A four-game slate on Saturday in the second week of pre-season injury has thrown up plenty of questions, and some answers, for the eight coaches involved.
While some teams will be concerned about their standing ahead of the campaign, others will be thrilled with young talent on display as the Manly Sea Eagles, Wests Tigers, Canterbury Bulldogs and South Sydney Rabbitohs all claimed victories over the New Zealand Warriors, Sydney Roosters, Newcastle Knights and St George Illawarra Dragons respectively.
Here are all the big talking points out of the four games.
O'Sullivan for Vegas... And beyond?
The big discussion point to come out of Saturday's games was in the Hunter, with Matt Burton suffering a hamstring injury.
The star five-eighth left the field before halftime, didn't return and will sweat on scans to rule out a serious injury. Early indications are that it will be either Grade 1 or 2, and he will miss somewhere between two and six weeks.
Either way, the chance of him opening the season in Las Vegas are remote to nil. That the Bulldogs then have a week off, and the bye in Round 2, could see him fit for their second game.
Sean O'Sullivan, who joined the club from the Bulldogs during the off-season, was impressive for Canterbury on Saturday in Newcastle and could now well find himself wearing number seven for the season opener with Mitchell Woods injured.
There have been major questions around exactly how Lachlan Galvin and Burton line up come Round 1, and while they beat Newcastle comfortably on Saturday, there could be an argument that either Galvin or Burton need to shift out of the halves to have more of an organiser in the spine.
It'll be intriguing to see exactly how Ciraldo slots Burton back into the side, particularly if the Bulldogs are comfortable against the Dragons on the other side of the world.
