There were three key points that came out of an incredible weekend of NRL finals action:
The Broncos might win it all with one guy.
The Raiders are the competitions most complete team.
And who's going to stop the Panthers?
Let's begin where it ended. The grand final that never was. Even without the sentiment of many a misty-eyed 90's league lover in the buildup, the Brisbane Broncos needed to channel every possible trait of the club's glory-era outfit against a powerhouse green machine, who've delivered a year to make the likes of Meninga, Daley, Clyde and (especially) Stuart proud. A five-try first half, volatile second and three outrageous additional periods ignited the most anticipated fixture of the opening weekend and made rugby league history for good measure.
Two attacking juggernauts rolling breathlessly from end-to-end, tensions boiling, points and blood flowing, green hearts breaking. Reece Walsh almost destroying his team's season and flipping the bird at some Raiders fans before rescuing it all quite literally with his own bare hands. Hudson Young tormenting Ben Hunt and the entire left edge before inciting a Walsh headbutt, Pat Carrigan charging and splitting open Morgan Smithies. Payne Haas deploying footwork amid ongoing niggle from a problem ankle. Kaeo Weekes and Ethan Strange sliding through the midfield often and Jamal Fogarty combining sloppy kicking with excellent direction.
Then there was Ben Hunt slotting the second field goal of his career to claim his Broncos moment and send the team to a home Preliminary Final, which might just be a 2023 grand final rematch with Penrith.
A gut wrenching and controversial result for Canberra on the back of Jed Stuart's "Hand of God" moment to deny Fogarty a matchwinner. All of the ingredients are in place for the Raiders to dispense the Sharks in week two and march on to ultimate glory. Ricky Stuart will bemoan the shorter turnaround for his side, but should focus more on reversing cheap turnovers and set restarts, which cost the Raiders, and will again in the heat of a grand final.
Hunt's heroics won't completely paper over the patches of creative nothingness Brisbane produced close to the Raiders line, nor the ten minutes of slop when Walsh was in the sin bin. Hunt and Billy Walters threw plenty of shape and found inroads with almost the same frequency of Canberra's backline, but fell short in the finishing department with some scrappy end-of-set decision making. A fit Reynolds will likely see himself back in the starting side for the prelim. Adding polish and execution will be his second biggest priority. His first will be getting the ball to Walsh.
The 23 year old's impact can and will not be understated by anyone. He will be the single biggest determining factor of his team's fortunes this year, and is in the midst of a patch of individual form better than almost anything the game has seen since 1908, with echoes of 2009 Jarryd Haynes. Walsh has been cleared to play in two weeks, with the Broncos left to make a call on contesting captain Carrigan's one-match ban.
The Sharks and Roosters slugged out an elimination final many footy lovers in Sydney's Eastern and Southern suburbs would almost consider unfair. The reality of Saturday night's unfair final was that someone had to go; Roosters fans will deeply rue the miss and Sharks faithful will be flicking on porch lights from Caringbah to Waterfall in anticipation of a second premiership inside ten years.
The Roosters will reflect on a year of defying expectations as a success, despite the week one bow out. Trent Robinson has the tools at his disposal to expect better, and Sam Walker will learn vital lessons about the nuance of bigger games with Daly Cherry-Evans in his ear. The Roosters forward pack is full of rep jerseys, power and menace but can buckle in an extended grind. The impact of Addin Fonua-Blake's second stint was enormous for the Sharks, Teig Wilton was tireless and Toby Rudolf was terrifying at times. The Roosters are never far away with names like Collins, Crichton, Leniu and Radley in the starting side. A few dashes up and down the Coogee steps next preseason might just give them that final edge.
Craig Fitzgibbon's men did the rest of the premiership contenders a solid in the 20-10 grind-out over the dangerous and highly fancied. Dreams of a run from 8th evaporated in front of almost 13,000 black, white and blue clad fans, as the home side muscled up and dazzled in equal measure. Big game players are emerging, others are enhancing reputations. Braydon Trindall and Nicho Hynes have grown smoother and calmer as a combination, Ronnie Mulitalo continues to channel the energy of the the great Wendell Sailor with his boastful build-ups to big games; the result is proving polarising but it's definitely working. His match-up with Roosters phenom Mark Nawaqanitawase lived up to the billing, emerging with two tries and slightly edging the former Wallaby will ignite the confidence even more. Will it propel them to a preliminary and possible grand final? The brutal truth - it's still difficult to see them matching it with the top four.
Doubting the credentials of Ivan Cleary's Penrith Panthers is so 2020. Every year they've listened to loud declarations about an end of the glorious run, every year they've ignored them to the point of contempt. And why not?
The Warriors brought the bash to their home final; a brimstone approach to unsettle and disrupt the mesmeric flow of the Panthers. It didn't work, and many will look to the end of Luke Metcalf's season as the true end of the Warriors' 2025 premiership prospects.
The Panther is a great name for Penrith's footy team. Although the Penrith Pythons might also work if they ever consider a rebrand. A sporting strangulation was issued in the first elimination final. A pretty standard sort of thing from this team at this time of year, and will see I. Cleary's name read out as coach of the year in 2025.
Aside from a potentially game turning pass from Luke Garner to Blaize Talagi that may have floated forward, the 24-8 result was a fait accompli for the Panthers at the end of the 80 minute cage match in the Auckland rain. Moses Leota took a split decision from the judges scorecards on his own personal title fight with James Fischer-Harris, shaking the grandstands with a series of massive collisions, volatile skirmishes, and foolish penalties.
Brad Shneider dispelled doubts at hooker in Mitch Kenny's absence and Nathan Cleary controlled tempo beautifully. The Warriors simply could not match the intensity, energy and effort over 80 minutes. Like many before them they suffered the slow starvation of territory and possession, with the physical approach unsuccessful in disrupting 17 highly focused, dominant and perpetually cool-headed opponents. The team who works out just how to mess with that particular aura might end up being the first new champion we've seen since 2020.
The next team to respond to that particular question will be the Canterbury Bulldogs, who will be gearing up for the Panthers in week two and feeling justifiably sorry for themselves. Stephen Crichton's confirmed absence and fitness battles for Toby Sexton and Viliame Kikau added misery to Friday night's frustrating 26-18 qualifying final loss to Melbourne. The Bulldogs played better than the season average for most of the first qualifying final, moving the ball freely and muscling up with a psychologically wounded Storm, who were always going to come out swinging. Jacob Kiraz returned with a bang, Lachlan Galvin was present throughout without grabbing the game at any point, Sexton showed how much he'll be missed. The 'Dogs certainly have the fight to push the Panthers, but would seem the least likely survivor of week two at this point.
The Storm might just have Jahrome Hughes back for the preliminary final against the Raiders or Sharks. They'll need him sharp and a few more octaves of physicality across the board if they're going to go any further. Will Warbick's scorching 80 metre intercept to seal the week off was one of many attacking highlights from a side still searching for its trademark grind. At the moment it's difficult to see Melbourne's current energy levels and the strength of collision matching it with any team left. But Craig Bellamy's pretty good at proving people wrong.
Whatever Bellamy concocts to get his side up for a grand final qualifier at the end of September, the first weekend of October currently looks most likely to feature Penrith, Brisbane or Canberra. The narratives on offer are as thrilling as they are historic; Penrith will have to go the long way and just might, Brisbane and Canberra could yet deliver the decider the 90's never got.