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. But while those two entered 2025 as the standout favourites in the Premiership race, a sluggish start for the reigning Premiers has seen them slip a little. Elsewhere, teams like the Bulldogs and Sharks are trying to put their hat in the ring, but it’s the Storm, Broncos and Panthers who remain relatively comfortably at the top. Below, we take a look at all of the favourites in the NRL betting to win this year’s NRL Grand Final.

It’s as sure a thing as there is in Australian sports that the Storm will be in the Premiership mix, having remained there for the past two decades. And after falling just short of winning it all last season, they look like an even better hope in 2025. They were clearly better than every team in the league with the exception of the Panthers last year, and with Penrith starting the season slow the Storm are a deserved favourite in the early stages.

They started the season well with a thumping win over the Eels and then a satisfying win over the Panthers, though a surprise defeat at the hands of the Dragons followed. Still, they won’t be too concerned about that, and over the course of the season should be able to lock away a top four, if not top two, spot on the ladder, and give themselves a great chance of going one better than last year.

• 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. Stefano Utoikamanu comes in, while Christian Welch announced his retirement in the pre-season.
  
• Injury report. Nick Meaney is expected to be out till Round 9, while Jahrome Hughes and Nelson Asofa-Solomon return from their injuries in early April.

Bet on the Storm to win the 2025 NRL Premiership at $3.00 with PlayUp

The Broncos have leapfrogged the Panthers in this market early in the season, though that is as much a product of Penrith’s struggles as anything. Still, the Broncos had a pretty strong first month, pummeling the Roosters in Las Vegas, and then bouncing back from a disappointing loss to the Raiders with wins over the Cowboys and Dolphins.

They certainly didn’t set the world on fire in those games against relatively meek opposition, but they did what they need to do to start their season off on the right foot. The true test will come when they take on fellow contenders, but there is no reason to think this team isn’t capable of returning to something like the level which saw them go so agonisingly close to winning the 2023 flag. Expect the Broncos to bounce back from last year and be right in the mix in 2025.

• 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. Jordan Riki and Ezra Mam are both suspended, the former till Round 7 and Mam till Round 10.

Bet on the Broncos to win the 2025 NRL Premiership at $5.00 with BetRight

The losses of Jarome Luai and James Fisher-Harris were always going to have some impact on the Panthers, but they were widely expect to be able to cope with it and once again compete for the flag – what would be an incredible fifth in a row. They probably still can, but they’ve looked decidedly un-Panthers-ish in the early stages of the season.

They started where they left off with a six-point win in an entertaining game in Vegas against the Sharks, but a disappointing six-point loss followed against the Roosters before another six-point defeat to the Storm. That trend continued into Round 4 when they went down by ten points to the Rabbitohs, suffering an exceedingly rare third straight defeat. Their typically stoic defence has been extremely leaky, conceding more points over those first four games than all but three teams, but don’t expect that to continue. The Panthers have not started well, but the season is a long one, and this historically dominant team is too good to not turn things around.

• What brings them here? The Panthers have made five Grand Finals in a row and won the last four of them, though a slow start to the year has seen them drift a little in this market.
  
• What has changed? As mentioned, Luai and Fisher-Harris have departed, while Blaize Talagi and Isaiah Papali’I come into the team.
  
• Injury report. Some important players will return soon for the Panthers; Brian To’o is due back in Round 9, while each of Nathan Cleary, Dylan Edwards and Scott Sorensen are due back in early April.

Bet on the Panthers to win the 2025 NRL Premiership at $7.00 with BetRight

The Sharks have finished in the top six for three consecutive years now, and will be expecting to do the same once again in 2025. Last season was their deepest finals run since 2018 as they made their way through to the Preliminary Finals, but they were clearly a rung or two behind the top two teams and it showed as they were pantsed by the Panthers. So is there any hope of them bridging that gap this season?

The Panthers, certainly, have taken a hit from a personnel perspective, potentially giving a few teams like the Sharks a bit more of a chance. But the likes of the Storm and even the Broncos will still prove really hard to catch. The Sharks have not changed all that much this season from last though Addin Fonua-Blake is a big pick-up, and in the first month lost to both the Panthers and Bulldogs. There is every chance they are once again good but not good enough this season, though who knows – a couple of injuries to the above teams and they could be in the mix.

• 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. The Sharks aren’t being particularly transparent with their injury list at the time of writing; Liam Ison is out for the season with an ACL, while each of Kade Dykes, Braden Hamlin-Uele, Kayal Iro and Siosifa Talakai are listed as TBC.

Bet on the Sharks to win the 2025 NRL Premiership at $10.00 with PlayUp

The Bulldogs had a really impressive 2024 campaign even if it didn’t end all that well, and their start to season 2025 suggests they are very capable of taking yet another step forward this year. They were, admittedly, handed a very friendly draw to start the season by the NRL, facing the Dragons, Titans and Eels in their first three games, but you can only beat the teams in front of you and they did exactly that.

