The 2023 season now seems like it ended many, many months ago.
With a large number of players returning to pre-season training, attention has quickly and firmly turned to the 2024 campaign.
With a new season comes new hope, new opportunities and most importantly of all, new recruits!
Today I'm going to rank the ins, outs and re-signings of each of the clubs who played Finals footy in 2023.
Of course some of the top sides don't need to undertake a big recruitment spree, focusing instead on retention, while others need a few changes to take that next step.
Not every player will be mentioned, just the ones I see making an impact.
7. Sydney Roosters
Major ins: Spencer Leniu, Dominic Young
Major outs: Fletcher Baker, Drew Hutchison
Re-signed: Egan Butcher, Victor Radley, James Tedesco, Daniel Tupou, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Sam Walker, Connor Watson
The Roosters enter 2024 off the back of a rare down season. They're taken two massive steps toward quickly correcting the missteps by adding two massive players.
Spencer Leniu is a monster in the middle and was being chased by a huge number of clubs. He is a huge in for the Roosters, who struggled in the middle during 2023.
In Dominic Young they may have signed the game's most exciting winger.
He is a try scoring freak who lit up the back end of 2023 with some finishes that needed to be seen to be believed.
Losing Fletcher Baker and Drew Hutchison might not look great on paper but they'll enjoy far more coming in than they saw going out.
A host of re-signings, including two members of their spine, ensure the Roosters are ready to bounce back in a big way in 2024.
They didn't need to go out and re-invent the wheel. They didn't panic. Instead they signed two big name players to correct two spots of weakness.
Scary for those of us who enjoyed the early and mid-season struggles from the tri-colours.
Grade: A-
