If Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, then the NRL pre-season is surely the least wonderful.
While we're tucking into Christmas hams, going to the pub a little bit more than we should and deciding that we're really going to clean up our act in January — and we really do mean it, honest — all 16 NRL clubs are hard at work, plotting their premiership charges for 2022.
They say titles are won in the summer, when smart teams have been training down the house and — through some high-performance magic — just about everybody is in the best shape of their lives after their toughest pre-season ever.
Nobody has more ground to make up than the bottom four teams. So, in the first part of our off-season preview, let's take a look at the teams who propped up the ladder in 2021 and the biggest question they need to answer before the trials kick off early next year.
Canterbury Bulldogs
Question: Can all the new pieces fit?
Answer: Canterbury are currently embroiled in the club's longest period outside the finals in living memory — the last time they spent so long outside the playoffs was the early 1960s — but their aggressive recruitment drive could finally end the miserable time they've endured in recent years.
Matt Burton is an absolute slam dunk as a signing and shapes as the kind of player they can build a club around while Josh Addo-Carr will add some sorely needed attacking spark and star power.
The other main recruits for next season are smart, low-risk signings with the potential of high rewards.
Matt Dufty is far from a perfect fullback, and is unlikely to be Canterbury's franchise fullback, but where he goes points invariably follow.
In 15 games for St George Illawarra last year he notched 10 tries, 11 try assists and 10 line breaks and, given the Bulldogs' pointscoring struggles, he provides the sort of instant attacking boost they sorely need.
Likewise, Tevita Pangai Jnr and Paul Vaughan arrive in less-than-ideal circumstances — Pangai Jnr was asked to leave Brisbane while Vaughan's career at Saints fell apart due to the now-infamous COVID-19 barbeque — but, on talent, they'll make the pack a whole lot more dangerous.
But Vaughan should provide strong support to Luke Thompson in the middle while Pangai Jnr will line up on the same edge as Addo-Carr and another new face in Brent Naden, giving Canterbury some real weapons for the first time in years.
A change of scenery – and his brief stint with Penrith – could well have Pangai Jnr on track to fulfil his vast potential.
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Add in some of the bright spots of last year, like halfback Jake Averillo, backrower Jackson Topine and centre Aaron Schoupp and you can begin to see the bones of a handy side.
But, given the Bulldogs aggressive recruitment drive and the added spotlight that comes with Phil Gould's move to the club, there will be little patience from the blue and white faithful who are so eager for even a morsel of success.
Really aiming for top four berths and premiership victories won't start until Reed Mahoney and Viliame Kikau join the club in 2023, but progress needs to made or things will turn nasty.
North Queensland Cowboys
Question: Is Jason Taumalolo still the king?
Answer: North Queensland have been in the midst of a long, stop-start rebuild for several years now, but the one thing they could rely on was Jason Taumalolo.
But a succession of broken hands kept the $10 million man off the field and rule changes have hamstrung his effectiveness to the point where he is no longer the undisputed king of the forwards as he once was.
In 2021 he averaged 155 metres per game — a respectable total for most — but, for Taumalolo, it was his worst return per game since 2015.
Perhaps the Taumalolo of old, when the King of Tonga ruled the league with an iron first, can't exist in the new world of set restarts and fatigue, or maybe age has slowed him down just a shade.
Taumalolo is only 28 years old but has been in first grade since he was 17 and has more than 200 matches to his credit in between.
There's even a chance that a side can't compete in the modern NRL if they're built around one forward, no matter how good that forward may be.
But Taumalolo is still the beginning and the end and, if it's possible for North Queensland to really improve in 2022, it will happen through him.
There's a myriad challenges ahead for Cowboys coach Todd Payten, such as nailing down his best halves combination, improving the team's defence and filtering in young talents like Jeremiah Nanai, Heilum Luki and even Tom Dearden, who improved once he joined the club from Brisbane midway through last year.
Yet some of the club's recruitment for 2022 is underwhelming.
