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The NRL season is upon us and fans have been crying out for rugby league action.
Every team has a clean slate ahead of their 2024 campaign, but some big questions are still lingering and will need to be answered.
The Panthers have a chance to create history and become the first team in the NRL era to win four-straight premierships.
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Meanwhile, doubts have been cast over the Storm’s ability to mix it with the competition’s best in the middle of the park.
For the Tigers, Benji Marshall has some huge calls to make, but none bigger than the make-up of his halves in his bid to drag the merger club off the bottom of the ladder.
Shane Flanagan also has a huge job on his hands to turn the Dragons’ fortunes around after years of disappointment at the historic club.
Here, foxsports.com.au answers every club’s burning question heading into yet another year of NRL action!
PANTHERS
Can the Panthers become the first team in the NRL era to win four-straight premierships?
If there’s one lesson rugby league fans have learnt, it’s to never doubt Ivan Cleary and the Panthers. The Penrith juggernaut have continually lost key players each season but in 2023 still managed to secure the first three-peat since Parramatta’s dominance from 1981-83. With their ridiculous comeback victory over the Broncos they also became the first NRL era team to win three straight premierships. So why can’t they secure a fourth? Only the legendary St George outfit that won 11 straight premierships starting in 1956 and South Sydney from 1925 to 1929 have achieved the feat. Cleary’s men have lost two players that have proven to be crucial to Penrith’s success in recent years. Stephen Crichton is arguably the most well-rounded centre in the game, while Spencer Leniu’s impact off the bench can’t be understated. Taylan May and Liam Henry look set to replace the pair and if history is anything to go by, the Panthers will once again be able to deliver come finals time. The scary aspect for rival teams is that the Penrith juggernaut seems to continue to roll on each season and Fox League’s James Graham issued a big warning to the remainder of the NRL during last year’s finals series. “When you talk about some of the players on their roster, if you compare them to other players, they have not reached their peak ages yet which is absolutely frightening,” Graham said. So now it’s up to one of the remaining 16 teams to stop the Panthers who have been the benchmark of rugby league for several years running.
BRONCOS
Can they overcome losing four grand final players and make another charge to the decider?
The Broncos have lost grand final quartet Herbie Farnworth (Dolphins), Tom Flegler (Dolphins), Kurt Capewell (Warriors) and Keenan Palasia (Titans).
Coach Kevin Walters deserves plenty of praise for taking the club from wooden spooners in 2020 to grand finalists in 2023 with the same core squad. Brisbane boast plenty of depth due to their enormous catchment area, but replacing those stars will be no easy feat.
Walters has proven he knows how to get the best out of his players and he’ll need to do it again this year after losing four grand final stars.
Farnworth, who was named 2023 Dally M Centre of the Year, leaves a huge void and Walters has confirmed Maroons winger Selwyn Cobbo will get first crack at filling it.
Veteran front-rower Corey Jensen, 30, is expected to compete with Roosters recruit Fletcher Baker to replace gun prop Flegler.
Brendan Piakura – who came off the bench in the grand final – will likely replace backrower Capewell, while rising prop Xavier Willison should fill Palasia’s spot.
Outside backs Corey Oates, Jesse Arthars and Deine Mariner will all fight it out to replace Cobbo on the wing.
Graham out for six months with injury | 00:31
STORM
Can the Melbourne forward pack mix it with the big guns of the competition?
The Storm were typically competitive last season, finishing one game from a grand final appearance, however the engine room didn’t stack up against Penrith and Brisbane in the finals.
The Broncos made inroads with ease against the Storm pack in the qualifying final while the Panthers did much the same in the preliminary.
Storm prop Christian Welch defended his forward pack, but did admit they need to improve sharply to compete with the Penriths and Brisbanes of the world.
“It was clear that there was a gulf between the Broncos and Panthers and then a big gap to the chasing group, including us,” Welch said.
“I know it sounds like a cliche, but there’s no point in me trying to argue with some of the commentary about our forward pack.”
It’s hard to be overly critical, considering the Storm didn’t have the likes of the Bromwich brothers, Brandon Smith and Felise Kaufusi at the club last season, but for a team that accepts nothing less than excellence, Craig Bellamy will be keen to not have the same problem rear its head in 2024.
Backrower Eli Katoa was excellent in his first season with the Storm and will only be better in this his fifth NRL season.
