Which club is the best of the NRL era? Where your team sits on quarter-century ladder

The Melbourne Storm are the best team of the NRL era. The Herald has worked out each team’s annual points average since the 1998 season to calculate where your side sits on the quarter-century ladder.

The Storm top the standings with an average of 34 points a year since the formation of the NRL and their competition debut 25 years ago.

A strong decade helped the Sydney Roosters topple Brisbane as the second most successful team in that period, with the Broncos slipping out of second spot after a disastrous few seasons at Red Hill.

The Wests Tigers have avoided the quarter-century wooden spoon, narrowly edging the Gold Coast Titans for the tag of worst team.

1. Melbourne Storm

The Storm were denied 32 points when the NRL forced them to play the 2010 season without earning competition points after being found guilty of cheating the salary cap. It cost them two premierships.

If you include the 2010 season, the Storm have incredibly finished the year with 30-plus premiership points for the past 20 years. The nearest rival 30-plus streak in the NRL era is five years, set by the Bulldogs between 2012 and 2016.

They’ve finished with 30-plus points (again including 2010) in 22 of their 25-year existence. They’ve also recorded a mammoth seven 40-plus seasons, better than any team over that period and four more than the next best teams (Roosters and Panthers with three).

2. Sydney Roosters

The Sydney Roosters have been one of the most consistent clubs of the NRL era. There were lean years in 2009 and 2016, but for the most part of the last quarter-century the Roosters have been competing for titles. Only a COVID-shortened season in 2020 denied the Roosters what would have been a six-year streak of 30-plus point seasons. Trent Robinson has been in charge for the past decade, winning three premierships and playing in nine finals series.

3. Brisbane Broncos

The Broncos started the quarter-century as the glamour club of the NRL but have fallen off a cliff in recent seasons. The Broncos were once the most dominant team in the competition, but they’ve been knocked off by the Storm as the benchmark of the NRL. Interestingly, the only time they strung four consecutive seasons with 30-plus competition points was between 2015 and 2018 under former coach Wayne Bennett. He was sacked at the end of 2018.

4. Penrith Panthers

They were in the bottom half of the quarter-century ladder a decade ago, but a resurgence over the past dozen or so years has led the Panthers into the top four. They finished with less than 20 competition points in four seasons of the NRL’s first decade.

They have improved their position with six 30-plus points seasons in the past seven years – including consecutive years of more than 40 in 2021 and 2022.

5. Parramatta Eels

It’s incredible the Eels finished so high considering how poor they performed between 2010 and 2013. They’ve collected three wooden spoons over the past quarter-century and failed to win a premiership despite reaching three grand finals. Most of their success came under coaches Brian Smith and Brad Arthur.

6. Manly Sea Eagles

The Herald has included the three years of the Northern Eagles merger in Manly’s record. The club failed to earn more than 24 points in six consecutive seasons between 1999 and 2004. It’s the second-longest streak in the history of the NRL, behind only South Sydney.

The Sea Eagles turned the corner under Des Hasler and Geoff Toovey, finishing with 30-plus points in eight of the nine seasons between 2006 and 2014, winning two premierships along the way.

7. Cronulla Sharks

The Sharks overcame three disappointing seasons between 2009 and 2011 to record a strong decade, including the club’s first premiership with a win against the Storm in 2016.

It came around the club’s most dominant period in the NRL era, finishing four consecutive seasons with 30-plus points.

8. St George Illawarra Dragons

The Dragons were long regarded as the perennial underachievers. They lost a grand final in 1999 and should have made a decider under coach Nathan Brown but kept falling in the finals.

It took the arrival of Wayne Bennett in 2009 to transform the club, resulting in its first premiership a year later. The club has been struggling since Bennett’s departure at the end of 2011, reaching just two finals series in 11 years.

9. Canberra Raiders

The Raiders have struggled for consistency following a golden era in the 1990s. Coach Ricky Stuart helped turn around the struggling club, but it still hasn’t yielded a premiership.

The Raiders haven’t recorded consecutive 30-plus points seasons since the turn of the millennium.

10. Canterbury Bulldogs

The Bulldogs’ struggles in recent years has plummeted them down the quarter-century ladder. If this table had been calculated in 2016, the Bulldogs would have finished fourth.

However, the club has been in the doldrums since then, missing six straight finals series and picking up a wooden spoon along the way. Their position on the ladder includes the points deducted for breaching the salary cap in 2002.

11. Newcastle Knights

The Knights started the quarter-century as one of the strongest clubs in the NRL, winning a premiership in 2001 when many expected the Parramatta Eels to finish on top.

The club has struggled over the past decade, winning three straight wooden spoons between 2015 and 2017. The Knights have played finals football just twice in nine years.

12. South Sydney Rabbitohs

Didn’t feature in two of the 25 years of the NRL era after being kicked out of the competition. The Rabbitohs struggled after they were reinstated. It wasn’t until Michael Maguire joined the club in 2012 that it transformed into a powerhouse.

The Rabbitohs have played finals football nine times in the past 11 years. They claimed a drought-breaking premiership along the way and have reached a preliminary final for the past five years.

13. New Zealand Warriors

The Warriors have managed 30-plus points seasons on just six occasions since the beginning of the NRL. The club has struggled for consistency. Despite making two grand finals, the Warriors remain without a premiership.

The club failed to collect more than 18 points in its past three years, struggling with life on the road due to COVID restrictions.

14. North Queensland Cowboys

The Cowboys struggled in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Johnathan Thurston’s arrival helped change that.

They finished with 30-plus points for six of the seven years between 2011 and 2017, resulting in the club’s first and only title in 2015.

15. Wests Tigers

The club was brought into the competition in 2000 and has largely struggled. The Tigers hold the longest active streak for missing the finals, collecting a wooden spoon last year.

Even during the club’s glamour years, which resulted in Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah leading the club to a premiership in 2005, the Tigers have never finished higher than third on the ladder. The Tigers have made the finals just three times in 22 years, finishing ninth on six occasions.

16. Gold Coast Titans

Since the club’s formation in 2007, the Titans have spent most seasons at the bottom end of the ladder.

The club has played in four finals series in 16 years, collecting two wooden spoons along the way. The Titans haven’t finished higher than eighth on the ladder since 2010.

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