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What's this talk about winning the Premiership??????
Well we finished in the Top 8 this year and gave Panthers a decent run for their money in our playoff round which makes me think we are not far off the mark of winning it all if a few key factors occur. Firstly though some disclaimers. Please don't read this article at all if you think rugby league is complex and there are 1000 different things that can happen in a season and most of them need to go right not just five factors. I personally like to distill matches down to a few key turning point moments, and the success of seasons down to a few key factors and I realise that approach simply doesn't work for some of you and if you are one of those people with that view point then this article is not for you.
Please also don't read this article if you think we have zero chance of winning. Webster will believe we can win it and will be drawing plans right now to lift the trophy in 2026.
Right - still with me? Still reading? Here are the factors to us achieving glory.
Factor One: Luke Metcalf needs to be healthy and needs to win the Dally M half back of the year award. This is not impossible since he was leading the voting early doors last season. I think the reasons why this factor is critical are self explanatory and we simply won't win the trophy unless he leads us from an offensive perspective.
Factor Two: Something needs to break in our favour at fullback. Either CNK finds vintage form. Or Taine recovers quickly from a broken leg and is a revelation during pre-season and forces the coaches into making a change. Or Kalyn Ponga actually does come here in 2026.
Factor Three: We need to discover a 4th option at centre who is not a second rower. I have no faith in Rocco Berry and Ali Leiataua playing a large number of games and it is proving to disruptive to our pack to play Capewell there. Even if the option is, for games where we are caught short, for CNK to play Centre and Taine to play fullback. Or even TMM if we train him there in pre-season.
Factor Four: Assuming we don't acquire a depth prop then TSS needs to have a strong off season and learn better defence. His tackle stats were poor last year.
Factor Five: Rub our rabbits feet and stay relatively injury free as a team next year. I read an article some years ago that said the winning teams are ones which had a good run with injuries. Teams who have a star go down injured talk a big game about next man up, but it usually spells, with some exceptions, the end of the season.
We were not far off beating Panthers in the finals and had Barnett and Metcalf played then we likely would have advanced to the second round in my humble opinion. I am not saying next year is the Warriors year, I am saying if those 5 things go right I can see us holding the trophy. We finished 6th this year and were in amongst it. No reason not to aim up this year.
What say you? What are the 5 factors in your opinion?
