With State of Origin done and dusted for another year, we can now focus on the last nine weeks of the 2008 NRL regular season. There's still a lot of league to be played, and still plenty of teams that can make the top eight.

But for us, the most important thing is that Warriors are still in the hunt. Only just, though, and their run to the finals is not going to be easy - five of their last nine are against top eight sides.

They will need to win six or seven of their nine if they are to stand any real chance of playing in this years final series, and the way they've been playing lately it's hard to see it happening.

What they do have in their favour is five home games, which they'll need to win - although the Storm, Broncos and Sharks make up three of them, and they will be tough to beat, even at home.

Their other opponents are the Cowboys (h), Bulldogs (a), Rabbitohs (a), Dragons (a), Panthers (h) and the Eels (a).

Really, it's this weekend that will show us if we can make the top eight, with the Cowboys coming to town. The Cowboys have been by far the worst team this year, and currently sit dead last on the ladder. If the Warriors can't manage to pick up a win against them, then we can forget about making the eight this year.

It really is do or die from here on out...

It will be great to have Steve Price and Brent Tate back from Origin duty, and hopefully they can bring some of the success they had with Queensland back to the Warriors.

The top eight isn't out of the question. In fact, we're only sitting three points behind the Panthers, who are in eighth place. But the boys will have to start playing consistent footy if they want to be there come September.

The other team to watch in the buildup to the finals is the resurgent Rabbitohs (yes, we said 'watch the bunnies'), who last night beat the Bulldogs 34-30 in extra time. After struggling all year, they are finally playing to their potential - and it's been since beating the Warriors (sigh...) in round thirteen. They have now put together four wins in a row and, just like the Warriors, the top eight isn't out of the question - although they'll need a bit of luck to go their way.

So sit back and prepare yourselves for the run home, sports fans - it certainly promises to be an entertaining finish to what has already been a great year of league.