NRL season 2013: Round 4

Manly Sea Eagles v Wests Tigers at Bluetongue Stadium
I have to admit, I did turn this game off at 50th minute mark and rejoined later on. The first half of footy was some of the most inept I've seen all year. Manly didn't complete a set for what felt like an eternity, and the Tigers attack just couldn't do anything to cross the stripe. Where the Sea Eagles improved their game, the Tigers did the complete opposite, and Mick Potter seemed to have a brain explosion when he took Robbie Farah off for a break. Manly scored two tries when he was off, and it set the tone for the rest of the match as the Tigers were held scoreless.
Manly 26 Tigers 0

Canterbury Bulldogs v South Sydney Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium
What. A. Crowd.
A record breaking 51,686 people went through the turnstiles at the former Olympic stadium to see two potential top four teams battle it out. The Bulldogs, into their third tough ask of the season already, started the game well and crossed for the first points of the game. The loss of Michael Ennis to concussion proved a major turning point in the game, as the Rabbitohs scored while he was still on the turf. The Rabbitohs didn't look back, and managed to open up a 16-6 lead as the game moved into its final 10 minutes. A field goal a minute before fulltime to Adam Reynolds rubbed some extra salt into the wounds, before the returning Ben Barba scored a try at the other end of the field in the final few seconds.
The Bulldogs could feel hard done by as they played most of the game with 16 men (like Souths in last year's preliminary final), but should be encouraged by the fact they are still playing without their best forward pack.  The Rabbitohs did make it four from four, but would be a little concerned with how difficult it was for them to score points before Ennis went off.
Souths 17 Bulldogs 12

Brisbane Broncos v Melbourne Storm at Suncorp Stadium 
It was a game that started and ended how everyone expected, but with a pinch a giant twist in the middle.
It was as if it was scripted.
The Melbourne Storm were gunning for four straight while the Broncos are already staring down the barrel of a very long season. That is exactly how it started. Three early tries saw the Storm take a 14-0 lead after just as many minutes. They dictated everything about the game, making metres and scoring tries at will. Broncos winger Josh Hoffman stemmed the flow with a try in the 30th minutes before Matt Duffie seemingly put it out of reach for a 20-6 half time score.
The Broncos surprised even the most loyal of their fans with a second half fight back,scoring three tries in the first 13 minutes of the stanza to take a 22-20 lead. The arm wrestle continued, with the Storm regaining the ascendency with two more tries. A late try to Alex Glenn set up a grandstand final five minutes, but the Storm managed to hold on.
The Storm were clinical in just about everything they did, and they are doing enough to keep winning, even with the mid-match fades. The Broncos may be concerned by their "close but no cigar" season so far, losing three of their four games by eight points or less.
Storm 32 Broncos 26

Cronulla Sharks v St George Illawarra at Sharks Stadium
A game of opposites. The Sharks have become one of the better teams in the competition over the last two seasons while the Dragons have struggled in the years since Wayne Bennett and have started this season 0-3. What happened before they went onto the field at Sharks Stadium is anyone's guess, but whatever Dragons coach Steve Price said to his troops certainly fired them up. Nathan Fien and Jamie Soward opened up a 12-0 lead for the Red V after just 18 minutes. The Sharks battled back throughout the remainder of the half before Jeff Robson crossed in the 37th minute. Michael Gordon's conversion reduced the lead to six, with the score remaining 12-6 to the Dragons at the break. Two miraculous tries to Jason Nightingale cancelled out Andrew Fifita's effort, before a 73rd minute field goal to Soward capped off a great night for the Dragons faithful.
The Dragons first win came at a price with promising young gun Cameron King unable to finish the match. They will take a hefty confidence boost into their next fixture, while the Sharks future remains a little uncertain. Cronulla line up against Parramatta next week in a match they could be expected to win, but their performance depend quite heavily on their mental mindset.
Dragons 25 Sharks 12.
Penrith Panthers v Gold Coast Titans at Centrebet Stadium
The Titans keeps rolling on as they put a forgettable 2012 campaign behind them to remain in the top four.
Coming into the game off the back of two consecutive wins, the Titans faced a Penrith team that is as capable of producing anything as it is nothing. Most of the game tended to be quite even, with the Panthers making more metres over the 80 minutes. The difference, as is usually the case, proved to be who could convert territory and possession to points and who couldn't.
On this occasion it was the Titans who shone through, who held a 12-0 lead at the break thanks to tries to Greg Bird and David Mead. An attempted comeback from the Panthers was on the cards, and by the 65th minute they had cut the Titans lead to 18-10. A Kevin Gordon double in the final five minutes gift-wrapped the two points for the Gold Coast, while the Panthers remain in the bottom half of that table with just one win.
Titans 28 Panthers 10
Newcastle Knights v Canberra Raiders at Hunter Stadium
Any good coach, player, fan and commentator would tell you the key to a team's success could be to turn your home ground into a fortress. That is exactly what Newcastle have done this season, and came into this game with a pointscoring record of 76-16 after their first two home games. The Raiders were coming off a first up win over the Dragons.
Despite a hefty challenge from the green machine, the Knights were able to continue their winning run at home in 2013. The teams traded first half tries, with the Raiders taking a 12-10 lead into the break. The second half would would belong to Newcastle, with unheralded workhorse Adam Cuthbertson grabbing a double to seasl victory.
Knights 28 Raiders 12
New Zealand Warriors v North Queensland Cowboys at Mt Smart Stadium
The Cowboys have been named by many as being premiership contenders while the New Zealand Warriors are coming off a forgettable season and a horrid 0-3 start to the year.
When the Cowboys scored two early tries to take a 12-0 lead, most Warriors fans and rugby league pundits would've been forgiven for thinking it was going to be yet another night to forget. A try on half time to Elijah Taylor and Shaun Johnson's conversion cut the score to 12-6. The second half got off to a flyer for the Warriors as Johnson and Konrad Hurrell scored tries (both converted) to extend the lead to 18-12 after 55 minutes. A penalty goal to Johnson in the 77th minute all but sealed the victory, while a converted try to Antonio Winterstein added some respectability to the scoreline.
The Warriors will take a major boost from their first win, and should instill some belief for their next few matches. The Cowboys will need to take a fresh approach to their games, with a distinct lack of desire snuffing their chances of victory. 
Warriors 20 Cowboys 12
Sydney Roosters v Parramatta Eels at Allianz Stadium
The Roosters have been improving week to week while Parramatta have slipped from the high of their first round win over the Warriors. Even with that in mind, nobody could've predicted the massacre that awaited the Eels when they ran onto Allianz Stadium in front of over 18,000 fans on Monday night.
The home side bombed several early chances but finally crossed in the 12th minute through Jared Waerea-Hargreaves. Sydney simply dominated the first half, crossing the stripe three more times to go into the sheds up 22-0.
There wasn't much the Eels could do right during the game, and their ineptness reared its head in the second half as the Roosters went to town. They crossed the stripe five more times to complete the rout, adding 18 points in the final 10 minutes to add to the embarrassing scoreline.
Parramatta can't seem to do a thing right, and answers to their shocking run of form will be hard to find. Wherever they're hiding, the need to find them soon. The Roosters on the other hand have moved from strength to strength, and are performing like premiership contenders.
Roosters 50 Eels 0