The most irrelevant - and most important - NRL round of the season

The NRL regular season is going right down to the wire, with plenty to play for in the final round of the season. At least, that’s what we’re led to believe.

ARTICLE: HAS HAYNE ALREADY MADE THE 49ERS’ 53-MAN ROSTER?

This weekend is the most important round of football for the year, and will have a dramatic impact upon the 2015 season, as teams jostle for vital positions in the top eight.

Or perhaps the total opposite is true, and this round is meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

It’s accurate to say that there are four games this weekend that will have a major impact on the final positions in the top eight.

On Thursday night, Brisbane play Melbourne and Sydney square-off against Souths on Friday, while on Sunday afternoon, Cronulla play Manly and Canterbury face New Zealand.

Though the minor premiership is still up for grabs, most interest lies in the battle for fourth spot between Cronulla, Canterbury, Souths and Melbourne. The four clubs all want the security of knowing they can’t be eliminated in the first weekend of finals footy – even if they lose – should they secure a top-four spot.

Depending on the results, there are a number of permutations that could eventuate. Take a deep breath, because this may cause a headache:

• If the Roosters beat the Rabbitohs, they win the minor premiership.

• If the Broncos beat the Storm, and the Roosters lose, Brisbane win the minor premiership.

• If both the Roosters and the Broncos lose, then the boys from Bondi will win the minor premiership… unless the Cowboys defeat the Titans by 160-odd points.

• If the Sharks beat the Sea Eagles, Cronulla will finish in the coveted fourth spot, irrespective of what else happens over the weekend. However, should the Sharks lose, all hell will break lose.

• Currently the Sharks sit in fourth spot with 32 points, but if they do not beat Manly, and one of the three teams currently on 30 points – the Storm, Bulldogs or Rabbitohs – should win, then they would leapfrog Cronulla into the top four.

• Should all of those mentioned teams win, the Storm will take out fourth spot, due to their superior points differential.

• Should the Sharks and Storm lose, then the Bulldogs and Rabbitohs will be in contention to sneak into the top four, with just 10 ‘for and against’ points separating the two clubs.

Got all that?

While it’s nice to pretend any of the above matters when it comes to deciding the 2015 NRL premiership, it really doesn’t.

‘Minor premiers’ sounds very impressive, but really, who cares? Does anyone even know what the minor premiership trophy is called?

It’s the JJ Giltinan Shield, but I had to look it up.

Clubs would unquestionably love the injection of cash that the minor premiership supplies, but $100,000 is hardly a difference-maker of any consequence. Unless you use the money to bribe the referees for the finals series.

Relax, that was a joke. One North Queensland fans probably won’t find funny, mind you.

As for ladder positions, yes, it’s an advantage to have as many home games as possible. Sure, you want the safety blanket of a top-four spot in week one. And of course you’d prefer to have a ‘softer’ draw of opponents at this time of the year.

However, at the end of the day, the premiership equation remains the same: if you want to win the competition, you need to play a number of tough finals games against quality opposition. Play good footy, win three (or four) games, hold the trophy high. Easy.

While the premiers for the last three seasons have finished either first, second or third on the ladder – giving credence to the thought the ladder really does matter – I suspect what will have the greater impact on this year’s premiership is the growing injury toll of star players.

Nearly every team in the top eight will be without a key player due to injury; some teams unfortunately losing even more than one important cog.

On the weekend, the Rabbitohs’ John Sutton and Bulldogs’ Trent Hodkinson joined the impressive collection of talent that will take no further part in the season, with the Bunnies five-eighth breaking his leg, and the Dogs halfback breaking his wrist.

They joined names of the likes of Tony Williams, Michael Lichaa, Billy Slater, Michael Morgan and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, who will take no further part in the 2015 season.

Then we have players like Greg Inglis, Mitchell Pearce, James Tamou, Josh Reynolds, Aiden Tolman, Ben Barba and Dale Finucane – just to name a few – who are all battling to be fully fit in time for the finals.

Then there are the number of suspended players, a list which will now be enjoying the company of Souths hooker Issac Luke, who faces two weeks on the sidelines for a shoulder charge from Friday night’s game.

All these missing stars add up to a lot of uncertainty, and ensure that it’s anyone’s premiership to win this season.

It’s not exactly insightful analysis, but the team that can best overcome the loss of their absent players will be in the best position to win this year’s premiership. A position that is much more important to be in than anything to do with their actual ladder position.