As the 2026 season draws to a conclusion, rugby league fans of sixteen of the seventeen clubs are left to ponder where their club went wrong, whilst fans of one club have a glorified ‘one-up’ on their mates for the next twelve months.
Injuries, selection dramas, potential signings, off-field dramas and poor on-field performances are all part and parcel of rugby league, but there is always one moment that stands above the rest.
For some clubs, it may be an injury to a key player. For others, it could be a selection call, a game that slipped through their fingers, a signing that never eventuated or a decision that looks very different with the benefit of hindsight.
These are the sliding-door moments that leave fans wondering – what if?
With the 2026 season now entering its final stages, Zero Tackle runs the rule over every club’s biggest ‘what if’ of the year.
Brisbane Broncos
What if: Injuries didn’t expose their squad’s lack of depth?
The Brisbane Broncos had one of the greatest season-to-season fall offs in modern rugby league history, becoming the first team in the NRL era to finish in the bottom four the season after winning the grand final.
Despite a rough start to the season, heading towards the midway stage, the Broncos were in a similar spot to where they were when they went on their fairytale premiership run in 2025 and there was belief they could repeat this effort, but they needed to snap the losing run they were on.
They suffered a heavy losing streak that reached up to eight consecutive games and ultimately knocked them out of finals contention.
If the Broncos were able to snap the losing run they were on and build some momentum, who is to say they couldn’t of ended in the top eight, and from there a completely new season begins.
A lack of squad depth with inexperience being called upon at crucial stages of the season proved all too much for the club from Red Hill.