With four teams remaining in the hunt for the 2018 NRL Premiership, the Queensland Maroons still have nine current players represented in the 2018 NRL Finals series (excluding Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith), in comparison to New South Wales Blues who only have six.
Queensland Maroons players:
Billy Slater (Storm), Valentine Holmes (Sharks), Greg Inglis (Rabbitohs), Will Chambers (Storm), Dane Gagai (Rabbitohs), Cam Munster (Storm), Dylan Napa (Roosters), Felise Kaufusi (Storm), Tim Glasby (Storm).
New South Wales Blues players:
James Tedesco (Roosters), Josh Addo-Carr (Storm), Latrell Mitchell (Roosters), Damian Cook (Rabbitohs), Angus Crichton (Rabbitohs), Boyd Cordner (Roosters).
The fact that there are no Queensland based clubs remaining in the competition increases the significance of these numbers, when considering three of the remaining four NRL clubs are based in New South Wales.
In fact, there are nearly as many Queensland eligible (14) players in the Melbourne Storm v Cronulla Sharks game as there are New South Welshman (15).
Despite not having a Queensland Club in the NRL finals, Queenslanders won't have to look hard for something to cheer about in the coming weeks.