It usually takes a few weeks to settle into a groove for NRL teams but 2025 has been a whirlpool of dramatic form changes good and bad over the opening fortnight.
Even the Panthers have been hot and cold, going from a polished first-up defeat of Cronulla to losing to a Roosters team so heavily depleted that the bookmakers had blown out their odds of winning the match to double figures in a two-horse race.
The Roosters recorded a 42-point turnaround in reversing their Round 1 fortunes while Brisbane went the other way, on the end of an upset loss to the Raiders.
Souths have managed to become one of the five teams unbeaten with an average winning margin of 1.5 points while the Cowboys look set to tumble from the playoff equation after racking up two woeful defeats to start their campaign.
At least the Eels are reliable – they were terrible in their season opener against Melbourne and only marginally better in losing by 26 to the Tigers.
Here’s how the teams stack up after Round 2.
1. Storm (Last week 1): Had the bye and only got better heading into the grand final rematch against Penrith with Nelson Asofa-Solomona now available after serving his prelim final ban.
2. Bulldogs (3): They’re going to be without Matt Burton and Viliame Kikau for a while so their claims to second spot are not as rock solid as they otherwise would be.
But the Dogs are clicking at the moment – before they had to reshuffle their line-up against the Titans when Burton went off, a 60-point shellacking was looking likely.
3. Panthers (2): No Dylan Edwards for the next three weeks is a huge setback for a team that looks rusty after a limited pre-season and a jaunt to Vegas. Penrith made more unforced errors in their upset loss to the Roosters than they did in a month in any of their past four premiership-winning seasons.
The draw hasn’t done them any favours with a full-strength Storm side, well rested after the bye, awaiting them at AAMI Park on Thursday night.
Izack Tago is tackled. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
4. Sharks (5): They put on a clinic against the listless Cowboys, wearing them down and then scattering the defence on each edge and all points in between as they ran in seven tries.
They had 10 players make more than 100 running metres with wingers Sam Stonestreet and Ronaldo Mulitalo topping out at 229 apiece.
5. Knights (7): They look as good as they’ve done in the previous four years of Adam O’Brien’s tenure.
Kalyn Ponga had spiders all over him against the Dolphins and he upped his involvement to deliver quantity on top of his top-shelf quality.
6. Raiders (8): They defied the odds for a second week in a row to not only prove their Vegas win over the Warriors was no fluke but that they could take down a title contender in the Broncos.
And this wasn’t your typical gritty Green Machine grind to an ugly win, Canberra gave the ball some air and we’re far too slick for Brisbane’s big names.
Matty Nicholson celebrates scoring a try. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
7. Sea Eagles (3): Don’t count your Sea Eagles before they hatch.
As strong as their first-up win over the Cowboys looked, they played like a team that expected to show up and put a score on the Warriors.
After posting the first try, their lack of total commitment led to them conceding four straight tries and when they started to arc up in the second half it was too little, too late.
8. Broncos (6): Red Hill wasn’t rebuilt in a day. They have heard all summer about how good they looked and they put it into practice in Round 1 in their Roosters romp but there was a definite drop in intensity against the Raiders, the kind of inconsistency that legit title contenders don’t possess.
9. Rabbitohs (10): The old silver fox has done it again with Wayne Bennett instilling belief into a depleted team to rack up back-to-back wins to start the year.
Jamie Humphreys has been a revelation at halfback ever since he came on for Lewis Dodd in the Charity Shield and when they get Latrell Mitchell, Alex Johnston and Euan Aitken back on deck in the next few weeks.
Jamie Humphreys. (Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)
10. Roosters (13): James Tedesco has enjoyed some great wins but it was no surprise to hear him say their upset victory over Penrith was one of the best he’s been involved in during his illustrious career.
The Roosters are known as the rich kids of the NRL but they played with the desperation of paupers against the premiers with Sandon Smith stepping up as the dynamic playmaker they need while Sam Walker rehabs his torn ACL.
11. Tigers (14): They are a long way from being the finished product but you can see elements of Benji Marshall the player coming out in his team.
There were a few moments in the win over the Eels where you thought why did they throw that extra pass or put in that speculator of a kick right up until a split-second later when it paid off with a line break or points.
With Terrell May and Royce Hunt owning the middle of the ruck, these Tigers have serious bite.
Sunia Turuva celebrates scoring a try. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
12. Warriors (15): Now that’s more like it. By adding James Fisher-Harris, everyone was expecting a bounce-back year and perhaps that was the problem in Vegas with their lacklustre showing against Canberra.
But against Manly this was reminiscent of the top-four Warriors side of two years ago which hunted as a pack in the middle and were not afraid to take chances to put on points out wide.
13. Dolphins (9): More like the Dull-phins given their lack of adventure in attack.
Dolphins are supposed to be playful animals but the ones from Redcliffe are very ho-hum in 2025, looking like they’re always waiting for Isaiya Katoa or Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow to create something out of nothing with no alternative strategies.
14. Dragons (11): An attitude adjustment is certainly needed over the bye round with their goal-line defence because it came back to bite them for the second week in a row.
Leading by 12 with 25 minutes left does not guarantee anyone a win but St George Illawarra not only couldn’t land a knockout blow, they let their opponent back into the fight and didn’t answer the bell in the final round when they should have been rushing up to shut down South Sydney’s game-winning field goal attempt.
15. Cowboys (12): They conceded 11 line breaks in week one against Manly and 10 on Saturday night against Cronulla so if you’re an optimistic Cowboys fan you could say they are improving.
As the club celebrates its 30th anniversary, unfortunately it seems the players are turning back the clock to North Queensland’s debut season when their cobbled together roster of journeymen and rookies conceded 33 points per game.
16. Titans (16): They are lucky the Eels stink to high hell otherwise they’d be occupying the bottom rung of the rankings ladder.
Those two teams don’t meet until Round 16. Too early to call that a SpoonBowl?
17. Eels (17): They have a few willing workers in the pack and a few overpaid stars out wide who are playing well below their best.
Eels centres Will Penisini and Zac Lomax were both turnstiles in defence against the Tigers, leaving inexperienced teammates Sean Russell, Isaiah Iongi and Jordan Samrani stranded.
