NRL Power Rankings: round 17
3. Manly Sea Eagles
Good teams are able to recover from poor starts and win matches while not at their best – just as Manly did against the Warriors in Perth on Saturday. To score 26 straight points after trailing 16-0 is a fair effort. Winning five in a row is testament to their resilience. Can they improve again and challenge the top two?
4. Brisbane Broncos
The fact they were playing a red-hot Storm side made Brisbane’s effort on Friday look a little worse than it actually was. They’re a fair way off the top two, but one can’t help but think they have improvement in them. The return of Darius Boyd from a thumb injury in the coming weeks will certainly help.
6. Sydney Roosters
After getting off to a 4-0 start, the Roosters have gone 7-5 since. That run of results doesn’t augur well for a team that had designs on playing in a grand final. They got hammered by the Sharks on the weekend – a result that showed how far adrift of the top two they are.
8. Parramatta Eels
Their win over Canterbury was one of the most boring golden-point matches you’re ever likely to see. The Eels got the two points, but that’s about it. If they were playing any team other than the Dogs, Knights or Tigers they would have lost.
10. Penrith Panthers
The Panthers don’t like it when an opposition turns a match into a physical affair. But give them an open, free-flowing affair and they can play with the best of them. Souths were too tough for the Panthers on Sunday, it is as simple as that. Teams that don’t like physical play don’t often make the finals.
12. Gold Coast Titans
They had enough to beat the Dragons, but are still three wins out of the top eight with just eight matches remaining. If they could somehow go 6-2 over that stretch they would only get back to 12-12 (excluding their two byes). Even that might not be enough.
13. Canberra Raiders
These guys look to be done as well as far as the finals are concerned. They started the year with so much promise but, along with the Panthers, have been the biggest disappointments of the year. Simple errors and lack of concentration keep on hurting them.
15. Canterbury Bulldogs
Things seem to be getting worse for Des Hasler’s men. Not being able to score tries is a rather big problem. They haven’t scored 20 points in a game since round seven (that’s almost three months ago). Let’s see if they can end that run against the Knights this weekend.
16. Newcastle Knights
They threw away their chance of a third win of the season in the first 40 minutes against the Tigers last weekend – showing once again that it is no fluke that they are on the bottom of the ladder.
