A new year has arrived, and NRL clubs will be back from their Christmas breaks to ramp up pre-season training in the next week.
The final run to the season often brings with it heightened intensity and discussion as fans ready themselves for the new campaign.
This year could on another level altogether with the season opening in Las Vegas a week ahead of schedule.
Expectations are a funny thing though. Every year, there are teams who will go well beyond what they were expected to do, and others who fall a long way short of where they were supposed to be.
But what exactly are those expectations for all 17 NRL teams in 2024?
Here is what your team needs to do to earn a pass in 2024.
6. Panthers: Premiers
The Panthers have been the NRL's measuring stick of success for three back-to-back seasons now, and you could argue, were pretty close to being so in 2020 as well despite falling short in the grand final.
That's something they haven't done in any of the last three campaigns though, and the club will undoubtedly enter the 2024 season with the same expectations.
A premiership.
That's where the men from the foot of the mountains are at. While they don't have Stephen Crichton heading into the new year, you could certainly very easily make the argument that they actually have had tougher assignments to replace in recent seasons and succeeded, such as the departure of Apisai Koroisau.
You'd be a brave man to bet against the Panthers, and realistically, anything short of a fourth straight premiership will be hard to be regarded as a pass.
