State of Origin comes and goes. It's a big bulldozer that fires up its engine nearly halfway through the NRL season and clears anything and everything in its path. The top teams are left to count the cost of their stars turning out in the toughest sporting arena there is while other teams such as the Penrith Panthers and the New Zealand Warriors enjoy the opportunity to play a few games with their team pretty much as per, as well as being able to enjoy a few weeks off.

The bulldozer has come and gone. It's time to have a wee looksie at the NRL and who we have doing what. In general, the cream has risen or is still rising. Teams like the Brisbane Broncos and the Gold Coast Titans have, for a variety of reasons (Origin and injury being the main ones) had a bit of a tough run and have seen their early season form slip away.

While not reaching the early season heights of the Broncos and Titans, the Eels, Tigers and possibly the Cowboys have all struggled recently and we are starting to see the dust settle after the early season party and the bulldozer came through. The top 8 as it stands looks like it could be set in stone for the end of the season. 

It's always a mess on the edge of the 8 and with the Broncos, Storm, Dragons, Tigers and Eels all on 20 points (Warriors are 6th with 22), it's gonna be a shambles this season. The interest for me lays with teams like the Dragons, who you may not think of as a team/cream on the rise but that's what they're doing. They, like the Warriors have won 4 of their last 5 games and are settling on a team that could take them further up the ladder. With Benji Marshall playing pretty darn nicely and with Gareth Widdop alongside him, it's hard to see a ceiling with the Dragons ... they've got a battler forward pack who have figured out that you need to use shoulders not just arms in tackles and they have class sprinkled across the field.

From that crop of teams fighting for scraps, I expect the Warriors, Storm and Dragons to make the 8. That would mean a pretty disappointing slip for the Broncos which would put Anthony Griffin on shaky ground. They don't seem to have any sort of killer instinct, they've talent in abundance but they look to be lacking that little bit extra. If Ben Barba somehow goes up a gear, he could be that guy.

It's hard for the best, creamiest cream to rise much further than it has so far. There is a crop of teams in the top 5 who thoroughly deserve to be thought of as the league's upper echelon - Manly, Penrith, Bulldogs, Roosters and the Rabbitohs. They're all a class above the rest, most of the time. The sneaky team who I didn't think would be able to last this long near the top of the table are obviously the Penrith Panthers, who for me epitomise the 2014 season along with Manly and the Bulldogs. I'm not writing off the Bunnies and the Roosters, but I just don't think this is their season and I reckon the Panthers, Dogs and Sea Eagles are definitely the 3 best teams in the NRL.

What sets those 3 teams apart from the others? It's their variety, their options and their ability to adapt to different styles each week. Manly and the Bulldogs don't play a similar style, but they have a similar mindset thanks to their coaches Des Hasler and Geoff Toovey. It's equal parts toughness as it is skill and flair. The Panthers on the other hand have an extremely solid roster and they don't have the big gap between their best and worst players, it's all very even and they have a group of guys who all understand what needs to be done in order to do well. A team of champions isn't as good as a champion team as they say and the Panthers are a collective group of guys who all know their strengths, weaknesses and limitations.

The 2014 season has and will continue to give us some varieties of cream. There's the cream that has risen to the top (Manly, Dogs, Panthers), there's the cream which has risen but can't quite find that extra bit of creaminess (Roosters, Rabbitohs) as well as the cream which has started to rise but who knows if it rises all the way to the top (Warriors, Storm, Dragons). 

That's the top 8, a whole lot of cream. It's hard to see anyone else making their way in to the 8 because it's hard to see any of those teams slipping up. Besides all the speculation, it's been a humdinger of a season so far so you bet it's gonna continue to provide us with some decent footy.