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Critical to that balance is Canterbury’s kicking game, where Toby Sexton has taken significantly more responsibility this season. His 11 forced drop-outs rank him equal-fourth in the NRL alongside Nathan Cleary.
Canberra ‘Faders’? Not any more. They haven’t been for a couple of seasons actually but, per Fox Sports, only the Dolphins (252) have scored more second-half points than the Raiders’ 224 this year.
Ricky Stuart’s men – once infamous for blowing match-winning leads – have secured four wins already in 2025 after trailing at half-time, along with another three victories when the scores were level at the break.
Cronulla’s four losses from their past five starts have hit coach Craig Fitzgibbon where it hurts most – with the Sharks’ defensive application falling off a cliff.
For all the focus on Nicho Hynes and their playmaking spine, Cronulla have been easy pickings in the middle of late, dropping off tackles and conceding offloads – and then tries – at an alarming rate.
The Dolphins attack is flying despite a slew of sidelined forwards, but Isaiya Katoa is the story of their season.
His 17 try-assists lead all comers and, across pretty much every playmaking statistic, his year-on-year improvements reflect a breakout campaign for the 21-year-old.
Des Hasler was signed by the Titans with a remit of lifting the club out of its institutionalised mire, while defensive frailties were cited as a key factor in Justin Holbrook’s surprise dismissal 18 months ago.
Somehow the Gold Coast have become even worse without the ball under Hasler – whose defensive systems have held up across the rest of his career – and the drums are beating loudly that another coach will be in charge by summer.
Daly Cherry-Evans’ form has rightly been under the microscope throughout Manly’s hit-and-miss campaign, but there’s no doubting the Sea Eagles will miss his right-edge combination with Haumole Olakau’atu once the skipper is gone.
Manly’s 35 tries down their right edge (where Tom Trbojevic has now slotted in at centre) are easily the most scored down that channel in the NRL – and they’re twice as likely to strike than on the left, where Luke Brooks runs the show.
The Storm haven’t been their uber-consistent selves this year – and no one knows this better than Craig Bellamy – but if they extend their opening quarters across a full game … good night.
Melbourne rank first for points scored and conceded in the first 20 minutes and are also racking up tries for fun. Their 32.33 points a game is on track to join the best attacking sides in history – only the all-conquering Dave Brown-led Roosters of 1935 (35.2 points per game), and the 2021 Storm (33.1), have been more devastating with ball in hand.
The Knights attack – averaging 14.81 points a game – is on par with some of the worst offensive seasons in the club’s history. Aside from the 2016 wooden spoon (12.7 points a game), we’re trawling back to their formative years for such trying times.
Newcastle’s defence (19 points conceded a game) is ranked third in the NRL and keeping them alive, but nine scoreless first halves says it all.
Right next to Newcastle on the ladder, yet dealing with the exact opposite issue, North Queensland’s best defensive effort of the season was the 16 points they kept Souths to in round six.
Since the start of May, opposition sides have managed at least four tries a game against Todd Payten’s team.
Penrith’s rise up the ladder with four straight wins has been built on the return of their prize-winning defence, with the 48 total points conceded against Parramatta, Wests Tigers, the Warriors and Canterbury in line with the efforts of their premiership-winning seasons.
The first three months of 2025, they were leaking more than double those figures.
Jason Ryles’ rebuild at the Eels is showing signs of life, just often not until after the half-time oranges.
Parramatta’s – 144 first-half differential is the worst in the NRL. It’s cold comfort, but between the 40 and 60-minute marks this season their record is promising: eight wins, five losses and two draws.
Shane Flanagan is still hunting quality middle forwards and with St George Illawarra’s 1470 run metres a game ranking 15th in the NRL, it’s no surprise.
The Dragons have eight backs who have averaged more than 100 metres a game this season. But excluding Michael Molo’s one game against Canberra for 115 metres, only back-rower Jaydn Su’A is churning out triple figures each week among their forwards.
For the second straight season, the Rabbitohs have been rocked by a horrific injury toll that has outstripped all 16 rivals.
Statistics diligently tallied each week (until the start of round 18) by the NRL Physio and Rowan Waight calculate the combined absences of Souths stars – led by Cameron Murray, Cody Walker, Jack Wighton, Latrell Mitchell, Jye Gray, Campbell Graham and Jayden Sullivan – as all but tripling that of top-four contenders Brisbane, Canterbury, Canberra and the Warriors.
Last year, Souths’ 173 weeks of combined weeks missed through injuries was again significantly higher than the Warriors (122 weeks out) as the next heaviest-hit club.
Fox Sports has spelled out a bizarre phenomenon for the Tricolours this year, where they spend the least amount of time attacking the opposition’s line from short-range, but are the best at doing it when they get their limited opportunities.
With an average of just nine tackles inside the 20-metre zone each time they score a try, the Roosters convert that treasured field position better than anyone.
Their 75.7 per cent completion rate (16th in the NRL, but on par with Trent Robinson’s 13 years in charge) goes a long way towards explaining why they get so few chances, yet also spend more time than any side in their own 20.
The freewheeling Warriors stereotype of years past is nowhere to be found in Andrew Webster’s game plans – the Kiwi franchise is instead the NRL’s most disciplined side with ball in hand.
Conceding only 5.1 penalties a game (fourth in the competition) on top of the fewest errors has served the Warriors well after their 2024 fall from finals contention.
For all the brickbats the Tigers have worn of late, anyone who can’t see the improvement under Benji Marshall this season isn’t looking hard enough.
As the joint venture slumped to a third-straight wooden spoon in 2024, the average margin of their losses was 19.25 a game. That figure has been trimmed to 14.6 this year. And when the one blowout defeat (a 64-0 trouncing from Melbourne) is excluded, the average loss margin comes in at 8.2.
Convert just two of those two- and four-point losses (and the Tigers could have easily downed the Cowboys, Panthers and Raiders) and they’re fighting for a finals berth.
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Michael Chammas and Andrew “Joey” Johns dissect the upcoming NRL round, plus the latest footy news, results and analysis. Sign up for the Sin Bin newsletter.
