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.
South Sydney Rabbitohs
Why they can win the premiership
The left-hand side. Even without Latrell Mitchell, it's still one of the best in the competition.
Alex Johnston is one of the game's best finishers and rarely makes a mistake, but when he has Dane Gagai, Cody Walker and now Blake Taafe (who has taken to first grade superbly) on the inside creating time and space, it's not hard to see why.
The Rabbitohs will need to explore the options down that left-hand side time and time again throughout the finals series if they are to make a charge.
Johnston is the competition's leading try-scorer despite missing a stack of games, while Cody Walker as a result unsurprisingly leads the try assist count by quite a distance.
Why they can't win the premiership
Apart from the stats and history - they haven't beaten Penrith in two chances this year and teams who don't win in Week 1 don't seem to go to the grand final very often in the past years - Latrell Mitchell being out is a huge blow.
Yes, it's a double-edged sword this because I've just said their left-hand side is still dangerous - and it is.
But that doesn't mean they don't lose plenty right across the park thanks to the absence of Mitchell. He has turned himself into an absolute superstar.
Defensively, he has improved tenfold, and his vision and influence over the men from Redfern's attack has also increased in positive ways on so many fronts.
He is too important to Souths to expect they can win the competition without him, unless somehow both Penrith and Melbourne get knocked out before they have to play them in a knockout game.
