How to build an NRL premiership contender

From pathways to big-money signings, the NRL's final four teams prove there's no single formula for premiership success as their strategies are exposed.

Premiership blueprint: How to build an NRL grand final contender

Here’s the proof there is no one single formula for building an NRL premiership contender.

The four preliminary finals teams have all taken very different paths to outlast their 13 rivals.

From Penrith’s pathways to their free agency power, Cronulla’s sleek talent identification, Brisbane’s homegrown approach and shrewd signings, and Melbourne continually reinventing their big-four blueprint, here’s how they’ve moulded their title-contending rosters.

Originally published as How to build an NRL premiership contender