The 2025 NRL season isn’t far away, and you can almost taste the excitement and Deep Heat, but before the NRL kicks off in Las Vegas, we are offering our Bold 2025 NRL Season Predictions.
Continuing on from our pre season stuff like Why Your Team Can’t Win the Title, Wooden Spooners 10 Predictions That Probably Won’t Happen and Analysing the 2025 NRL Jerseys, we take a proper look at the 2025 NRL season ahead and try and show how smart we think we are by predicting things that will happen.
Thankfully not even we go back and check if they happen or not, so enjoy our predictions while they last.
Bold 2025 NRL Season Predictions
PENRITH – Will win title number five as new faces from their junior ranks and external incoming players robotically gel with existing players. Will lose another three players to other clubs at end of season and probably win title number six.
MANLY – The potential surprise packets for the top four, and even as high as second. Lead the competition heading into State of Origin time. Will make Anthony Seibold slightly less likeable.
MELBOURNE – Will suffer more key injuries than most. Will also spend more on patching up walls and glass replacement than any other club in 2025.
BULLDOGS – Top Four, Best Defence, Highest Average Crowd for Sydney teams, Lose in Golden Point to Penrith first week of Finals.
DOLPHINS – Make Finals for the first time as Tom Gilbert pushes for Dally M. Beat Souths in first week of final. Ray Stone to have a breakout season and become Rugby League fan favourite (more so). Ray Stone to hate the attention.
NORTH QUEENSLAND – For some reason a bold prediction just doesn’t stick out for the Cowboys. How about a year of whelming competency.
NEW ZEALAND – James Fisher-Harris to win Dally M as he powers Warriors back into the top eight and huge crowds in Auckland lead to a second NZ side being announced in late 2025.
SOUTH SYDNEY – Wayne Bennett takes the Rabbitohs back into the top eight as Latrell Mitchell shines all the way back into NSW State of Origin side which will feature no less than five South Sydney players. On the back of Latrell magic, Alex Johnston will pass Ken Irvine for leading try scorer of all time.
WESTS TIGERS – Finish 9th for old time’s sake, which is obviously a vast improvement on the trio of wooden spoons from recent seasons. Need to beat the Gold Coast in the final round of the season and are thrashed by 30 points. Jarome Luai to dominate Origin series with Nathan Cleary for old time’s sake.
CANBERRA – Canberra to lose at least four games during the first four months of the season in Golden Point making Ricky Stuart as happy as ever. This leads to one of the greatest Press Conference blow ups of all time in July sometime – Geoff Toovey levels.
CRONULLA – Sharks drop off after a good start, miss the top eight, most people blame Nicho Hynes, who finally cracks it and moves to the North Queensland Cowboys for 2026.
ROOSTERS – Win just one of the opening eight games of the season and can never get enough momentum to climb back into the top eight. Will somehow welcome back Joey Manu from rugby and a host of other players later in the season as well as make key signings for 2026 and stay within the salary cap.
NEWCASTLE – Kalyn Ponga announces a switch to rugby union late in the season once it looks like the Knights can’t make the top eight and they have already sacked their head coach.
GOLD COAST – The Titans to make little to no impression. Davind Fifita to play good enough early in the season to be overlooked for Origin again. Qld to lose series.
BRISBANE – Broncos to finish even lower in 2025 as the Michael Maguire experiment ends up in flames as in fighting surfaces and Ezra Mam’s return causes even more angst among the playing group. The whole situation to boilover at The Victory Hotel during Origin period and caught/shared on social media for all. Will cost at least one Bronco his Origin spot. Courier Mail to report fairly on it all.
PARRAMATTA – Distracted by Dylan Brown’s 2026 plans and looking back on some seller’s regrets, the Eels finish second last and fail to win an away game in 2025.
ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA – The Moneyball approach doesn’t work as well in 2025, and the loss of Ben Hunt is worse than the Dragons would like to admit. It won’t stop Fox League praising Flanno at every opportunity. And they should really. They got him the job.
READ MORE: THE GURGLER’S 2025 NRL SEASON SPECIALS
NRL 2025 SEASON LADDER PREDICTIONS
WOODEN SPOONERS 2025 NRL HEADLINES
WHY YOUR TEAM CAN’T WIN THE NRL 2025 PREMIERSHIP
