OPINION Which player from our main player squad are you looking for improvement most in 2025?

[Harry Sack]

Tough call. Obviously we need more from Walsh but how many games did he play this season? Hard to judge him too much IMO...but he definitely needs to vary his attacking options.

Like others have said Rikki for mine. We know what Rikki can do...but he seemed to fall off a cliff for some reason this year.

A half vote would have to go to Haas. Bring that NSW aggression to the Broncos please. Love your passion for your state, but we pay your bills fucker.

 

[BroncsFan]

Tough call. Obviously we need more from Walsh but how many games did he play this season? Hard to judge him too much IMO...but he definitely needs to vary his attacking options.

Like others have said Rikki for mine. We know what Rikki can do...but he seemed to fall off a cliff for some reason this year.

A half vote would have to go to Haas. Bring that NSW aggression to the Broncos please. Love your passion for your state, but we pay your bills fucker.

I picked Walsh, but for me it wasn't really about someone who was in a form slump in 2024 and looking to improve... it was more about whose improvement in 2025 would mean the most to the team.

Walsh isn't close to the top of his game at this stage of his career, but if he gets to what his potential is then he could be the best player in the game.

He's the number 1 guy for us now and he's signed for a long ass time... a Walsh at the top of his game takes this team to elite and he drags the rest of the team with him in the process.

 

[tommy]

Haas. It's time for him to achieve full beast mode.

 

[Santa]

Cleary

Cleary is overrated.

 

[Wolfie]

Who's the best?

I think we all know

 

[Bucking Beads]

there’s a few lads to choose from but I went with Reece Walsh. He’s potentially the best fullback in the game over the next few years. If he gets to that level it will be huge for our team. He’s still got so much improvement to do.

 

[GCBRONCO]

Baker. So if he plays I don't feel like we are only fielding a side of 16 players.

 

[1910]

Two things need to improve- roster management/decision making and hard calls and the output of players 20-30.

To me players 20-30 win your premierships, there will always be a period during the season where you need 8 games out of someone and that standard needs to be maintain- last year the drop off was too much. That is one thing the Panthers and Storm do very well.

Second is the hard calls, at the end of 2019 finishing 10th Panthers decided a million dollars of talent wasn't going to lead them to a premiership. Cleary made the hard call to let them go and they paid them to play for other clubs- a million off their cap and at other clubs.

They didn't win in 20 but they won the minor premiership and made the Grand Final. That was a massive call when you've come 10th and could have been a disaster.

I think that type of call is an area the Broncos need to develop.

 

[Broncapz]

Two things need to improve- roster management/decision making and hard calls and the output of players 20-30.

To me players 20-30 win your premierships, there will always be a period during the season where you need 8 games out of someone and that standard needs to be maintain- last year the drop off was too much. That is one thing the Panthers and Storm do very well.

Second is the hard calls, at the end of 2019 finishing 10th Panthers decided a million dollars of talent wasn't going to lead them to a premiership. Cleary made the hard call to let them go and they paid them to play for other clubs- a million off their cap and at other clubs.

They didn't win in 20 but they won the minor premiership and made the Grand Final. That was a massive call when you've come 10th and could have been a disaster.

I think that type of call is an area the Broncos need to develop.

Roster Management is getting there. The only person that we seem to be overpaying in a pure money ball situation is Haas and maybe Stags, and even then it's arguable.

The fact we cheekily got Hunt for 2025 is just proof of that.

 

[Alec]

I hope its anyone from the spine, they are the biggest influence on how good your team is, so it would be great Ezra or Walsh improves the most.

 

[1910]

Roster Management is getting there. The only person that we seem to be overpaying in a pure money ball situation is Haas and maybe Stags, and even then it's arguable.

The fact we cheekily got Hunt for 2025 is just proof of that.

I think it's more than money, I was thinking more when to move guys on when to keep and contract length of management.

I think money wise most clubs do pretty well, everyone knows what someone is worth.

 

[Sproj]

Roster Management is getting there. The only person that we seem to be overpaying in a pure money ball situation is Haas and maybe Stags, and even then it's arguable.

