2016 NRL Round 4 preview

A blockbuster Good Friday to kick off Round 4 of the NRL will see rematches of the two most recent grand finals take place.

This includes last year’s all-Queensland blockbuster, and the 2014 decider between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.

Kicking things off on Friday will be the clash between the Rabbitohs and Bulldogs, who will both enter this match on the back of defeats which have cost them their undefeated start to this season.

It will also be a rematch of last year’s infamous ‘Bad Friday’ match, which ended in controversy when Adam Reynolds suffered a serious knee injury after Bulldogs captain James Graham attempted to smother his field goal attempt.

Graham and David Klemmer both copped lengthy suspensions by the NRL tribunal for abusing referee Gerard Sutton; in addition, a touch judge suffered a shoulder injury after he was struck by a bottle upon leaving the field at the end of a match that had just been played in terrible weather.

Last year’s controversy aside, the two teams also met in the 2014 grand final which the Rabbitohs won to not only end a 43-year premiership drought but also over a decade of underachieving after being reinstated into the NRL in 2002.

The match was best known for the Herculean performance of Sam Burgess, who played all but the opening seconds of the match with a fractured eye socket. His heroics saw him win the Clive Churchill Medal for best on ground.

It also saw Greg Inglis officially become a premiership player once and for all, after previously featuring in the Melbourne Storm’s 2007 and 2009 sides that would later have their premierships stripped from them due to salary cap breaches.

Unfortunately for Rabbitohs fans, Burgess appears unlikely to face the Bulldogs, after suffering a serious neck injury (of which he has been cleared) against the Dragons last Sunday.

The Rabbitohs’ 8-6 loss saw them drop to third behind the undefeated Melbourne Storm and Canberra Raiders on the ladder, and with John Sutton and Adam Reynolds sidelined, the Bulldogs should start favourites.

Des Hasler’s men defeated the Sea Eagles and Panthers in the opening two rounds before losing surprisingly to the Eels last Friday night, and have only Brett Morris and Michael Lichaa as their major injury casualties.

Likewise, the Rabbitohs started the new season with dominant victories over the Sydney Roosters and Newcastle Knights before going down to the Dragons at the SCG last Sunday.

Later that night, the Brisbane Broncos will seek revenge for their heartbreaking grand final loss to the North Queensland Cowboys when they come together at for the first time in nearly half a year at Suncorp Stadium.

The Broncos appeared set to end what was (and still is) their longest premiership drought when they led 16-12 in the final minute until Cowboys winger Kyle Feldt scored in the corner just as time ticked down to zero.

It was then down to Johnathan Thurston to convert from the sideline to give the club its maiden premiership. Given all the time in the world, he narrowly missed this attempt, thus sending the grand final into golden point extra time.

The drama didn’t end there. After the Cowboys kicked off to start extra time, Ben Hunt knocked the ball on to cost the Broncos possession and give the Cowboys the territory required to produce the match-winning play.

Then, on the fourth tackle, Thurston kicked the premiership-winning field goal to send his club and absolute raptures, finally captaining his beloved side to the title that had eluded them for two decades.

You can relive the dramatic final minutes here:

Onto current matters now, and both the Broncos and Cowboys have started the season with two wins and one loss, with the premiers being the most impressive in their 40-0 humiliation of the Sydney Roosters last Thursday night.

It marked their fourth straight win at home and shows that they are seriously intent on defending the premiership that took them two decades to win since they entered the competition in 1995.

Again the Cowboys will field the exact same 17 that won them the title on October 4 last year, and will do so for the fourth time in as many matches this season.

They’ll arrive at Suncorp Stadium as one of the form teams of the competition, but so too will the Broncos, who endured a scoreless second half en route to a 23-22 loss to the Penrith Panthers last Saturday night.

Wayne Bennett’s men looked on track to continue their undefeated start to the season until rookie Panther Te Maire Martin inspired the mountain men to an unlikely victory with a late try and field goal on debut.

Still, the Broncos are the premiership favourites and they did start the season with victories over the Eels and Warriors in the opening two rounds.

With no other major sporting events on free-to-air this Friday night apart from the A-League, ratings for the grand final rematch are set to be high, especially in Queensland where just about every television set will be fixed to Channel Nine.

And so, the stage is set for a blockbuster Good Friday double-header to kick off Round 4 in the NRL. In the other matches of the round:
* the Canberra Raiders will look to remain unbeaten at home when they host the Gold Coast Titans in Canberra;
* the Sydney Roosters will attempt to break their duck when they take on the Sea Eagles at Allianz Stadium;
* in the only Sunday match, Trent Merrin will become public enemy number one when his Panthers travel down to Wollongong to face his old club, the Dragons;
* the New Zealand Warriors will not want to underestimate the Newcastle Knights when they face off at Mount Smart Stadium on Easter Monday;
* the Wests Tigers and Parramatta Eels will renew hostilities at ANZ Stadium, and
* the Melbourne Storm return home to face the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.