After winning back-to-back premierships, reaching three straight grand finals, and topping the ladder two of the past three years, it could be easy to say it's job done for the Penrith Panthers.
There's a reason no team won two in a row for the first two decades of the NRL era. And there's a reason that the two teams that have done it in the past five years — the Roosters and Panthers — are two of the best organisations in the league.
But Penrith's dominance — losing just one regular season game before being stunned by the well-drilled, experienced Melbourne Storm in the 2020 grand final, then turning that heartache into steely resolve to win the 2021 and 2022 titles — has been as impressive as anything we've seen on a rugby league field this century.