Welch and Nelson Asofa-Solomona both have plenty of good football left while former Tiger Shawn Blore is an underrated pick-up.
WARRIORS
Can Shaun Johnson fire again amid Warriors’ halves succession dilemma?
The Warriors were the surprise packets of last season amid Shaun Johnson’s stunning return to form, but can Andrew Webster’s side back it up in 2024 now they are the hunted and not the hunters?
Webster did a remarkable job in his first season as Warriors coach, but it will be a much tougher ask to keep the Warriors in the top four now they no longer have the advantage of flying under the radar.
Johnson went within a whisker of winning the Dally M Medal last season a year after his career was on the scrap heap, but can he maintain the rage as he enters what is likely the final year of his career?
The Warriors also need to strike a balance between pushing for a title win and planning for life after Johnson, given they are not short on potential replacements.
The Warriors have Luke Metcalf, Te Maire Martin, Chanel Harris-Tavita and Dylan Walker on their books, who are all capable of playing in the halves alongside Johnson.
However, all four are more five-eighths than they are halfbacks and the club let No.7 Ronald Volman leave, so Johnson’s successor will likely come from these four players.
The most obvious candidate is Harris-Tavita, but he will likely need time in the saddle to learn his trade at halfback, so Webster may need to give him some time throughout the season in the halfback hot seat.
Otherwise the Warriors may be left with a hole at halfback they can’t fill when Johnson retires unless they go to market.
KNIGHTS
Can the Knights pick up from where they left off or was the second half of 2023 just a flash in the pan?
The Knights’ 10-game winning streak was one of the feel-good storylines of 2023. It took them to the club’s first semi-final since 2013 and created a real buzz in the Hunter. McDonald Jones Stadium hit capacity for the Knights’ final three home games of the year, including the semi-final which sold out in record time. Adam O’Brien went from being the next coach on the chopping block to now closing in on a three-year extension, while Kalyn Ponga put retirement fears – due to repeated concussions – behind him to win the Dally M medal. The second half of the season could be the springboard for an even better 2024, but that’s up to the Knights to show they are the real deal. They’ll have to do it without Dom Young though after the try-scoring machine left to join the Roosters. Young scored 25 tries last season to set a new club record. O’Brien has floated new recruit Tom Jenkins, young gun Krystian Mapapalangi and “Mr. Dependable” Enari Tuala as possible replacements, while up-and-coming fullback David Armstrong is also an option. We’ll get a good indication of who has won the race to replace Young and whether the Knights still have momentum during their pre-season trials against the Sharks and Storm. They then meet the Raiders, who they knocked out in week one of finals in a thrilling extra time match, in Round 1 at McDonald Jones Stadium – another home game set to sell out.
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Benji’s Tigers prepare for big 2024 | 02:01
SHARKS
Can Fitzgibbon break his finals hoodoo?
After the Sharks were bundled out of the first week of finals in a tight 13-12 affair against the Roosters, Craig Fitzgibbon’s finals record remained without a win. After going out in straight sets in 2022, the legendary Roosters forward has won zero of three finals appearances since taking over Cronulla’s head coach. Fitzgibbon has a 61 per cent win rate in his 50 games as a head coach, but his outfit have arguably had a soft draw in the regular season over the past two years. So now it’s up to Fitzgibbon in his third season to shake the stigma of being ‘flat track bullies’ and deliver against sides in the top eight. With 2022 Dally M Medallist Nicho Hynes leading the way, Cronulla should improve on their 2023 campaign. Throw in the mix Will Kennedy, Dale Finucane, Cameron McInnes and Briton Nikora and the Sharks have some serious firepower. However, the loss of Wade Graham (retired), Matt Moylan (Leigh Leopards) and Connor Tracey (Bulldogs) has severely hampered their depth, especially in the halves. Kade Dykes and Niwhai Puru remain the only potential halves replacements in their top 30 should Hynes or Braydon Trindall go down. Dykes has had a taste of NRL in the No.1 jersey prior to his season-ending injury last year, while Puru had the most missed tackles in NSW Cup in 2023. It remains to be seen whether the Sharks can shirk the tag of being the competition’s finals pretenders and become true title contenders.
ROOSTERS
Will Trent Robinson change his approach for the strongest team on paper to live up to their billing this year?
