Shane Flanagan and Trent Barrett's sprays after the first week of the finals have been brewing for quite some time now as both their teams have been on the wrong side of the whistle for the most part of the 2017 season.

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The Sharks and Manly are both ranked third and fourth last on the penalty differential ladder as we uncover which side received the most favours.

And it's no wonder the man who benefited most from the referees last weekend, Paul Green, had nothing but praise for the men in fluro's performance after a year of having the upper hand when the whistle is blown.

The North Queensland coach did produce one memorbale rant when his side fell to Melbourne in Round 22, but even then they were still awarded more penalties as they tallied a total of 18 penalty count wins for the season.

'Penalty Broncos' was an online viral trend where rugby league fans would spread the word on every dimension of social media in spite of the whistleblower's favouring the NRL's so-called favourite son Brisbane, but it's their Queensland neighbours in the Cowboys who have topped the penalty differential ladder and been given the biggest advantage out of all 16 NRL clubs.

We broke it down in a table that reveals who won/lost the most penalty counts, which side was awarded and conceded the most penalties and finally ranked each side on their penalty differential, with the Cowboys topping the list.

Won Drawn Loss For Against Win % Diff Cowboys 18 2 4 191 151 75% +40 Dragons 15 3 6 163 133 62.5% +30 Raiders 14 4 6 183 161 58.33% +22 Rabbitohs 12 3 9 163 149 50% +14 Knights 12 2 10 164 161 50% +3 Tigers 10 3 11 134 134 41.66% +0 Bulldogs 11 4 9 154 155 45.83% -1 Panthers 9 3 12 170 173 37.5% -3 Broncos 10 3 11 137 141 41.66% -4 Storm 8 3 13 172 183 33.33% -11 Warriors 10 2 12 135 147 41.66% -12 Titans 11 1 12 152 164 45.83% -12 Manly 5 5 14 146 180 20.83% -24 Sharks 9 2 13 162 186 37.5% -24 Roosters 9 1 14 134 160 37.5% -26 Eels 8 1 15 137 177 33.33% -40

Interestingly, the four bottom sides all made the cut in the NRL's top eight, with the Sea Eagles, Cronulla, Roosters and lastly Parramatta copping the biggest whack from the referee's without having the favour returned.

Hated by a vast majority of rival fans, Manly also suffered the most heat from Tony Archer's men, managing the lowest penalty count win percentage of 20.83% and coming out on top in just 5 out of 24 games.

On the other end of the ladder the Cowboys and Dragons sit on their high horse in the top two positions, leading the way with healthy differentials of +40 and +30 respectively as they got the rub of the green.

Although the Cowboys racked up a massive 191 penalties in their favour, it was the Dragons who had conceded the fewest with 133 - a good 18 less than the ladder leaders.

As for the Broncos who were caught up in a social media frenzy, they didn't even make the top eight, slotting in at ninth with a fair share of for and against.