Round 4: Penrith celebrates April Fools almost a week late, as well as continued entertainment from the NRL's other "inconsistents"

While most of the attention in Round 4 of the NRL was quite rightly given to the two blockbuster Friday night games, the plight of the more inconsistent teams is usually more interesting (if only because it is far less predictable.. and also because it provides plenty of material for each Tuesday Roast).

In this week's Roast, the focus will be on New Zealand, Parramatta, St George Illawarra but first up will be the enigmatic Panthers. They gave a brilliant display of wet-weather rugby league - and, in doing so, probably confused and frustrated their supporters and tipsters everywhere - in thrashing the Tigers.

Despite the Tigers being without two of their more important players in Robbie Farah and Dene Halatau and the Tigers' horrible form in the wet, Penrith's inability to sustain far too rare glimpses of their significant potential, their ill-discipline, their lack of concentration at pivotal moments and, above all, their patchy form over the first 3 rounds of the season meant they were still outsiders with the bookmakers going into last night's game. In the game's opening minutes, all too typical Penrith mistakes and penalties gave the Tigers early attacking field position: another early deficit loomed.

But Penrith escaped from their largely self-induced bind trailing only by 2 points, thanks mostly to a committed, aggressive and disciplined defence. They followed this up with 3 well-worked tries in fairly quick time, utilising a combination of simple but aggressive and effective wet-weather play with a touch of their class and athleticism thrown in (Sammut's kick for the flying Michael Jennings).

During this period the Tigers barely got out of their own half. While they missed Robbie Farah and his dummy-half kicking game badly, it would be wrong not to credit the Penrith defence for their persistent and disciplined pressure of the Tigers' kickers all game long.

While the Tigers struggled for effective attack, their effort was still there and they enjoyed long periods attacking the Penrith line, but the Penrith defence remained strong until half-time (despite the occasional error giving the Tigers even more attacking field position).

Penrith's brilliant performance continued well into the second half, despite losing several important players to injury. When a gimpy Rhys Wesser led Michael Gordon across the line early in the second half, Penrith's lead extended to 22 points: an extremely positive outcome in the circumstances.

The Tigers continued to try hard and eventually pulled one try back, but their lack of attacking options and Penrith's continued commitment in defence saw Tigers frustration time and time again. Penrith sealed a famous win late on as the much-maligned Tony Puletua set up Brad Tighe for a long-range try.

For recent Penrith recruit Petero Civoniceva, thrashing the Tigers in the wet would have been fresh in his mind, but for the other Panthers, such an effort probably only existed in their wildest dreams. Usually, one who waits for a silly penalty to be conceded or for an unforced mistake near their own line by the Panthers may not be able to fry an egg, but in this game, such mistakes were far less frequent.

Meanwhile, their attack was very well suited to the conditions. Their defence usually gave them excellent field position to start from, but they kept it mostly simple and attacked the Tigers in a smart way. Sure, avoiding their usual mistakes is often easier when playing with a healthy lead and the Tigers were not at their best, but Penrith has blown many a game before in situations not dissimilar to this.

As a result, Penrith coach Matt Elliott had a wonderful time watching this game, but surely, despite his cheery post-game demeanour, the thought must have crossed his mind "Why can't they play at something close to this level every week?!?!!?". Obviously, Elliott will be hoping his team's display last night was not a late April Fools joke/tease.

The St. George Illawarra Dragons produced a similar display of wet-weather rugby league in Round 2 to defeat the Gold Coast, but this was sandwiched in between far worse efforts in Rounds 1 and 3. Who knew which Dragons would turn up for their game against the resilient, but less niggly than normal (with the absence of the universally disliked Paul Gallen) Cronulla on Saturday night?

One school of thought before this game was that the Dragons would play a more aggressive game given the resolution of their coaching situation earlier in the week. Some figured the chance to impress Wayne Bennett and perhaps jag a contract under him next season would be a significant incentive.

This was seen - to some extent - but not in the way current Dragons coach Nathan Brown would have liked. Their increased effort came through in individual (or plays involving 2 or 3 players) rather than a greater collective effort: big tackles, complex kick plays. But aggressive defence often left gaps as communication was often poor. This was seen in several instances following these risky kicks (where an insufficient chase was seen and gave Cronulla an opportunity to counter-attack) but also in the standard defensive line. Cronulla's first 2 tries came from their left-side attack, where Mark Gasnier was caught out being on a different wavelength to his teammates.

Still, the Dragons looked set to sneak a win. Cronulla had fallen into their 2007 habit of playing down to the level of bad teams. Sure, they can beat Manly and Melbourne, but when the challenge is not of beating a big-time team, they find much-needed intensity difficult to muster.

Luckily for Cronulla, the Dragons gave them every chance to win. A simple attacking set of six tackles, with under 3 minutes to go, would have meant Cronulla had 90 metres to travel - or have to regain a dropout - to have any chance. An inexplicable dropped ball by Justin Poore - when a less riskier play would have sufficed - made things much easier. 60 metres or so down the field, the Dragons were caught short and winger Jason Nightingale rushed in off his wing, only to realise he would not be able to make a play. Still, it took a rare moment of brilliance in this game - from Bryson (son of former St George legend Lord Ted) Goodwin - to complete Cronulla's comeback.

