Can your NRL club win the title if they are not Panthers? Call me delusional,

After looking at the bottom half of the NRL table last week, separating who might end up with a wooden spoon, it’s appropriate to ask who is going to be our premiere this week on October 2nd.

Penrith. It’s going to be Penrith.

At least, that’s what Smart Money says when we move to Round 12 – at least half the points of the season – with the Panthers clearing four points at the top of the table, with only one loss for 2022.

Last year’s headlines were unfounded by fears of a premiership hangover, with Matt Burton, Kurt Capwell, Tyrone May and Brent Naden losing their favor as an enthusiastic team of local youth continued to build their ranks.

Even their lone defeat to the Eagles by just two points in Round 9, it could be argued, was a good thing – the damage they needed, if you can – to tear apart their pre-season Premiership Either since then their two matches.

If the ’22 Grand Final is played this weekend, you will have the boys of Evan Cleary as the $ 1.04 favorite.

The funny thing about this is, it’s not out of the possibility that this Friday evening will actually be our great final preview, as the red-hot cowboys travel to the foothills to show us once and for all if they are the real deal.

Because at this stage, they are emerging as the top-four finishers that will shake this competition almighty.

It gave me great satisfaction to see Todd Payton turn his charge from bottom-two into a potential top-two team.

He showed us during his intermission with the Warriors that he could coach, so his ability was constantly questioned last season – because he made a reasonable observation about Jason Toumalolo at the end of Round 1 – it was unknown and, at the end of ’21, just Annoying.

With another season of experience for both Todd and the players – and with each other like the heat of battle – suggesting that they have thrown a sledgehammer and a storm with a legitimate threat, an offensive brand footing. Set up by a rock-solid forward pack.

Of course, they also suffered huge losses to the Roosters, and lost to the Fighting Warriors and Bulldogs, so the question mark remained.

What’s more, with 2015 Premiership winners Kyle Feld and Toumalolo set to miss this weekend’s game due to injuries, the Panthers will be an irresistible favorite to win.

But if North Queensland hold their hand to keep the distance against the Penis, they will prove they are competitive.

Heading to the other end of the East Coast and Melbourne is a real feud.

Wait, hit. Not a real fight. Melbourne Brawl – what we call it when Craig Bellamy’s team loses two games in a row.

Of course, they have been two Large Loss in a row – 32-6 for Panthers and 36-6 for Cowboys

And while there’s no unreasonable excuse for them losing half their spine, halfback Jahrom Hughes and fullback Ryan Papenhuizen, fans of the teams that have plagued us with injuries over the years, feed this line, ‘Melbourne won’t suck when their players are out. ‘

Okay, they suck right now, this year’s famous Next-Man-Up system looks like a steady un-storm with splattering.

I’d say something as daring as Melbourne has been done, but it’s actually saying something stupid. Not Melbourne. Although their subsequent men are not doing as well as the usual push, they will get their injured stars back and then they will go back to setting up cricket scores in the team.

Whether they get back a better portion of the Panthers’ 30 points is a different matter.

Jumping into Sydney and the rest of Harbor City teams are potential instead of potential.

The Eels and Roosters were very hot and cold – they should lose the previous winning games, they should win the next losing games – and as a result no one sits in the top four.

If I were a fan of Para, I would be seriously nervous, as this year has taken shape like the end of their current Premiership window. If I were a Chooks fan, I would enjoy the wins and overcome the defeats, because their premiership window may not be at the top this year, but it never seems to narrow.

The Broncos will make eight in their current form but they are a bit green to go with it. The south will probably make eight, but what is the opposite of those greens? Brown? Go through it.

In this regard, however, the people lined up to give Boone a boot to not hold Adam Reynolds are talking too early a year. South Sydney weren’t worried about a slight halfback in the ’22’, they were worried about keeping him instead of at least two – maybe three – of the young players who had been formed as part of the club’s next title race.

Reynolds’ form the following year indicates whether South was foolish enough not to offer him another contract. That said, he has bought a cute for the Broncos regardless.

Manley is the Knights of the modern day, including Andrew Johns – they can’t win without Tom Trobozevic. I know, world-destroying insights, but his season-end hit pays off with their title ambitions.

A few weeks ago, you said that the only other team with shots was the Sharks, but then they were handled 30-10 by the Canberra side with three players sent to Sean Bean. 80 minutes

And behind that, the Raiders put their 20-match winning streak on the Bunnies by 20 and suddenly returned to the debate for eight. But that’s just a chat for eight, not a title.

Because, as mentioned above, smart money says that Penrith is going to be.

However, for one final word about Penrith, beware of the May premieres.

I’m not saying the Panthers will be complacent but they’ve been around for more than two years now – they’ve lost just seven games for almost 90 percent of their winning percentage since the start of 2020.

That’s just weird. And at some point, something will pay off.

The Origin Period takes on a particularly difficult shape – it is supposed to help flatten things out a bit – with Nathan Cleary, Jerome Louie, Isaac Yeo, Brian Too, Liam Martin and AP Coroisau finally appearing in the series of years (even If Api’s extracurricular activities in ’21 put him in a serious question mark for this year), Stephen Crichton is firm for a center position, and Moses Leota at least in the squad mix.

The club’s representatives will also have a fair share in the New Zealand vs Tonga Test on June 25 (the night before the Origin 2) as well as the match between Samoa vs Cook Islands and Papua New Guinea vs Fiji on the same day. .

In the end, it will hurt and fatigue. They do it for everyone.

Of course not next year. But in the NRL era we only had one back-to-back premiership team for a good reason.

It’s hard to bleed.