The Roosters had the most individual talent in 2023 but they left their run incredibly late and had to win six of their final seven games just to scrape into the finals.
Trent Robinson has somehow bolstered his side in 2024, without losing any superstars, after signing Dominic Young (Knights) and Spencer Leniu (Panthers).
Robinson is known for tapering his teams so they’re peaking at the business end of the season, but he got it wrong in 2023.
Star recruit Brandon Smith failed to fire early, Joseph Suaalii’s form nosedived after he signed a $5 million deal with Rugby Australia and halves Luke Keary and Sam Walker just couldn’t get going in the first half of the season.
However, by the time they were playing finals the Roosters had found their rhythm and managed to upset the Sharks at home in week one.
If they can pick up where they left off – instead of warming into the season as Robinson usually prefers – then the Chooks will soon be installed as premiership favourites.
But that will largely depend on just how quickly their gun recruits Young and Leniu fit into the Tricolours’ mould.
RAIDERS
Can the Raiders fill their Jack Wighton-sized void?
Canberra lost one of its favourite sons in the off-season with Clive Churchill medal winner Jack Wighton linking up with South Sydney.
For a team lacking star power relative to other clubs, it is a huge loss. The Raiders made a low-risk, but potentially high-reward move when signing Kaeo Weekes, who will likely don the no. 6 jersey in Round 1 against the Knights.
Weekes was a well-regarded junior who never lit the world on fire in sporadic action for the Sea Eagles. At 21, he’s still very young, and with consistent game time likely to begin the season, Ricky Stuart will be hoping to get the best out of him.
If the Weekes experiment doesn’t work, rising star Ethan Strange is an option to partner Jamal Fogarty in the halves.
Strange debuted in the centres for the Raiders last year, but played 11 games for the NSW Cup team at five-eighth last season, so wouldn’t look out of place there if the first grade team called upon him.
While not an option at five-eighth, Chevy Stewart is a young gun Raiders fans should see plenty of this season and will add a tonne of strike power to the backline.
Stewart is arguably the most exciting player on Canberra’s roster, and after an impressive NSW Cup campaign in 2023, should have the Raiders faithful licking their lips.
Oates speaks out after Grand Final axing | 01:00
RABBITOHS
Can Lachlan Ilias fire at halfback or do the Rabbitohs need to shake up their spine?
The Rabbitohs can spin it any way they like, but they have failed to adequately replace former skipper Adam Reynolds and need to solve their halves dilemma to contend for the title in 2024.
Lachlan Ilias is an excellent prospect with great potential and a bright future, but at this stage of his career he has struggled for consistency in first grade.
Ilias’ kicking game is nowhere near what Reynolds produced week in and week out for the club and he needs to create more competition with his attacking kicks both in the air and along the ground for his chasers.
Jack Wighton’s arrival at the club has ramped up the pressure on Ilias to have a breakout season and cement the No.7 role going forward at Souths.
If Souths and Ilias struggle early in the season the pressure will be on Jason Demetriou and he may have to at least consider putting Wigthon in the halves with Cody Walker.
Latrell Mitchell’s injury last season saw Souths slip from first to ninth by the end of the year and the whole squad and coaching staff deserve blame for that poor result.
However, it is up to Ilias to start firing early and often and improve his kicking game or Souths may have little choice but to look at alternative options if they want to return to being premiership contenders.
EELS
Can the Eels fill their vacant hooker role amid an awkward spine truth?
The Eels went from the Grand Final in 2022 to finish outside the finals in 10th in 2023 in a stunning fall from grace.
The club lost a number of key players from their grand final side, but the most important was hooker Reed Mahoney who switched to the Bulldogs and they have struggled to fill the void since.
Josh Hodgson came to the club last year, but was forced into medical retirement after struggling to fire early in the season.
The club brought Brendan Hands from the Panthers and Joey Lussick back from the Super League to try and fill Mahoney’s void, but neither have lit the house on fire to date.
Hands will likely start the year at hooker with Lussick filling the bench utility role and also spending time at dummyhalf.
The club need a dummyhalf capable of creating opportunities with his running and passing to ease the pressure on Mitchell Moses and Dylan Brown with the playmaking duties.
If Hands and Lussick can fire, the Eels have the quad capable of making it back to the top four, but if they don’t they may have to go to market to fill the dummyhalf void.
