The hot topic of discussion in rugby league circles this week has been the decision of multiple clubs to rest players.
That should hardly come as a surprise with an estimated $15 million of talent set to sit out following Tuesday's team selections, which would have taken Supercoach players hours to go through.
But that is perfectly fine.
Peter V'Landys agreed earlier this week, and while some will say it detracts from the quality of competition in the final round of the season, or means the minor premiership worthless, teams are allowed to put themselves in the best possible position to win the premiership.
And in a season - just like the last one - where COVID and bubbles place extra strain on players, resting is always going to happen.
The top four sides take a risk by resting players anyway, given they may end up playing just one game in three weeks if they win in the first round of the finals after being rested.
But again, top-level footy coaches know more than the average Joe on the street, and so if they all think resting is the right way to go, then so be it.
Phil Gould was just one of those to question whether Brad Arthur was using the right tactics, but given the Eels are unlikely to finish in the top four, they are almost certainly not going to be rewarded with an extra week to themselves after the qualifying and elimination finals weekend.
In most years, you'd be unlikely to see a team that far down the ladder rest players either, just quietly, but this is a very different season, with a very specific and special set of circumstances confronting all 16 clubs.
The need to give those players outside the 17 match time ahead of the finals is also a pressing concern for clubs, of that there can be no doubt.
What the NRL must not begin to do though is punish teams for finishing at the top of the table.
If you allow clubs to pick 30 players in their squads plus development options at the beginning of the season, then we can't suddenly get to Round 25 and start to expect clubs to pick the same 17 they have all season.
Other sporting codes have made attempts to combat this with the NBA's rotation policy, for example, or the AFL's bye week off before the finals, although, granted, COVID stopped that from happening this season.
But the week off before the finals only serves to ruin momentum and punish those teams who have strived to finish in the top four throughout the season.
It stops them from resting players, but also can derail them if they win Week 1, meaning they have two forced weeks off in three before a sudden death preliminary finals, which, for some players, could well be the pinnacle of their careers.
And if it isn't that, then it certainly is among the biggest games of the season. 80 minutes from a spot in the grand final, and yet, a week off before the grand final would ensure players enter those games from the top teams having had two forced weeks off in the last three.
Simply put, the idea does more harm than good, even and allows teams from outside the top two, or the top four, to be able to have their week off without resting players, but then build momentum ahead of a likely finals push.
Right now, it's up to the teams, and that is exactly the way it should be, as it is all season long. And we see it all the time at the end of the State of Origin period, with the Penrith Panthers and Melbourne Storm doing it this year.
Rugby league is a physical sport. There will never be a "correct" answer to this problem, but what we have right now - leaving it up to the clubs - is as close to a correct answer we are ever going to get.
The NRL should never, ever copy the AFL and go down the pre-finals bye route.
It's really as simple as that.