Their biggest test of that opening month came in Round 4 when they headed to Cronulla to take on the Sharks, but rather than faltering in the face of sterner opposition they excelled, coming away with a super impressive 20-6 win. That left them the only undefeated team a month into the season, and while things get tougher from a draw perspective they have shown that they are likely better than all but a select handful of teams. It will be fascinating to see how they fare when they face the big three in the Storm, Broncos and Panthers, because at the moment at least, they seem to have everyone else covered.

• What brings them here? The Bulldogs improved massively last season, and have started 2025 as well as anyone.
  
• What has changed? Josh Addo-Carr is a notable loss, while Sitili Tupouniua and Tom Amone join the team.
  
• Injury report. The Bulldogs have a number of players set to become available in mid-late April, including Matt Burton, Viliame Kikau, Sitili Tupouniua and Enari Tuala.

Bet on the Bulldogs to win the 2025 NRL Premiership at $12.00 with BetRight

While the Storm, Broncos and Panthers are the clear three teams to beat at this stage, the Sea Eagles join the Bulldogs and Sharks as the sides seemingly most capable of upsetting the apple cart. They have long been a finals-quality side without being good enough to take the next step, and while that may well be the case again this year they have started the season really well.

A dominant win over the hapless Cowboys got them off on the right foot, and though they were quite bad the next week against the Warriors, they responded with big wins over first the Raiders and then the Eels. Clearly, however, they need to be able to beat much better teams than that to compete for the flag. Like the Bulldogs, they have done what they needed to do for the most part early in the season, but though they have a talented core the evidence over quite a few years now is that they aren’t good enough to go all the way. Maybe that can change this year, but I’d be keeping my distance for the time being.

• 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. Lo and behold, Tom Trbojevic is injured, a knee injury set to keep him out until Round 9. Taniela Paseka is out for most of the season.

Bet on the Sea Eagles to win the 2025 NRL Premiership at $16.00 with PlayUp

We are really getting to the outsiders according to betting sites now, starting with a team that won just one of its first ten games last year and ultimately finished second-last in the Rabbitohs. Of course, that was highly unexpected from a Bunnies team that entered the year as a potential Premiership contender, and with Wayne Bennett back at the helm there was always going to be the possibility of some rapid improvement.

That’s exactly how it seems to have panned out, the Rabbitohs tripling their win tally from those first ten weeks of last year within the first month of the 2025 season. With two of those wins coming by two points or less it could have been a different story, but they won those close games and then beat the Panthers by ten points in an impressive display. This is a bit of a mish-mash of a team, but they have plenty of good players and Bennett, as we well and truly know by now, will get the best out of them. A Premiership might be a stretch, but after a dreadful 2024 the Rabbitohs are a finals contender this year.

• What brings them here? It’s been a wild couple of years for the Bunnies, but the talent on their list is making itself useful under Wayne Bennett.
  
• What has changed? Wayne Bennett. The new coach is the biggest change, while Josh Schuster is a potentially big in and Damien Cook has left.
  
• Injury report. The Rabbitohs have managed their strong start even with a decent injury list, though Latrell Mitchell, Lachlan Hunter, Euan Aitken and Tyrone Munro should all return in early April. Alex Johnston and Cameron Murray remain TBC, while Campbell Graham is due back in Round 7.

Bet on the Rabbitohs to win the 2025 NRL Premiership at $31.00 with PlayUp

The Warriors are another team that had a disappointing 2024 campaign, dropping outside of the eight a year after rising up the ladder to finish in the top four. But this team is capable of better than that, and the addition of James Fisher-Harris in the off-season gives them an added layer of competitiveness which was sorely lacking last year.

The presence of the Big Fish didn’t stop them putting in an atrocious performance in Vegas to start the season, losing by 22 points to the Rabbitohs, but they bounced back from that with three wins on the trot against the Sea Eagles, Roosters and the improved Tigers. All going well this is a pretty decent team that is an outside chance of challenging for the top four – most likely fourth spot, given the gap between the top three and the rest – but their hopes of going much further than that are probably pretty slim. They do look set for a bounce back season after last year’s disappointment, but a Premiership is probably not on the cards.

• 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 Ale is due to become available in Round 9, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak a week after that, while biggest of all, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck should return in about Round 11. Rocco Berry’s hamstring has him listed as TBC.

Bet on the Warriors to win the 2025 NRL Premiership at $31.00 with PlayUp

It looks to be a race in three this season, though there are a couple of teams floating just a little further back hoping to change that narrative. It’s hard to see the Sharks and particularly the Sea Eagles doing that given they’ve been good but not good enough for a few years, though the improvement of the Bulldogs could see them throw themselves in the mix as a wildcard. The Panthers have been the worst performed of the big three to start by some way, but that has seen their odds blow out to longer than we’ve seen for years. The way they are playing they are no chance of making it five in a row, but this dynastic team can never be counted out, and now might be the time to strike while there is a little bit of value with betting sites in Australia for them to continue their historic Premiership-winning streak.

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)