The Brisbane Broncos could be ready for a late charge up the Telstra Premiership ladder ahead of the finals with NRL.com Stats revealing they have the second-best run home of any NRL club.
After demolishing fellow finals contender the Panthers 50-18 on Friday night, Brisbane sit in seventh place on the ladder on 24 competition points, one win behind fourth and two behind the league-leading Melbourne Storm.
To assess the strength of schedule for each team, NRL.com Stats have looked at the competition points of each of their opponents in the run home and added extra loading for away games depending on that opponent's home record.
The Broncos have the second-easiest draw by this metric, with a tough opponent in the Panthers disposed of last week and only one away game against a top-eight opponent (the Roosters in round 25) to come. They do have a couple of blockbusters coming up at Suncorp Stadium however, against the Sharks this week and the Rabbitohs in round 23.
Brisbane can draw level with Cronulla in fifth place on 26 competition points with a win this week.
Penrith may be reeling from that heavy loss to the Broncos but their draw becomes easier from here, moving from the second hardest in the league last week to the eighth toughest with their next four games coming against teams outside the top eight (Manly, Canberra, Gold Coast and Newcastle).
The Sydney Roosters meanwhile are well in the minor premiership race, two competition points behind the Storm, Dragons and Rabbitohs. Their draw has improved from the eighth best to the fifth best after they piled on 56 points against the Sea Eagles at Lottoland on Sunday afternoon.
The Wests Tigers gave their slim finals chances a huge boost with Saturday's win over the Rabbitohs and now sit two wins outside the top eight.
They are away from home in four of their final six games but the first three of those matches come against bottom-eight sides the Bulldogs, Knights and Raiders.
