Super Rugby Review: Reds

With the Super Rugby quarter-finalists now decided we take a look at those teams who missed out. Next up, it’s the Reds who finished 14th.

A four-point, one-place climb for the Reds from last season as they picked up one more win than 2016. This is nothing to write home about.

Another disappointing Super Rugby campaign that, before it began, had created whispers of play-off potential. But, we've been here before, and did not buy the hype as the Brisbane outfit continue to fall short of the mark, despite having a good deal of talent at their disposal.

They brought in Stephen Moore, Scott Higginbotham and Quade Cooper in the off-season, with the former adding decent stability up front. However, Higginbotham's deal was soured in February when he was arrested for assaulting a police officer in the early hours of a morning. The number eight didn't reach the heights of previous terms while Cooper struggled to roll back the years despite good quality outside him.

Speaking of those players and there is decent potential in centre Duncan Paia'aua while Karmichael Hunt definitely upped his game in 2017. Both were backed up well by Samu Kerevi and Eto Nabuli while Izaia Perese should improve at a rate. Just 20, he's shown heaps of promise.

To their campaign and discipline was an issue throughout – they were the most yellow carded team in the competition – and one can't expect to claim victories over their Australasian rivals with just under an average of one sin-bin per game. Indeed, they lost all of their games against New Zealand opposition – as did their fellow countrymen of course – with wins recorded over the Sharks, Kings, Rebels and Brumbies.

They can feel aggrieved to have been on the side of four tight defeats that saw them claim losing bonus-points, but even those turned into wins mightn't have been enough to pip the Brumbies as Australia's top dog. There's no arguments, they fell well short of the mark in 2017.

Best player: With 1211 metres made with ball in hand we go for Samu Kerevi. He played 13 times, scoring five tries, and was regularly the go-to man in the Reds backline. Teams struggled to live with the 23-year-old's power as he made 69 tackle busts which is a massive number.