16th - Newcastle Knights (14 pts). The team from the town of the same name situated 160 kms north of Sydney took its third consecutive wooden spoon. It started terribly but toward the end of the season they were playing well and nearly avoided coming last again. next season looks promising.
15th - Gold Coast Titans (18 pts). This team resides in Queensland between Brisbane and the NSW border and the weather makes it a popular retirement destination. They missed five consecutive finals campaigns before making it last year. However, all season they looked like a team that wouldn't get too far and in that they delivered. The coach was shown the door later in the season and things don't look too good at the club.
14th - Wests Tigers (18 pts). This is a Sydney based team that came out of a merger between Balmain Tigers and Western Suburbs Magpies clubs. It was hard to pick how they would go in 2017 with some good players on board but a recent history of inconsistency. The previous five years they have missed the finals. It wasn't pretty and they did well not to come last.
13th - New Zealand Warriors (18pts). Despite an abundance of talent on its doorstep, the Auckland based franchise has struggled of late and talented youngsters are looking elsewhere for a career. They made the grand final in 2011 but not made the playoffs since. The first half of the season there were signs of promise but toward the end of the season their form was abysmal, losing their last nine games. Woeful.
12th - South Sydney Rabbitohs (22pts). In 2014, they won the grand final. It is now the second year they haven't made the finals. This year they rarely looked convincing and the coach - who was lauded for the GF victory - was sacked. The crowds attending home matches slumped in 2017 as a result.
11th - Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (24pts). This Sydney club has figured in the previous five finals series but ended up missing the cut in 2017. The team was quite dull to watch, preferring the arm wrestle type game. Unfortunately, they were not that good at it.
10th - Canberra Raiders (26pts). After a few lean years the team from the ACT (the capital) had a very good 2016, playing entertaining and winning RL. Despite that the same formula wasn't as effective this year. The opposition seemed to work them out better and they didn't have an effective Plan B.
9th - St George-Illawarra Dragons (28pts). Another merged side from the famous Sydney club St. George Dragons and the Illawarra Steelers representing the NSW city of Wollongong. They missed the finals last year and did the double in 2017.
The strange thing was they had the third best points differential in the competition but a fine year turned to custard. They should have been playing finals football.
So there we have it, the 2017 also rans. Without relegation they get to play another season in 2018 to put the wrongs right. Most of them will be back, being the losers yet again.
PS. The Winners article can be viewed by clicking here.
Picture credit: St George-Illawarra Dragons.
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