Every year, as we run into the final roud of the season, the same old question gets trotted out.
Should top teams rest their stars to be fresh for the finals?
Resting has become almost an epidemic in previous years, and with the top two, the next two, and then the top eight locked in bar some small positional changes, it was thought there could have been plenty this go around.
But Tuesday afternoon's team lists didn't exactly bring a lot in the way of resting, until you got to the Sydney Roosters.
James Tedesco, Billy Smith, Robert Toia, Mark Nawaqanitawase, Daly Cherry-Evans, Hugo Savala, Naufahu Whyte, Reece Robson, Nat Butcher and Siua Wong have all been rested.
Sam Walker is also olut injured, so from last week's run on side who were easily beaten by the Dolphins, Robinson has just two players left, with Lindsay Collins to skipper the side from prop, and Salesi Foketi, who has been excellent on the edge in recent weeks but will likely lose his starting spot to a returning Angus Crichton in the finals, in the side.
It does present opportunity for a number of Roosters young guns to fire, while Daniel Tupou will return from injury in a much-needed hit out before the finals roll around.
Resting is something that divides opinion, and while personally, it's hard to have a problem with it, it is easy to question exactly what the Roosters are doing this weekend.
The great resting debate reared its head last year when the Canberra Raiders did it.
Ricky Stuart's team won the minor premiership with a week to spare, got flogged by the Dolphins on the last day of the season, and went on to be knocked out in straight sets.
That, in a nutshell, is the risk of the rest.
It has worked for other teams, namely the Penrith Panthers, over the years, but it's difficult to suggest it's the right reign to pull when your team is down on their form.
That's exactly where the tri-colours find themselves heading into the finals.
Robinson's side have lost their last two games, and while last weekend's slip up against the Dolphins could potentially be excused given the Redcliffe-based side are also sitting pretty in the top four, the fact it came a week after they fell short against the rabble that has become the Wests Tigers needs serious investigation.
The Roosters form tailing off at the wrong end of the season was probably a reason to play most of their stars this weekend, maybe with the exception of guys who were involved in State of Origin, or have had signiifcant minutes across the course of the campaign.
What it wasn't a reason to do was rest everybody.
Form is just one part of the equation for the Roosters.
The fact they are playing arch-rivals the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the final round gives the Maroubra-based outfit a chance to put a serious score on the tri-colours, picking up their own momentum and raising questions of the Roosters.
But it's two other big factors which should be raising eyebrows.
The first of those is the decision to rest James Tedesco. He essentially said on Wednesday morning that he wanted to play this weekend before being told he would have a rest.
Tedesco will have played just a single game in the course of a month heading into the finals after injuring his ankle during the record-breaking win over the North Queensland Cowboys a few weeks back.
Tedesco playing this weekend to get a bit more match practice under his belt seemed a no-brainer, but instead he will once again watch on from the grandstand.
The champion fullback is the Roosters most important player by the length of the straight, but will also walk into the finals looking to form a new spine with Daly Cherry-Evans moving to halfback and Hugo Savala going to five-eighth thanks to Sam Walker's injury.
That in itself was another reason to avoid a mass rest this weekend.
The team will head into the finals with a halves combination that have had limited time on the field this year as a combination, even though Cherry-Evans has been the five-eighth, and Savala found a home at centre.
Instead of getting another 80 minutes under their belt, probably alongside Tedesco and another few key figures, the whole group will rest this weekend before trying to shake off the rust and get it right in a high-stakes qualifying final, either in Auckland against the New Zealand Warriors, or in Sydney against the Penrith Panthers.
Whichever way you dice it, the mass rest for the Roosters simply may not be the right call.
Freshness in the finals is an advantage, but not if it brings rust and a lack of confidence in combinations with it.
