Newcastle Knights

And the wooden spoon goes to ... the Newcastle Knights! To have expected the Knights to have made the top 8 would have been a stretch after Wayne Bennett's departure, but after the first few weeks the Knights found themselves near the top of the ladder thanks to a hot start to the season. As expected though, the cream is now at the top of the ladder when it counts.

Personally, I reckon the Knights are a bit hard done by to end up with the spoon given the roster that they have but this just shows how competitive the NRL is. Even though Rick Stone was sacked as coach, I do believe that there is hope for better times in Newcastle as they have been able to give a fringe players and players who were on the fringes plenty of game time.

Everything about the Knights' hot form at the start of the season seemed temporary but compare the playing group now to the start and I'm left with a pretty positive taste in my mouth. Joey Leilua's departure provided Sione Mata'utia the opportunity to learn the ropes at centre in the NRL and while Mata'utia suffered from second-year syndrome, the ability to play centre on a weekly basis will have some benefits down the track. Remember; at the start of the season Mata'utia came off the bench to play fullback thanks to Leilua holding down that centre position.

As the season wore on, we also saw much more of Jake Mamo which can only be a good thing. This kid has a spark; he looks quicker than a lot of NRL players and just always looks willing to get stuck in. I can see Mamo being the Knights' fullback for a long time and with Dane Gagai enjoying a career-best season which saw him earn a Queensland jersey, there's plenty of strike power in the Knights' backline.

Sidenote - The fact that Gagai earned a Queensland call up is super impressive as he was once kicked out of a Queensland Emerging camp.

We can't forget about winger Nathan Ross aka White Lightning who got some experience at the back-end of the season. There's now some x-factor and depth in the Knights' backline.

One of the reasons why the Knights finished last is because they played parts of the season with Carlos Tuimavave and Tyrone Roberts in the halves. Tuimavave is a prime example of Under-20s footy not meaning a whole lot in terms of what an NRL career could look like. I don't think Roberts is that bad, he does however look a whole lot better alongside Jarrod Mullen who missed much of the season. Both Tuimavave (Super League) and Roberts (Gold Coast) are leaving the Knights, which is probably a good thing.

Heads up Knights fans, here's your backline for 2016 - Mamo, Uate, Gagai, Mata'utia, McManus, Mullen and Hodkinson. Pretty handy right?

2015 for the Knights should be remembered for the much needed sprinkling of youth in their forward pack. Without this youth, the Knights forward pack was a rugged pack with guys like Beau Scott, Jeremy Smith, Chris Houston, Kade Snowden and Clint Newton all good NRL players but they also lack much oomph or x-factor. 

This season we saw Korbin Sims continue to emerge as a tough prop who has the ability to be a long-term Knights player. Sims is essentially the perfect prop as he has impact with his carries and is physical on defence, but he also has a big motor and doesn't stop working through the middle of the field. Older brother Tariq hasn't quite climbed the heights of a few years ago when he was at the Cowboys, but he's still a tough customer out on the edge given his size and athleticism.

Joseph Tapine showed glimpses of what he can do with the big back-rower enjoying a breakout game against the Broncos where he got on the outside of defenders and squeezed off-loads out with ease. Tapine should expect much more game time next season when Scott departs and I'm also excited to see Sam Mataora get more opportunities as he showed what a wrecking ball he can be over the past few weeks.

Chad Redman was released to join the Titans mid-season and understandably so as the Knights ooze depth at dummy half. Adam Clydsdale and Tyler Randell fought for the starting spot all season while Daniel Levi was also given a chance to impress. All three of these blokes look to be pretty good hooking options, but the fact that there's three of them only provides more headaches as they will all be gunning for more NRL action next season.

The wooden spoon means you finished last and that's never good. But the Newcastle Knights are somewhat of a unique case as they were coming off the back of the Nathan Tinkler era which brought more troubles than anything as well as saying goodbye to Wayne Bennett. By now, after giving Rick Stone the flick, they have fully rid themselves of the Tinkler era and there's only one way to go from here.

Player Of The Year - Dane Gagai

Youngins' Of The Year - Danny Levi/Joseph Tapine

2015 In A Tweet - End of an era, which is a great thing.