As the 2024 NRL premiership season draws closer, The Daily Telegraph’s Michael Carayannis weighs in on which player at every club needs a big 2024.
In this iteration, Carayannis looks at which players from the Cronulla Sharks and Canberra Raiders are under the most pressure to perform.
Canberra Raiders
Josh Papali’i
“He has been one of my favourite players of the past few seasons but he was poor last year,” Carayannis said on SEN 1170 Breakfast.
“He didn’t make State of Origin (for Queensland). I know he retired (from rep footy) but he was told that he wouldn’t be picked for Queensland.
“He’s 31 now and there’s a mutual option for a deal in 2025.
“He’s on marquee money to be one of the most dominant props in the game and his combination with Joe Tapine made them the best one-two punch in the competition.
“James Fisher-Harris and Moses Leota (from Penrith) have now gone passed them.
“If Canberra are going to have any success again, Papali’i is going ot have to find the tackle breaks that he has had over the last few years.
“Last year, he had 39 (tackle busts) and the year before, he had 81 which shows the lack of impact he is now having in games.”
Cronulla Sharks
Toby Rudolf
“He’s obviously not their best player and you could easily slot Nicho Hynes into this conversation,” Carayannis added.
“At 27 years of age, this is the time for a guy like Rudolf to make the transition from being a decent first grader to becoming an elite player.
“He’s been around first grade enough now, played enough games and he’s on a decent contract.
“Their forward pack is too same-same and that’s been my criticism of Cronulla for a while now.
“No one in there is giving them that punch to create a point of difference.
“Rudolf has got a bit of character about him but he’s got to put that all together, find some consistency for a period and asset himself as the leader of that Cronulla forward pack.”
The Raiders travel to Newcastle in Round 1 to take on the Knights whilst the Sharks are away to the Warriors.
