The Penrith Panthers appear to be running away with the 2022 NRL season, just as they did in 2021.
After taking the 2021 premiership, but being forced to do it the hard way after losing to the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the opening week of the finals, the Panthers have lost just a single game so far in the 2022 season.
The club are on fire and look close to unstoppable, but that's simply not always the way in the NRL.
A sudden injury, drop of form or countless other factors - including the currently ongoing State of Origin series - could change the face of the competition at the click of the fingers.
Plenty of teams have surprised - both good and bad - this season, which creates an even more intriguing dynamic and a difficult one at that for punters trying to work out who the favourites might be.
While it's always wise to gamble safely and responsibly within your means, there is some serious value to this year's competition if you reckon the Panthers aren't going to take the chocolates.
That said, you can easily place your bets on your favourite team as the finals draw nearer and the competition goes up a few gears.
So, here are the five teams who could stop the Panthers.
Melbourne Storm
Despite being a little below their best in recent weeks, mainly thanks to a mounting injury toll, the Storm never quite seem to fall away.
They are always there and abouts, and will undoubtedly make the finals.
Craig Bellamy is a master at having his team firing when the whips are cracking in September, and it'd take a brave man to write them off from any chance of another taste of premiership glory.
There are issues in their forwards, but at full strength, they were keeping pace with the Panthers earlier in the season and could do so again in the back end of the season following the disruptive Origin window.
Brisbane Broncos
The Broncos were one team with plenty of question marks hanging over them this season after an off-field raid in the pre-season to fix plenty of the club's issues.
Adam Reynolds was the key signing, but the addition of Kurt Capewell and Corey Jensen can't be looked over, while the shrewd re-signing of a number of up and coming talent style players has also put the club into a strong position for the future.
They may not be quite premiership material this year, but they will cause headaches in September, and with Patrick Carrigan and Payne Haas leading the forward pack, anything could well be possible this year, as Reynolds and co have already shown with some big, unexpected victories.
North Queensland Cowboys
The Cowboys have been this season's other surprise packet, rising to second place on the table in Round 17 with the completion of all byes.
While questions persisted over their ability at the start of the year, the halves combination of Chad Townsend and Tom Dearden has turned out to be a masterstroke, as has the move of Valentine Holmes to centre.
Scott Drinkwater's form has been something special, and the pack of forwards are playing far better than anything they were able to produce last year.
This is the team who could well come closests to stopping the Panthers.
Parramatta Eels
The Parramatta Eels started the 2022 NRL season like a house on fire, and while warnings persisted around their form, and the fact they should remember seasons gone by before writing them up as possible premiership contenders, there is little doubt they are one of the teams who are in the picture.
While they have bounced from one end of the spectrum with big wins, to the other with big losses at the other, they still have the talent in the side.
With some high profile departures due at the end of the season, there is a feeling there prmeiership window is about to shut, and that may only bring the side together for one more tilt at breaking their September curse.
South Sydney Rabbitohs
The Rabbitohs have been up and down in 2022, but that is hardly a surprise given the number of personnel that left the club at the end of the 2021 season.
All of Adam Reynolds, Wayne Bennett and Dane Gagai exited Redfern, as well as forward Jaydn Su'A, who has previously been a Queensland Origin player.
Their decimated left edge and gaping hole of experience aside, South Sydney have been solid enough to stick in the top eight, and as long as they are there come the end of the season, they will be a fighting chance of causing headaches against the big guns.