{"id":299189,"date":"2023-11-13T05:09:01","date_gmt":"2023-11-13T05:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=299189"},"modified":"2023-11-13T05:09:01","modified_gmt":"2023-11-13T05:09:01","slug":"nrl-season-draw-the-banana-skins-facing-souths-and-eels-in-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/rugby-league\/nrl-season-draw-the-banana-skins-facing-souths-and-eels-in-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL season draw: The banana skins facing Souths and Eels in 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Save articles for later<\/h3>\n<p>Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.<\/p>\n<p>The NRL draw has landed, with sugar, spice and, for some, things not so nice in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Gripes can be found anywhere if that\u2019s what you\u2019re looking for, and positive spin, too, in equal measure. And with an eye to the biggest potential issues and form lines of next season, there\u2019s no shortage of talking points.<\/p>\n<h3><b>Running of the Bunny<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><b> <\/b><\/p>\n<p>No team finds themselves in the spotlight more than South Sydney, and it\u2019ll be more of the same in 2024 given the club\u2019s coaching upheaval and a draw that delivers 13 clashes with top eight teams from last season &#8211; the equal-most of any side.<\/p>\n<p>The devil is in the detail here for Jason Demetriou given the Rabbitohs much-discussed slide throughout this year\u2019s representative period.<\/p>\n<p>Along with the Titans, South Sydney are the first team to knock over all three byes by round 17 &#8211; just after Origin II. It\u2019s a fine chance to bank points but also means a long run home. That\u2019s where the Bunnies went to water this year.<\/p>\n<p>That final 10 weeks is no picnic either. Aside from two games against back-to-back wooden spooners the Wests Tigers, the Rabbitohs will be running the gauntlet into the finals &#8211; with Parramatta, Canberra, Cronulla, Melbourne, Newcastle, Penrith and the Roosters rounding out their last 10 weeks. Demetriou has a new deal and war wounds to show for it from this past winter. The next will tell us how much he and his players learned from them.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/static.ffx.io\/images\/$zoom_0.136%2C$multiply_0.7725%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_0\/t_crop_custom\/q_86%2Cf_auto\/0e31c9af6932ec58fe184f772341fee267cb5f51\" height=\"390\" width=\"584\"><\/p>\n<p><span>The Rabbitohs fell off a cliff in the back half of 2023.<\/span><cite class=\"ojLwA\"><span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n<h3><b>Eels given the slip<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>A bit like fellow high-profile casualties South Sydney, the Eels have a potentially rough finish to 2024, even with the Tigers and Dragons in their final fortnight.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s preceded by a brutal run against Melbourne, the Warriors, Penrith, Roosters and Brisbane &#8211; the early wins that didn\u2019t happen in 2023 will be critical next year.<\/p>\n<p>Thirteen clashes against top-eight sides and seven against last year\u2019s semi-finalists are the equal-most of any team. And once again, Brad Arthur\u2019s side has drawn fresh opponents repeatedly, playing five teams after they have put their feet up with the bye.<\/p>\n<h3><b>The Origin of influence<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>A club will always take Origin players, even with all the potential upheaval, injuries and fatigue the interstate juggernaut brings every year.<\/p>\n<p>Still, the apprehension is always there, and this season the Dolphins will feel it more than most given they are only club without a bye leading into any of the Origin games &#8211; potentially costing them Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Tom Flegler, Tom Gilbert and Felise Kaufusi during those mid-season games.<\/p>\n<p>The Dragons, meanwhile, are quietly quite chuffed by being drawn against Penrith and Brisbane when their Origin contingents will be in NSW and Queensland camps.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/static.ffx.io\/images\/$zoom_0.207%2C$multiply_0.7725%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_0\/t_crop_custom\/q_86%2Cf_auto\/e5a0d267e213ec831511e3611f7f7cbcadb445d5\" height=\"390\" width=\"584\"><\/p>\n<p><span>The Origin beast will be all-encompassing again in 2023.<\/span><cite class=\"ojLwA\"><span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n<p>A collective push by clubs for the series to be condensed from six weeks didn\u2019t come off this year. It won\u2019t be the last we hear of it.<\/p>\n<p>And while on Origin, the overdue move to a three-game series for the women\u2019s fixture has been warmly received.<\/p>\n<p>But the timing of the code\u2019s state competitions &#8211; effectively reserve grade beneath the NRLW &#8211; is critical given Origin I is opening Magic Round on May 16, and eyeing a record crowd at Suncorp Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>The quality of last year\u2019s series opener was undermined by players coming into the contest with little game time, but a potential round-robin tournament has been touted as a solution.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Sports news, results and expert commentary.<\/i><\/b> <b><i>Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<h2>Most Viewed in Sport<\/h2>\n<h3>From our partners<\/h3>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/sport\/nrl\/nrl-season-draw-the-banana-skins-facing-souths-and-eels-in-2024-20231113-p5eji4.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. The NRL draw <span class=\"more-text\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299188,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NRL season draw: The banana skins facing Souths and Eels in 2024 - Sportstons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/rugby-league\/nrl-season-draw-the-banana-skins-facing-souths-and-eels-in-2024\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NRL season draw: The banana skins facing Souths and Eels in 2024 - Sportstons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. 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