The Panthers have made the radical selection call to rest 16 players from their regular NRL side, sparking a debate about the permutations that may follow.
Do clubs have the responsibility to protect the interest of fans, sponsors and broadcasters by fielding the most competitive 17 possible? Or, do their loyalties strictly lie with the processes that maximise team performance?
The jury is still out on whether or not resting your key players has a tangible effect in September, however, what can't be argued is that the spectacle is severely diminished.
In 2015, the AFL ran into this exact issue, when Fremantle and North Melbourne elected to rest the majority of their starters before the finals series.
This prompted an immediate response from the league who implemented the current format of a competition-wide week off before the first round of finals.
Many fans have levelled criticisms at this model because it disrupts the momentum of the season just as things are beginning to heat up.
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What's the issue with Penrith resting 16 players before finals?
There is no rule preventing NRL clubs from resting their star players in a given week.
However, when you're asking fans to front up their hard-earned money to attend a first-grade game, there's a certain expectation that they are going to watch the best players in the world.
Of course, factors like injury and representative selection will prevent teams from always achieving that outcome. But when everybody is available, shouldn't the fan experience be taken into account?
That's not even to speak of the broadcasters, who make up the largest share of the NRL's total revenue.
Nine Entertainment invests $115 million annually to broadcast games such as the Panthers Thursday night clash against the Bulldogs.
Whilst it's hard to predict what this selection news will do to the ratings for Round 26, it would be safe to assume that if more teams adopted this approach, television viewership and streaming numbers would plummet.
If the Panthers go on to win the grand final, there is no doubt other sides will remember this week and will have their own resting strategy ready to go for 2026.
The league must decide whether that's a scenario that they're comfortable with playing out, or whether changes need to be made to the structure of the competition.