NRL 2025 Premiership Winner Betting Preview – Odds, Tips & Predictions

The Panthers made history last season by becoming the first team since 1966 to win four consecutive Premierships or more, knocking off the Storm in a low-scoring Grand Final. They will once again be one of the teams – if not the team – to beat this season, but after losing a couple of key players in the off-season they will enter the year as the second favourite behind the Storm. Of course, it is far from a two-horse race, and below we take a look at all of the favourites in the NRL betting to win this year’s NRL Grand Final.

The Storm were the best team in it throughout last year’s home and away season, negotiating injuries to key players to finish two games clear at the top of the ladder. They absolutely waltzed their way into the Grand Final with wins against first the Sharks and then the Roosters, but a valiant effort there was not enough to overcome the might of the Panthers.

The Storm are renowned for their stability and they have as usual made little in the way of changes to their team, with Stefano Utoikamanu the one signing of note. The Storm should be every bit as good as they were last season and, with a little bit more luck on the injury front, perhaps even better, which should have them firmly in the running once again this season. With their main rivals in the Panthers having lost a couple of key players, the Storm deserve this favouritism.

• What brings them here? The Storm are always here. They are the most consistently successful team in the NRL and have rarely been out of contention for the past two decades.
  
• What has changed? Not a whole lot. As mentioned, Utoikamanu comes in, while Christian Welch announced his retirement in the pre-season.
  
• Injury report. Dean Ieremia remains unavailable with an Achilles injury, while Nelson Asofa-Solomon will miss the first couple of games of the season through suspension.

Bet on the Storm to win the 2025 NRL Premiership at $3.70 with Unibet

As there has been for a few years now, there was an air of inevitability around the Panthers last year. The Storm outperformed them in the home and away season and on another day could certainly have beaten them in the Grand Final, but there is a certain air of invincibility that follows a team that has won three consecutive flags. Presumably that air is even stronger for a team that has won four.

But while the Panthers will be right there in the mix to win an astonishing fifth in a row, they will have to do it without Jarome Luai or James Fisher-Harris. They still have plenty of talent and Premiership experience coming out of every orifice, but there is no doubting that they will be a little weaker for the absence of those two. But the Cleary father/son combo is far from done wreaking havoc with this league, and they will be very hard to keep at the very least out of the Grand Final once again in 2025.

• What brings them here? They’ve been here for a while, haven’t they? The Panthers haven’t missed a Grand Final since 2019, and have won the last four of them.
  
• What has changed? As mentioned, Luai and Fisher-Harris have departed, while Blaize Talagi and Isaiah Papali’I come into the team.
  
• Injury report. Liam Henry and Brian To’o will both miss the beginning of the season.

Bet on the Panthers to win the 2025 NRL Premiership at $4.50 with BetRight

Last season was a bit of a disaster for the Broncos, finishing in 12th the year after they showed such dramatic improvement to go within a hair of an unlikely Premiership. Under new coach Michael Maguire, they will be eager to show that their 2024 performance was an anomaly.

There is no denying the talent of this team, but talent can only take a side so far and they was blatantly obvious last season. Maguire, however, will not be particularly tolerant of passengers, and the hope is that he will be able to instil the cut-throat attitude which was so clearly missing in 2024. Going from 12th to a Premiership in one season is no easy feat, but just two years ago the Broncos were only minutes away from doing it after finishing 9th the year prior. This team has a very high ceiling, and it would be no major surprise to see them climb rapidly up the ladder this year.

• What brings them here? Though they finished 12th last year, the Broncos have plenty of talent and were Grand Finalists just two years ago.
  
• What has changed? The Broncos will be without Corey Oates this season, but Ben Hunt is a significant pick-up for them.
  
• Injury report. Ezra Mam will be a notable absentee for a huge nine weeks to start the year through suspension, while Kotoni Staggs will miss the first month with a quad injury, and both Jack Gosiewski and Blake Mozer are TBC.

Bet on the Broncos to win the 2025 NRL Premiership at $7.50 with BetRight

The Sharks were theoretically not all that far off the mark last season, finishing in 4th with a 16-8 record, boasting the third-best points differential in the league and making it through to the Preliminary Finals. But there was always a clear gap between the Storm and Panthers and the rest, and that showed on that second-last weekend of the year, with the eventual Premiers ending the Sharks year with a 26-6 win.

That may well be the case again this year, though they will have a major acquisition in the form of Addin Fonua-Blake. Is that alone enough to bridge the gap between them and the top two? Maybe not, but they will be ready and waiting to pounce if the Panthers and Storm don’t live up to expectations this year.

• What brings them here? The Sharks have finished in the top four in two of the past three years, though they’ve won just one final in that time.
  
• What has changed? Fonua-Blake is a big pick-up, while they lost Royce Hunt in the off-season.
  
• Injury report. Jesse Colquhoun and Kade Dykes are the only names on the injury list entering the season for the Sharks, both with no set timelines on their returns from knee injuries.

Bet on the Sharks to win the 2025 NRL Premiership at $11.00 with PlayUp

The Sea Eagles were towards the top of the pack of a plethora of teams trying to make ground on the top four throughout the course of the last season, though they ultimately dropped to 7th. They did win a final though, but were subsequently pumped by the Roosters in the semis.

