The NRL has graced us with an awesome competition, where every week no one knows who is going to churn out a top shelf performance and a competition where we won't know the top 8 until the fat lady sings.

It's kinda cray cray then that given how close the table is, that I can come up with four teams who should give up ... no of course don't give up, sorry that's a dumb fan thing to say, just umm be smart? The Titans, Knights, Raiders and Sharks make up the bottom 4. The Titans are the only team with a sniff, on 20 points with the Bulldogs in 5th spot on 26 points there's a chance the Titans could do something special ... but they won't.

It's hard to be too critical of the Titans as they have spent much of the season without Albert Kelly and Aidan Sezer, two young halves who are not only great prospects in their own right but together they are the perfect combo. But they aren't there and the Titans look pretty stink. To sum up the Titans, their best player, the guy who is giving their fans plenty of joy is James Roberts who arrived mid season.

The Titans are in the trickiest spot because they do have a realistic chance of the playoffs, but given the play the Roosters, Sea Eagles, Dragons, Warriors and Bulldogs they should make some moves. Why not shift Roberts to fullback? Give some young forwards a go, bring in some enthusiasm, some spice to not only give their fans reason to be optimistic but to give the old heads a fresh vibe around HQ. Nate Myles, Greg Bird, Luke Bailey, Luke Douglas etc are all very good forwards, but they won't win you a game. They'll keep you in a contest, but they can't do much more than that. Why not switch things up to get everyone loving life again?

The writing has been on the wall for the Knights, Raiders and Sharks for a few weeks now and they're starting to see it clearly. The Sharks have had many troubles, which despite writing their season off has given them an opportunity to prepare and to give off a sense of hope. Look at their line up, Todd Carney's sacking has given Fa'amanu Brown a chance in the halves while on the weekend we got to see Valentine Holmes get a go. Jacob Gagan has been a gun on the wing and Tupou Sopoaga is getting first grade experience in a team full of back row talent. While Michael Lichaa's opportunity might be bitter sweet, his back up on the bench is Pat Politoni who is being eased in to the action. While most of these changes have happened in the past month or so, the likes of centre Ricky Leutele has been solid all season and so has Sosaia Feki. The Sharks have endured a shit season in all aspects, but look at them they hardly look like a group who are down in the dumps.

Wayne Bennett and the Knights have endured a year of turmoil, much like the Sharks. With Bennett shifting to Brisbane, the Knights have begun to usher in some young guns. Sione and Chanel Mata'utia along with Jake Mamo should expect some consistent footy in the last few weeks, as should Adam Clydesdale and Travis Waddell. They have rolled out a pretty youthful back line but it's a bit harder to do that with the big boppers in the middle, especially when you've created a veteran pack. This is something that is a common factor to varying degrees with all four of these teams.

The Titans and the Knights have similar forward packs with tough, no nonsense veterans doing most of the graft. The Sharks and the Raiders don't quite rely as heavily on the veteran presence, but they don't have the firepower to bring in some young guns who will bring the ruckus.

The Raiders, well the Raiders are hamstrung. While the Sharks and Knights can start to look towards next year and give some new faces a run, Ricky Stuart is unable to call upon youngsters because they have reached their second tier salary cap limit (NRL dumbness). He's gotta make do with this group, which despite all your hatred towards Stuart, must be pretty tough to do. This week's Mounties (Raiders feeder team) side featured names like Jack Ahearn (#1), Mitch Cornish (#7), Jeremy Hawkins (#4), Mosese Pangai (#3), Kyle O'Donnell (#8), Matt McIlwrick (#9) and Jake Foster (#11) ... giving these guys (and a few more) a go would not only benefit them but the Raiders greatly, but they can't. The fact that the Raiders must rely on Anthony Milford who is leaving for the Broncos is pretty stink as many other teams would have tried to reduce Milford's involvement and blood someone else, the Raiders can't.

Even if one of these teams some how makes the top 8, it's hard to see them going deep. Do they keep pedaling down the road in to a dead end? Or do they turn around and find a different road to roll down? It's hard to see any of the other NRL teams falling from the perch they've climbed to in 2014, so the bottom 4 must start to figure out how they're going to be competitive next season.