With their two double-figure victories against Newcastle and the Wests Tigers, the Canberra Raiders sit on top of the NRL ladder after Round 2 of 2024, marking the first time since Round 6 of 2005 that the Green Machine have sat atop the NRL ladder.

Back then, the Raiders were coached by Matthew Elliott and captained by Simon Woolford, and still had names like Jason Croker, Clinton Schifcofske, Adam ‘Moggball’ Mogg, the injury-prone speedster Phil Graham and a young Todd Carney, and they started the season by having a bye in Round 1, then winning their first 4 games (One of which was the annual bashing of St George in Canberra), but finally tasted defeat in Round 6 when Manly soundly thrashed them 36-14 at Brookvale, but the Raiders still held on to top spot by 3 points on score differential over the Sea Eagles.

The next week, the Raiders lost top spot when they got walloped 46-10 by the Melbourne Storm in Canberra, and in another classic case of the Canberra Faiders, they would only win 5 of their remaining 19 games and finished 14th of 15 teams, 2 points ahead of wooden spooners Newcastle.

So what I’m saying is, the Wests Tigers will probably win the premiership.