The 2026 NRL season is set to kick-off on Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas, with 16 teams out to chase the Brisbane Broncos in the new campaign.
Every club will see key reasons why they can and can't perform in 2026, and Zero Tackle have pulled the key one on each side of the coin.
Wests Tigers
Why they can: Benji Marshall's approach
Benji Marshall has made it fairly clear over the last 12 months that you're either on board with the Tigers, or you're not.
Key departures for players of the future before the end of their contracts have made that clear, but so too have various selection calls.
The biggest of those for 2026 looks to be the move of Adam Doueihi into the halfback role, but there will undoubtedly be others throughout the campaign.
Why they can't: Lack of experience
The Tigers, for all their likely improvement heading into 2026, are a team still lacking experience.
Jarome Luai is a premiership winner, but not as a key man, but rather the second fiddle half, while Doueihi has spent more time injured than he hasn't.
Terrell May is still building, and so too are most of the forwards, while Jahream Bula will no doubt have off-field contract distractions to deal with.
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Who said that ? Was it Nietzsche ?
Well, whoever it was, he’d be proud to have written this one, Scott.