Could the NRL West become the most fearsome conference in the league?

The NRL West rivalries have risen in recent years, just when you thought they could not get any higher. The conference’s teams are geographically closer together than any other, which is always a fertile breeding ground for competition. However, in recent years the teams of the NRL West have found new ways to intertwine and build those rivalries even further.

It started with the Wests Tigers, who signed two of Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs’ favourite sons, Josh Reynolds and Moses Mbye, for season 2018. They are part of one of the strongest Tigers teams in years, with a mix of experience (Robbie Farah, Benji Marshall) and exciting youth (Esan Marsters, Ryan Matterson), headed up by premiership-winning coach Michael Maguire. While Wests were defensively strong last season they will need to significantly improve their attack to challenge for the conference title. The acquisition of Maguire may prove to be one of the best coaching acquisitions for the Tigers.

The situation which brought Maguire to Wests is what has built up the rivalry between them and their conference counterparts, the Penrith Panthers. The team at the foot of the mountains lured former coach Ivan Cleary back from the Tigers in dubious circumstances, seeing Cleary leave with two years to go on his contract. The pressure is now on the Panthers to deliver, defend their NRL West title and challenge for the premiership. They have the personnel, but they will need to overcome the scrutiny from both the Cleary saga and off-season sex tape scandal to do so.

Two teams who are leaving disappointing 2018 season behind them are the Bulldogs and the Parramatta Eels. Both teams have invested in new blood in key positions to reinvigorate their NRL West Conference campaigns. For the Dogs, Lachlan Lewis proved himself more than capable at the back end of the season in leading his team around the park and away from the bottom of the conference table. The Eels see their playmaking future in five-eighth Dylan Brown and hooker Reed Mahoney – and the only way is up for last year’s wooden spooners.

Predicted conference champions: Panthers

Predicted surprise performers: Bulldogs