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With the commercial windfall that always comes with it, Game 3 of the State of Origin series will continue to be played in years to come regardless of whether or not it is a dead rubber.
With NSW losing yet another series, the Blues will attempt to avoid the humiliation of a series whitewash and send their captain Paul Gallen out a “winner”.
The Sharks are looking to extend their record winning run on Sunday afternoon at Pepper Stadium without five players in Andrew Fifita, James Maloney, Jack Bird, Paul Gallen and Wade Graham. Their forward pack in particular loses plenty of quality while the opposite applies for the Panthers with their backline stars in Matt Moylan and Josh Mansour missing.
The Panthers are currently sitting eighth after Parramatta were finally docked 12 points for salary cap breaches. They have back to back home games on Sunday afternoon and still have plenty of work to do if they want to play finals football.
While it must be somewhat of a relief for Panthers fans to have Origin quality players again, they would be more excited to get them back to push for that finals berth. Sharks fans too would be feeling a premiership coming on and be eager to keep that winning streak alive.
Meanwhile, in the nation’s capital on Monday night, the Raiders are short-priced favourites to topple the Cowboys who will be missing Johnathan Thurston, Matt Scott, James Tamou, Justin O’Neill and Gavin Cooper. Michael Morgan is also out with injury.
Origin turns what would have been a close contest between a top four side and another team pushing hard for those honours into a bit of a mismatch.
When the final whistle blows at ANZ on Wednesday night, the race to the finals truly begins.
When will the Broncos find their way out of slump and just how low down will they drop? While many predicted they would go close to the title this year, the Broncos were whipped 48-6 at home against the Storm and have dropped out of the top four.
They still have plenty of time to recover but if they are burnt out they may struggle to push deep into the finals this year.
Can the Raiders make the top four? With a win on Monday night, the Raiders will be just one point outside of the eight. They are playing some great footy, especially in attack and are close enough if good enough for a top four berth and a second chance in September.
Who will sew up the bottom spots in the eight? The Panthers, Tigers and Titans have all played some good footy at different points this season. The Panthers are always close, with all bar one of their loses being by eight points or less.
The Tigers have some of the best attacking play in the NRL while the Titans are all guts and effort. It would be hard to envisage more than one of these teams making it but stranger things have happened.
Can the Sharks continue the fairytale trend? The Rabbitohs first premiership in over 40 years in 2014, the Cowboys maiden premiership in Golden Point in 2015.
Could it be the Sharks in their 50th season in 2016. On their longest ever winning run and with plenty of quality all over the park, can the Sharks continue the magic all the way to the first weekend of October?
They look the goods at the moment but their is still plenty of twists and turns to come.
While Origin is always a spectacle the real drama is back in the premiership where the best is still yet to come.
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