The fact we cheekily got Hunt for 2025 is just proof of that.

Agreed. The Hunt deal was amazing business. The Rogers, Walters and Paix deals not so. Mam too in hindsight.

 

[Big Pete]

Two things need to improve- roster management/decision making and hard calls and the output of players 20-30.

To me players 20-30 win your premierships, there will always be a period during the season where you need 8 games out of someone and that standard needs to be maintain- last year the drop off was too much. That is one thing the Panthers and Storm do very well.

Second is the hard calls, at the end of 2019 finishing 10th Panthers decided a million dollars of talent wasn't going to lead them to a premiership. Cleary made the hard call to let them go and they paid them to play for other clubs- a million off their cap and at other clubs.

They didn't win in 20 but they won the minor premiership and made the Grand Final. That was a massive call when you've come 10th and could have been a disaster.

I think that type of call is an area the Broncos need to develop.

20-30 is the key here.

The second could have been a disaster but when you have Brian To'o and Jarome Luai coming through getting rid of Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and James Maloney isn't a huge call. I'm pretty sure Campbell-Gillard was the only player they didn't have a direct replacement for and they had enough players emerging.

The Broncos need to sort out step one before they worry about step two.

 

[BroncsFan]

20-30 is the key here.

The second could have been a disaster but when you have Brian To'o and Jarome Luai coming through getting rid of Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and James Maloney isn't a huge call. I'm pretty sure Campbell-Gillard was the only player they didn't have a direct replacement for and they had enough players emerging.

The Broncos need to sort out step one before they worry about step two.

They also had Burton coming through at the same time as Luai... so moving Maloney becomes an even easier decision.

I think one of the biggest things for panthers was Yeo changing from an OK second rower into a workhorse 80min ball playing lock.... like where the **** did that transformation come from.

He's basically a halfback in the forwards... was he that skilled coming through or has Ivan somehow extracted it out of him??

 

[Big Pete]

They also had Burton coming through at the same time as Luai... so moving Maloney becomes an even easier decision.

I think one of the biggest things for panthers was Yeo changing from an OK second rower into a workhorse 80min ball playing lock.... like where the **** did that transformation come from.

He's basically a halfback in the forwards... was he that skilled coming through or has Ivan somehow extracted it out of him??

Isaah was always a versatile player coming through so I wasn't that shocked that he ended up becoming a better version of Luke Lewis.

They also had Fisher-Harris find his place in the middle and it all just fell into place.

2019 always felt like an anamoly and there were even signs that season that they were in for bigger and better things. Now nobody would have called four premierships, one runners up and counting but a premiership didn't seem out of the realm of possibilities considering how successful they'd been through the grades.

It probably says something about the rest of the competition that they've gone through the past five years and nobody has figured out how to beat them.

Their main competition in Melbourne suffered the brunt of the Dolphin's recruitment drive so they had to do a mini-rebuild to set themselves up. They really over-achieved this season and really should be dominant next year.

The Roosters have been massive under-achievers and have always looked a class below every at full-strength. It looks like they're in a transition/rebuild phase of their own now.

Souths are similar to the Roosters where they've been dominant in patches and have even been able to beat the Panthers. However they just have a softness to them and it seemed like there were a few egos that prevented them from firing a shot. I'm expecting big things from them in '25.

Then there's teams like the Broncos and the Cowboys who over-achieved but couldn't maintain the standard and they're trying to find their place. There's a few teams like the Warriors, Knights, Raiders, Sea Eagles etc. who just float in that 5th-14th range with the odd great season.

I think Canterbury will be the team that emerges as one of the competition heavyweights.

Cronulla are in their own separate category where they're so close yet so far. They've built a brilliant 5th place squad but it's like Canterbury under Des, who is their match winner? If you do Sproj's head to head, do they look a class above their opposition or do they barely scrape by?

 

[Sproj]

Isaah was always a versatile player coming through so I wasn't that shocked that he ended up becoming a better version of Luke Lewis.

They also had Fisher-Harris find his place in the middle and it all just fell into place.

