As it currently stands, a dozen NRL teams are officially in drought.

A decade without a premiership and for some of them, little optimism that a trophy will be coming their way any time soon.

The Dolphins are only midway through their third year but for the other 16 teams only Penrith, Melbourne, the Roosters and Cronulla can boast a premiership in the past decade. 

North Queensland are a few months away from qualifying for drought status but if anyone who has seen their turnstile defence this season knows the only trophy they will be receiving this year could be of the wooden variety if they don’t get out of their current tailspin which has them just three points ahead of last-placed Gold Coast.

Even if the NRL had true Utopian parity, that would mean a club would win once every 17 years so perhaps a decade-long drought is merely just a fact of life.

But the fact that the Panthers, Roosters and Storm have shared the past nine premierships between them since Cronulla’s maiden title in 2016 shows that the smart clubs keep doing well and the not so bright front offices continue to bring themselves down from within.

Canterbury, Canberra and the Warriors are occupying three of the top four rungs on the ladder after Round 16 so a drought-breaking title could be on the horizon on grand final night.

But the Storm are the other team in the top four and the Roosters and Panthers are swiftly rising up the ladder after each went through an uncharacteristically hot and cold first half of the season.

Every established active team has been through a decade-long drought in their existence – yes, even the Storm because the 2007 and ‘09 titles after their 1999 triumph have been expunged from the record books before they legitimately won the 2012 crown.

Drought periods of current teams

Canterbury – 38, 20
Canberra – 30
Melbourne – 13
Warriors – 29
Broncos – 18
Sharks – 49 
Roosters – 12, 29, 27, 11
Panthers – 24, 12, 18
Manly – 23, 12, 13
Dragons – 11, 14
Cowboys – 19, 
Knights – 23
Wests Tigers – 19
Eels – 34, 38
Souths – 18, 12, 43
Titans – 17 

Lachlan Galvin celebrates a try with Bulldogs teammates. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

The scary stat for the teams who have been waiting longer than a decade to add to their trophy cabinet is that for 10 clubs in premiership history, a 10-year drought led to their eventual demise.

Drought periods of former teams

Annandale – 11
Balmain – 15, 22, 30
Glebe – 22
Gold Coast – 11
Illawarra – 17
Newtown – 23, 40
North Sydney – 13, 77
St George – 20, 11, 20
Uni – 18
Wests – 22, 14, 47

The rise of the Bulldogs, Raiders and Warriors has been a breath of fresh air for the 2025 NRL season to break up the monotony of Penrith, Melbourne and the Roosters dominating for the best part of a decade.

They have each taken very different paths to the top. 

Canterbury are at the tail end of a lengthy rebuild which churned through Dean Pay and Trent Barrett as coaches before Cameron Ciraldo turned the ship around after a mediocre first season at the helm.

The Warriors have bounced back to their 2023 form after taking a massive step back last season with the combination of the acquisition of premiership-winning prop James Fisher-Harris and halfback Luke Metcalf’s breakout season turning them into title contenders.

For the Raiders, their 12-3 start to 2025 would have seemed implausible in the pre-season but after consistently scoring “upset” wins over more-fancied opponents, they now have the respect of the competition with Joseph Tapine bullying opposing packs up front and their young backs showing no fear with the ball in hand to have them ranked third overall in attack. 

Luke Metcalf celebrates after kicking a winning goal in extra time. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

When it comes to the other teams, the executives in the respective front offices need to ask themselves the question – are they getting closer to a premiership or further away right now?

Parramatta are probably the only team that has gone the full rebuild and while they are at least a few seasons away from getting into title contention, the early signs under new coach Jason Ryles is that the future is looking a helluva lot brighter than last year when the Brad Arthur era was clearly petering out. 

St George Illawarra wasted three seasons in purgatory under Anthony Griffin and in the first 18 months of Shane Flanagan as coach, there have been some green shoots but still too much of a reliance on journeymen and veterans over young prospects.

The Dolphins, by virtue of the fact that they are in their third season, are also clearly on the up with rising star Isaiya Katoa calling the shots – if not for serious injuries to Tom Flegler, Tom Gilbert and Max Plath, they would be on the cusp of the top four, rather than the top eight.

Teams like Brisbane and Cronulla have been close to the title in recent years but question marks remain over whether their premiership window is still open with their existing rosters. 

Manly, Souths and the Cowboys fall into the category of teams who have stuck with some of their players too long and now need to bring in new blood to start building for the future because at the moment, they are going the wrong way. 

Then there’s the stragglers in Newcastle and perennial under-achievers Wests Tigers and Gold Coast who keep patching up some of their glaring issues while leaving others unattended. 

The Knights have won just one finals match since 2013, the Tigers haven’t made the playoffs since two years prior to that and the last time the Titans were triumphant in the post-season was 15 years ago.