If the National Rugby League ever wants to engineer the most intriguing season in memory, here's an idea: rub out the best team.

When the Melbourne Storm were stripped of all points, past and future, for season 2010, there were fears that their absence would devalue the competition, even make a mockery of it.

While it's true that the eventual premier will have an asterisk beside its name - along with the asterisks over the no-premier years of 2007 and 2009 - everyone but the Stormers has to admit that what we have here is a cracker.

Five weeks out, we have a league leader, the Dragons, who look less threatening with the ball than any other team, including Cronulla. The Panthers and Tigers blow as hot and cold as last Sunday in Melbourne. The Roosters are the Tony Abbott of the competition. If a grand final were held today, they'd win it by 30 points over any opponent. But they are a month older than a team that never looked like making the finals, and could just as easily be a day from implosion. The Titans - few really believe in the Titans, no matter how entertainingly they play. Manly were premiership favourites last week, duds this week. The Warriors, Brisbane, Parramatta and Souths are all teams who can beat any other on their day. Problem is, they're also teams that can lose to any other.

So hooray for no Storm. If Melbourne were still eligible, we'd be having a pulsating race for second place and another dreary march to a purple September. But even the Storm's season has a silver lining. The way they are playing, they will be entitled to premiership favouritism in 2011 with their new stripped-back line-up. If their pointless season has proved one thing, it's that their cheating was not only morally wrong, it was unnecessary. They might have stayed within the salary cap and still won premierships. But a bit like the once-great Australian cricket team with sledging, being the best doesn't stop you from crossing the line to get an edge.

So who will win? In the parlance of our bookmaking friends, it's 8/1 the field. The season reminds me of 2005, when the Tigers never looked like a premier team until the end of August when they went on a five-match blitz. The Dragons, that year too, went out in front like a lead-off man in the Tour de France, timing their run to peak a short distance before the end so that the faster finishers could come over the top of them.

That's what the Dragons did last year, too, when the Storm and Eels swamped them.

The Dragons might have learnt when to peak. Or they might be the Dragons.

The winner, to state the bleeding obvious, will be the team that can time its closing burst. A season is so gruelling now, so long, that it's almost impossible for a team to stay up for more than six weeks. That's why, as much as I find to like in the Roosters - a Brian Smith fairytale would be priceless - I have my doubts about them sustaining their run. They've been on it for a month, and would have to sustain it for another two. What's been so refreshing about them is that they're the one team that's not trying to fine-tune its form for September. They're going out early and daring the others to chase them down.

Every team has something going for it and something missing. St George Illawarra and Manly have method but no madness. The Tigers and Rabbitohs, vice versa. Penrith, the Warriors, Brisbane and the Gold Coast look like teams that can win one semi-final, not three or four. Parramatta's performance last week was a repeat of the one they put in against the Dragons in the final round last year, just before their run to the grand final.

Honestly, Paul the Octopus could put each of his tentacles onto one of the top NRL teams and still not pick the winner. You'd almost go out and put money on Canterbury.

What a beautiful thing this salary cap is.