8th: NZ Warriors (32 points). A hot and cold season, with good wins and ordinary losses. One loss due to a late obvious forward pass cost the team a top four place so it shows in a tight competition a mistake by the officials can have a huge impact.
Still, despite that they finished where they deserved. Their season's points differential of just 25 and going out in the first round of the finals with a whimper shows they could have been better.
7th: Brisbane Broncos (32 points). 6th for the regular season, they had their moments, like the Warriors, but didn't quite deliver consistently. Then they were walloped 18-48 in the most one-sided of the first round of finals matches.
6th: St George Dragons. (32 points). Started the year on fire then lost form as the year progressed. They came back in the finals with a big win, then lost by a point in the next round.
5th: (32 points). Penrith Panthers. They became known as the comeback kings, repeatedly going behind then finding a way to come back and win. They won their first finals match then went down by one point in the next round. This was one come back too far.
4th: Cronulla Sharks(34 points). They had the talent to go all the way without being overly convincing. They lost their first finals match but had a life and scraped through to the third round only to put on a very ordinary performance and were well beaten.
3rd: South Sydney Rabbitohs (34 points). Throughout the season they looked likely but in the end, had to settle for third place. A one point loss first up in the finals, followed by a one point win got them one game from the final. In a tight semi final, they lost by eight points.
2nd: Melbourne Storm (34 points). They missed out on winning the league by being just eight points poorer on the differential with the Roosters. They were my pick of the best side of the season. A one point win first up in the finals, followed by a bye, then a good win to make the grand final.
Having got there, they were slow to start and had a poor completion rate when in possession. It seemed all over at halftime and although Melbourne was better after the break, it had a feeling of inevitability about it.
1st: Sydney Roosters (34 points). They fought hard to get to the top of the league. Their aggressive style was highlighted by one player twice inflicting serious injuries with illegal tackles, which his coach inexplicably thought were fine. I lost all respect for this outfit as a result.
They got through to the grand final with solid if unspectacular wins and were tight defensively as they saw off a surprisingly average Storm side.
| Rk | Team | Pts | W | L | Diff | |
| 1 | Sydney Roosters | 34 | 16 | 8 | 181 | |
| 2 | Melbourne Storm | 34 | 16 | 8 | 173 | |
| 3 | South Sydney Rabbitohs | 34 | 16 | 8 | 145 | |
| 4 | Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | 34 | 16 | 8 | 96 | |
| 5 | Penrith Panthers | 32 | 15 | 9 | 56 | |
| 6 | Brisbane Broncos | 32 | 15 | 9 | 56 | |
| 7 | St George-Illawarra Steelers | 32 | 15 | 9 | 47 | |
| 8 | New Zealand Warriors | 32 | 15 | 9 | 25 |
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