Well friends on we go to Round 4 for 2025, and the big story of the week is that the bloke that plays Reggie Rabbit having a Donnybrook with some nine-year-old Sharks fan at Shark Park:

And after the kid’s deluded mother went to the NSW Police and wanted to waste their time by pressing assault charges against Charlie Gallico, the NRL have investigated the matter and sent the following threat to Souths:

Souths are just about the only club that still has a mascot at away games, although who knows for how much longer if John Malkovich gets ahold of Reggie.

In all seriousness, Charlie actually came out of this whole incident looking like a decent dude who just made a mistake (Which it was), something he’s very rarely done in 20 years, and the kid’s mum came out looking like an overbearing arsehole who seriously went to a police station and wanted an 80-year-old charged with assault.

Of course, the other major piece of news that Queensland & Manly captain Daly Cherry-Evans will depart Manly-Warringah in October after the latest contract dispute between DCE and the Silvertails went arse up, although if it’s anything like the last time DCE decided to leave Manly and sign with another club (2015 with the Gold Coast Titans), he’ll get cold feet with his future club and re-sign with Manly mid-season… still, he’s 36, his only options are stay at Manly, find a club willing to take a mid-life crisis halfback, or finish up in a retirement home.

That, or he wants to take over as Reggie Rabbit.

Of course, the other great piece of news is that the Kangaroos will undertake the first Ashes Tour in 22 years at the end of the year, and what an eclectic choice of venues for the three Tests against Great Britain; the 1st Test at Wembley Stadium, followed by the 2nd Test at the new Everton Stadium at Bramley Moore Dock in Liverpool, and the 3rd Test at Headingley in Leeds.

That’s great news for the Evertonians, they’ll get to see 2 teams that can play football, and after that they can put up with Everton for the rest of the year.

Now, on to Round 4:

– The Rabbitohs host Penrith tonight at Accor Stadium, and you can expect a very pro-Rabbits crowd in this game, mainly because all the Panthers fans won’t want their kids attending out of fear that Reggie Rabbit will belt the crap out of them with a Stone Cold Stunner or a People’s Elbow.

– The Roosters host the Titans at Allianz, with the Chooks having won 11 consecutive games against the Titans dating back to 2017, and there’s only 2 members of this Titans 17 that have played at the new SFS, they being former Rooster Sam Verrills and former Eel Reagan Campbell-Gillard.

– The traditional ‘Brisbane’ Derby gets the feature Friday night slot as Redcliffe get to play host to the Brisbane Broncos in their own stadium, as the Dolphins try desperately to avoid the curse that follows every club after Wayne Bennett leaves them, while the Broncos get the chance to knock off a Queensland rival at Suncorp on Friday night for the second week running.

– The Dragons host the Melbourne Storm at Kogarah, and the Storm might have a few players out but they’re still an infinitely better option to watch than St George are, although I would suspect the Red V to be pretty competitive.

– A genuine 50/50 game as the North Queensland Cowboys host the Canberra Raiders, and Todd Payten has once again stuck with the same 17 as last week despite them being deadset rubbish through 3 games, while the Raiders hit a slight blip with an arse kicking at Brookvale, so they’ll either regress back to the mean or Ricky Stuart will get the whip in the left hand.

– The Sharks host the Bulldogs in the match of the round at Shark Park, and the Bulldogs do go into the game without Matt Burton and Viliame Kikau, which means all the signs point to the Sharks winning a game against a fellow Top 8 team… also, it’s not September, so they should get it done.

– Sunday afternoon at Brookvale sees Manly vs Parramatta in the contest that appeared in several Grand Finals and several ads for Tooheys in the 1980s, and only Manly, after the extremely disruptive week they’ve had, could find a way to lose this game to the worst Eels team since the last Eels team that won the wooden spoon in 2018.

And the last game of the round has the Wests Tigers hosting the New Zealand Warriors at Campbelltown, and both teams have had a decent fortnight as the Tigers win consecutive games for the first time in multiple years, as Benji Marshall comes ever closer to having a statue built in his honour, and the Wahs have won consecutive games at Mt Smart after that disasterclass in Las Vegas, now they’ve just got to win a game in Australia to give themselves some street cred.

And now for the Round 4 tips on FootyTips, and I reckon I managed to talk myself out of a perfect 8 last week when I mentioned the Titans hadn’t lost to the Knights on the Gold Coast since 2015, and I still went ahead and picked the Knights and paid the price for it…

And I had the perfect margin as well.

Round 3 score = 7/8

Progress Score = 16/24 (66.67%)

Lock of the Week

Well, there’s going to be heavy rain in Sydney on Saturday….

SO YOU DON’T WANT TO GET CAUGHT IN THE STORM AT KOGARAH.