The FIVE teams who will contend for the wooden spoon in 2022

The NRL season is just a month away, and while plenty of focus tends to be on the teams at the top of the ladder, with success and glory awaiting, there is also the question of which teams will end up fighting for the wooden spoon.

It’s a “prize” no team wants to be receiving at the end of the year, but one a team will ultimately end up with.

It’s also a spot on the ladder which is going to see different teams in the battle as the 2022 season comes to life.

The Canterbury Bulldogs were the team at the bottom of the ladder when it was all said and done at the end of 2021, but their mass recruitment drive will leave heads rolling if they end up in the same spot at the same time this year.

The Brisbane Broncos were last before that, but improved in 2021 and welcome grand final duo Adam Reynolds and Kurt Capewell for the 2022 season which has pundits wondering whether they will fight for the top eight, not whether they could finish at the bottom once again.

2019 saw the Gold Coast Titans pick up the spoon, and after making the finals in 2021, they won’t be anywhere near it this time around.

Here are the five stragglers who are a chance of finishing at the bottom of the 2022 NRL table, and who would need something of a miracle to make the finals.

North Queensland Cowboys

The Cowboys come into the new season with all sorts of problems and no real way of addressing them.

They have signed Chad Townsend on a reported figure of around $800,000 per year, which makes very little sense given they have already signed Thomas Dearden to play exactly that role as a star of the future.

Dearden and Townsend in the halves together is a disaster waiting to happen, and yet, it seems as if Todd Payten is going to do just that, leaving Scott Drinkwater on the outer.

Then there is the misuse of Jason Taumalolo, who should be the competition's number one wrecking ball, but spent 2021 being reduced to a bit-part player by Payten who wanted to keep him healthy for years to come in one of the weirder statements a coach has ever made.

Valentine Holmes is another without a secure role, the Cowboys attempting to turn him into a centre after his failings at fullback despite the fact he is one of the best wingers his generation has seen, once scoring six tries for Australia in a Test.

Their young second-row brings with it promise, but it's also incredibly raw and needs time to develop, while Jordan McLean continues to soak up salary cap without performing.

It's tough to be anything but overwhelmingly negative on the Cowboys for the season ahead.

Wests Tigers

The Tigers come into this season with some fresh faces, but more questions than answers even over their quality.

Jackson Hastings and Oliver Gildart arrive from the English Super League and will need to find their way to NRL standard in a hurry, while utility Tyrone Peachey has hardly had a stable season since the beginning of his career and may not find it at the Tigers.

The recruits, at any rate, don't scream "transformational" like they do at the Broncos and Bulldogs for example. Instead, they scream that mediocrity may be able to find some improvement if everything goes perfectly.

But the club's persistence in sticking with Luke Brooks is somewhat baffling given he is now the most capped NRL player without a finals appearance, while Adam Doueihi's injury at the start of the season could leave them staring down the barrel early doors.

Michael Maguire's future is anything but secure which will only heap extra pressure on the club, particularly now with Tim Sheens watching over his shoulder.

There are bright spots - Daine Laurie and Jake Simpkin for example, as well as the brutal young forward Stefano Utoikamanu - but whether that is enough to avoid the spoon seems debatable.

Newcastle Knights

A side where it is something of a struggle to find upside is the Newcastle Knights.

This is a team who have let Mitchell Pearce go without a stable or solid replacement, and while they made the finals in 2021, it could be a long year for the men from the Hunter.

They made that top eight despite having the competition's second-worst attacking record, and only did so based on grit and determination in defence.

That isn't going to be enough to get them back to the finals this year as other teams from the bottom eight - think the Cronulla Sharks and Canberra Raiders for starts - improve in a big way.

The Knights need big change in their attack, but whether Jake Clifford and whoever he is partnered up with - Phoenix Crossland, Simi Sasagi, Adam Clune or Kurt Mann - are enough to spark that is anyone's guess.

As always, Kalyn Ponga is the key man, but the strategy of "pass the ball to Ponga and see what happens" has to be thrown out the back window if the Knights are any chance of avoiding the bottom of the table.

New Zealand Warriors

The Warriors will be better prepared for the 2022 season - that much is absolutely for certain.

Nathan Brown and his players now know they will spend most, if not all, of the season in Australia, allowing them to settle and become accustomed to using Redcliffe as a home base.

The same questions persist over the squad though, and the loss of Roger Tuivasa-Sheck will not help to throw the doubters off their back.

Reece Walsh is one of the most talented players in the game, but their halves have plenty of questions - can Shaun Johnson stay fit? Can Ashley Taylor get to his best? Will Taylor even play ahead of Chanel Harris-Tavita?

And what about the forwards? Tohu Harris and who else?

Harris is injured for up to half the season, while Addin Fonua-Blake and Matt Lodge pave a solid grounding, but, like the remainder of the team, were inconsistent in 2021.

The Warriors could make the top eight, but they could also finish at the bottom of the table, that there is no doubt about.

St George Illawarra Dragons

The Dragons may be the most debatable team on this list, but there is no question that if things go pear-shaped, they will be in contention to finish at the bottom of the table.

The Red V, under the somewhat unproven coaching of Anthony Griffin have made a very odd recruitment run over the off-season.

A number of experienced forwards who appear to be over the hill - George Burgess and Aaron Woods as the headline acts - as well as the signing of Moses Mbye, Jack Gosiewski, Moses Suli and Francis Molo.

Only Molo may excite Dragons fans given his Origin pedigree, as well as the size and strength he will bring to the Dragons' forward pack in 2022.

But with a stack of young guns - led by Jayden Sullivan and Tyrell Sloan - there is genuine excitement if they click.

The question remains though around their starting 17, whether Griffin can coach, and whether the forwards will be able to lay the platform for the kids to do their thing.

The Dragons seem like a team who will score 24 points a game and still lose by 20, with the pieces they have acquired unlikely to help fix defensive issues from the last 12 months.

An intriguing team, and an argument could be made for the Dragons finishing anywhere between seventh and last.