The easiest thing to measure in rugby league is wins and losses.
Culture is a little harder.
Yet ask anyone inside the game, and they'll tell you it can be the difference between keeping players and losing them, filling stadiums or emptying them, building a contender or constantly rebuilding one.
While some clubs are still searching for their identity, others are embracing it.
From the Warriors and their 'Up the Wahs' movement to the rise of 'Foz Ball', these are the clubs currently getting the top grades in the NRL culture curriculum.
1. New Zealand Warriors
If club culture were a school subject, the New Zealand Warriors would be sitting at the top of the class.
Right now, there's probably no better example in rugby league of a club absolutely nailing what culture is meant to look like.
It all started during the unforgettable 2023 finals run, when ‘Up the Wahs' went from chant to identity in what felt like a matter of weeks. But the impressive part isn't that it happened; it's how naturally it stuck.
What started as a slogan quickly became something much bigger: a collective identity that didn't just belong to Auckland, but travelled across the Tasman and embedded itself in the wider rugby league conversation.
That finals series didn't just re-ignite a fanbase. It set a new benchmark for what a genuine connection between a club and its supporters can look like in the modern game. And instead of letting it fade, the Warriors have done the hardest thing of all: they've sustained it.
Nowhere is that clearer than Magic Round, where thousands of Warriors fans turn Caxton Street into something that feels suspiciously like a home game.
Their recent jersey collaboration with Earl's Collection only reinforces it, not reinventing identity, but reflecting it. Respecting where it comes from and giving it space to be seen.
That's the key difference. The Warriors aren't trying to manufacture culture. They've got enough of it already, and the club has been smart enough to step into it rather than over it.
Back in New Zealand, the impact is even more obvious.
Mount Smart has become one of the most reliable sell-out venues in the competition.
In a sporting landscape where rugby union still holds a huge presence but is wrestling with questions around engagement and identity, the Warriors have positioned themselves as the country's most emotionally connected sporting team right now.
And it doesn't feel accidental anymore. It feels earned.
Even the anticipation around what comes next speaks to it.
The only thing that excites me more than experiencing a Warriors home game at Mt Smart? A New Zealand derby.
If the 20th NRL franchise is in NZ, I would book a flight in a heartbeat for their first match-up. I honestly get chills thinking about it.
Accompanying all this with the coaching of Andrew Webster, it is no wonder the Warriors sit second on the ladder as we trudge through to the second half of the season.
They're not just having a strong cultural moment. They're showing the rest of the competition what it looks like when a club and its supporters are fully in sync. Because the only way to measure the success of management is through the engagement of fans.