COWBOYS
Will their star-studded line-up bounce back to being a premiership threat after a disappointing 2023?
A year after going desperately close to reaching a grand final, the Cowboys were one of three teams to drop out of the top eight in 2023.
It was an interrupted pre-season, thanks to many players fulfilling representative commitments at the World Cup, and it showed as the Cowboys slumped to a 3-6 start.
They would bounce back to win a few on the trot during the middle of the season before weakening late, with a late four-game suspension to Valentine Holmes proving critical.
This North Queensland side is too talented to not be making the eight, and barring any injury catastrophe, should be playing finals football.
There is firepower all over the park, and Payten has proven he can get the most out of this side.
While the Cowboys were able to extend Tom Dearden past this season, the salary cap squeeze will likely force at least two or three talented players out, meaning 2024 is the club’s golden chance to make a serious run at a premiership.
Walsh & Smith cleared to play in Vegas | 00:31
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SEA EAGLES
Can Luke Brooks and Josh Schuster fire amid Manly spine dilemma?
Manly struggled to replace Kieran Foran last season with Josh Schuster making an unsuccessful switch to the No.6 jersey after a number of false starts due to injury.
The club has brought maligned former Tigers halfback Luke Brooks to the club on a four-year deal to play five-eighth, until Daly Cherry-Evans hangs up the boots when he will likely switch to No.7.
Schuster has returned to the second row position that saw him touted as a NSW Blues Origin bolter two seasons ago and needs to show more commitment and professionalism to get the left edge firing again.
Interestingly, Brooks and Schuster are set to play on the same side and how their combination clicks could go a long way towards deciding Manly’s premiership aspirations.
If Brooks can help ease the pressure on Cherry-Evans and Tom Trbojevic having to do everything in attack and Schuster can become a consistent performer in the back row, Manly could be one of the real movers on the ladder this season.
With Lachlan Croker offering little in terms of a running game from dummyhalf, Anthony Seibold is counting on Brooks to give the side a new dimension in attack.
If Brooks and Schuster fire on the left edge, Manly could challenge for the top four, but if they don’t they will be left with more questions than answers in 2024 and the pressure will ramp up on Seibold in his second year at the helm.
DOLPHINS
Has Wayne Bennett recruited the stars required to play finals in just the Dolphins’ second season?
The Dolphins – after 18 months of consistently missing out on star players for their inaugural season – stunned all and sundry in 2023.
Wayne Bennett’s side won their first three games and sat fifth on the ladder after Round 10, all without a single superstar in their ranks.
A lack of depth saw them fade late in the season, but the Dolphins have now added some genuine star power in Broncos grand final duo Herbie Farnworth and Tom Flegler, plus Bulldogs speedster Jake Averillo.
Farnworth was picked in the Dally M Team of the Year and Flegler was one of the most important players in Brisbane’s grand final run, while Averillo was a shining light in a struggling Canterbury side.
Dolphins gun forward Tom Gilbert who was enjoying a standout 2023 season before the Maroons star had it cut short with a shoulder injury.
Throw in the fact it’s Bennett’s final season in charge of the Dolphins and you’d be a brave man betting against him cracking the top eight.
TITANS
They have one of the best forward packs in the comp, but can the new-look backline fire?
It should be a finals-or-bust mindset for the Titans in 2024, with many expecting Des Hasler to get the most out of an extremely talented side.
Jayden Campbell is one of the most exciting players in the NRL, and after spending half the 2023 season in a diminished role off the bench, one of Des’ first big calls was to name the son-of-a-gun as the team’s starting fullback.
That move in turn shifts Maroons representative AJ Brimson into the centres. Along with try-scoring machine Alofiana Khan-Pereira on the flank, the Titans boast a pretty dynamic backline to complement a forward pack littered with stars.
The halves though are still a big question mark.
Five-eighth Kieran Foran is tough as teak and a popular teammate to play alongside, but he’s in the twilight of his career.
Halfback Tanah Boyd has been given the nod again, but apart from his goalkicking, he hasn’t done a whole heap to show he is the no. 7 of the future.
Tom Weaver is waiting in the wings, and if Boyd fails to fire, Hasler won’t be afraid to make a change early in the season, especially if this uber-talented Gold Coast team lose a few.
