OPINION
Fans' predictions: Where each club will finish in 2019
Author
NRL.com
Timestamp
Thu 6 Dec 2018, 09:05 AM
After another week of big signings – led by a high-profile coach swap – NRL fans have fine-tuned their predictions for where all 16 clubs will finish on the ladder in 2019.
With more than 210,000 votes cast in NRL.com's polls asking where each club will rank, the Roosters, Rabbitohs, Storm and Panthers make up the top four with Newcastle squeezing into the top eight.
The big movers in voting this week were the Brisbane Broncos, who jumped from seventh to fifth in the fans' predicted rankings after finally settling their coaching situation for 2019 – with
Anthony Seibold replacing Wayne Bennett on Sunday.
The switch between Brisbane and South Sydney looks to have improved both clubs' prospects with
Bennett's Rabbitohs enjoying a 3% bump in voting to win the 2019 premiership.
Meanwhile there was a mixed response to Cronulla's
signing of former Warriors half Shaun Johnson, with the vote for them winning the competition increasing at the same time as support for them to make the finals dropped for the second straight week following the exit of Valentine Holmes. They've slipped in the rankings from sixth to seventh.
Johnson speaks to Sharks Media
NRL.com has been running fan polls for all 16 clubs, asking readers whether they expect each club to finish 2019 as premiers, as a top-eight side, just outside the playoffs or near the bottom of the ladder.
Using a formula of two points for every vote a club gets to win the premiership, one point for top eight, -1 for just missing the finals and -2 for bottom of the ladder, here are the rankings for the 16 clubs.
Premiers 2nd to 8th 9th to 12th 13th to 16th
1. Roosters 49% 43% (+1) 3% 6%
2. Rabbitohs 27% (+3) 58% (-2) 10% (-1) 5%
3. Storm 18% 69% 9% 5%
4. Panthers 20% (-1) 59% (+1) 15% 6%
5. Broncos 22% (+2) 49% 20% (-2) 8% (-1)
6. Dragons 21% 49% 23% 7%
7. Sharks 11% (+3) 59% (-5) 21% 8% (+1)
8. Knights 9% 58% 25% 9%
9. Cowboys 15% (-1) 39% (-1) 31% 14%
10. Wests Tigers 9% 38% (-) 35% 18%
11. Warriors 7% 30% (-1) 36% 27% (+1)
12. Raiders 5% (-1) 25% (-1) 48% 21%
13. Sea Eagles 8% 25% 28% 40% (+1)
14. Titans 3% 20% 33% 44% (+1)
15. Bulldogs 6% 15% 25% 54%
16. Eels 5% (-1) 10% (-1) 19% 65% (+1)
As of December 6
https://www.dragons.com.au/news/2018/12/06/fans-predictions-where-each-club-will-finish-in-2019/