Fair assessment. Who in the top half has improved their roster?
Loaded question because of course there’s going to be juniors who we don’t know enough about but my take:
Brisbane - worse - Herbie, Flogler & Gapewell aren’t easily replaceable. But not so much they’ll tumble that far.
Canbra - worse - Wighton will be a loss but also it’s wacky Canbra so who knows.
Dogs - better obviously but with caveats around improving for sake of improving.
Sharks - slightly worse, or if AFB goes early, slightly better. They’ll have to play out of their skins I think.
Dolphins - better. Could be the biggest improvers.
Tits - better I guess because Palasia is better than any one they’ve lost and their squad isn’t particularly aged. Honestly they should be doing better than they have.
Manly - ….better? It’s hard to say particularly because Manly has history of signing external players who go either red hot or completely shit. Probably the most intriguing team changes to watch.
Scum - not really one way or other. Blore in for Sims isn’t a game changer, Fa’alogo could be which is slightly offset by them losing quite a few other players. They’ll still be the Scum and make finals probably.
Knights - I’ll say better but really it hangs on if the Poms work out. If you remove Young & Poms from movement, they’ve definitely improved.
Cows - kinda similar to Scum. No real external moves but they have some decent youngsters they’ll be banking on.
Us - again similar to Cows. The players we’ve brought in, don’t move the needle, but then neither did the players we’ve lost.
Smugs - worse. They definitely banking on juniors to come through but if you’re doing that every year it will just get harder and longer to build that junior up.
Drags - better in some areas, worse in others. Obviously the coach is the biggest movement and influence here. Could improve or could very well fall in a heap.
Souffs - better but will always rely on whether Loltrell could be bothered.
Rorters - better but they’ve certainly got aging problems.
Warriors - the other potential biggest improvers. If they can maintain a high standard through the season, I reckon they are a massive title chance.
Tigers - worse but made the right moves. They won’t improve enough this year (unless the Fainus are the new Trbjnchehfnevics) but 2025 they might.