He could be the buy of the season and won man of the match honours, but it didn't stop Luke Keary from being caught in Roosters coach Trent Robinson's crosshairs after the Tricolours recorded their best ever start under the premiership-winning coach.
You know what happened the last time the Roosters finished in the bottom four? They won it all the next. Everyone rolled out the near worst-to-first headlines, the comebacks, revival stories. There's every chance they might be ready to do it again.
Panthers officials will closely monitor Bryce Cartwright's welfare and concede the troubled star is no certainty to face the Wests Tigers, as teammates closed ranks around him.
Jarryd Hayne has just two months to trigger an option to remain with the Titans next year, as former teammate Michael Jennings pleaded with critics to "leave him be".
Ricky Stuart branded Michael Ennis "disrespectful" and told him to "grow up" - and the retired veteran's premiership-winning teammates won't be straying anywhere near the same fine line with a similar Viking Clap celebration upon their Canberra return.
Will Chambers will escape suspension for starting a brawl in Melbourne's opening-round win over the Bulldogs as the NRL's new fines system was rolled out.
The addition of a second game has spurred Fox Sports to trumpet its highest ever audience for a regular season simulcast Friday night match as it eats into Channel Nine's one-time monopoly on the timeslot.
Greg Inglis told Rabbitohs coach Michael Maguire he wanted to play on in the second half of South Sydney's demoralising opening-round loss as the club on Saturday defended its handling of their representative star's season-ending knee injury.
Josh Reynolds was "filthy" on himself, but he won't be as upset when he sees the statistics at how much more involved he will be in the Bulldogs' attack in 2017 compared to last year.
"Real news", Des? You don't beat Craig Bellamy and Melbourne in the opening round. Not now. Not ever. Probably not again.
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