2019 always felt like an anamoly and there were even signs that season that they were in for bigger and better things. Now nobody would have called four premierships, one runners up and counting but a premiership didn't seem out of the realm of possibilities considering how successful they'd been through the grades.

It probably says something about the rest of the competition that they've gone through the past five years and nobody has figured out how to beat them.

Their main competition in Melbourne suffered the brunt of the Dolphin's recruitment drive so they had to do a mini-rebuild to set themselves up. They really over-achieved this season and really should be dominant next year.

The Roosters have been massive under-achievers and have always looked a class below every at full-strength. It looks like they're in a transition/rebuild phase of their own now.

Souths are similar to the Roosters where they've been dominant in patches and have even been able to beat the Panthers. However they just have a softness to them and it seemed like there were a few egos that prevented them from firing a shot. I'm expecting big things from them in '25.

Then there's teams like the Broncos and the Cowboys who over-achieved but couldn't maintain the standard and they're trying to find their place. There's a few teams like the Warriors, Knights, Raiders, Sea Eagles etc. who just float in that 5th-14th range with the odd great season.

I think Canterbury will be the team that emerges as one of the competition heavyweights.

Cronulla are in their own separate category where they're so close yet so far. They've built a brilliant 5th place squad but it's like Canterbury under Des, who is their match winner? If you do Sproj's head to head, do they look a class above their opposition or do they barely scrape by?

I see several reports saying that Fonua-Blake is the piece they've been missing but I'm not so sure. As you say, they are a very solid team they will always give an 8-10 out of 10 performance but their 10 is below the real elite teams.

And what Penrith has done is truly phenomenal but I think it is also a sign that the competition is really low on elite talent right now. The gap consistently between the Panthers and Storm plus 1 or 2 each year and everyone else says a lot.

I agree about the Bulldogs but am interested to see what happens with them next year. Ciraldo had them pointing in a great direction but so did Webster with the Warriors and Kevvie with the Broncs in 2023. Are the Dogs the new Penrith or the new Warriors?

And on that, where do you see the Warriors in 2025?

 

[BroncsFan]

Cronulla are in their own separate category where they're so close yet so far. They've built a brilliant 5th place squad but it's like Canterbury under Des, who is their match winner? If you do Sproj's head to head, do they look a class above their opposition or do they barely scrape by?

On the sharks I wonder what the hell happened to their attack in recent years.

Was it 2022 or 2023 where they had that sweeping play where the centre, winger and fullback were lined up so far in field and would fan out and just rip edge defence's apart... no one could stop it... now their attack looks impotent.

Kennedy appears to have regressed a fair bit, but I don't know if that's what has led to their attacking downfall or if Fitzgibbon has gone in a different direction with his attack.

 

[Big Pete]

And on that, where do you see the Warriors in 2025?

Lumped in with the Broncos, Cowboys, Dragons, Raiders, Knights, Sea Eagles etc.

I thought last year they had the structures to be successful. Unfortunately results went against them early, they suffered a few set-backs, Johnson was playing on borrowed time and Fonua-Blake looked like he just wanted out.

That win against Penrith was as good as any last year so there's positive signs. However just looking at their roster it screams transitional year as they try to figure out their fullback, halves and other positions.

I found them nearly as frustrating as the Broncos to watch last year. Particularly their start of the season where they were all over the Sharks. They blew one try, then the Sharks got some pretty questionable calls to hit the lead and the Warriors had no response.

That loss against Melbourne would have set me back thousands in therapy.

The rematch reminded me a lot of the Broncos/Roosters game. It was all set up for a Warriors win, they missed the memo and if they couldn't win that game, they couldn't win in October.

I agree about the Bulldogs but am interested to see what happens with them next year. Ciraldo had them pointing in a great direction but so did Webster with the Warriors and Kevvie with the Broncs in 2023. Are the Dogs the new Penrith or the new Warriors?

The reason I'm leaning towards Penrith is because of how strong their defensive systems are and how much talent they have coming through their system. They might not make any significant strides next year and finish in that 5th-8th spot but I'd be amazed if they took a backwards step.