The dust has settled on another round of the premiership and we have been left with three clear contenders for end of season honours.
North Queensland, Melbourne and Cronulla have all been in contention for some time but results on the weekend have forced the gap between them and the rest of the completion into a chasm.
Big losses for top four aspirants Brisbane and Canterbury have put a huge dent into both sides’ title hopes, while the the fourth-placed Raiders are yet to show enough of what is needed to be considered a favourite.
The Cowboys’ 36-0 demolition of Canterbury showed once again how ruthless this outfit is and their strangulation of the Bulldogs revealed just how big the gap between the contenders and pretenders is this season.
All things considered this year’s premiership race has been a close one with only seven points separating fourth from 11th. Indeed, the Cowboys and Bulldogs were equal on 26 points heading into Thursday night’s match-up. The difference between the two sides is now much clearer.
While probably too far behind Melbourne and Cronulla to sneak into the top two, North Queensland are firming as favourites, provided Johnathan Thurston remains fit. He left the field with a dusty hamstring during the Bulldogs clash and is expected to be rested as the reigning premiers prepare for what is sure to be a gruelling September ahead.
While the Cowboys are close to the best side in the completion they haven’t been able to put it together every week. That honour goes to the lads from the Shire after notching up their 15th straight win on the weekend.
The form team of the year has a maiden premiership in their sights and man for man are one of the most talented teams going around. Not only has coach Shane Flanagan put together a special group of players, he has given the belief to win even without their stars.
Their win over Penrith three weeks ago was a perfect example. Missing six players due to Origin, Cronulla were able to comfortably see off a Panthers side talented in its’ own right.
Key for the Sharks is now keeping that winning culture going. Their chief opponents for the title, Melbourne and North Queensland have bucket-loads of experience come September and doubt remains over the Sharks’ ability to get it done come crunch-time.
Their 39-0 loss at the hands of the Cowboys last year speaks for itself. They haven’t made it past week two since 2008. Having dominated all year, the Sharks have a lot of similarities to Canterbury’s run in 2012, brilliant but lacking the execution and experience in the end.
Indeed we could very well see a repeat of that year’s decider, hopefully minus the ear-biting.
Melbourne rounds out this year’s contenders and not much needs to be explained. There or thereabouts for the past decade, Craig Bellamy’s side is once again sitting comfortably in the top four.
If the Cowboys are the best and the Sharks in form, then Melbourne must surely be the most difficult team to play against. Prepared to get down and dirty, the Storm have the best defensive record in the competition having only conceded 208 points so far this campaign.
Steered around by Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk, Melbourne demand excellence from their players and come finals time they have the experience and defensive strength required to go all the way. It may not be pretty but it would take a very brave individual to bet against this champion team.
Three sides all capable of taking out this year’s honours. Each has their own strengths and it will be intriguing to see which approach prevails.
Then again we could have a side like Canberra or Penrith come out of nowhere and snatch it. It’s the greatest game of all for a reason, after all.
Mike Huber
Roar Pro
It's Melbourne , sports capital of the world - do what they please mate !
Mike Huber
Roar Pro
Club, State , National Captain........he out ranks JT I am afraid .
Mike Huber
Roar Pro
I was speaking retrospectively ASIO head .
Ben Lewis
Roar Pro
Nice try; Smith will never be the best player of the modern era while Thurston's around.
Agent11
Guest
lol 2 of those teams are in the bottom 4 and one of them keeps sliding down, down, down....
matth
Guest
You are too kind to the Broncos with that description. They were aspiring to be poo but didn't get there.
Vortex
Guest
Broncos were poo last week against Panthers. But I still believe they can make a run into the finals when they get troops back.
Cugel
Roar Rookie
We have a ridiculously soft defence. On a good day, we can scramble about and keep the damage around 22-24 points, but at any time we can get 40-50 stuck on us. I wouldn't be surprised if that doesn't happen at least once before the end of the season.
peeeko
Roar Guru
deserve - yeah good one. fitting 4 immortals into a salary cap
Dan
Guest
It's been said elsewhere—at one stage Koroibete was the only Storm backline player playing in their original position. Long term injuries to Slater, Hampton, Chambers, Mclean, Solomon, Griffin, Hawkins and sporadic injuries to Green, Munster and Glasby. Nearly 40% of their first grade roster have missed games through injury or Origin this year.
