New season brings hope; three new NRL teams may enter finals, with last year's top teams likely dropping out.
With the start of a new season approaching, there is plenty of renewed hope around the NRL from teams who missed the eight and didn't play finals footy in 2025.
If the current trend continues, we'll see at least three new teams in the finals this season with three top eight teams from last year expected to drop out.
According to the Fox Sports Lab, since 2000, the year following the NRL's introduction of the top eight finals system, there have been 74 teams who dropped out of the eight the season after making it.