Round 4

The two superstars haven't faced off in the NRL Telstra Premiership since Round 19, 2018, when Mitchell was playing centre for the Roosters and helped himself to 24 points in a 56-24 win over Turbo's Sea Eagles at Brookvale.

After falling six points short to the premier Panthers in Round 2 and just two points to their arch-rival Roosters on Friday, Jason Demetriou's men will be out to make amends when they host the undefeated Sea Eagles.

After shock losses to the Bulldogs and Titans in Munster's absence, Craig Bellamy's men got back on track with a disciplined first half that laid the platform for their first home win since Round 21 last year. 

An offside penalty against the Tigers gave Melbourne the chance to open the scoring in the sixth minute through a Nick Meaney penalty goal.

On the back of a six-again call the Storm worked their way downfield and a couple of handy offloads by Josh King and Jonah Pezet opened the door for Will Warbrick to cross for his first NRL try in the 19th minute.

The promoter's dream pits master mentor Wayne Bennett against Kevin Walters, the man he shared five premierships with as coach and player at the Broncos between 1992 and 2000.

Former Broncos Jamayne Isaako, Tesi Niu, Brenko Lee and Kodi Nikorima will be out to get one over on their old club as the Dolphins look to continue their fairytale start to their debut season.

After a gutsy golden point victory on the opening night of the season, few could have predicted the Storm would stumble against the Bulldogs and Titans, conceding 64 points across the two games and lacking the defensive steel that has been their trademark.

The absence of superstar five-eighth Cameron Munster with a finger injury has clearly been a factor but coach Craig Bellamy has built his phenomenal success around a 'next man up' culture and won't be using the absence of the mercurial No.6 as an excuse.

The halftime the score was 10-8 in favour of Gurias. There was a big turnout at the graveyard, the Kalabond field today was just the motivation the Gurias needed and eventually paid off, handing Lae Snax Tigers their first loss of the season.  
 
With only 8 minutes into the game and former Guria, Emil Benjamin scored the opening try unconverted to give Tigers an early lead 4-0. Gurias replied with an unconverted try of their own through a Saki Peter to level the score at 4 all. 

The main game at NFS on Sunday between Isou and Mioks promises to be a blockbuster with Mioks aiming to turn the tables on Isou after they were beaten by 2 points 16-18 in their corresponding match last year. Former Mioks playmaker and Captain Roger Laka who joined Isou last season as a player, had a big hand in that win against his old team.

This time Laka will be watching with interest from the coach’s bench. His simple instruction is respect the systems, follow the process and execute well. He said defense is key.

The Hunters have made a fair start to the 2022 season, winning their opening game before going down in tightly-fought contests in the last two weeks. In both losses, the Hunters finished strongly to win the second half and the focus is now on starting well against the Falcons this week.

The Eels made a statement with their early sets, dominating the Dragons physically, capitalising when Dylan Brown danced past Moses Mbye and Jack Gosiewski to open the scoring.

Mitch Moses noticed Mbye well out of position to kick ahead and score himself to make it 12-0 after 17 minutes, but the Eels seemed to let their foot off the gas for a period thereafter. 

Jack Bird finished off an enterprising Dragons try late in the half with a late penalty goal making it 12-8 at the break.

The Storm were able to absorb some early pressure before Ryan Papenhuyzen scored his first try in the 11th minute, set up by Xavier Coates.

Josh King profited from Harry Grant's grubber taking a friendly deflection and Kenny Bromwich scored the third and final try of the first half when he cut through out wide.

The floogates really started to open after half time as Papenhuyzen earned his second and third in short order, with Jahrome Hughes streaking away after scooping up a Matt Burton kick to hand the fullback his hat-trick.

Parramatta were far from perfect but a third straight win over the always-tough Storm will have them buoyed ahead of their return to CommBank Stadium this Sunday night.

While the Dragons opened their season with a win before going close to upsetting the premiers in round two, their last-start collapse will require a re-set.