Brendon
Guest
Actually I would ague that point. Sharks and Cowboys, yes, but the Storm have been smacked constantly by injury. Slater, Munster, both sets of wings and centres. In fact, the entire storm backline has been constantly changing due to injury.
Mike Huber
Roar Pro
Squidward To much of the old wacky backy for you sir .
Jerry
Guest
The Gold Coast Titans are the only Club who have not played in a Grand Final. We only have to go back to 1994 to compile a list of the 15 different Grand Finalists - 15 teams in 22 seasons. Would be great to see a Cronulla vs Gold Coast Grand Final.
Squidward
Roar Rookie
You def want to play Canberra or even Brisbane week1
Squidward
Roar Rookie
Look at my face. I'm the greenest looking one in here.
Joelly
Guest
Say there is a Sharks Storm, 1,2 finish, for those 2 teams, would least like to play the Cows in first round finals, if they loose then they would have to face each other for a finals position. Tough run in. With Thurston on injury the Cows finish 3rd or 4th?
Mike Huber
Roar Pro
Squidward If you think the Roosters, Cowboys , Rabbitohs and Broncos don't fudge their books in order to keep their best players on the roster you are/have a) incredibly green b) never been to an accountant c) a dummy d) a member of Hillsong Church Which one Squidward ? Most sane people do their income returns on the proviso of avoiding as much tax as possible - ducking and diving from the Inland Revenue Service and/or ATO. Don't you think that Rugby League administrators do the same ? The most appalling crime regarding The Storm was how moronic they were at deceiving authorities . Keeping two sets of books in the front office of admin beggars belief - they dersvered to get caught . I trust they have learnt there lesson and now run a far more sophisticated system - like all successful Fortune 500 companies do after a few hiccups..........
Albo
Guest
Spot on Dave ! It is no coincidence that this weeks " three certainties" to fight out the title, have had no key injury problems to speak about all year and have had a relatively uninterrupted campaign enabling combinations to successfully develop. With the first twinge of a Thurston hamstring finally arriving , reminds us that plenty can quickly change . Three months ago it was all the Broncos & Cowboys and daylight to the rest they all said ! No mention of the Storm or the Sharks ? Look at the Broncos today, being way off the pace, and the Cowboys likely to slip to 4th this weekend and maybe just a couple of wins in front of the Titans & Panthers ! With 6 rounds to go anything can happen, from a couple of injuries to key players , say a Cam Smith or a JT, or the loss of form from the grind of a hard season of Sharks physicality. Whilst these three teams look obvious today, anything can happen yet, and I will reserve my judgement for 6 weeks time and see which teams are hitting their straps then, and still have a solid uninjured roster to call upon. That could be any of a number of teams at that point in time.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Guest
Whoa! Tough calls Alex and you're probably right. They were embarassing for 20 minutes against the Broncos and have had bad patches in games they've won. And yes they've had wins against teams that have had origin players out - Bulldogs and Cowboys. But at least they are winning which is better than the opposite. They would have lost some of those games last season so it says something about their resilience and determination. As I said earlier if they can perform against the Sharks and Storm in coming weeks we will know if they are contenders.
sham
Guest
Most people never see them play as they have almost no free to air games. Their defensive effort in the first half against the Warriors was excellent and to be leading by 12 to 4 at half time was a very good performance. They did clock off in the second half when they were up 22 to 4 but then to win in golden point the way they did was good as well. You know that a side is going well when they win games in adversity. I would prefer them to win and clock off for a while than to get in the grind and lose. Look at the Dragons - they don't make that many mistakes but their attack is very poor. Not all teams can or should play to the standard template. They were poor against the Broncos as they let the small Broncos pack get quick play the balls. The Panthers showed how to beat the Broncos - stop their quick play the balls - hold the Brisbane forwards upright don't let them dive to the ground. The Storm did the same thing.