That’s the opinion of Dubbo Rhinos captain Brett Austin, despite just five rounds of the 15 round competition having been played so far.

“I think they’ve got it. We’ve played everyone else and they’re that good. They might not look that impressive but they control the game so well,” Austin said.

“They have those players with big game experience and they don’t panic, regardless of the situation.”

Narromine are unbeaten after five rounds, with Parkes the only team to get close to them on the scoreboard with an 18-10 loss. The Rhinos were defeated 43-10 by the Gorillas.

“The race is on for second. I can’t see anyone staying close to them. It’s our goal to finish in the top two and play on grand final day,” Austin said. 

While he doesn’t see anyone being able to run down Narromine for the top spot on the ladder, Austin doesn’t think the Gorillas have the premiership won yet.

The Dubbo team has aspirations of a major semi-final win.

“We want to have the chance of earning a home grand final. We want to host at Apex Park because we haven’t done that before,” Austin said.

“In Graincorp Cup we had the chance and choked but we want to take that this time.”