NRL Weekly Power Rankings: Round 1
Round 1 Power Rankings; Based on Pre-Season form, current injury lists, strength of rosters, last season and of course, Round 1.
Keep in mind, Power Rankings are merely a ranking of opinion. And opinions may vary.
1- South Sydney Rabbitohs
Early on, the Bunnies were well favoured going into this match but were eventually huge underdogs when kick off finally arrived. Beating the Premiership and World Champions is no easy feat, especially when you factor in that the Roosters boasted 16 of their 17 man 2013 Grand Final side. John Sutton, Isaac Luke and Chris McQueen were the stand-outs with the best Fullback in the game, Greg Inglis hugely responsible for the victory with his outstanding support play gifting him three tries.
2- North Queensland Cowboys
The Cowboys showed an abundance of courage to turn the tables on a surprise early 3 try deficit to the Canberra Raiders backing up their first ever title one month ago at the Auckland Nines. The Cowboys have as good a roster as any in 2014 and with the likes of JT1 (Thurston) and JT2 (Taumalolo) in fine form, the Cowboys could find themselves on an early roll with winnable matches coming up in Broncos (A), Warriors (H), Titans (A) and the injury struck Knights (H).
3- Sydney Roosters
The Roosters loss at the hands of the Inglis-led Bunnies might stun their confidence, for a few days but come Saturday night against the Eels the turn around factor could be in full swing. The Premiers are the Premiers, one loss in Round 1 (just like last year) won’t hurt them too much. 3 of their next 4 matches at home might just be enough to see them get right back on track. Parramatta (H), Brisbane (A), Manly (H), Bulldogs (H).
4- Melbourne Storm
Melbourne weren’t given much of a chance, after Cooper Cronk’s shoulder injury got the better of him and it looked to be heading in the same direction as the 2008 Grand Final did between Manly and Melbourne. But in one of the greatest comebacks the game has ever seen, Cameron Smith and Co. rallied from 20 points down in the 29th minute, to score the unlikeliest of comeback victories, making a huge statement to the rest of the league in the process.
5- Penrith Panthers
Down on troops going into the match, the Panthers did exactly what they needed to do in disposing of a Knights side who were dropping like flies as the match went on. A lot of pre-season hype surrounded the Panthers and they more than lived up to that hype in Round 1. They now find themselves in 1st place on the most meaningless Ladder of the entire NRL season. Nonetheless, a great start to their 2014 campaign.
6- Manly Sea Eagles
The opening 29 minutes of Saturday’s contest against the Storm would have seen Manly take top spot in this week’s Power Rankings. The last 51 minutes, however, was another story. It doesn’t get any easier for the 2013 Grand Finalists as they’ll head to Bluetongue Stadium to take on the Bunnies who knocked off last year’s Premiers last week.
7- Brisbane Broncos
Ben Barba’s first ever half in Brisbane colours was nothing short of magnificent. He’ll need to work on his second half if the Broncos are to have any chance of knocking off little brother in the coming week. Ben Hunt will need to improve on his overall game as the season goes on if the Broncos are to shape as a title contender.
8- St George Illawarra Dragons
The Dragons have found themselves an attacking maestro in Gareth Widdop. As tipped by us here at OTLS, he is in for a big season and he took control of the contest last week and ultimately won his side the 2 competition points. The Dragons will be looking for more of the same from the former Storm five-eighth as the club still awaits Josh Dugan’s return from the sidelines.
9- Gold Coast Titans
“Grab the two competition points at all stakes” were the instructions from head coach John Cartwright and those they followed. In arguably the most unpredictable competition in all of sports, this is exactly what is required when things look to be in the balance. The Titans weren’t overly impressive but they got the job done and quite frankly, sometimes that’s all that matters.
