NRL power rankings: Warriors storm out of gates
Week one of the NRL season is in the books and there were as many dud performances as there were confidence builders across the competition.
Each week Stuff will rank the top eight sides based on quality of performance and competition in the previous round.
The list is fluid, and here’s the top eight sides after an opening week that saw just one match decided by six points or less.
1. Storm
The juggernaut just keeps on keeping on in Victoria.
Melbourne are the masters of round one and last Thursday night was no different as they put on a clinic against the highly touted Broncos, winning 22-12.
You have to go back to 2001 to find the last time the Storm lost a season opener.
Under the best coach in the business, the Storm looked as if they hadn’t missed a beat since
2018 and, led by Dally M Medal contender Cameron Munster, proved they’re once again going to be hanging around come finals time.
2. Warriors
Coach Stephen Kearney couldn’t help but smile after his side’s 40-6 demolishing of the Bulldogs on Saturday – and why wouldn’t he.
The Warriors put in an
80-minute performance worthy of being ranked No 1 on this list, but quality of opposition must be taken into account.
It was as much bad Dogs as it was good Warriors at Mt Smart, as the Kieran Foran-led side failed to establish any parity through the middle third of the park all night as errors compounded their frustration levels.
Still, the Warriors’ new look spine was firing on all cylinders and off the back of their back five – who all ran for over 120m – the new halves controlled the game to near perfection.
3. Rabbitohs
It was billed as Cooper Cronk’s big night as he brought up 350 NRL matches – but it was the other halfback who stole the show.
Adam Reynolds led his Bunnies to a huge upset win over Cronk and the defending premiers 26-16, at the bog that was the SCG.
The Rabbitohs rolled through the middle of the star-studded Roosters pack and off the back of that go forward, Reynolds steered his side to an impressive first up victory under new coach Wayne Bennett.
Greg Inglis didn’t quite look to be at full fitness, so expect to see South Sydney get even better still over the coming weeks.
4. Knights
They were far from perfect, but the Knights did enough to get the win over top four contenders the Sharks and spoil Shaun Johnson’s debut with a hardfought 14-8 win.
Newcastle have plenty of work to do on attack, plainly finding a way to inject young gun Kalyn Ponga more, but coach Nathan Brown would have been impressed by their defence.
Against a backline featuring
the likes of Johnson, Josh Dugan, Josh Morris and Matt Moylan, the Knights did not break and only conceded a penalty try in the dying stages.
5. Cowboys
Life without Johnathan Thurston started as good as Cowboys’ fans could have hoped for, with a dominant 24-12 win over the Dragons in the far north.
The story in this one was another JT, Jason Taumalolo, who was a one-man wrecking ball in the middle third of the field and finished with a game-high 300m from 21 runs.
6. Tigers
You could be mistaken for thinking it was 2005 on Saturday, as the old firm of Robbie Farah and Benji Marshall turned back the clock to spark a 20-6 win over Manly.
The Tigers looked sharp under new coach Michael Maguire, though it was against a side many pundits are tipping to win the wooden spoon this year in the Sea Eagles.
Still, the Tigers showed that behind the old heads of Farah and Marshall they will be competitive this season.
7. Raiders
Far from a perfect performance, but anytime you can shut a side out in the NRL it’s an impressive effort.
And that’s just what Ricky Stuart’s men managed to do against the Titans on Sunday, 21-0 in horrid conditions on the Gold Coast.
Former Warrior Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad had a mixed debut at the back for the Green Machine, but chimed into the attack when needed and did so effectively.
A few of the club’s new English imports were impressive in their NRL debuts also.
8. Eels
For last year’s wooden spoon winners, the only way was up and that started on Sunday with a solid win over the Penrith Panthers, 20-12.
It’s been a tough old off-season for the Panthers and they showed it, completing a dismal 62 per cent and at times looked completely lost on attack.
On the other side the Eels certainly looked better, but far from world beaters themselves.
Still, off the back of a Michael Jennings double Parramatta did enough to spoil Ivan Cleary’s return to Penrith and start their 2019 campaign with a win.