The incredible turnaround of the North Queensland Cowboys in 2022 has surprised almost everyone.
Somehow, the side that finished 2021 in 15th spot as the competition's worst defensive side has just booked itself a home preliminary final.
North Queensland have languished in the bottom eight since 2018. But head coach Todd Payten has managed to change their fortunes.
With the 2022 Cowboys in mind, we will explore eight other times in which teams have been able to climb from one end of the ladder to the other in a single season.
2. Canterbury Bulldogs - 2009
2008 had been a miserable year for the Bulldogs. They had claimed their fifth wooden spoon since the club's foundation in 1934.
Finishing the year with 5 wins from 24 played and a defensive record that was 144 points further in the hole than the team finishing 15th.
Just four years removed from their 2004 premiership victory, the club was forced to take out the chequebook and sign up some players to rebuild the club in 2009.
They acquired the services of halfback Brett Kimmorley and bolstered their spine with Michael Ennis at hooker.
The ever-reliable Josh Morris was brought in to play centre, with David Stagg, Ben Hannant and eventually, Greg Eastwood brought into the forward mix.
The Bulldogs came bounding up the ladder in 2009, finishing second with the best attacking record in the competition.
Unfortunately for Canterbury, their season came to a close when they ran into the wrong team at the wrong end of the season.
Old rivals the Parramatta Eels were on an unprecedented, Jarryd Hayne-fueled tear towards the 2009 grand final and cut the Bulldogs' season short a week beating them 22 points to 12 in the preliminary final.
The year was not without ceremony for Canterbury however with coach Kevin Moore claiming coach of the year at the Dally Ms.
Additionally, club icon Hazem El Masri claimed top point-scorer at 234 points in his final year of first-grade football.
Panthers 2003: 12th to minor premiers and premiers seems to eclipse several of these.
Knew I would miss at least one. Where would you rank it amongst the others then?
It.s your article, so I donโt want to be presumptuous. Iโm also a Panthersโ supporter, so I will acknowledge my bias. It perhaps ranks somewhere between 3 and 5 โ They didnโt have the bounce-back effect of internal drama like the Roosters in 3, but didnโt necessarily climb as far. However, they were also wooden spooners two years prior and sat in fifteenth in the second week of the 2003 season. Based on that, Iโll leave it to you to judgeโฆ but it certainly ranks 5 at least and I would argue higher.
If I am honest the criteria for the rankings were kind of hard to pin down. Is it more impressive to come from 9th โ 12th to win a prem or 13th โ 16th and play deep into finals? Also how much do you factor in previous years in a one-year turnaround? Guess to some degree itโs quite subjective. Without delving too deep into the 02 Panthers I would say 03 Penrith is comparable to 13 Roosters so probably 4th or 5th.