12th

 So after the final round of games played out, we finished 12th on the table. 

We actually had a 100% win record against the teams which finished below us. And an 11.7% win record against the teams above us.

There's zero doubt it was a disappointing season. Coming off 5th in Season '24, I think it's fair to say our hopes were high.

I do though come back to our off season: From Season '24 we lost a hell of a lot of talent to other clubs - Feldt, Holmes & Finefeuiaki (all were part of our best 17) - then we lost Luki for the year to injury (another from our top 17). And while we got Hess back from his knee injury in '24, the only other player we brought in that had a notable impact was Bateman.

We also got a very patchy season out of BigJase because of injury. He's a warhorse these days, but without doubt remains our most influential player. He finished with just 10 games under his belt in Season '25. Given we'd lost Finefuiaki & Luki, we desperately needed a big season out of Jase (and simply didn't get it). 

A lot of people point to Purdue moving into the halves (and dropping of Clifford) as the downfall of our season. That was the same time as when we lost BigJase - and I think that was that key to our drop off of form, not the dropping of Jake. 

As we look to 2026, I see the team as being even more dependant on BigJase. McLean has retired and he proved very solid and dependable in the middle. He was also robust - he played 19 games this year, and played 20+ games in each of the 4 seasons before that. We'd hope Lahrs blossoms into a quality prop, and Neame, Hess & Michaele all step up, but gee it feels like BigJase, even at age 32, is more key than ever.

Luki will hopefully come back strong, and will take some of the load as well. He's a bloody big body. 

I would though love to see the Cows sign another real metre eater of a prop. I don't love the fact that we're so damn dependent on BigJase to bend the line. Neame, Hess, McIntyre & Michaele - they're all very solid, but simply don't have the impact Jase has. 

I'm also worried about the guys who are able to negotiate come Nov 1 (as they don't have a contact beyond 2026) - specifically Purdue, Neame, Lahrs & Taulagi. Admitted there are lots of players at lots of clubs in the same boat, but with the Perth Bears entering the comp in 2027, and PNG following hot on their heels, I'm guessing retention will be bloody hard. The less quality players coming off contract the better. 

Put a Fork in 2025

Spirited end to the season on Saturday night vs the Broncos. It was a poor start to proceedings, being down 12-0 after 10 mins with a player in the sin bin, and it could easily have become a blowout. But we bit down, showed some flair with the ball and made a real game of it (it finished 38-30). Maybe had the Nanai try been given the all clear (it was ruled a knock on by the bunker after 234 looks) or the Waters try been pulled up (for a forward pass) we could have seen the locals pull off a win. 

At the end of the day we ran a top 4 team, that's still fighting for table position, to the wire. I think that's the disappointment of 2025. Our best was bloody good, but our worst was bloody awful. And we regularly swung between both extremes in the space of minutes.

I was dredging few some of my RL sites  I use for match & season stats, and came across this:

We top the comp for errors, handling errors, ineffective tackles. We're also on top for missed tackles. That's the story of our season right there. We lead the comp in metres gained, have the best try assist merchant in the comp in Drinky (he's also top 5 for linebreak assists), and are top 8 for tries scored. Our attack is plenty good enough. 

Todd has seemingly survived the axe for now, but the pressure is on for next season to be significantly better. Hopefully Luki comes back strong, BigJase plays closer to 20 games than 10 next season (as he's still playing elite football an has a massive impact on our win/loss), and Reed Mahoney slots in neatly. We definitely need a defensive coach in 2026 though - we ran without one in 2025 and we defended like a broken sieve - only the Titans conceded more points than us (and that's hardly a badge of honour).

Also hoping we get close to a full season out of Vailea & Muzz. They played only 14 and 15 games respectively in 2025. And we don't have a lot of depth in our three quarter line (especially with Semi seemingly going overseas).

A few additional player signings wouldn't go astray either, but they need to be people who are going to push for a place in our top 17. "Depth" signings are a waste of cash.