The Dragons were given a reprieve when Luke Covell hooked the game-winning conversion attempt, but the Dragons' propensity for silly mistakes, poor options and ill-discipline - combined with the cut-throat nature of Golden Point extra time - would have given supporters only more heartache. The surprise was that it came so quickly - at the end of the first set of six tackles. Ryles' bone-headed hanging-on to Brett Kearney gave Covell another chance to win the game. Yet another loss for the Dragons when victory was so close...

The New Zealand Warriors have been notorious over the years for similar acts and they almost did it again on Sunday. They were in a much better position game-wise than the Dragons: Newcastle mistakes, silly penalties and a whistle-happy ref gave the Warriors a mountain of possession in the first 20 minutes. They probably should have led by more than 14-nil.

Newcastle's gutsy play over the competition's first 3 rounds has earned them many admirers and significant tipping support for this game, but such a young team is prone to bouts of poor play after playing well over a several-game period. Still, they didn't give up: the half-time deficit of just 2 points was a meritorious outcome for them.

Despite the Warriors extending their lead just after half-time, Newcastle persisted, bringing the deficit back to just 2 points, before a sustained attacking sequence led by the seemingly indefatigable Danny Buderus. In one memorable play, he was involved 3 separate times, taking the play from the right all the way across to the left, before receving the ball back and setting up his winger Benji Marshall-style then wrapping back around, taking the ball again and leading play near the Warriors' try-line.

Soon after, his valiant effort came within centimetres of giving Newcastle the lead. From the next play, the cross-kick floated just over Newcastle centre Keith Lulia's outstretched hand and into the grasp of Warriors winger Patrick Ah Van.

Ah Van returned the ball almost 100 metres to provide a match-winning lead, but Newcastle tried until the very end. Kurt Gidley's serpentine run set up Wes Naiqama to cut New Zealand's lead back to 6, but Newcastle ran out of time and luck. Overall, the Warriors would have been happy bouncing back from a poor effort against Manly last week, but this was too close for comfort: they took an up-and-coming Newcastle side too lightly (although their dominance of possession early on probably exacerbated any initial feelings of complacency).

For traditional early-season stragglers Parramatta, they also would have had any pre-game complacency exacerbated when they found out Cowbores fullback Matt Bowen was to miss their Saturday night game. But Parramatta was always going to struggle as soon as it became apparent the Cowbores forward pack - once highly vaunted, but far too lazy over the last 15 to 20 games or so - was back near its best.

Feral Thurston's early return from injury has been a factor in the Cowbores' poor start to the season, but even more important was their struggling forwards. This was why the Cowbores were leaking points in Rounds 1 to 3 of 2008. When the Cowbores were at their best, players such as Carl Webb, Steve Southern and Luke O'Donnell dominated. Parramatta - and many NRL watchers - were caught off-guard as the "old" Cowbores returned, but they likely would have struggled to win even if the Cowbores were not at their best.

However, this heavy defeat shouldn't cause any problems for the Eels - as they and any number of pundits will tell you. Once the season reaches the cooler months, they'll kick into gear for games such as the Cowbores. It happens every year.

Also caught in annual bad habits is Canberra. In their post-Daley, post-veteran leader years (and even in some of those years), they have struggled mightily to win away from Canberra. Despite occasionly playing some brilliant rugby league in Canberra, they seem rarely able to take this form elsewhere.

It looked a tough task for Canberra to get a win at Robina, but their first-half effort was solid. The much-maligned Colin Best created one try out of nothing, but gave back one try as he (just) stepped out before grounding the ball. Meanwhile, the Gold Coast scored a try after what looked like a forward pass.

But they couldn't sustain their good play and the Gold Coast finished as comfortable winners. This outcome was ensured once Michael Weyman lashed out after being tackled. A long suspension seems likely.. and Mark Riddell is probably the only person disappointed by this.

In stark contrast to much of the rest of Round 4, Friday night provided two excellent games, featuring at least 3 teams for whom inconsistency is unlikely be linked with very often this season. The final score of the much-hyped Roosters Bulldogs match suggested a one-sided affair, but the first 20 minutes of this game was some of the best action in recent memory. Play was at a semi-final level of speed and intensity as both teams threatened on numerous occasions to open scoring.

Sadly, for neutrals, the Bulldogs no longer have the depth to sustain such solid play. Also, their halves (Roberts and Holdsworth) are a notch or two below the NRL's best. Better play from this combination could very well have seen the Bulldogs take a solid lead in the first half.

Once Big Willie crossed the line to open the scoring, the Roosters' juggernaut rolled on and dominated the next 40 or so minutes. They had the edge in the halves, the outside backs (especially for high balls) and the depth in the forwards, but most importantly, they were able to play such a strong game after playing two of the competition heavyweights (Brisbane and Melbourne).

Melbourne showed its class in soundly defeating Brisbane on Friday night, despite taking a belting from Cronulla and the Roosters in the last two weeks. Once again, the final score was probably somewhat unrepresentative of the struggle in this game: Brisbane, despite missing PJ Marsh, Justin Hodges and having a still uncomfortable Darren Lockyer, still gave a very strong account of themselves.

These 3 teams clearly understand the benefits of structure, discipline and teamwork: consistent performance. While they will likely be hardest hit during representative season - and perhaps lose a game or two to the inconsistents - this foundation of consistency will likely see them playing late in September, while the inconsistents lament those all too rare moments. Wayne Bennett will have a LOT of work to do...

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