All 16 team lists are in for Round 4, with an intriguing weekend ahead on the back of an upset-ridden start to the 2023 NRL season.
From the Wests Tigers' call to reshuffle, a number of players to play their first game of the season, and the Knights making a big call on Dominic Young, here are all the talking points ahead of the weekend.
RELATED: Round 4 teams confirmed
Tigers elect to reshuffle, but will it actually help?
The Wests Tigers have elected for a big reshuffle as they attempt to spark their spluttering season to life in Round 4 against the Melbourne Storm on Friday evening.
There is no doubt the Tigers would have been hoping for more. After a heavy off-season recruitment drive in the forwards, things have hit the ground crawling, with three back-to-back losses.
That makes the change of positions for this week's clash seem more or less like shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic, but still, veteran coach Tim Sheens and his assistant crew led by Benji Marshall - who is two years away from taking the lead chair - had to try something.
And so they did.
Adam Doueihi will go to fullback, Brandon Wakeham comes into the halves, and David Nofoaluma has been dropped, while Daine Laurie will return via the bench with Charlie Staines - who moved from the Penrith Panthers during the off-season - to retain his spot on the wing.
But will it do anything?
With all due respect to Wakeham, he is not the man to turn around a bottom of the table club, while Doueihi's best position is five-eighth without a single shadow of a doubt.
It could be an ugly evening for the men from Concord.
Big names return for first game of season
Nicho Hynes, Josh Papalii and Ryan Matterson all return for their respective first games of the season, with the former two missing the opening rounds injured, and Matterson unable to play due to a suspension, which he took over a fine out of an incident which came during last year's grand final.
You have to think he might have taken the fine if it was the grand final, rather than the opening three rounds of the next campaign, on the line.
That has all taken something of a backseat now, with Matterson slotted straight into the Eels' back-row for this week's grand final re-match against the Penrith Panthers.
The Panthers come into the game off a bye, and the Eels are yet to record a competition point, so this is a huge clash for the blue and gold, and one which Matterson, who was among the club's most important players in 2022, will need to make something of an immediate impact on.
The Eels have had a woefully tough start to the season fixture-wise, but must find a win in the next two weeks before things get easier - going zero and five could almost be curtains on their chances of making the finals, let alone the top four.
Papalii will be another who needs to make an impact on the Raiders, who have only won a single game out of their first three, and have looked short of depth in the middle third.
Like the Raiders, the Sharks have only won one from three, but maybe that's not an overly large surprise given Hynes was as good as a one-man team for the men from the Shire last season.
Both the Raiders and Sharks have winable games this week against the Newcastle Knights and St George Illawarra Dragons respectively.
O'Brien makes mega Dominic Young call
The Newcastle Knights are another club battling in a big way to start the season, and while they managed a win over the Wests Tigers in Round 2, coach Adam O'Brien has apparently seen enough, dropping Dominic Young out of the 22.
There could well be another factor at play here - that being Young's possible release to the Sydney Roosters after he signed with the club from the start of next year. That said, even his destination for 2024 is yet to be made official.
But if he is going to the Roosters, and the Knights have agreed to release him, then his dropping from the 22 in the Hunter would make sense.
That doesn't seem to be the case though, with Young's defence seen as somewhat susceptible to start the year, although his 140 metres per game is hardly anything to sneeze at in attack.
Greg Marzhew, who was widely tipped to start the year for the Knights instead of Hymel Hunt on the other wing after an off-season move from the Gold Coast Titans, comes into the side, but his own problem is defence, so it's hard to see this being anything other than a like-for-like replacement.
If Young isn't going anywhere, then this is an odd one.
Cameron Munster's early return a surprise, but Storm desperate
Cameron Munster is maybe the biggest shock in any of this week's teamlists despite some of the other decisions which have been made across the 16 clubs in action.
The star five-eighth was expected to be at least another week away as he recovered from a finger injury sustained in the season-opener against the Parramatta Eels.
Despite the gruesome nature of it, he has been named, with Jahrome Hughes also named despite the fact he needs to be cleared by the NRL judiciary on Tuesday evening.
Jonah Pezet is on standby for both players, but given Craig Bellamy isn't one to rush his players back from injury, the fact Munster has been named means alarm bells are ringing in Victoria.
That comes after consecutive losses to the Canterbury Bulldogs and Gold Coast Titans - two teams the men in purple would have been expected to beat handsomely.
Cowboys continue to refuse wholesale forward changes despite Cotter's absence
The North Queensland Cowboys have been another side who have struggled to get off the start line this season. Despite the incredible campaign they put together last year, they have just one win from the opening three rounds.
Todd Payten could toy with changes in the forward pack - and frankly, might need too - but for now, he has resisted the urge.
And that comes even with Reuben Cotter to sit out on the back of a knee injury.
James Tamou comes in for him in what is another step backwards on the speed and agility front. The likes of Riley Price and Taniela Sadrugu - granted, both back-rowers - are snapping at the heels to play NRL, and Payten may be forced to bite the bullet on changes sooner rather than later.
Concussion carnage
It's going to be a running trend of the season now the NRL's new concussion rules are in force, but an 11-day lay-off being made mandatory for every player is already creating carnage.
Jack Murchie and Hame Sele are the first two players to be sidelined under the rules, but even at two players per week, it means upwards of 50 players could experience a mandatory 11-day break this year.
The rules are a fantastic upgrade to a policy that was lagging behind from the NRL, but it's going to be intriguing to see if they remain steadfast around the time of Origin and finals.
