We have something new for the 2025 NRL season. With last season's final table acting as a starting order, each week we will move teams up, down or nowhere at all, depending on their performances on the weekend.
This week the Bulldogs maintained their spot at the top, while the Storm hit an unexpected snake. Their conquerors, the Dolphins, continued their steady climb up the ladders, as did the Sharks and Raiders.
The results won't match the 2025 NRL competition ladder, but will give an alternative indication of how well each team is traveling.
Last year's finishing order: 1. Storm, 2. Panthers, 3. Roosters, 4. Sharks, 5. Cowboys, 6. Bulldogs, 7. Sea Eagles, 8. Knight, 9. Raiders, 10. Dolphins, 11. Dragons, 12. Broncos, 13. Warriors, 14. Titans, 15. Eels, 16. Rabbitohs, 17. Tigers
1.
Bulldogs - steady
The Bulldogs hosted the Rabbitohs in front of a record-breaking club round crowd of 65,305. From the moment they ran out to the roar of the majority Bulldogs crowd, they dominated on both sides of the ball. The Rabbitohs were hammered by the fast-moving Bulldogs defence and, exhausted from trying to work their way out of their own half, succumbed to the still-not-completely convincing Bulldogs attack. Matt Burton struggled on his return from a knee injury, with several timing errors, while Viliame Kikau took on an enforcer role, caught up in a few push and shove encounters throughout the night. The convincing 32-0 victory marked the first time since 1938 that the Bulldogs had won their first six games of a season.
2.
Raiders - ladder up 1
In a game they were expected to win, the Raiders travelled to the Gold Coast to take on the inconsistent Titans. They faced an early onslaught as the Titans crossed for the first three tries within the first 20 minutes. Down 16-0 the Raiders crossed for their first try 26 minutes into the game and turned the momentum, thundering back into the game to take a 22-16 lead four minutes into the second half. Hudson Young was at it again, crossing for his third consecutive double.
3.
Sharks - ladder up 1
The Sharks travelled to Newcastle and scored the first two tries through the middle of the Knights' defence. They almost scored a third the same way, but were held up, before spreading the ball wide on the next play to score in the corner through Samuel Stonestreet. As the game moved into the second half, the Knights defence started to fall away as the Sharks took control. In defence the Sharks rattled the Knights attack, knocking them off their timing and shutting down any half breaks.
4.
Storm - snake down 2
Melbourne travelled to Brisbane to take on the Dolphins and looked set for another comfortable victory, scoring two early tries. But as the game progressed, the enthusiasm of the home team overwhelmed the Storm. The defence of the premiership favourites faltered as the Dolphins took advantage of some good fortune and some clever play to claim the points. The Storm tried everything in their armory, but the Dolphins' defence frustrated them into errors. It was well below the Storm's best performance, but the Dolphins played a big part in that.
5.
Dragons - ladder up 3
The Dragons visited Brookvale where the first half was littered with errors from both teams. The Dragons were the first and only team to capitalise before the break, scoring a converted try and a penalty goal to jog off 8-0 up. They scored the first try of the second half to go to 14-0 up and then, despite having a one-man advantage for 10 minutes, they let the Sea Eagles right back into the game. At 14-14 it looked as though the home side would finish over the top, but some Jason Liddle spark saw the Dragons grab a 20-14 lead, from where they were able to hang on despite another Manly try. It was a gutsy away victory for the Dragons against the formerly formidable Sea Eagles.
6.
Cowboys - steady - bye
7.
Broncos - snake down 2
Brisbane headed to Auckland where they were greeted by torrential rain and an early injury scare to Reece Walsh. Walsh had his knee heavily strapped but he soldiered on as the Broncos hit the lead early through some Billy Walters dummy-half magic past some woeful goal-line defence. The Warriors scored the next four tries and looked to have the game in the bag, but the Broncos managed to fight back with late tries to Jesse Arthars and Walsh levelling the fulltime scores at 18-18, thanks largely to the goal kicking of Adam Reynolds. Walsh stepped up to take the kick-off for golden point extra time and overcooked it. The resulting penalty on halfway was converted by Warriors half Luke Metcalf to win the game.
8.
Warriors - ladder up 2
Back home after being belted by the Storm last week, the Warriors were nearly unrecognisable in their late multicultural round jersey, but the way they conceded the first try was very familiar. After spilling a bomb and giving the visitors six more tackles, the goal-line defence fell for a Billy Walters' dummy with the Broncos hooker walking through virtually untouched. Still, the Warriors scored the next four tries, defended well, and late in the second half held a game-winning 18-6 lead. But the Broncos weren't done and managed to level the scores before fulltime at 18-18. At the start of golden point extra time, Reece Walsh kicked it dead and the Warriors were awarded a penalty on halfway. Halfback Luke Metcalf, who had only kicked 1/5 all night, stepped up confidently to take the shot at goal. He nailed the kick to give the Warriors a well-deserved victory.
9.