New recruits ready to thrive at Tigers | 01:46
BULLDOGS
Will Ciraldo’s hard line stance and roster overhaul be the catalyst for change?
Cameron Ciraldo’s first season as a head coach was truly a baptism of fire. The Bulldogs finished 15th and conceded the most points in the competition. On top of that there were rumblings of player unrest with the club captain Raymond Faitala-Mariner eventually exiting. Regardless, Ciraldo stuck solid on his values. He brought across the defensive system that turned the Panthers into a powerhouse and his commitment to that never wavered. He mentioned several times throughout the season that he’s looking for players that are willing to buy in to the defensive system that he believes in – and that’s what the club has done. 10 new faces have joined the squad, while 11 have departed in a mass overhaul of the roster. Among those 10 recruits are three-time premiership-winner Stephen Crichton, Sharks speedster Connor Tracey, Latrell Mitchell’s former understudy Blake Taaffe, ex-Warrior Josh Curran and Bronson Xerri, who is back from a doping ban. All are quality players – Crichton is arguably the best centre in the game – but it remains to be seen whether they can lift the Dogs up the ladder. The Bulldogs have finished in the bottom four three out of the last four seasons and haven’t played finals since 2016. The club chewed through three head coaches and two interim coaches in six years before Ciraldo joined and countless players have also come and gone but nothing seems to be working. The fanbase is getting increasingly impatient – but is hopeful all this change for 2024 can finally spark some success.
DRAGONS
Will Shane Flanagan repay the St George Illawarra board’s faith and turn the Dragons into contenders again?
Premiership-winning coach Shane Flanagan made no secret of his desire to return to NRL as a head coach and he finally got his chance, albeit as the Dragons’ second choice.
Flanagan was handed the reins last June after Jason Ryles backflipped on the club at the 11th hour to join the Storm as an assistant.
Flanagan didn’t care how he got the job and immediately went to work, but it’s been a disastrous first off-season in Wollongong.
The veteran coach missed out on a host of big-name signings and then even lost the players he did manage to sign in Corey Allan (ACL) and Ronald Volkman (failed medical).
To make matters worse, Flanagan’s star No. 6 Junior Amone was deregistered after being found guilty of serious assault charges.
It has left the Dragons struggling badly for depth in key positions, but Flanagan has proven before he can take a club from the outhouse to the penthouse.
The Sharks were second-last on the ladder and hardly boasted a star-studded roster when Flanagan replaced Ricky Stuart as their coach in 2010.
But fast forward six years and Flanagan had guided Cronulla to their first premiership in club history.
The Dragons haven’t won a title since 2010 and their board will be desperately hoping Flanagan can repeat his premiership heroics for the Red V.
TIGERS
Can Benji put the pieces of the puzzle together and improve the Tigers in his debut season?
It’s Benji Marshall’s first season as a head coach and he faces a mammoth task to improve a Tigers outfit fresh off back-to-back wooden spoons. Marshall has well and truly been thrown in the deep end in 2024, but the change fans have been crying out for has begun. The entire Tigers board was dismissed in the off-season and experienced administrator Shane Richardson was handed the chief executive role. The Tigers new powerbrokers will be desperate to have stability off the field to assist Marshall in improving a squad with several new faces. Marshall will have to employ a totally new halves pairing in 2024, with Aidan Sezer, Jayden Sullivan and Latu Fainu arriving at the club in pre-season. Throw in the mix promising junior Lachlan Galvin and Marshall has a selection headache on his hands. The club also showed winger David Nofoaluma the door in a move that showed the rookie coach is ready to make the tough decisions. His exit also showed the entire squad the former premiership-winning playmaker won’t be taking any nonsense after Nofoaluma’s pre-season training debacle. Throw in the mix Solomon Alaimalo (Super Rugby), Solomona Faataape (Brisbane Tigers) and Justin Olam (Storm) and the Tigers squad is taking shape. In a huge positive the Tigers have a solid forward pack for Marshall to work with that boasts two gun backrowers in Isaiah Papali’I and John Bateman, alongside one of the NRL’s best hookers in Apisai Koroisau. All Tigers fans are begging for is improvement and if the merger club can climb up off the bottom of the ladder ahead of Jarome Luai’s arrival in 2025, things will be looking up in Leichhardt.
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