Overall I'd say that the 2023 NRL season was a huge success.
We had an all time great Grand Final, we may have seen the greatest era in the game's history, a multitude of future stars emerging and the introduction of a brand new club.
I'd also like to think that we learned a few things a long the way.
10 things to be exact!
Below are those very ten things that we learned in 2023:
7. Origin coaching does matter
For many years the QLD Origin side was so strong that we use to joke they didn't need a coach. Famously Mal Meninga was even seen as a figurehead more-so than a coach.
With the talent split between NSW and QLD now so close, coaching very much does matter.
Billy Slater coached extremely well throughout the series while his NSW counterpart Brad Fittler very much didn't.
Fittler picked players out of nowhere (see TPJ) and seemingly without a plan. He even admitted to not really having a plan for Clint Gutherson, who was allowed token minutes due to an injury.
He set Nicho Hynes into a confidence tailspin after throwing him to the wolves, while his decision to move Damian Cook into the centres will go down as one of the all time clangers.