In a little less than 12 months, the rugby league world might finally stop asking whether Penrith can win yet another title despite losing two genuine, rolled-gold premiership winners.

Not necessarily because the Panthers will have fallen short of a fifth straight grand final triumph, but because all but two of their first-choice 17 next season – Paul Alamoti and Daine Laurie – are already signed until the end of 2026.

The salary cap hasn’t been able to curb Penrith’s all-conquering ways, and there’s every chance that next season the rest of the NRL won’t either.

Jarome Luai departs Penrith as one of the best five-eighths in the game and James Fisher-Harris as arguably its best front-rower.

But replacing the pair with Eels prodigy Blaize Talagi and Kiwi back-rower Isaiah Papali’i still makes the Panthers a formidable proposition. The bookmakers have reflected this; only Melbourne are at shorter odds in 2025 premiership markets.

Talagi’s undoubted potential led to a slew of clubs chasing the teen prodigy before Penrith swooped. His frontline defence is a worry and will naturally be targeted.

But a playmaking partnership with Nathan Cleary is enough to make any NRL coach swoon, particularly alongside Isaah Yeo as the game’s best ball-playing lock.

Replicating Fisher-Harris’s power and leadership up front is a tougher task for rising props Lindsay Smith and Liam Henry. But the Papali’i of his breakout days at Parramatta, not the past few seasons at the Tigers, looms in Penrith’s imperious system.

If anything, the club’s famed depth of talent and desire for premiership rings – and perhaps the first drop-off in either in half a decade – shape as the Panthers biggest hurdles, along with a Las Vegas season-opener and shift to CommBank Stadium while their own home ground is rebuilt.

As for their 16 rivals? Hope abounds as always, some more than others, some misplaced and all chasing the greatest side of the modern era.

Another Storm-Panthers grand final wouldn’t surprise but neither would Melbourne prevailing.

Their squad depth is the best in the NRL, to the point fullback Sua Fa’alogo is fighting for a bench spot, along with veteran forward........

© The Age