IT’S been another round of twists and turns, and sadly a few season-ending injuries.

This is the NRL … and there’s still one match to play to complete round four.

Here’s my verdict.

Cowboys v Panthers: Wow … the Cowboys have lost three in a row. And not that alarm bells are ringing, but it was an underwhelming performance, and surprising in front of home fans. I liked what I saw from Penrith, overcoming the absence of halfback Nathan Cleary in great style. Great game from James Maloney.

Round 20

Rabbitohs v Bulldogs: The Bulldogs could have won … probably should have won, but a hard lesson learnt as another match in 2018 gets decided in the final minutes.

Sharks v Storm: Leaving the penalty count aside this was a fighting win by the Sharks against a Melbourne side that was unexpectedly poor. Credit to Cronulla in winning against the defending premiers despite being without their two major off season signings, Matt Moylan and Josh Dugan.

Roosters v Warriors: What a performance from the unbeaten Warriors. It would be rare that Warriors fans have watched a big match involving their team that they felt so comfortable that they would complete the job.

Sea Eagles v Raiders: Just call this the Tom Trbojevic show. What a masterclass this was from the young Manly fullback. Ricky Stuart had reason to blast his side after the game. The Raiders have real problems.

Dragons v Knights: And so the show rolls on for the Dragons. A classy and dominant win, denying the Knights even a sniff of a comeback in the second half. I know St George Illawarra started 2017 well, but they look even better this season.

Broncos v Titans: Yet another result to tip tipsters over the edge! The oldest game plan in rugby league; run hard and tackle hard, worked a treat for the Titans. Superb bounce back from a 46-point beating a week earlier. As for the Broncos, Wayne Bennett would have felt sick at times watching this.

And still to come ...

Tigers v Eels : There is plenty of pressure on the Eels to perform in this one, and with the likelihood of a big crowd, it might just be the perfect stage to fire their first shot of 2018. I’m not expecting too many points separating these two at the end of 80 minutes. We might even need to go into extra time to determine a winner.

LIKES

Tohu Harris and Blake Green: At the moment, I’ve got these two almost neck and neck for buys of the year in the NRL. Neither are captain of the Warriors but both are playing superb leadership roles.

The Warriors: As a matter of fact, put their entire 17 in the ‘likes’ column this week. It has been a long, long time since I have seen a more authoritative performance from a Warriors team. With the exception of the first few minutes, they produced outstanding and consistent football. The Roosters had very little opportunity to fight back.

The Dragons: Like the Warriors, the Dragons have opened the year with four straight wins for the first time in their history. Quality effort. The Dragons are ticking plenty of boxes.

Phillip Sami: What a night for this young winger snaring a hat-trick at Suncorp Stadium against the Broncos. He also produced a superb kick for the other Titans winger Anthony Don to score. The kid’s got talent!

Tom Trbojevic: So relieved to hear his ankle injury isn’t too serious after the win over Canberra. I scored him a 10 out of 10 for a superb performance.

DISLIKES

Criticism of the penalty crackdown: We must be a game of hypocrites. The referees are attempting to clean up years of neglect and need the help of the coaches and players. In all the hullabaloo after Friday night at Cronulla, did anyone notice that nearly every play the ball in the match, the attacker got their foot to the ball? It can be done. Now to standing off-side on your goal line. If fans are happy for refs to turn a blind eye to players off-side by half a metre, there still has to be a point where a player is penalised. Would you rather refs penalise players for not getting back to the imaginary line or the real line?

Sam Burgess charge: I am staggered that Burgess was charged for his ball carry that saw Canterbury’s Josh Morris go down injured on Friday afternoon. Now with loading he misses a game. That’s not right.

Injuries: Sadly they are unavoidable in this tough brutal sport that is rugby league. To the likes of Manly’s Curtis Sironen who have suffered season-ending injuries in round four, all rugby league fans wish them well.

The Cowboys: I put the Cowboys in this section of last week’s column after their loss to Melbourne with the quote, “Look for them to come out firing on Thursday night in Townsville against Penrith.” Sadly for their army of fans, I didn’t see a great deal of fire at all. As good as their opponents were, the Cowboys were a big disappointment.

Melbourne and Brisbane: I’ll throw them both in here. As sloppy as I have seen these two sides play in recent years.

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We have another big episode of THE FAN coming up at 7.30 on Tuesday night on Fox League.

We’ll have a feature on Craig Bellamy as he prepares for his 400th game as an NRL coach.

We also have the launch of our new segment, the Rugby League Antiques Roadshow.

Twitter: @AndrewVossy