Rest is a weapon. Or at least it was for Terry Lamb and Justin Hodges, who managed to crank out pretty decent careers after they convinced their coaches they didn't need to train every time the team went through its paces.

Less can indeed be more... more or less. Debates about momentum verses a period of sweet, restorative inactivity tend to pop up every time the football finals roll around. Coaches stuck with one could end up coveting the other, depending on the result at the end of the match.

In the AFL, the new bye week for everyone before the finals has had to withstand claims it is a handbrake for teams that are in a rich vein of winning form heading into the post-season. There is no such luxury in the NRL, which is why coaches love their sides heading into the finals with the machine purring like an Italian sports car.

No team has won in the modern NRL from outside of the top four, so that's about that. And only one team, the 2015 Cowboys, have won the premiership when having to play every week of the finals, so that's another obvious hurdle to winning a premiership.

Doing things the hard way has stopped most teams winning a grand final but it hasn't always precluded them from getting their in the first place.