Dolphins - ladder up 2
The Dolphins hosted the Storm and the signs weren't good early, with errors handing the visitors the first three tries and a 16-0 lead. But, although looking flat footed with the ball at times, the Dolphins stepped up, scoring a barge over try to Josh Kerr, and another from a bomb to Jack Bostock. Into the second half the Dolphins took control through a brilliant Kodi Nikorima flick pass try and a borderline piece of magic by Isaiya Katoa. It was all the Dolphins from there as they crossed for a total of seven tries to upset the heavily-favoured Storm for their first ever victory over Melbourne.
10.
Tigers - snake down 3
After a week of drama the Tigers took their Easter Monday home clash with the Eels to CommBank Stadium. In front of a healthy crowd, with a fairly even split of fans, the game started in the trenches where several high shots punctuated the early action. The Eels took a 2-0 lead after one such indiscretion. The Eels scored the first try after a Mitchell Moses 40/20, before the Tigers struck back with Terrell May splitting the Eels right up the middle from four metres out off a well-timed Api Koroisau dummy-half pass. Brent Naden helped send Jahream Bula over next with a pass from his knees. After the break the Tigers faced wave after wave of Eels attack and couldn't stop the flow of points, completely losing their discipline in the process. They scored a couple of second-half tries, but fell away to hand the Eels their second win of the year.
11.
Rabbitohs - snake down 2
The Bunnies welcomed back Cody Walker as they faced an unbeaten Bulldogs in front of a record crowd at Accor Stadium. They matched the home team early, but were losing the territory battle as the Bulldogs kicked long and defended ferociously. The Bunnies soon made enough errors to allow the Bulldogs to snatch a couple of tries, before watching them run away with the game. Latrell Mitchell looked a little lost with no room to move and Jack Wighton proved to be more of a liability than an asset.
12.
Panthers - ladder up 3
The Panthers travelled down the M4 to take on the Chooks, after losing a fifth-straight game for the season against the Dolphins last week. They conceded the first try of the game out wide, but struck back through two tries to Paul Alamoti. From there it was the Panthers of old, with a sniff of the new, with young guns Casey McLean and Blaize Talagi scoring tries. It was a massive victory with fullback Dylan Edwards playing much nearer his best and Nathan Cleary dominating off the back of an improved effort from his forwards. The Panthers surged away to claim their second win of the year and a vital two points.
13.
Eels - ladder up 3
Parramatta welcomed Mitchell Moses back from injury and he showed the fans what they had been missing with a 40/20 in the 15th minute to put the Eels on the attack, after they had taken a 2-0 lead with an early penalty goal. Shortly after Josh Addo-Carr was diving over in the corner to extend that lead. Moses had the Eels running much more smoothly than they have been in recent times. They let themselves down on their goal-line with Terrell May splitting the defence for one try, before Jahream Bula crossed out wide. Dylan Brown then bombed a chance to regain the lead in the shadow of halftime, but early after the break Moses sent Kelma Tuilagi through to go 16-10 up after the conversion. It was all Eels from there with the Tigers unable to handle Moses-inspired attack.
14.
Sea Eagles - snake down 2
Manly hosted the Dragons and lost Jake Trbojevic to concussion relatively early. Adding to the pain of losing a key forward, Manly's Haumole Olakau'atu decided that hard running on the edge was not enough and proceeded to throw a series of ill-advised passes. It was contagious on the right side with Luke Brooks and Daly Cherry-Evans also having turns at throwing shockers. The only try of the first half followed a Olakau'atu error and the Dragons capitalised on another Manly error early in the second half to lead 14-0. The Sea Eagles then began their fightback through the magic of Lehi Hopoate and, down a player with Toafofoa Sipley in the bin, they levelled the scores at 14-14. The Dragons scored to go 20-14 up, before some Daly Cherry-Evans magic in both defence and attack got the home side back to 20-18. Despite some desperation, further handling errors and an expiring clock saw them lose another one.
15.
Knights - snake down 2
The struggling Knights hosted the Sharks with both teams desperate for the two points to stay in touch with the Top 8. The Knights conceded the first try through the middle of the ruck. They scored shortly after, but the bunker ruled that a Nico Hynes tackle on a player without the ball was an obstruction by the decoy runner. The bunker was heard to report that "the runner stopped in the line" but that was clear because he was hit in a solid tackle by Hynes. The Sharks scored through the middle again shortly after and the Knights were never really in the game after that, despite scoring three good tries.
16.
Roosters - ladder down 2
The Roosters hosted the Panthers after beating the Broncos the week before. They opened the scoring through Daniel Tupou in the corner before his lack of defence led to two Paul Alamoti tries. Along the way James Tedesco was knocked over by Dylan Edwards in pursuit of a kick, which the officials ruled play-on. Before you could work out what had happened, the Panthers were well ahead and racing away. There were very few positives to come out of the second half for the Roosters, as they slipped back down the board and on the competition ladder.
17.
Titans - steady
The Titans hosted the Raiders and started like a bull at the gate, scoring three tries in the opening 20 minutes. Whether they ran out of steam or the Raiders eventually woke from their slumber, it was all lime green for most of the remainder of the match. Despite some desperate scrambling defence, the Titans were unable to stem the tide, allowing the Raiders to finish comfortably on top.