NRL 2025 Pre-Season Thread

[Big Pete]

A week out from Christmas and I'm beginning to get the itch for more Rugby League so let's turn our minds to the season ahead.

Let's kick off with JayPee's team the Cowboys in light of the Bateman signing.

North Queensland Cowboys 2025
1. Scott Drinkwater
2. Semi Valemei/Jaxson Paulo/Robert Derby
3. Jaxon Purdue/Zac Laybutt
4. Viliami Veila/Zac Laybutt
5. Murray Taulagi
6. Tom Dearden
7. Jake Clifford/Tom Duffy/Jaxon Purdue
8. Jordan McLean/Coen Hess/Griffin Neame
9. Reece Robson
10. Jason Taumalolo/Coen Hess/Griffin Neame
11. Heilum Luki
12. Jeremiah Nanai
13. Reuben Cotter

14. John Bateman
15. Griffin Neame/etc.
16. Coen Hess/etc.
17. Sam McIntyre/Jamal Shibasaki/Kaiden Lahrs/Karl Lawton/etc.

It's a real changing of the guard at the Cowboys.

Kyle Feldt, Valentine Holmes and Chad Townsend have all bid farewell leaving Tommy Dearden and Scotty Drinkwater in charge of leading the Cowboys around.

Dearden had a cracking 2024 and was at his competitive best for the Cowboys. I don't think there's a more tenacious player in the competition and he'll scrap for anything. The big question is whether he can add another string to his bow, work both sides of the ruck and develop his kicking game. If he can, it'll go a long way for the Cowboys in 2025.

Dearden's partner in crime is the extremely talented Scotty Drinkwater. He's a real ornament of the game and his ability to create for his outside men is second to none. He'll be looking to demand more ball next year and look to challenge the line on more now that Townsend is out of the equation. It could be just the tonic for him to take the next step up.

Robson completes an impressive 1-2 punch and his ability to play direct and get over the advantage line will have a huge bearing. The Cowboys are a real momentum team and it's largely off the back of Robson taking advantage of his forwards and getting his support runners to push up alongside him.

It begs the question of who will join them. You'd have to say that Clifford has the early running and his long distance kicking game really compliments the team. Another option being tossed up by Payten is young Jaxon Purdue who had a meteoric rise last year and impressed in his limited outings. Then there's Tom Duffy who enjoyed a quality season at the Pride and isn't far off from an NRL debut. You'd have to feel the Cowboys chances rest with whoever they pick in the #7 and their ability to contribute to the team.

Normally what I like to do is lock in my positions, but this year I've put up a few alternatives just to highlight how up in the air certain positions are. The backline in particular could go a few ways and the only player I'm comfortable locking in at this stage is Murray Taulagi. I've highlighted how significant the #7 is for the Cowboys, but Kyle Feldt's replacement could be just as vital. Feldt was the highest try scorer in club history for a reason and none of the players listed have established themselves in first grade.

The centres also pose a problem. Both Purdue and Vailea showed promise last year but it's a whole other challenge to get through the entire season as the first choice centre combination. They have a pretty likely alternative in Zac Laybutt, but he's got his own set of obstacles having to work his way back after tearing his ACL.

As you can see, I think that prop rotation is up in the air and it wouldn't shock me at all to see one of the senior players fall down the pecking order. It was a real area of weakness for the Cowboys and too often opposition dummy halves would pick apart the A-defenders and the Cowboys defensive line would all fall apart.

The player that needs to step up is Griffin Neame. Neame on his day is a world class player but there's a major gap between his best and his worst. He should be coming into his prime now, so he needs to get those silly errors out of his game and look to take a leadership role.

One thing the Cowboys do have is pretty good depth so players like McIntyre, Lawton, Edwards etc. will be really valuable particularly around the Origin period. I also like a lot of the emerging players they have coming through in Shibasaki, Lahrs, Mata'utia etc. There's plenty of fresh blood there if a few players are looking long in the tooth.

On Bateman, we all know how talented he is. However it's been four seasons since we've seen John at his best and he's coming in on a disrupted pre-season seemingly on a discounted deal. He's really going to have to buy in or risk being another Faumuina/Leilua type signing.

Top 4 would be a dream result, I have them in that rung of teams around 6th-14th. They have a few players there that will drag the team to victory but if they're not on song they're going to struggle.

 

[Big Pete]

Let's look at their Round 1 opponents, the Manly Sea Eagles.

Manly Sea Eagles 2025
1. Tom Trbojevic
2. Jason Saab
3. Tolutau Koula
4. Reuben Garrick
5. Tommy Talau
6. Luke Brooks
7. Daly Cherry-Evans
8. Taniela Paseka
9. Lachlan Croker
10. Josh Aloiai
11. Haumole Olakau'atu
12. Ben Trbojevic
13. Jake Trbojevic

14. Jazz Tevaga/Jake Simpkin
15. Corey Waddell
16. Ethan Bullemor
17. Nathan Brown

It's shaping up to be a very settled line-up on the northern beaches of course led out by their captain, the mercurial, Daly Cherry-Evans. DCE just seems to be getting better with age. He's one of the best at getting his team around the park and he still has the ability to manipulate the defence with his running game.

DCE has plenty of support as well in the form of Tommy Turbo and Haumole Olakau'atu. Even when he's not at his best, Tommy is a real handful for the opposition and no matter where Manly are on the field he always looms as a threat. Meanwhile Olakau'atu is one of the most destructive runners in the game and always has the defence at high alert.

When those three are on-song they can match it with the best teams in the competition and they have some really solid contributors in Jake Trbojevic and Reuben Garrick.

It's just a matter of whether they can find another gear. You'd have to say Luke Brooks earned a pass mark last year as DCE's under-study without really blowing the competition away. When Brooks keeps it simple and plays direct he's an effective offsider. However when the team is chasing points he tends to rush, plays early and becomes ineffective. It's his second year at Manly, so maybe he'll be more comfortable with his combinations and take more confidence heading into the new year.

Consistensy is going to be their biggest issue and even consistensy in games. There were two key examples this year where they had all but won the game in the first 25 minutes only to let the game slip away. Factor in a couple of other close losses and they would have felt like they let a Top 4 spot slip. We've definitely seen flashes of their class and this was a team that held victories against Penrith and Melbourne respectively. Factor in DCE coming off contract, a largely unchanged line-up and if this was ever the season to get the whips cracking it would be this year.

Unfortunately I couldn't back them with Wolfie's money. I just think they'll lack the discipline to beat the top teams on their day. On top of that, you have to question whether Turbo will be able to stay at 100% through out and it just seems like they'll be a 5th-8th type of team.

A top four finish would require a few of their supporting cast playing as well if not better than the usual suspects. Players like Luke Brooks, Taniela Paseka, Tolutau Koula would have to be playing career best footy (among others) with Ben Trbojevic really finding his feet in first grade. I thought we saw some positive signs from Ben last year but he hasn't quite established himself yet. If he can build on the form he showed, that will have a bearing on the Sea Eagles.