Chad Townsend and Peta Hiku are both solid, dependable veterans, but they're not easy players to get excited about and they don't feel like game-changers for a side looking to claw their way up from 15th place on the ladder.
It's now been two full years since Valentine Holmes returned from the NFL and, if he doesn't look more like the player who left the Sharks soon, it'll be fair to wonder if he ever can again.
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It's a lot of plates to spin, and a lot of questions to answer and, if Payten can't rely on Taumalolo to be the rock on which he builds his footy church, it'll be another long, disappointing season up north.
If you can't count on 200 metres a week being worth as much as it used to be, what can you count on?
Brisbane Broncos
Question: What can Adam Reynolds bring off the field?
Answer: Adam Reynolds has been good at the things he's good at for so long now we know exactly what to expect from the former Rabbitoh: His kicking game will be on-song, both in general play and from the tee, and he'll run Brisbane around the park expertly.
Simply put, Reynolds helps make the players around him better, but the Broncos will be banking on the fact he can do just that for more than just 80 minutes a week.
Reynolds has already impressed Broncos staffers with his work ethic and attention to detail at training and, given Brisbane's dearth of leadership in recent seasons, that kind of example can go a long way.
There is plenty of rising talent at the Broncos: Five-eighth Ezra Mam is one the club is particularly excited about, who just needed a steady hand to direct their youthful exuberance.
Their best wins in 2021 came when exciting young backs like Tesi Niu, Herbie Farnworth and Selwyn Cobbo were at their best and, along with forwards such as Kobe Hetherington, TC Robati and Brendan Piakura they're the future of the club.
There's question marks over the long-term spine, despite Reynolds' presence the options at their disposal: Albert Kelly had some nice moments last year, despite not being far off the end himself, while Tyson Gamble's intensity and aggression compliment his strong grasp of the fundamentals and Mam could well hit the top grade by the middle of the season.
Whoever starts the year at fullback is anyone's guess and Jake Turpin's development at hooker has stagnated a little.
But these are not crippling issues, and Reynolds' presence turns them into opportunities.
Seeing who rises to Reynolds' level, who follows the example he sets and proves willing to do all the little things that eventually add up into big things, will tell Kevin Walters a whole lot about who the club should anoint as the men to carry the future.
Wests Tigers
Question: Is Luke Brooks worth it?
Answer: The daily Luke Brooks updates came thick and fast through the summer, as they often do, with Brooks again supposedly on the nose at the Tigers, as he is often claimed to be, but in the end the result stayed the same as it has for many years now with Brooks remaining at Concord.
There's a case to be made that a fresh start might be best for player and club, but what is clear is that something needs to change for Brooks and the Tigers.
What exact form that takes — be it through working with new director of football Tim Sheens, or striking up a stronger combination with star five-eighth Adam Doueihi and new recruit Jackson Hastings, or changing his own game somehow — doesn't matter, so long as Brooks can find the consistency that's eluded him since his career-best season in 2018.
And it's not as though there's nothing here for Brooks to work with. It hasn't happened yet, but don't be surprised if Stefano Utoikamanu is soon talked about as one of the best props in the league, while Doueihi's emergence and the excellent rookie season of Daine Laurie proves the Tigers have a little bit more going for them then many may believe.
Backrower Shawn Blore is a player of the future, as are middle forward Tuki Simpkins and hooker Jake Simpkin.
They're still at the start of something, but it's better than nothing and, when Isaiah Papali'I and Api Koroisau finally come to town, it might be time to start thinking about ending that finals drought.
But whether Brooks will be there to see it. A few years ago, when he re-signed with the club on his current deal, Brooks was asked what kept him at the Tigers and he said it was because he couldn't bear the idea of them being successful without him.
That success hasn't come and, rightly or wrongly, Brooks wears plenty of the blame for that but the fact that several clubs were interested in prising him away from the Tigers is proof there's still plenty of people who believe in his abilities.
Brooks has to show why that's the case, and justify the Tigers' steadfast commitment to him, if he wants to silence the doubters.
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