With few changes being made in the off-season their chances of making up the significant ground between them and the top sides are probably slim, but once again they do have the capacity to be a very good team courtesy of their top-end talent – in particularly Tom Trbojevic. His health will always be a concern, but if he can stay on the park for much of the year alongside his brothers and some capable halves, the Sea Eagles will be a good team – just perhaps not Premiership level good.

• What brings them here? The Sea Eagles have a strong and experienced core which, when healthy, means they should be a top eight side.
  
• What has changed? Not all that much, though they did pick up Jazz Tevaga and Siosiua Taukeiaho while losing Brad Parker.
  
• Injury report. The Sea Eagles enter the season in good health, though Lachlan Croker will be out till around Round 4.

Bet on the Sea Eagles to win the 2025 NRL Premiership at $15.00 with BetRight

After mass changes for years at Canterbury, the Bulldogs needed to show some improvement last season – and that is exactly what they did. They had a brilliant season, barely losing a game after a slow start to put themselves not just inside the top eight, but in with an outside chance of causing a bit of damage in the finals. Unfortunately, they stumbled in the last couple of rounds of the season and then lost to the Sea Eagles by two points in their first final, but that year provided a solid springboard from which to attack 2025.

They didn’t make all that many changes over the off-season, but if they can replicate the form that they showed for most of last season from the outset this year, they could be good enough to finish top four. With a soft draw to start the season, it would be no surprise to see the Bulldogs to come out of the gate very quickly and put themselves right in the mix to cause damage later in the year. Maybe a Premiership is a bridge too far, but this team has plenty of potential and isn’t the worst value at $15 with BetRight.

• What brings them here? The Bulldogs flew up the ladder last season and will be hoping for a better finish to the year than the Qualifying Final exit they suffered in 2024.
  
• What has changed? Josh Addo-Carr is a notable loss, while Sitili Tupouniua and Tom Amone join the team.
  
• Injury report. Enari Tuala will be unavailable for the first couple of months of the, while Josh Curran and Tupouniua won’t be available in Round 1.

Bet on the Bulldogs to win the 2025 NRL Premiership at $15.00 with BetRight

The Roosters were a very good side last year, ultimately finishing third but losing heavily in the Preliminary Final to the Storm. Offensively they were as good as anyone, though they did struggle even throughout the course of the home and away season against the top couple of teams.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to imagine them repeating that effort after the off-season they had. They endured a mass exodus with up to eight members of their starting team retiring or heading elsewhere, and while they still look have plenty of talent in spite of that, such heavy losses will likely take their toll on the field. The Roosters are a bit of an unknown after all that change, but it will take a mighty effort to even repeat last year’s effort, let alone go further.

• What brings them here? The Roosters were excellent last year, but may well drop off after their off-season.
  
• What has changed? Plenty. A lot of names have gone out of this team, no less significant than Joseph Manu and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, while Chad Townsend and the intriguing Mark Nawaqanitawase will, they hope, help to some extent to ease the pain of those losses.
  
• Injury report. Spencer Leniu will miss the first two rounds through suspension, while each of Egan Butcher, Brandon Smith and Sam Walker have knee injuries with no set timeline outlined by the club.

Bet on the Roosters to win the 2025 NRL Premiership at $21.00 with PlayUp

The Cowboys have been very hard to figure out over the past couple of years. After making the top four three years ago, they were pretty bad for most of 2023 but then unbeatable for a patch of a month or so. Last year they settled into a groove as a good but not great team, before again flicking a switch late in the year to jump to fifth, their season ultimately ended at the hands of the Sharks in the semis.

But a few of their key players have left in the off-season, and they may well struggle to repeat even last year’s effort as a result. Their strong end to 2024 probably saw them finish a little higher than they should have, and with a weaker team on paper in 2025, finals would be a more realistic ambition than a Premiership.

• What brings them here? The Cowboys best over the past few years has been good, and they have been in or around the top four two of the last three seasons.
  
• What has changed? Gone are Valentine Holmes, Chad Townsend and Kyle Feldt, while John Bateman has come in.
  
• Injury report. Tom Chester and Heilum Luki will miss the season with ACL injuries.

Bet on the Cowboys to win the 2025 NRL Premiership at $23.00 with PlayUp

Once again it’s the Storm and the Panthers that are the clear teams to beat, but unfortunately the betting sites agree. Even with those relatively short odds, however, they remain decent value. It’s hard to see quite a number of the above teams making up the ground required to compete with them, with teams like the Sharks and Sea Eagles likely to be finals-quality, but not at the level of the above two. The Bulldogs could present some value at longer odds given how good they were for such a large chunk of the season while the Broncos are also more than capable of competing under a new coach, but it’s the favourite with all betting sites in Australia that gets my vote. The Storm will have to break a four-year run of Panthers’ dominance, but they have the cattle and the experience to do just that.

Most NRL Premierships

• South Sydney Rabbitohs – 21
• Sydney Roosters – 15
• St George Dragons – 15
• Balmain Tigers – 11
• Manly Sea Eagles – 8
• Canterbury Bulldogs – 8

Longest Grand Final Winning Steak

• 11 years – 1956 to 1966 – St George Dragons

Current clubs yet to win a NRL Premiership

• New Zealand Warriors – 1995 to Present
• Gold Coast Titans – 2007 to Present

Longest NRL Match Winning Streak

• 19 matches – Eastern Suburbs Roosters (1975)

Most NRL games played

• Cameron Smith (Melbourne Storm) 430 games (2002 to 2020)