The NRL’s Top 8 for the 2022 season has been set, but before they go to battle in the finals, let’s take a look at how it all played out between them throughout the regular season.
With 25 rounds in the books the Penrith Panthers finished on top of the NRL ladder and a lot of that comes down to their form against fellow Top 8 teams. While the other seven clubs took wins and losses off each other throughout the year, the Panthers won nine of their 13 games against finals-bound clubs. Needing to win at least three games against the best teams in the competition to lift the Provan-Summons Trophy, the Panthers have proven capable of doing so and are significant favourites to win the NRL Grand Final at $2.20.
NRL Records Against Top 8 Teams
|
|||
| TEAM | Wins v Top 8 | Losses v Top 8 |
|
| Panthers | 9 | 4 | |
| Sharks | 4 | 5 | |
| Cowboys | 5 | 5 | |
| Eels | 6 | 5 | |
| Storm | 5 | 8 | |
| Roosters | 6 | 6 | |
| Rabbitohs | 5 | 6 | |
| Raiders | 5 | 6 | |
The NRL draw is a bit of a lottery for most of the competition. Outside of the heavyweight teams and biggest rivalries that will always feature twice in a season, there seems to be little rhyme or reason for how the fixture lists are planned. There are always one or two teams that benefit from a soft draw and this year, the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks have used a gift from the footy gods to play themselves into 2nd on the ladder. The Sharks played only nine games against Top 8 teams and two of them came during the State of Origin period. Of more concern is the fact they won only four of the nine.
While their draw should be taken into account, it can’t be used to entirely dismiss them as premiership contenders. They’ll carry home ground advantage into this week as $1.71 and -2.5 favourites. Should they win this one and earn a rest in Week 2, the Sharks will already be halfway to the NRL Grand Final.
The Sharks have conceded 15 points/game in 2022, however, that number jumps up to 22 when looking at games only against Top 8 teams. With a top 2 spot up for grabs, it'll be interesting to see how their defence goes against the Knights on Old Boys day. https://t.co/vbOHv1erjs pic.twitter.com/2vlCtYld6K
— Wicky (@wickyai) September 4, 2022
The North Queensland Cowboys haven’t performed particularly good or bad against Top 8 teams. They’ve split their ten games but of the five wins, none came in Sydney where they will be forced to travel this week. Their latest also came against an unrecognisable Panthers outfit in Townsville. They’d not beaten a Top 8 team since thrashing the Storm 36-6 in Round 11.
Rather fittingly having been there or thereabouts all year, the Parramatta Eels are 6-5 against Top 8 teams. Most notably, they’re 2-0 over the premiership favourites and also just beat the Storm in Round 25 to secure their place in the Top 4. The Eels are a frustratingly inconsistent side but they consistently get up against the best teams in the NRL. Having never advanced past Week 2 of the finals under Brad Arthur, the Eels are at $2.85 to see their season end in the semi-final round of September footy.
https://twitter.com/JasonNRL/status/1562749658769678337?s=20&t=IAfGcFTnsc9luE9QMcOX0A
Is the Melbourne Storm’s 5-8 record a cause for concern or is a premiership Storm brewing and adding value to their $4.50 to make the NRL Grand Final and $9 to win it? Everybody knows better than to rule them out of contention. With the form Cameron Munster is in right now, he could drag them all the way to the Grand Final on his own. However, we can’t ignore the unfamiliar territory the Storm are in right now. Famous for their composure in big games and ability to grind out wins over the top teams, we’ve simply not seen that from Craig Bellamy’s side this season.
We have seen it out of the Sydney Roosters, but only recently. This is a different side to the one that lost five games in six rounds when presented with a horror mid-season draw against finals-bound teams. They’ve now won eight games on the bounce and while only three of them have come against Top 8 teams, wins over the Storm in Melbourne and their rivals in the Rabbitohs set them up well for September.
The South Sydney Rabbitohs had their place in the Top 8 questioned after winning only five of their first 11 games. However, with only four losses in the 13 games since, the Rabbitohs are a threat heading into finals football. They failed to beat an understrength Panthers in Round 23 before beating the Cowboys in Round 24 and falling short of the Roosters in Round 25. They’re the sort of side capable of anything on their day. Their inconsistency against the Top 8 leaves dreams of back-to-back NRL Grand Finals at long $10 odds, though.
The Canberra Raiders, despite only just sneaking into the Top 8 late in the season performed just as well against finals team as most others. Although of the seven teams they’ve beaten over the last two months to earn their place in the finals, just one – the Storm in Round 18 – will be there with them in September.
As expected, the Panthers have an advantage over the rest of the NRL. The seven teams chasing are difficult to split, though. While we may have a good idea of who one team will be in the Grand Final, the race to meet the Panthers there on the day looks set to be a thriller.
