Thus far, much of the talk has centred around the blue-blood Roosters, minor premiers once again, the rising Broncos, whether the Cowboys can finally slay the ghosts of finals past, or if the Sharks can be this year's Cinderella story.
After Thursday night, it would be deeply unwise to leave the Melbourne Storm out of the NRL finals conversation. Their 15-8 win over Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium was a timely reminder that a side of their quality, with that many cool heads and young stars, can't be discounted as a premiership contender.
Melbourne began the final round in fifth place but now stand on the verge of a crucial top-four finish. They will be praying Manly can find some form and upset the Sharks, a result that would send them one step higher on the ladder.
Even without the services of Billy Slater, the Storm tick any number of boxes at this time of year, even more so if results conspire in their favour and they can earn a second chance in the post-season and a home final.
Fullback Cameron Munster, still just 20, was superb. At his best, Slater remains almost without peer in the No.1 jumper but Melbourne have unearthed a highly dangerous replacement, who contributes strongly with or without the ball.
He carved out vast swathes of metres against Brisbane, getting his hands on the ball 20 times to finish the night with 224m to his name in a game that had finals-like intensity in front of a huge Thursday night crowd of 44,015.
Munster would come up with the error in front of his posts with two minutes to go but it wasn't enough to detract from an excellent performance in a pivotal game for his club.
The locals had all arrived to see Justin Hodges in his official farewell game, although Brisbane will be back here next week in their finals opener, with the loss meaning they will finish the season in second place and host the Cowboys in a Queensland grudge match.
Hodges would be disappointed on this occasion as the Storm defended like a team with everything to lose and charged forward behind the best prop in the game, Jesse Bromwich (17 runs, 183m), who was a dominant force in the middle for the visitors.
Cooper Cronk, a man who laps up the pressure of these sort of occasions, would seal the win with a field goal as the clock ticked under 10 minutes but the Storm's victory was based on unrelenting tryline defence, with Brisbane piling on the pressure as they kicked strongly in the second half.
The Broncos wouldn't have lost too many fans on the face of their performance. They went into the match without halfback Ben Hunt (cork), with Ash Taylor making his debut alongside five-eighth Anthony Milford.
His night would end early courtesy of a gruesome compound finger dislocation, with the injury forcing Wayne Bennett to go to his Plan C in the halves and deploy utility Kodi Nikorima.
Most of the organising duties would fall to Milford and the Storm knew it, racing up in defence and putting all sorts of pressure on the youngster, who hardly turned in a shocker but was unable to really break free of the added shackles.
Darius Boyd went off late with a concussion but both he and Hunt should return next week. There were no reports but NRL officials could find some interest in Jordan McClean's headlock move on Milford early in the first half.
The upshot of it all is that the Roosters will now win their third minor premiership in succession, building further anticipation for their finals campaign ahead of their final-round meeting with defending champions South Sydney.
