It’s down to four and as most tipsters predicted, they are the four clubs that occupied the top positions on the NRL ladder following 27 rounds.
It took 408 games or roughly 544 hours, give or take a few golden point games, for one of the tightest NRL competitions in years, to sort out the NRL’s top eight.
After two weeks of finals, we are now down to the best four teams.
They all have quality game-breakers, Nathan Cleary (Penrith), Adam Reynolds (Brisbane), Cameron Munster (Melbourne), and Shaun Johnson (Warriors).
Those players have the experience to produce the special moments every team needs to win these big games -- and they don’t come much bigger than a preliminary final.
So, who wins from here?
As much as I’d love to see Brisbane win the premiership, and they still might, I am sticking to my guns and declaring Penrith will lift the Provan-Summons trophy in Sydney on the biggest day of the year.
Kevvie’s Broncos have been extremely impressive and their confidence and self-belief would be through the roof after keeping Melbourne to blot in their last game.
Self-belief is imperative when you play finals, especially if you come up against the defending premiers who have “been there, done that”.
Penrith, who has been in the past three grand finals, winning the last two, knows how to handle the big pressure moments of finals football.
I have to say I am a huge fan of their coach, Ivan Cleary.
He never seeks any credit or attention and there’s zero showman in him, he just goes about his job quietly and without too much fanfare.
I will, however, concede there’s a bit of arrogance about the Panthers players which gets up the noses of some rugby league fans, but that can also be valuable in big matches like finals.
A few of the Penrith players have a swagger about them, but they back it up.
They have some quality leaders on the field who produce every single week, Cleary and Dylan Edwards, both perfect examples.
What I really like about Penrith is how their forwards work relentlessly to set up a platform for Cleary to spark their attack and they have plenty of that with the likes of Stephen Crichton, Edwards, and Brian To’o.
Much of the credit for Penrith’s run of grand finals has to go to their coach.
Ivan was a lovely bloke as a player, I always thought he was a very underrated player.
He has learned from some of the best coaches around and the way he conducts himself he would make an ideal face of rugby league going forward.
I am a little surprised Jarome Luai has been named to play so soon after a bad shoulder injury.
If he dislocated it, which was the medical report, they can often take six to eight weeks to repair.
There’ll be no place for him to hide if he carries a bung shoulder into the clash and Melbourne’s heavy hitters, Tui Kamikamica and Nelson Asofa-Solomona, will no doubt conduct their own medical examination on the night.
The thing about grand final football is it is a bit like playing Origin -- you have to learn what’s required and adjust to the pace and pressure.
You can’t afford to be the first side to crack.
Nothing is certain in a game of rugby league.
If a key player has the misfortune to get injured early or gets taken out, all of a sudden you have re-arrange your side and you are looking to other blokes to step up.
Upsets are always possible.
I’ve been a big fan of Melbourne ever since they joined to competition in 1998.
Craig Bellamy is coaching his 50th finals game on Friday night, a remarkable achievement, and until last year, I think he had been to seven straight preliminary finals.
The Warriors are the genuine article this year under Andrew Webster.
But in my mind, Penrith just have that hard edge about them. I honestly can’t see anyone beating them.
They are just too big, too fast, too strong, and too good to handle.
