GET READY FOR ROUND 4 - All You Need to Know Before Kick-off

As always, there’s a lot to cover in the world of NRL at the moment. The BettingTop10 team have you sorted for Round 4, with all the information you need to know before the first game on Thursday. This round we see Daly Cherry-Evans play against the Manly Sea Eagles for the first time, plus the Brisbane Broncos assistant coach has abruptly quit.

The New Zealand Warriors have been playing very well so far this season and have currently locked in the top spot on the ladder, the Penrith Panthers (one of the clear Premiership contenders, according to NRL betting odds) also have three wins, and the Canterbury Bulldogs have two wins (but also sit on six points thanks to their bye in Round 2).

A loss to the Broncos has seen the Storm drop to fourth on the ladder. That Broncos win was impressive - the first time in 10 years they managed to beat the Storm in Melbourne, but they have bigger fish to fry right now.

Reports are coming out of the Broncos camp that assistant coach Ben Te’o has quit the club. This came after a verbal confrontation with head coach Michael Maguire, with the pair arguing over defensive tactics.

Broncos boss Troy Thomson was brought in to hold crisis talks, but couldn’t resolve the issue. Reports state that Te’o informed the club on Tuesday that he no longer wants to work with the Broncos.

It’s been a difficult week off the field for the Broncos with this drama coming days after Broncos bosses removed Gorden Tallis’ name from a conference room headquarters. This was following Tallis’ criticism of Maguire and the injured Adam Reynolds.

The Dolphins are sneaking up the ladder, and I think they can fight for a top-four spot soon. They have back-to-back wins over the Gold Coast Titans and Cronulla Sharks, and it looks like Kurt Donoghoe is close to returning for the team as well.

Much like the Newcastle Knights, the Wests Tigers have suffered a few key injuries. The likes of both Jarome Luai and Adam Doueihi went down in their Round 3 clash against the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

The Tigers have reported that Luai will miss four weeks of action due to a medial ligament injury. In better news, Doueihi has been cleared of serious injury and could play in their Round 4 game against the Warriors on Friday.

With Luai out for four weeks, can the Tigers maintain their spot in the top eight? Luai is clearly one of their key players, so we will be watching closely to see how they fare. I think it’s unlikely, and they’ll slip down to the fringes of the top eight.

The Eels’ climb continues after being thumped by the Storm in Round 1. They have now won back-to-back games and sit in ninth spot on the ladder. However, they’ll have to do it without J’maine Hopgood, who had only just returned from suspension, only to suffer a season-ending injury.

Ah, the Titans, what are we going to do with you? The Gold Coast team and the St. George Illawarra Dragons are now the only two teams that are yet to chalk up their first win of the season (but the Titans have a worse points differential). 

Funnily enough, the Titans and Dragons play each other this round. It’s still very early in the season, but a loss here would certainly mount even more pressure on both the coach and players. 

The Knights may be sitting in the top eight at the moment, but I’m putting them on wooden spoon watch. They lost 12-38 to the Warriors last time out in Newcastle, without their two superstars, Kalyn Ponga and Dylan Brown. 

I believe they will continue to slide down the ladder as both Ponga and Brown will spend weeks on the sidelines. By the time those two stars come back, where will the Knights be? Will they be able to recover and get back into a finals position? Only time will tell.