Canberra's minor premiership highlights a more open NRL finals series amid increasing player attrition.
Has rugby league's ever-escalating attrition rate succeeded where the NRL's salary cap couldn't?
It's an argument for both another day, and today, when Canberra are the first minor premiers outside the all-powerful Panthers-Storm-Roosters triumvirate since 2013.
Ricky Stuart and the Raiders were so vocal arguing for a Sunday final - and the extra 24 hours' rest it affords - because the past four days have made it abundantly clear: The 2025 finals series is the most open, "anyone could actually win this thing" post-season in memory.