 or is that the effort we should expect from a Ricky Stuart-coached Raiders outfit?
Elliott Whitehead and Jordan Rapana have left enormous holes in this squad; I’m keen to get a better idea of who might replace them.
Ethan Strange and Keao Weekes had breakout years in 2024; what is the next step for them this season?
And how do guys like Chevy Stewart and Myles Martin handle the step up this time around?
We had a lot of questions this time last year and Ricky’s Raiders impressed to answer most of them in NRL season 2024. With another few question marks remaining this time around, Canberra remain one of the more difficult teams to place in the 2025 NRL premiership race but I’ve got them well clear of Wooden Spoon favouritism as the markets have them ($5) at time of writing…
What is the burning question for your club in NRL season 2025? Let us know in the comments.
Written by Oscar Pannifex | RLWAPPAREL.COM