2026 NRL General Discussion Thread

- Great junior pathway system
- Proactive signings
- Player depth
- Succession plans
- Advertising at grass roots levels
- Re-signing key players before October 1
- Signing players under the age of 35
- Promoting themselves at schools
- Openly stating they want to be number 1 long term
- Clear structures in place
- Having hookers that actually run

even with all that ... they still haven't made the finals in their existence

hell even as bad as we're going this year, even we haven't been beaten by 66 points.

but I'm they'll happily take you as a fan ... they need all the fans they can get, and we've got plenty to spare 😉
 
even with all that ... they still haven't made the finals in their existence

hell even as bad as we're going this year, even we haven't been beaten by 66 points.

but I'm they'll happily take you as a fan ... they need all the fans they can get, and we've got plenty to spare 😉

I'm never going to jump ship obviously and like come on man, this is the whole point. The Broncs take everything for granted. We shouldn't be wanting to lose one fan, all of them should be valued.

And yeah, they haven't made finals in their existence but how long is that? They are unlikely to miss this year anyway. Every club has to start somewhere and they are doing pretty well.

I'm not worried for the next year or the one after, I'm worried for the next generation of fan. Those growing up with the Dolphins in their entire existence. These growing up to be Broncos fans should not be taken for granted.
 
And yeah, they haven't made finals in their existence but how long is that? They are unlikely to miss this year anyway. Every club has to start somewhere and they are doing pretty well.

they're currently sitting in 7th.

if the Cowboys beat them this week and the Sea Eagles beat the Titans they will be out of the 8
 
The Dolphins are in a better position to win a premiership but we all know about premiership windows.

Brisbane went all-in for 2025 and now they're feeling the ramifications of that decision.

The club is going through a transitional period but I don't think it's always going to be as bleak as what they're going through now.
 
It took broncos 4 years to make finals.
Not quite.
We finished seventh in our first year (1988) and equal 5th in our second year (but lost a playoff for 5th place in the finals).
In both those years we would have played finals if there had been an 8 team finals system (which there should have been in what was then a 16 team comp).
In 1990 we finished equal first with Penrith (second on points differential).
So we were competitive from the start.

It will be interesting to see if the Dolphins can match our record and make the finals in their 3rd year.
Don't think they will be first or equal first on the ladder though.
 
Credit where its due, they are proactively playing the long game trying to be number 1. We just sit on our hands and say, but we're the Broncos.
I & we’ll understand the pain and frustration about our performances & recruitment this year. No matter whatever that bozo blabbers, they can never reach the shadows of Broncos. Hence, they’ll always be “The Rejects”. Period!

Cheer up, mate.
 
I think all these doom and gloomers about the club this year need to decide if they would prefer to be near the top each year and win nothing or would they prefer to win a premiership? Like we just won the premiership FFS.
I do think it's fair to point out that we are lacking in the development and future planning side of things, as well as the focus on other off field bullshit. I don't think we are being surpassed by the Dolphins but they seem to be moving forward and it is to our expense in some ways. The club needs to fix plenty of things, our relationship with the Q Cup is a huge example of this. I just think we could do better overall, and it's not just because we are losing games. I think the club prioritises money and numbers over the game of rugby league.

I think we can do all of the above, by the way. We should be near the top every year, we should win premierships often and we should be successful off the field too.
 
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A true Bronco at heart and I absolutely love Kevvie for that. Don’t intend to open a can of worms but I so wish we have won that 2023 GF just for him. A true legend in my eyes.

Anyhow, this backing from our team x-coach should lit up some fire and grit to motivate the squad to turn up for each other and perform on the field starting tonight.
 
It will be interesting to see if the Dolphins can match our record and make the finals in their 3rd year.
Don't think they will be first or equal first on the ladder though.
No chance of that, this is already their 4th year.
 
I think all these doom and gloomers about the club this year need to decide if they would prefer to be near the top each year and win nothing or would they prefer to win a premiership? Like we just won the premiership FFS.

What this doom and gloomer would like is to be THE best, not just win a comp once every 20 years.

Why should it be a choice between those two things? Why can't we be the next Penrith? Why aren't we the current Penrith?

We are the biggest NRL club in the world, why don't we act like it? Why have we spent the last 20 years in Melbourne's shadow and can only dream of the success Penrith have had in the last 6 years?

How have we lost ALL of Haas, Fifita, Dearden, Flegler, Farnworth, Walsh (yes he returned but he still left), Hetherington, Bullemor, Collins, Gray, Cobbo and so on and not have ready made replacements?

Even in your scenario, how on earth should anyone be happy with 1 win and 3 grand finals in 20 years when you are the biggest club in the world? We've also won a wooden spoon in that time and probably missed finals more than we've made as well.

As @Cult said, it shouldn't have to be a choice. The Roosters have ONE bad season and bounce almost straight back and win two in a row and are there or thereabouts year in, year out and until recently, didn't even have a development system.

How can we be the richest club WITH a development system and still struggle to maintain a high level of prominence / success?

I'll put it back on you, do you non-doom and gloomers feel satisfied with our 'success' of the last 20 years? This is something the West Tigers should be over the moon with, not us.

We should be winning a premiership every 3-5 years and making prelims regularly in between. Not a GF here and there and absolutely nothing in between.

We should not settle, we should seek sustained greatness - we should aim to be Penrith, not Wests.
 
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