As we approach September, the laundry list of injuries at each club is leaving pundits scratching their heads in search of a cause for the problem.
Broncos legend Corey Parker has weighed in, suggesting that the length of the competition is leading to an uptick in injuries.
"This weekend, there are close to 70 players unavailable," he said on SENQ Breakfast.
"If you look at it, there are soft tissue injuries. Lots of shoulders, knees and other contact injuries that you can’t really help.
"In my opinion, the season is too long. We have 27 rounds and we started in [February] with a four-week competition that’s televised.
"Three Origins plus international tests and the Pacific Championships. It’s far too long and it could be contributing [to the rise in injuries].
"I think we could shorten it up.”
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Does the 27-round NRL format cause more injuries?
In short, to the extent that longer seasons result in a greater volume of injuries, there is evidence to support that idea.
However, it's to be expected that playing more games creates a greater window of opportunity for athletes to potentially get hurt.
Where the argument falls short is the supposition that longer seasons cause more injuries.
As reported by the NRL Physio, since 2019, every subsequent season that wasn't affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, averaged 12-13.3 injuries per week.
Given that the NRL only implemented the 27-round regular season back in 2023, there isn't enough of a sample to derive any meaningful takeaway from the data.
As for the injury crisis in 2025, leading into Thursday night's clash between the Rabbitohs and Dragons, the major talking point has been that $12 million worth of playing talent from both sides will be sidelined.
However, given that it's only Round 25 - which is the same amount of rounds the competition had total before the format change - there is no way of definitively saying that the length of the season has had any impact on injury averages at all.
As years go by and the next broadcast deal assuredly demands more games be played in a given season, there will be a richer tapestry of evidence to either support or reject the claim that many are making about the cause and effect between longer seasons and more injuries.