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Chasing pack

5. Brisbane Broncos (Last year: 8th, elimination final)

Gains: Darius Boyd (Knights), Adam Blair (Tigers), Anthony Milford (Raiders), Greg Eden (Hull KR), Mitch Garbutt (Storm), James Gavet (Tigers), Travis Waddell (Knights)

Losses: Ben Barba (Sharks), Jake Granville (Cowboys), David Hala (Titans), Ben Hannant (Cowboys), Josh Hoffman (Titans), Martin Kennedy (Roosters)

6. Manly Sea Eagles (Last year: 3rd, semi-final)

Gains: Luke Burgess (Rabbitohs), Blake Leary (Northern Pride), Feleti Mateo (Warriors), Willie Mason (Knights), Siosaia Vave (Sharks), Brayden Wiliame (Knights)

Losses: Daniel Harrison (London Broncos), Jason King (retired), Glenn Stewart (Rabbitohs), Anthony Watmough (Eels)

7. Warriors (Last year: 9th)

Gains: Matt Allwood (Raiders), Ryan Hoffman (Storm), Bodene Thompson (Tigers), Jonathan Wright (Sharks), Api Pewhairangi (Wentworthville)

Losses: Jayson Bukuya (Sharks), Dane Nielsen (Dragons), Feleti Mateo (Sea Eagles), Jerome Ropati (retired), Abraham Papalii (Roosters), Carlos Tuimavave (Knights), Adam Tuimavave-Gerrard (Dragons)

8. North Queensland Cowboys (Last year: 5th, semi-final)

Gains: Jake Granville (Broncos), Ben Hannant (Broncos), Kyle McConnell (Burleigh Bears), Kelepi Tanginoa (Eels), Justin O'Neill (Storm)

Losses: Anthony Mitchell (Townsville Blackhawks), Joel Riethmuller (released), Curtis Rona (Bulldogs), Ashton Sims (Warrington Wolves), Tariq Sims (Knights), Brent Tate (retired), Ricky Thorby (Townsville Blackhawks)

9. Melbourne Storm (Last year: 6th, elimination final)

Gains: Blake Green (Wigan Warriors), Tom Learoyd-Lahrs (Raiders), Shaun Nona (Northern Pride), Dale Finucane (Bulldogs)

Losses: Mitch Garbutt (Broncos), Ryan Hoffman (Warriors), Junior Moors (Castleford Tigers), Bryan Norrie (retired), Ben Roberts (Castleford Tigers), George Rose (Dragons) Cody Walker (Rabbitohs), Sisa Waqa (Raiders), Rhys Kennedy (Raiders), Justin O'Neill (Cowboys)

The Broncos head into 2015 in a similar manner to which they entered 2014 with one important difference - Wayne Bennett is back in town.After four very underwhelming years at the helm, Anthony Griffin is gone, replaced by one of the best coaches in rugby league history.Star recruit Anthony Milford will be looking to avoid the ordinary form and subsequent release that Ben Barba endured in Brisbane, while Adam Blair, James Gavet and Mitch Garbutt would have to go out of their way to play any worse than Martin Kennedy did in 2014.Half-back Ben Hunt is coming off a breakout season, winger Daniel Vidot was one of the most under-rated signings in recent years, and Dale Copley emerged as a world-class outside back.The Broncos will be contenders if Hunt can maintain the level he hit last season and the rest of the roster remains at the top of their games, but Andrew McCullough is the man on whom Bennett needs to sprinkle some of his fairy dust.McCullough has always been a spectacularly good defensive hooker, but the 25-year-old drastically needs to improve his dummy-half play if the Broncos are to climb the ladder in 2015. Hunt made him look very good last year by turning ordinary passes into game-breaking runs, but Brisbane's 2012 best and fairest needs to make a leap in attack.The Sea Eagles managed to scrape together 16 wins and a third-place finish last year despite a well-publicised rift between parts of the playing group.It appears this will be Daly Cherry-Evans's last season at the club, while Kieran Foran and Brett Stewart both apparently want out as well.It's hard to picture a team with this many players at odds with one another being overly successful, but if recent history has taught us anything it's that Manly will be playing rugby league come September regardless of any front-office or back-room issues plaguing the club.But now those issues are leaking on to the field and they head into this season without premiership veterans like Anthony Watmough, Glenn Stewart and Jason King. Feleti Mateo, Willie Mason and the broke man's Burgess have been drafted into the forward pack, but the ageing trio will not replace the production of Watmough, Stewart senior and King.With so many talented players and a coach in Geoff Toovey who knows how to keep his players focused on the task at hand expect the Sea Eagles to put together a solid season in 2015.In 2014, Shaun Johnson returned to the sort of form that saw the Warriors reach the 2011 grand final, but they were still left watching the finals from home for the third-straight year.Expect the addition of veteran Ryan Hoffman and the omission of flaky Feleti Mateo to add some much-needed consistency to a Warriors team with more talent than most NRL squads.But talent on the field hasn't been the problem for the Warriors of late - the issue is whether they can get that talent in sync regularly enough to string together the 12 or 13 wins necessary to finish in the top eight.Andrew McFadden has served some good apprenticeships, but is relatively untested as a head coach and he has his work cut out for him getting this undeniably skilled team all going in the same direction.The Cowboys have been in and around the top four for the past few seasons and were even installed as preseason favourites for the NRL crown last year, but the expectations aren't quite as high in 2015.They have lost a lot of muscle up front with the Sims brothers, Ricky Thorby and Joel Riethmuller walking out; while the retirement of Brent Tate and Curtis Rona's defection to the Bulldogs leaves them short on the flanks.But all of this is tempered by the presence of reigning Dally M medallist Johnathan Thurston and a promising young coach in Paul Green.That pair led the Townsville boys to fifth place on the ladder last season and, if not for a refereeing blunder in their semi-final against the Roosters, would have reached the preliminary final on the back of one of the most stunning comebacks in finals history.The Cowboys will hope Lachlan Coote can return from his torn ACL at something resembling full strength to take over the full-back spot from the surprising Michael Morgan, while the addition of bizarrely discarded Bronco Ben Hannant is a nice one for a team short on front-rowers.It's over. This is the year the Storm fail to make the finals.It feels wrong to see a team with Craig Bellamy, Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk, Billy Slater and Jesse Bromwich on its payroll outside the top eight, but the fatigue of perpetual excellence was evident last season.They looked absolutely outclassed in their 28-4 elimination-final loss to the Bulldogs after finishing the regular season in sixth place - just the second time since 2005 they failed to make the top four (the first time was the 2010 season when they played for no points).Considering Bellamy's track record of turning middling NRL forwards into stars, Tom Learoyd-Lahrs and Dale Finucane are exciting signings, but the losses of Bryan Norrie, Ryan Hoffman, Sisa Waqa, Ben Roberts and Justin O'Neill have hit them hard on almost all corners of the field.2015 may be the season in which the last decade really catches up with the Storm.