NRL Season Summary: 2017

Now that the dust has settled, the 2017 edition can be reflected on. The good and the bad can be gone over and dissected. We'll get the negative over and then look at the upside.

Negative:

The same old 16 teams were trundled out again with no sign of expansion, when most would agree there is a desperate need to do so. We can but hope.

Too much of a Sydney emphasis.

The referees and the referral bunker system were criticised too much. No system will ever be perfect and some need to accept that. Media should be banned from raising officiating at press conferences with coaches immediately after games.

Positive:

The Melbourne Storm as an example to others as how to run a RL club.

The quality of new players coming through the system continued unabated.

The public interest and support despite a media that wants to taint its image.

The overall quality of officiating. Compared to some other sports, the number of poor decisions is very low.

Chart Below: The first points column was the Nines tournament, won by the Roosters over the Panthers. Teams that came last intheir group got zero points. Interestingly, the poorest four performers at the abbreviated form of the game took that lack of success into the rest of the season. Then comes the regular season and the finals.

	Rk	Team	TOT	9's	Rd	Fls
	1	Melbourne Storm	43	3	20	20
	2	Sydney Roosters	36	6	18	12
	3	Brisbane Broncos	30	2	16	12
	4	North Queensland	27	2	9	16
	5	Paramatta Eels	25	3	14	8
	6	Penrith Panthers	22	4	10	8
	7	Cronulla-Sutherland	17	1	12	4
	7	Manly-Warringah	17	2	11	4
	9	St George-Illawarra	9	1	8
	10	Canberra Raiders	8	1	7
	11	Canterbury-Bankstown	6		6
	12	South Sydney	5		5
	13	Gold Coast Titans	4	2	2
	13	New Zealand	4		4
	13	Wests Tigers	4	1	3
	16	Newcastle Knights	1		1
		Total	258	28	146	84