This was published 9 years ago
NRL Power Rankings: Round 24
WWOS staff
2. Broncos – (last week 2)
Brisbane put in a solid performance against the Dragons at Suncorp and look on track to finish the season in a strong position. Anthony Milford returned to some form in the win and the Broncos will need him to stand up again when they look for revenge against a Parramatta team that put Brisbane on show last month.
3. Roosters (last week 4)
The tri-colours nearly tasted defeat for the third straight week but Latrell Mitchell came to the rescue and saved the Roosters from suffering an embarrassing defeat to cellar dwellars Wests Tigers. It will be interesting to see how the team faces up in this week’s big clash against reigning NRL premiers Cronulla considering how well they played against the Storm a couple of weeks back.
4. Panthers (last week 3)
Penrith is now one win outside the top four thanks to a late try which saw the Mountain men score their seventh straight victory over the Raiders on the weekend. Despite looking like a mess earlier in the year, the Panthers look to be coming good at the right time.
7. Raiders (last week 5)
Canberra still has a mathematical chance of making the finals despite going down to the Panthers by four points. The only way the Raiders can make the final eight is if other teams fall during the final weeks. A tough season filled with a number of close losses would have coach Ricky Stuart wondering what might’ve been.
8. South Sydney (last week 7)
The Bunnies have been in good form in recent weeks even though their wins were over teams out of contention for finals football. Souths face a tough task in playing the Storm this week but fans can remain optimistic about the team’s chances next year following some smart recruitment moves.
9. Manly (last week 9)
The Sea Eagles look like a shadow of the team that defeated the Roosters some weeks back and their performance against the Bulldogs will have their fans worried heading into finals time. Manly conceded 30 points against a Canterbury side that had never previously scored 30 points in a game this season. They now are in serious danger of dropping out of the eight.
10. North Queensland (last week 14)
The poor old Cowboys have lost four straight games but there’s no way you could fault the team’s efforts considering their injury list this year. In addition, Lachlan Coote was a pre-game withdrawal and then John Asiata and Kalyn Ponga both suffered injuries against the Sharks. The Cowboys are in danger of missing the finals sitting in seventh place and will need to find players somewhere if they’re still to remain in the hunt to play in September.
11. St George-Illawarra (last week 8)
The Dragons were on track to stun teams in September earlier in the year but their form of late hasn’t been up to standard. They’ve won two of their past seven but still might be in the hunt to play finals football due to the ineptitude of the Sea Eagles and the injury worries of the Cowboys.
12. Wests Tigers (last week 10)
The Tigers may have had a year to forget but the way they played against the Roosters proved Wests are in good hands with Ivan Cleary leading the club. The Tigers nearly pulled off an upset over the Roosters, beat Manly and only just lost to Parramatta last month. The face an injury-riddled Cowboys side this week.
