There’s an old adage which says you can’t win an NRL title in the opening month of a competition, but you can sure lose one.

And after the opening two rounds of this year’s competition, it’s the teams without a win that easily have the most to lose.

At the top of an unlikely ladder, the five unbeaten teams at the top have played just five finals series between them since 2012.

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Meanwhile, the five at the bottom without a win have played in a combined 17 in that same time period.

They include last year’s top four finishers at Parramatta, two-time grand finalists since 2012 Canterbury, 2014 premiers South Sydney and 2016 preliminary finalists Canberra and that year’s champions Cronulla.

“We’ve spoken about how you don’t want to have too many losses where if it comes to the end rounds, you don’t want to say you have to win three from four,” Sharks hooker Jayden Brailey said.

“It just brings that added pressure. Every game is crucial in the season, that two points is a really important.”

Notably, at least one of those teams will go 0-3

Saturday’s double-header at ANZ Stadium – the first regular season one in Sydney since 2008 – includes a clash between the winless Rabbitohs and in-form Manly, before the equally desperate Parramatta and Cronulla face off.



Both among the most favoured teams at the start of the season, the loser of the Eels and Sharks will have to overcome history and become the just second team in the past 64 years to recover from dropping their first three games if they are to win the title.

“It’s going to be a big game for us, because Parra are going to come out firing,” Brailey said.

“The last couple of years we have had a rough start to the year and we’ve always been that at the back end of the year.

“We’re a pretty tough team, we’re all pretty tight. We’re just sticking together and trying to get through it together.”

Both teams also have plenty to prove.

Cronulla have come under fire after they surrendered a 14-0 lead to St George Illawarra last weekend in their first game with Josh Dugan at fullback, replacing Valentine Holmes.

Parramatta’s 54-0 drubbing at the hands of Manly was their worst of the Brad Arthur-era..

“It was pretty much embarrassing … A very poor performance,” Eels winger Kirisome Auva’a said.



“Both teams are going into this game 0-2. We’re both definitely trying to avoid three losses in a row.”

Meanwhile, South Sydney hooker Damien Cook couldn’t panic ahead of the Manly clash.

“We’re not worried at all,” Cook said.

“We had a massive improvement in our attack and defence from round one, and it’s something we will keep improving into round three.”