For one team, just four weeks stand between them and the Provan-Summons trophy.
The NRL finals have arrived, and so too have the biggest games of the season. There is some mouth-watering first week action. The Manly Sea Eagles vs Melbourne Storm? Yes please. The Penrith Panthers and South Sydney Rabbitohs again? Oh yes.
Those two games could tell us who is going to the grand final before we get past Week 1, given only the North Queensland Cowboys have played in Week 2 of the finals and made the grand final in the last four seasons.
And how about those elimination games? They could be anything. The Titans took the Roosters all the way in a 35-34 thriller last time, while the Eels form line could mean anything.
It might be tough to mount an argument for the teams in the bottom four of the top eight to win the premiership, but we'll give it a crack anyway.
Here is why your team can and can't win the premiership.
Sydney Roosters
Why they can win the premiership
In short, the Roosters middle third is fearsome. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Siosiua Taukeiaho and Isaac Liu present an unreal presence which is matched by few other teams.
The way in which Waerea-Hargreaves has stood up this season in particular has been fantastic, but the efforts of Taukeiaho and Liu can't be discredited.
Meanwhile, the Roosters bench forwards, led by the Baker brothers among others, have also been superb. The platform they build has taken a mountain of pressure off the creative players, and allowed James Tedesco to continue his excellent form despite playing in a far weakened team.
It's also given time and space for the kicking game, which has often been well above average, and has led to plenty of Daniel Tupou tries out wide.
Why they can't win the premiership
The Roosters are lacking a lot of experience - and not just experience, but what might be termed as "good" experience.
While their best player Luke Keary has missed most of the year, and all the credit in the world has to go to coach Trent Robinson who has found a way for his team to deal with injury problem after injury problem, you feel that lack of experience could begin to catch up with them in the finals.
Brett Morris, Boyd Cordner and Jake Friend have all retired during the season, which is a major loss in talent out of their top squad. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves is still there to lead things around, while captain James Tedesco has been fantastic, but it's hard to see a spine with Sam Verrills, Sam Walker and Drew Hutchison in it delivering a premiership.
That isn't a knock on those young guys - they have all been fantastic for much of the season.
But doing it in the regular season is one thing. Doing it against the best four times in a row in the finals is a very different scenario.
