For a weekend of footy that didn’t contain any close games, the product on display was pretty much as good as it gets. A 2-out-of-3 Burgii Souths upset Easts in their local derby on Thursday night, comprehensively outgunning their more fancied opponents. Melbourne showed what they can be capable of if they put their minds to it, smothering Newcastle. The Dragons continue an unbeaten run taking down the Sharks for the second time in 2018. Brisbane went to New Zealand and beat the Warriors, showing some signs that last year’s team isn’t yet dead and buried. North Queensland are in real trouble with an incredibly poor outing against a barely competent Canterbury outfit. Penrith went behind early, only to steam roll the Gold Coast at home and Manly were never in the contest against Wests, taking their first L of the season at their council park.

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The Commonwealth Games has thankfully directed a lot of local attention away just from how woefully Queensland’s two main teams are travelling right now. The Gold Coast Titans, otherwise known as the Milhouse of Queensland NRL clubs, has stepped through the gap and is winding up to take a very long sprint to finish as the top team in the state for the first time since 2010. The Raiders finally registered a win, as we knew they would eventually, leaving the Eels languishing in last on 0-5. Wests toppled Melbourne with a Benji field goal, Sydney crushed Cronulla and it was a little surprising to see how hard St George Illawarra had to work to put away Souths.

For your info, I’ve started including the jury’s percentage from the round tips against each winner, just to give a bit of feel for how we saw the likelihood of that event coming to pass.

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Funny game, rugby league. It’s a funny, funny game.

I will say that what’s not funny is the Titans beating the Broncos at Suncorp for the first time in eleven years. I mean, it’s probably funny to people who hate Brisbane but to them I say: sitting in the stands, surrounded by kids and being unable to unleash a torrent of swearing is the height of tedium. I did teach a small girl to boo though, so there’s that. At least there was somewhere open to get a beer afterwards this year.

I’m keen to see how long the Warriors and Tigers can keep their streak going. I know the Tigers have lost but going 3-2 (or even 4-1!) after the first five rounds they’ve had is unexpected to say the least. The Dragons look like the real deal this year, mostly because it doesn’t hinge on one half but both Hunt and Widdop tearing the place apart.

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Two fairy tales ended over the weekend. The Tigers’ fell away in fairly controversial circumstances with a golden point penalty awarded against them, ending their chances of going 3-0 in an extremely tough start to the season. The Knights were more cleanly dispatched by the Roosters. The latter are now a worry with their big dollar acquisitions appearing to have gelled. The Storm’s, Roosters’ and Broncos’ seasons appear to be underway. We’re still waiting on the Cowboys to get going and then it will be on to see who can chase down the Dragons.

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The NRL machine continues to chug along, churning out mysterious results that don’t align at all with the previous week. That is, unless you are Canterbury or Souths, in which case, you’ve made your bed and 2018 will see you lie in it. The Tigers are proving that not only do coaches matter but on-paper team strength doesn’t count for a lot when you can dominate possession. I never thought I’d ever have Luke Brooks photo on this website but the dude deserves it. Finally, Parramatta lost by more than fifty, which is just so good, and the Raiders endured another close loss, which is not.

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We’re finally off and racing in 2018. Every NRL fan has finally seen their team take the field in anger for the first time. For most, it wasn’t a pretty sight with a lot of polish still to be put on their respective games. That said, there were flashes of what is to come from the contenders and it remains to be seen who was lucky and who will be in the running come September.

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