It was a much more enticing Round 4 as we saw three games enter golden point and four matches decided by two points or less after a number of blowouts in Round 3. Here are the five talking points from Round 4.
The Gold Coast Titans have really battled so far this season as they sit bottom on the ladder without a win in their first four matches. Despite having a strong forward pack and an enthusiastic backline, the Titans have lacked the quality to match their opponents. Their best performance was in a 28-20 defeat away to Souths last week but they couldn’t back that up as they faltered to the Warriors 26-10. Garth Brennan needs to get his side back on track soon or it could be another season down the drain.
The Cowboys got off to a solid start in Round 1 with a win over the Dragons but it’s all been downhill from there. Big man Jason Taumalolo copped an injury in a 19-point defeat to Brisbane and his absence has been missed as they have gone on to lose consecutive home matches by eyebrow-raising scorelines (16-42 vs Sharks & 12-30 vs Raiders). It’s still only Round 4 but the damage they’ve already taken to their points difference is pointing to early danger signs for Paul Green.
The Bulldogs were massive outsiders to overcome the Storm in Melbourne on Sunday however they came out firing and really took the game to the 2018 runners-up. Canterbury led 12-0 through tries to Kerrod Holland and Jayden Okunbor who was the best player for the Bulldogs, running for 290 metres and making three line breaks. Unfortunately for the Dogs, the Storm fought from behind for a gutsy 18-16 victory after Rhyse Martin couldn’t convert from the sideline. Dean Pay will take a lot of positives from this encounter and his young squad will take a lot of confidence from the result, especially the inexperienced spine.
The Manly Sea Eagles showed how important Tom Trbojevic is to their side when he returned from injury to star in a 46-12 rout of the Warriors. The fullback scored the opening try in his team’s match against the Rabbitohs however he succumbed to a hamstring problem in the opening minutes in the second half. Despite his absence, his teammates lifted and produced a 13-12 golden point victory. Trbojevic is set to miss six to nine weeks due to his injury which is a major blow for Manly and could also see him miss out on the first match of the Origin series.
We had our first golden point game of the season on Friday night when Penrith came from behind to take the game past the 80 minutes. A Nathan Cleary field goal landed the 9-8 victory for the Panthers however there was more drama to come over the weekend. Manly shocked the Rabbitohs with a solid performance pushing Souths to extra time on Saturday where Daly Cherry-Evans slotted the match-winning field goal for a 13-12 win. There was one more golden point thriller to come on Sunday. After a topsy-turvy encounter between Newcastle and St George Illawarra, it was Corey Norman who produced the killer blow for the second consecutive week, with the Dragons pivot landing the successful field goal after 88 minutes.