The engine room is the heart and soul of every rugby league team, and no team has ever won a competition with a poor forward pack.
It's really quite as simple as that.
SEE ALSO: Every NRL club's spine ranked for 2026
The spine might get all the credit, and the outside backs provide all the flash, but they might as well all stay in the dressing room.
RELATED: Every NRL club's outside backs ranked for 2026
For the purposes of this exercise, and given hookers were included in the spine, we will be looking at the prop, lock and second-row positions to determine which NRL side has the best forward pack.
Here are the rankings for the 2026 campaign.
7. Canterbury Bulldogs
Likely first-choice: Max King, Leo Thompson, Jaeman Salmon, Viliame Kikau, Jacob Preston
Let's start with the positive for the Bulldogs.
Viliame Kikau and Jacob Preston should be regarded as the game's elite second-row competition, and the measuring stick for the rest.
Kikau is nearly impossible to tackle at times, while Preston also has continued to improve at both ends of the park and should - or certainly could - make his Origin debut this year.
The middle is a different question.
Jaeman Salmon is not one of the top half locks in the competition, while the jury is seriously out on the reported $800,000 the club paid for Leo Thompson.
Max King is the sort of player every team in premiership contention needs, but he won't be able to drag the middle third to the promised land on his own.
I would have expected to see the Broncos, Bulldogs and Rabbitohs higher, and the Raiders and Warriors lower.
I find it hard to develop a great enthusiasm for the Raiders pack. Solid, but no X-factor.