OPINION

There’s a bleak dystopian future that clouds rugby league, a millstone around the necks of thousands of fans.

Despite what anyone will tell you, there’s only one thing that matters. Winning. Specifically, winning titles.

For so many, they’ve either never sipped from the NRL’s most prized chalice or it’s been so long between drinks the taste has evaporated.

Round 19

But for two NRL fanbases, things are different. Painfully so, for the rest of us.

Yes, on rugby league’s darkest possible timeline, the Roosters and Storm will never stop winning.

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It’s not simply that seven of the past 10 grand finals have featured one or both clubs. Nor that they share five titles over that decade. And it’s not even that their clubs are unlikeable pariahs; that the Roosters’ sombrero overflows with cash or Melbourne has literally squeezed the life out of the game’s most dynamic play.

The projection for these clubs is just as depressing as their recent past. Sure, they’ve lost a handful of future immortals between them: Slater, Cronk and, soon, Smith. But what both clubs have going for them provides for clear daylight between the best and the rest.

Despite the Raiders’ giant-killing 2019 campaign or the Rabbitohs’ recruitment under Wayne Bennett or the Eels’ (would the Eels be next? Manly? Brisbane?) dynamic halves combination, no two squads are better fortified for long-term success than those in Bondi and Melbourne.

If you start at the top, and it’s a really important place to start, the Roosters and Melbourne have the NRL’s two best coaches under contract in Trent Robinson and Craig Bellamy. Robbo’s won back-to-back premierships while Bellyache’s the reigning Dally M coach of the year.

These blokes... seriously. Source: Getty Images

Though their approaches are different, they share a common vision: a ruthless commitment to excellence. They’ll experiment with new techniques in training, bring in motivational speakers, dabble in yoga and pilates, but it’s ultimately a single-minded, uncompromising commitment to excellent that binds these men and sets a formidable blueprint for their franchises.

Newcastle’s rookie head coach Adam O’Brien recently compared one to fine dining, the other to a schnitzel and chips. Whatever your fare, it doesn’t matter. For fans of the Roosters and Storm, they’re going to eat well.

A top-line appraisal of the squads from a pure talent perspective returns an obvious answer: no wonder the Roosters are $4.25 premiership favourites and just behind them, at $6.50, Storm a joint second. But it’s how the playing list, through keen development and shrewd business in the marketplace, projects for seasons to come that truly augurs well for the only two powerhouses left in rugby league.

The Roosters’ spine: Dally M Medallist James Tedesco, 27, hasn’t even reached his physical peak. Luke Keary, 28, is just about to embark on the second wave of a career many expect will earn him a reputation as one of the NRL’s cleverest playmakers. The 21-year-old Kyle Flanagan is still a relative unknown but he’s an exciting prospect who’ll learn at the knee of Cooper Cronk. And Jake Friend, well, he’s not as old as you think. He’s 30 and if he can keep his body from failing him, he’s still one of the game’s best hookers.

Where some might see weakness, the Roosters see the future. If Flanagan doesn’t quite take the leap the Roosters are hoping for, they’ve just signed a young kid from Queensland whose highlight tape burns when you put it on. Sam Walker, son of Ben Walker, is among the country’s most freakishly talented teenagers. The Roosters, of course, made sure they snapped him up before anyone else started paying attention.

Munster is only 25, and the Storm are laughing with him. Source: Getty Images

There are parallels in the Storm’s brains trust: Ryan Papenhuyzen sizzles with electric speed at the back and is, game by game, soothing the pain of Billy Slater’s retirement. Cameron Munster is a bonafide star, the first-choice pivot for Queensland and Australia. He’s 25, by the way. Twenty-five. He might be the NRL’s best playmaker until 2030. At seven, they’ve got options in Jahrome Hughes and Cooper Johns. He’s the son of Matty Johns, and with a name like Cooper, he’s got big wraps on a purple No.7 jersey. He showed during the Nines he still has work to do. But if the rest of the spine is nailed down, all Melbourne requires is a serviceable seven to complement the rest. Just ask Shane Perry. Cameron Smith, we know, isn’t long for the world of playing rugby league, but Craig Bellamy’s been preparing for this. They’re already calling him the heir to Smith’s throne. His name is Harry Grant. If he’s as a good as they think he’ll be, having learned from the greatest No.9 in rugby league history, well, we told you this timeline was bleak for most of you.

Outside the spine, both clubs are prepared for the future. Storm’s 25 and under club: Tui Kamikamica, Tino Faasuamaleaui, Christian Welch, Brandon Smith, Marion Seve, Papenhuyzen and Johns, among others.

An image we will see for years to come. Source: AAP

The Roosters are even better positioned for the future. Victor Radley is just 21. Nat Butcher is 22. Sam Verrills, waiting in the wings behind Friend, is 21. Hell, Angus Crichton is 24 and he’s an Origin player already. There are more: Joey Manu, Billy Smith, Lachlan Lam, Walker and Flanagan. Now the Roosters are specials to poach the NRL’s most breathtaking teenage talent, Bronson Xerri, heading into 2021.

It’s enough to make your stomach turn. Out go Cronk and Smith and Slater, only for a 2023 grand final where Johns sets up three tries and Radley wins the Clive Churchill. Or Munster, who won’t even be 30 yet. Or, hell, Tedesco.

No other clubs in rugby league have this much depth, this much talent, this much speed and size and footwork in men who can barely grow facial hair. Their coaches are locked-in lifers, brilliant tacticians and leaders of men.

The only thing left to do is fool ourselves in believing any of our clubs stand a chance.