For weeks rugby league writers, and fans, have been
focusing on the race for the “top eight” in the NRL premiership (a race that is
still very much open) but there is a new “race” that’s even more
interesting – the race for the “minor premiership,”
awarded to the team that tops the premiership ladder at the end of the regular season.

Until the weekend, it was generally assumed the Brisbane
Broncos had the minor premiership well and truly sewn up for 2005. The NRL had
reportedly made plans to present the J.J. Giltinan Shield (awarded to the minor
premiers) to the Broncos at their last home game against the Roosters, but those plans are now well and truly on hold.

The
Broncos are no longer certainties to win the minor premiership – and there are
three other teams, all Sydney based, that can legitimately claim a chance of taking the title.

The Broncos are on 34 points. Their remaining games are
Panthers (away), Roosters (home), and, significantly, the Eels
(away). The Eels – after a truly ordinary start to the season –
have rocketed into second place on 32 points. They have to play the Dragons
(away) and the Raiders at home before meeting the Broncos in the last round at
Parramatta Stadium. There is a real possibility that final game will decide
the minor premiership – a promoter’s dream.

The Dragons, who wiped out the Broncos yesterday, meet
the Eels at Jubilee Stadium next Sunday then have a bye for which they will get
two premiership points and then play the Knights at home. And the real surprise packet in the race for the top
spots – and maybe even the minor premiership – is the Wests Tigers, also on 30
points. They have the Bulldogs at home, the Storm away and the Panthers at home.
Not a bad run in for an in-form team.

If more than one team heads the table at the end of the
premiership rounds, it will be decided on a “points for and against”
basis. The team with the best for and against record is the Eels – helped along
by their 56-4 slaughter of reigning premiers the Bulldogs, last
Friday night.

It was not that long ago that we were speculating that the NRL
might face a nightmare – a grand final in which no Sydney based team is
involved. How times change… And with a competition that is so unpredictable is it any
wonder that four of the seven games played at the weekend drew capacity or near
capacity attendances?

And it can only get better in the weeks
ahead. Even the bottom ranking teams are causing upsets and
making the premiership even more interesting. Both the Rabbitohs and the Knights continued their good
form with wins over the Raiders and Sea Eagles…and the Knights v Sea Eagles
game in Newcastle drew a crowd of 26,000, even though the Knights are no chance
of making the finals.

The NRL will surely be pleased that at least three
Sydney teams are serious premiership contenders at a time when the Sydney Swans
now enjoy the same standing in the AFL premiership. And even though the Broncos have slipped a wrung or two,
they cannot be written off at all, while the Brisbane Lions are just about
“cactus” when it comes to the AFL flag.

The NRL bean counters – and Channel Nine – have every
right to be salivating over what the next few weeks will offer!

Jeff Wall can be contacted at outsidecentre10@hotmail.com