Ahead of each NRL season it feels like every team could do something special if the stars align, their roster stays healthy and if certain players step up. That's never the case though as only eight teams get a taste of finals footy and eight other teams then drown their sorrows with a Mad Monday. 

Besides the Gold Coast Titans, no team this season really stands out as contenders for the Wooden Spoon. The Titans simply don't have the quality or depth of the other teams in the competition this season and when you consider that teams who consistently appear to be knee deep in drama or poor performances like Wests Tigers and Parramatta Eels have upgraded their rosters, the Titans are my Wooden Spooners right now.

There are going to be teams like the Tigers and Newcastle Knights who will struggle to make their way into the top-eight at any stage this season. This isn't about the teams who we kinda already have a hunch about like the Tigers or Knights, this is about teams who could genuinely enjoy success but teams that I am picking will disappoint this season. Such is the quality of the NRL at the moment that some teams simply won't be able to keep up with the Cowboys, Broncos and hopefully the Warriors.

I'm going to cover a few of my bases here and start with the Rabbitohs and/or Roosters. Such has been the domination of these two teams over the past three or four seasons that finishing outside the top-four will be disappointing, however I believe that one of these two teams won't make the top-eight. 

I'm not quite sure who is going to have the worst season of the two, I'm leaning towards the Rabbitohs though. The Bunnies have gained arguably the best forward going around in Sam Burgess, who returns to Redfern and gives the Rabbitohs a massive boost, not just with what he offers on the field but also to the club as a whole. First of all the Rabbitohs don't have the same firepower in their backline this season, especially with the spark that Dylan Walker offered gone. There's also the ongoing noise surrounding halves Adam Reynolds and Luke Keary which hasn't been muffled, which when combined with my belief that Reynolds and Keary can't lead a team to NRL glory doesn't fill me with confidence.

The Roosters also don't boast as strong a roster as they have in the past, losing Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and James Maloney to other clubs and their co-captain/halfback Mitchell Pearce for some portion of the season.  I'm eager to see how Jackson Hastings and Jayden Nikorima go in the halves and I'm also excited to see whether the Roosters promote youngsters like Joseph Manu and Lattrell Mitchell to fill holes in their backline. 

While they have a beastly forward pack and they will offer some razzle dazzle throughout the season, the Chooks will be too reliant on youth this season. Personally I think this is great for the Roosters as they'll benefit from this next season and beyond, but they've gotta endure a 2016 season in which they won't reach the same heights as they have done.

Ah, the Shire. With the emergence of young guns Jack Bird and Valentine Holmes to go with their rugged forward pack along with signings like James Maloney, there is plenty of anticipation surrounding the Cronulla Sharks. The Sharks have always had the defensive aspect of the game sorted, they toil hard and grind their opponents into the ground before making the most of any opportunities presented and now they have more attacking firepower to call on. I'm not convinced though.

While Bird had a breakout season in 2015, the Shark's best player throughout the season was Michael Ennis who had a hand in everything and in a sense reflected the Sharks (grub + quality). I don't think Ennis is going to have quite the same impact this season, not because he's going backwards as a player but because other teams will be well aware of Ennis' quality as a play-maker; a trait that Ennis hasn't always shown off.

Maloney has ventured south to the Shire but I'm not overly enticed by a Maloney/Chad Townsend halves pairing, nor am I excited to see Bird spend another season in the halves. Townsend didn't do much with the Warriors and Maloney will struggle to reach the heights he has reached in the past, while the conundrum facing coach Shane Flannagan with Bird, Holmes and Barba all sniffing around a starting spot will offer an constant distraction all season. 

Bird and Barba have been floated as possible halves options and I'd lean towards Barba getting the nod here. Bird struggled to string solid performances together last season which was his first season in the halves; I'd rather see him play centre or in the middle of the field where he's got a bit of freedom. Anyone betting on Barba to lead the Sharks to glory needs to chill, Barba's still got to establish himself in a specific position in the NRL yet. 

I don't think the Sharks will be bad and they have a forward pack that will lay a great platform every game (peep the Paul Gallen news/media distractions all season), it's just that I can't see them dominating teams on a consistent basis and in a highly competitive NRL season this will see them fall outside the top-eight.

Those three teams will disappoint as they have been competing at a high levels for a few seasons now and in 2016 I'm picking them to slip from that level, falling below teams who will surprise (watch out for my surprising teams). The Parramatta Eels on the other hand are swimming in optimism and high expectations thanks not to the platform laid in previous seasons but thanks to a big recruitment class which has them as a possible contender in many people's eyes.

Not mine. 

I could tell you how I'm not quite sold on the Kieran Foran/Corey Norman halves combination just yet or how they still lack a silky touch from fullback - that Norman could offer, leaving a hole in the halves to fill with a youngster - or that they lack the funk through the middle of the field to trouble opposing teams. With the Eels though it's nothing more than a hunch and I'm very weary of going all in on the Eels given how they (along with the Tigers) constantly serve up drama and petty drama at that.

My hunch with the Eels is that it just won't work this season. It might work next season, but not this season.