Gotta think the 2021 NRL premiership is between 4 team Panther, Storm, Eels & Roosters
The gap between good and bad teams is beyond measurement. Not a great look for the NRL..
Mind you fans of the above team are loving it
True but as I've mentioned elsewhere, you only have to look at the difference in management.
Panthers have collected and nurtured a bunch of juniors, local and otherwise, and been lucky enough to hang on to them for once.
Parra had a shit coaching and management setup gut our juniors, but BA has torn down and then built up a squad practically from scratch with smart buying (mostly) and our juniors are starting to come back as well.
The Roosters and Storm have advantages but they also manage a squad brilliantly.
Then you have Brisbane apparently handing retention to a blind man as well as hiring a succession of oafs as coach, and the Bulldogs doing whatever it is they're doing. That's the big difference for mine. The NRL can't and shouldn't cater to the lowest common denominator...christ knows us Eels fans have supported some shocking squads over the years. It'll swing back again