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Find your frequency hereThe race for NRL's top four: Who has the most room for improvement?
Charles Goodsir • August 13th, 2025 2:00 pm
As the NRL enters the final month of the home and away season ahead of finals, the race for the top four also intensifies as teams scramble to secure the vital double chance.
As of Round 23, the Canberra Raiders sit atop the NRL ladder followed by the Melbourne Storm, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the Penrith Panthers in fourth position.
Rugby league great Greg Alexander said on SEN that genuine premiership contenders will start to ramp up their training regimes in an attempt to hit peak form heading into the finals.
Alexander went through all the top four teams and dissected their room for improvement and whether they can achieve the ultimate success.
1st - Canberra Raiders (38 points, 17-4, +168)
Run Home: Bye, Panthers (A), Tigers (H), Dolphins (A)
“We’ll find out over the next month how much improvement there is in the Raiders,” Alexander said on SEN 1170 Breakfast.
“The Raiders aren’t reliant on any one player. You just have to look at the performance of Ethan Strange over the weekend with three tries.
“The improvement is in the young players.”
“I think you could argue that they’ve already over-achieved what you expected at the start of the year,” SEN’s Andrew Voss added.
“They are growing this confidence and riding this wave.”
2nd - Melbourne Storm (36 points, 15-5, +248)
Run Home: Panthers (A), Bulldogs (H), Roosters (H), Broncos (A)
“The Storm have been the overwhelming favourites for the whole year to win the competition,” Alexander said.
“They had a run of wins where they won six or seven in a row but when you look at who they were up against, you asked what it really meant.
“The Storm have put some good performances together in periods during games but not against top opponents.
“Out of all the teams in the top four, they have the most room for improvement.
“It’s because of the players that they have. The class players that they have.”
3rd - Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (36 points, 15-5, +140)
Run Home: Roosters (A), Storm (A), Panthers (H), Sharks (H)
“They are hoping they see improvement,” Alexander continued.
“The Bulldogs have changed two of their key players. Their halfback and their hooker.
“The decisions that Cameron Ciraldo has made about his team, I trust.
“I rate him as a head coach and my belief in him couldn’t be any higher.
“I reckon there’s 20% more improvement in them.”
4th - Penrith Panthers (31 points, 12-7-1, +119)
Run Home: Storm (H), Raiders (H), Bulldogs (A), Dragons (A)
“The young players they have in their team are continually improving week-by-week.”
“If Penrith won all three of their games (against the top four), they are odds-on to win the competition,” Voss said.
“That would make 12 straight victories. They’d have to be the Premiership favourites.”
