It is Multicultural Round, so we need a bit of Hazem El Masri sinking the Knights from the sideline in 2002 in 240p quality

With all respect to Nathan & Ivan Cleary, Daryl Halligan, Jason Taylor and Matty Ridge, El Masri is the best goalkicker I’ve ever seen in First Grade, bar none, although we must note that without Halligan you don’t get ‘El Magic’, and without El Masri you don’t get Johnathan Thurston.

Alright folks on to Round 5, and what a wild round Round 4 turned out to be as we had no fewer than 5 upsets:

The Rabbitohs beating up on Penrith without several key players, as Nathan Cleary missed the game entirely out of fear that Reggie Rabbit was going to beat him up, the Titans defeated the Roosters for the first time in 9 years, the Dragons upended the Storm at Kogarah in the upset of the round, the Cowboys finally won a game, the Bulldogs had a semi-upset at Shark Park against Cronulla, and the Warriors won a game in Australia after being 18-24 down and scoring 8 points in 2 minutes against Wests at Campbelltown, the last try being that 70 metre barn burner by Leka Halasima:

And the best part was it was Halasima’s first try in the NRL.

The only predictable results were the Broncos winning against the Dolphins and Manly beating the woeful Parramatta, meantime, going back through the record books, that was Canterbury’s first win at Shark Park since the end of 2011, which would’ve been around the time Jim Dymock was the caretaker coach after Kevin Moore got the arse… what a great sign of character development for the Berries.

On another note, the DCE saga kept rolling on as he fronted up for the game at Brookvale on Sunday to a warm reception, and he more or less cited a “Smear campaign” against him after making the decision to leave the club last week, and if there really is someone in the Manly organisation that wants to ruin DCE’s reputation, why don’t they just get the Trumpet of Patriots to run an attack ad exposing the truth about DCE, declaring that he isn’t really human…

It’s not a lie, if you believe it.

Now, on to Round 5, with this of course being the MULTICULTURAL ROUND, and the NRL (Throw in the NRLW as well) is one of Australia’s great cultural melting pots, with some 65 nations represented across the men’s and women’s games, all with one game in mind… RUGBALEEG.

– The Raiders host the Sharks in Canberra, and it was this fixture last year that produced one of the beltings of the year, as Cronulla won 40-0 to end Canberra’s scoring streak of 277 games, which was the longest non-shoutout streak of the 21st Century.

– Penrith host the suddenly slightly dangerous North Queensland at Commbank Stadium, as the Panthers find themselves in the unfamiliar territory of losing three consecutive games for the first time since 2019, although it won’t be a problem if they lose to the Cowboys, because if there’s any club that knows how to pull off a Fourpeat, it’s Penrith.

– The Channel 9 Friday night game features the greatest rivalry in the game as 2002 expansion club South Sydney takes on the last remaining foundation club the Sydney Roosters at the Olympic Stadium, and Latrell Mitchell is back in business for Souths, just in time to put an elbow through one of his former teammates while probably scoring a hat-trick.

– Parramatta host St George-Illawarra at Commbank on Saturday afternoon, and this fixture last year saw the Dragons set a new First Grade record for the highest losing score in 116 years, as they were down an insurmountable 44-12 with 10 minutes to play, only to score 5 tries (4 of them converted) in the final minutes to lose 44-40, the first team to ever score 40 points in a game and lose… when you think about the fact there’s been some 14,800 First Grade games in the NSWRL/ARL/SL/NRL, that is a hell of a performance from Shane Flanagan’s team, while that win also helped the Eels avoid the Wooden Spoon, considering they belted Wests the next week.

– Another South East Queensland Derby as the Gold Coast Titans host the winless Redcliffe Dolphins on the Glitter Strip, and based on last week in Sydney and the way they played against the Knights at home the week prior, the Titans should be winning this pretty well…. but of course, this is when they get the jitters and stuff up.

– The Brisbane Broncos host the Wests Tigers at Suncorp, and this seems like one of those games that Michael Maguire will take personally, considering how badly he got treated at Wests as they slipped further into the mire a few years ago… still, they didn’t win any wooden spoons until after they gave him the arse, which I think should tell us something.

– With the benefit of an extra hour’s sleep due to daylight savings ending, Manly are back at Brookvale again to take on their age old enemy the Melbourne Storm, this time without Tom Trbojevic after his knee injury last Sunday, and if there’s one group of people that Manly fans hate more than Manly’s recruiting team right now, it’s the Melbourne Storm.

– And the lucky last game of the Round has Canterbury, the last of the unbeaten teams for 2025, and the multicultural masters of rugby league, taking on Newcastle at the Olympic Stadium, and who’d have thought we’d be saying that Canterbury are the last unbeaten team of the season after the crap they were dishing up for 7 years straight…

What a fantastic turnaround from all involved at Belmore, and it’s only been 4 games.

And now for the Succinct NRL Tips For Round 5!

Round 4 Score = 2/8

Progress Score = 18/32 (56.25%)

Lock of the Week

You know, it’d be on point if Parramatta win a game after I do this, but….

The DRAGONS to claim the 2 points with the dreams of 13 ordinary men… plus 4 interchange playing men.