10- Newcastle Knights
A 22 point loss, Jarrod Mullen out long-term, Darius Boyd likely to miss some time, Kurt Gidley and Tyrone Roberts to be monitored with concussions all week long ends a long list of negatives for a side who fell one game short of reaching the final dance in 2013. Whether they opt to inject young gun Jake Mamo into the fullback role (If Darius misses time) or use speedy Dane Gagai in the custodian position will be an interesting topic for Team List Tuesday. In all honesty, the Knights are still a side who fell just one game short of reaching the Grand Final last year, but their injury list isn’t going to do them any favors in the early goings of 2014.
11- Parramatta Eels
Wait a second, I’m sure I’ve lived this before. The Eels flogging the Warriors in Round 1. That’s right, it happened this time last year. After two consecutive wooden spoons, Parramatta will need to show more than just a copy of Round 1 2013 to fool anyone. With Nathan Peats suspended for 1-4 games, the Eels could be subject to an angry Roosters onslaught. Though, Sonny-Bill will be watching from the sidelines which works in the Eels favor. A few more solid outings should see them slowly commence their climb up the Power Rankings.
12- New Zealand Warriors
The Warriors were nominated by some as the form team going into the new NRL season and it might be a brand new NRL season, but nothing has changed at the Warriors. They aren’t travellers. They’ll head back to New Zealand this coming week to face the Dragons, who were quite impressive offensively against the Tigers which means the contest could be a juicy affair.
13- Cronulla Sharks
Cronulla were down on combatants against the Titans and as a result, looked short of options in attack. To make matters worse, they lost inspirational captain Paul Gallen to the dreaded Ankle Syndemosis which is anyone’s guess as to when he will return. The likes of Andrew Fifita, Michael Gordon and Wade Graham will need to step up if the Sharks are to grab the points against the Bulldogs next week and hold off falling to an 0-2 start.
14- Canterbury Bulldogs
Without Ben Barba, the Bulldogs looked out of ideas in attack and even with a Round 1 completion rate of 75% they were still only capable of scoring just 12 points. Their second-phase play will need to be in full swing again this week if they are a chance at knocking over the Sharks who will be down an array of stars.
15- Canberra Raiders
Admittedly, the Raiders weren’t as horrid as many were expecting in their first match of 2014. They led the Cowboys for far longer than anyone could have predicted, but lacked the class in defense, attack and possibly mental toughness to turn the Cowboys momentum around.
16- Wests Tigers
When Liam Fulton went down, so did the Wests Tigers. Luke Brooks’ body guard was gone and from then onwards, he was targeted quite heavily for the rest of the match. The Wests Tigers will be hoping Liam Fulton can find himself back on the football field sooner rather than later or it could well be an ugly season for them.
Written by Christian ‘Sipi’ Sipione for Over The Line Sports (follow Sipi On Twitter @SportsDiehard94)
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The Crystal Ballboy
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Having the Raiders so low is laughable. The Raiders Cowboys game was of good quality and it took the brilliance of JT to defeat the Raiders. And it was only just , the last try the winger was over the sideline and was a bee’s mm of been out .
And with the Cows just beating the Raiders they are 14 places above , c’mon. Knights get hammered by 22 points looked average at best are not only above the Raiders but by 5 places.
Although Broncos won , they would have lost to all other clubs over the weekend bar ( Dogs) and probably the Tigers , they were horrible only the saving grace was the Dogs were worse.
There’s no way Dogs , Titans , Broncos , Warriors , Knights , Tigers , Sharks , Warriors were better than the Raiders.
More thought needs to go into the rankings.
Cheers
The reason the Knights are that high after a 22 point loss is because they are coming off a season where they went one game away from a Grand Final and they were missing their whole starting spine at one stage of the game.
Did you read the first few sentences? Of course there are going to be differences in opinions when it comes to Power Rankings, but that’s what makes it fun!
Of the four preseason wooden spoon favourites (Raiders, Tigers, Eels, Dragons) the Tigers (16th) lost convincingly and the Eels and Dragons both won, which made sense to put the Raiders 15th for this week. You don’t know that any other side wouldn’t have got that close to the Cowboys.
I can assure you lots of thought went into the rankings, it’s not just based on Round 1 performances. If it were, I would have just listed the NRL table.
Cheers for reading Adam and I look forward to your feedback every week!