Season 2018 is over for half the teams in the competition. The players are dreaming of white sandy beaches and end of year trips. Yet before the bags are packed and we erase from our memories the often terrible performances of the teams that finished in the bottom eight, let’s have a look at some of the positives that they had. Whilst all these teams will have a lot of work to do to improve their fortunes in 2019, what can they take from this season to build on?
The team that many believed coming into 2018 would leak the most points, showed that they really worked on their defence in the off season.
In 2017, the Tigers gave up 571 points, however in 2018 they had pulled that back to 460.
They made more tackles than any other team in the competition and the work they did in defence was evident in the opening rounds of the seasons when they had hard fought wins over the Storm and Roosters.
Esan Marsters, Mahe Fonua and Moses Mbye showed there is some strength and excitement in the backs. Whilst Luke Brooks had undoubtedly his best season.
The Raiders can score points. In 2018, the Raiders were the second highest scoring team in the comp (behind Souths) with 563 points.
The majority of those points came from their 93 tries which show they have plenty of attacking potential.
What will also be pleasing to those in the nation’s capital is that six out of the 14 games they lost this year was with a margin of four points or less.
In 2017, the Newcastle Knights finished the season as the wooden spooners. This year they showed an all-round improvement and they finished in 11th place.
Kalyn Ponga’s first full year in the competition showed that all the hype about him is worthwhile. With 140 tackle breaks and 11 try assists, he is the type of player that teams are built around.
Backed by strong performances by Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Mitchell Pearce, it’s safe to say that the Knights recruited well in 2018.
At first glance you could be mistaken into thinking that the Bulldogs’ season was a total disaster, but things are not as bad as the results seem to show for the 12th placed Bulldogs.
Their attack improved greatly from 2017 and Rhyse Martin has been a valuable find in goal kicking.
David Klemmer showed his value by leading the team in run metres.
Bulldogs were slow to start the season but finished strong, winning four out of the last six including a 38-0 win over the Dragons in Round 24.
Rookie coach Dean Pay will be all the better for having this season under his belt.
The good thing about the Cowboys' season is that there weren’t any surprises. Johnathan Thurston led the comp with try assists and line break assists, whilst the other JT, Jason Taumalolo had a strong running game.
As a team, they had the highest percentage of possession with 52%. All their players were solid and dependable. Consistency will get them far if they aren’t predictable and in 2019 their new line-up will force them to become less predictable.
If the Titans are going to take anything out of season 2018 it has to be they didn’t leak as many points as they did in 2017. Unfortunately there wasn’t much else that looked good for the Titans this year.
As a team, Manly really struggled to gel in 2018. Their off-field dramas truly impacted on their on-field performance.
That being said, there were some individual bright spots that could be building blocks for their incoming coach.
Martin Taupau lead the comp with 71 offloads. Tom Trobjevic showed his attacking value with 19 linebreaks and 114 tackle breaks. Whilst brother, Jake turned up for 968 tackles. The challenge is taking this individual brilliance and making the team works as a whole.
You have to feel sorry for Parramatta and their long suffering fans. The only highlights were possibly their back-to-back wins in rounds 21 and 22 against the Titans and the Dragons.
It was beginning to look like they would finish the year strongly and give hope to their fans for an improved 2019.
Unfortunately, their run ended pretty quickly after their big win over the Dragons. Parramatta have hit rock bottom and they have to use this as their foundation to build their club back up from.