2021 NRL season: Round 6 preview A Set the default text size A Set large text size
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We are a fifth into the season and several things are still very clear: the Panthers are the team to catch, the Storm, Rabbitohs and Roosters are still contenders, while another long season could loom large for the Broncos, Cowboys and Bulldogs.
In fact, what threatens to be the biggest mismatch of the season will kick off Round 6 of the NRL, with the undefeated Panthers flying north to face the reigning wooden spooners, the Broncos, at Suncorp Stadium on Thursday night.
Storm centre
Brenko Lee could be called up for his first match of the year against the Roosters on Friday after having successfully returned from a hamstring injury via the Queensland Cup last week.
Manly have confirmed that star fullback
Tom Trbojevic has done enough team training to finally come back from his own hamstring issue in their match against the Titans on Saturday.
Rabbitohs prop Liam Knight was sidelined indefinitely with ongoing concussion symptoms since the pre-season Charity Shield but has been included in the extended squad to face Wests Tigers.
Episode 7 - Brad Fittler
Broncos v Panthers, Thursday 7.50pm at Suncorp Stadium
The Dragons have been the surprise packet of the opening five rounds, recovering from a Charity Shield belting and a first-up loss to the Sharks to put together four wins on the bounce but do they have what it takes to play finals footy.
The NRL can be split into tiers after five rounds: the power three , the middle and the bottom.
Some performances on the weekend were reflective of this difference in class. Depth is very important if you want to win a competition, so the sides who have injuries in key positions might struggle for a little while - and that could see more scorelines blow out.
1. Penrith Panthers (Last week: 1)
The Panthers have spent a long, long time at number one over the past two seasons. Just professional against the Raiders. They got punched in the face early, and some teams cower after that, but Penrith took the challenge head-on to score points and build pressure.
An old-fashioned bonding session organised by St George Illawarra coach Anthony Griffin after a frustrating training session is being credited by Dragons players with helping to spark their winning start to the season.
Griffin was unhappy with a pre-season session so he cut training short and told the players they would repeat the session the following day – but this time they would get it right.
And then, he said, they would enjoy a few beers together.
“There was a look of shock among the boys,” second-rower Josh Kerr said. “It was like, ‘wow. How good is that!’.
“It sounds crazy but we haven’t had that here before and honestly it is refreshing. It makes you want to play for the coach and play for each other.”