The Easter weekend’s footy delivered multiple stirring upsets, sizeable comebacks, stunning performances from undermanned heavyweights – and a smattering of refereeing controversy.
Check out the highs and lows from NRL Round 4.
Mad March
The first month of the 2024 premiership concluded with the most unpredictable round to date.
Four head-to-head underdogs – Penrith, Brisbane, St George Illawarra and Wests Tigers – carved out highly impressive wins, and Canterbury and Newcastle covered as losing outsiders.
Just one team, Des Hasler’s embattled Gold Coast, remains winless, while North Queensland’s defeat means there’s no unbeaten teams after four rounds for the first time since 2016.
A six-club tie for top spot is remarkably headed on for-and-against by the Dolphins, despite losing one of their three games so far by 25 points.
Seven sides head into Round 5 with a 2-2 record – including Canberra, who let an 18-point lead slip at Cronulla, and fellow back-to-back loser Parramatta – while Souths are in second-last despite getting off the mark on Good Friday.
Big guns unleash back-up artillery
Penrith and Brisbane laid down their respective credentials for a repeat grand final showdown in October with stirring wins minus a spine superstar, a marquee front-rower and a starting second-rower apiece.
The Panthers have repeatedly proven their ability to win without Nathan Cleary, making it 17 victories from their last 21 games with the No.7 maestro unavailable courtesy of a gutsy 22-16 result that flattered Sydney Roosters.
Brad Schneider fulfilled the role so ably performed by Sean O’Sullivan and Jack Cogger in recent seasons, while Jarome Luai stepped into the senior playmaker role superbly after a quiet start to the year.
A pack missing James Fisher-Harris and Scott Sorenson dominated their vaunted opposites as a suffocating defensive display and a Dylan Edwards masterclass secured an upset over a disappointing Roosters.
North Queensland Cowboys may have conjured two of the best tries of 2024 and the finest cover tackle in decades, but otherwise Friday’s derby belonged to a Broncos outfit that barely missed a beat with Reece Walsh, Payne Haas and Brendan Piakura on the sidelines.
Adam Reynolds and Patrick Carrigan led the way for the Broncos, who were slight underdogs, in a 38-12 beatdown. Meanwhile, Tristan Sailor underlined his status as a fullback fill-in the envy of pretty much every club except the Warriors.
The Panthers remain hot favourites for a four-peat at $3.50 with the Broncos on the second line of premiership betting at $5.00. The heavyweight rivals are $2.00 and $2.50, respectively, to again feature in the grand final.
Bunker flunking basic tests
It hasn’t been a great start to the season for the maligned NRL Bunker, but the video officials well and truly put themselves in the spotlight with some dreadful decisions that defied commonsense and a general feel for the game.
Two obstruction calls, in particular, raised the heckles of the average rugby league punter.
Dylan Edwards ran into Jared Waerea-Hargreaves about 30 metres off the ball, yet it was enough to deny a crucial Roosters try scored by Joey Manu. In one of the all-time great milked calls, Haumole Olakau’atu used lead runner Luciano Leilua to get a four-pointer taken off Moses Suli.
Graham Annesley confirmed the Edwards decision was a blunder within 24 hours.
Then on Sunday – despite the Bunker supposedly going through every try with a fine-tooth comb – tries to Danny Levi and Kayal Iro that have overwhelmingly been ruled as knock-ons were allowed to sneak through onto the scoreboard.
RTS superb – but CNK the fullback of Warriors’ premiership dreams
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck provided a glorious stroll down memory lane for a packed house at Mt Smart Stadium in the Warriors’ grinding 20-12 win over Newcastle, making his first NRL start at fullback and racking up 283 running metres and seven tackle-breaks.
There was also a miraculous try-saving play as another late collapse threatened, slapping the ball down when the Knights had a three-on-one after a long break.
But despite the No.1 nostalgia trip from the 2018 Dally M Medal winner, Warriors coach Andrew Webster will be more convinced than ever that restoring the injured Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad to the custodian role when he’s fit is the right call.
While the ex-Raiders grand final fullback is a less dynamic ball-runner, he’s a proven yardage machine – averaging 188 metres a game in 2024 – as well as being one of the safest last-liners in the game. But it’s his unlikely role as a ball-player where CNK is currently being missed most.
The 2-2 Warriors’ attack has been unmistakably clunky over the first four rounds, particularly the right edge that was so potent throughout 2023. Nicoll-Klokstad’s contribution in holding the offensive shape that helped deliver Dallin Watene-Zelezniak a club-record 24 tries last year can’t be understated.
In a pattern that emerged in the loss to Cronulla and the win over Canberra, the Warriors should have put the Knights away much earlier – but they are struggling to execute inside the opposition 20-metre zone as matches wear on.
Nicoll-Klokstad is the missing piece in what remains a compelling Warriors premiership puzzle; despite the early-season rust, they have surged to the fifth line of title betting to $13.
Meanwhile, the luckless Luke Metcalf’s likely lengthy stint on the sidelines may be the key to unlocking RTS’s potential at centre with the silkier playmaking skills of Chanel Harris-Tavita or Te Maire Martin inside him.
Halves odd couple lead Tiger revival
Wests Tigers’ gallant 17-16 upset of Parramatta on Monday afternoon provides the club with the opportunity to chalk up three consecutive wins for the first time since April 2018 when they head to Brisbane to take on the ladder-leading Dolphins on Saturday.
On the ropes after falling behind 14-6 and with rookie five-eighth Lachie Galvin in the sin-bin during the second half, the Tigers dug deep to find two sensational tries and then a late field goal after a penalty had allowed the Eels to level up with five minutes to go.
There was a fulltime scare as the Tigers’ horrific after-the-siren loss to the Cowboys in 2022 threatened to repeat, but Clint Gutherson’s long-range penalty attempt was off-target – confirming a momentous result for the long-suffering joint venture.
It’s far too early to declare Benji Marshall the Tigers’ messiah, but there are signs of something special brewing at the club.
Api Koroisau has been instrumental, flourishing in his role as the team’s leader as well as a blue-chip dummy-half, and Justin Olam’s return of three tries in two games has placed him in the early ‘buy of the year’ conversation.
But the heroes at CommBank were the unheralded halves combination of 18-year-old Galvin and 32-year-old Aidan Sezer.
Sezer, who spent the past four seasons in Super League, bust Monday’s nail-biter wide open by setting up Olam’s second try with an old-fashioned wraparound play before stepping up to land the winning one-pointer.
Galvin, who laid on Olam’s first, brushed off his stint in the bin to produce a sizzling break and offload for Jahream Bula to finish off a 50-metre go-ahead special.
But the new runaway favourite for Dally M Rookie of the Year honours will sit out the Dolphins clash suspended, leaving Sezer to steer the ship alongside Jayden Sullivan – the No.7 in Round 1 who sat as an unused interchange against the Eels.
The Tigers have shortened to $4.25 to end a 13-year finals drought. They are now out to $8 to collect a third straight wooden spoon with the hapless Titans ($2.25), Bulldogs ($4.50) and Dragons ($6) moving ahead of Benji’s brigade in the most losses market.