As you tuck into the Christmas ham, try to dodge the worst of the chat around the table and open the presents, NRL clubs will also be hoping they can score plenty from the most festive day of the year.
It's time of year when the NRL seems to stand still. Players are on leave, clubs go quiet and the signings - for about the only time all year - slow down.
But it won't stay that way for long. Clubs have turned their long-term attention towards their 2025 squads, while pre-season training will be back shortly ahead of the season kicking off in Las Vegas, which itself follows pre-season trials from the middle of February.
So, what does your club want for Christmas ahead of the 2024 season?
On behalf of the entire Zero Tackle team, we wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas, and safe holiday period.
8. Knights: Kalyn Ponga's form continues
Kalyn Ponga was something of a magician for the Knights in the final two or three months of the 2024 NRL season.
Newcastle were, even according to their most optimistic fans, dead and buried haflway through the campaign. In fact, a bottom-four finish was looking more likely than a top eight one.
The club were ready to just about blow the operation up and start again. All reports had head coach Adam O'Brien - who is now on the verge of a contract extension - hanging by a thread.
But then Kalyn Ponga found his form, the club went bananas and they didn't drop another game over the final ten weeks to sail into the finals and host an elimination contest in Week 1.
They ultimately couldn't get past Week 2, but 2024 now needs consolidation, and a lot of that is going to come down to Ponga staying fit, and continuing the form he finshed the 2023 campaign with.
