{"id":579696,"date":"2026-04-02T01:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T01:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/579696\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T01:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T01:22:10","slug":"the-hardest-week-to-grade-as-bulldogs-tumble-nrl-power-rankings-round-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/579696\/","title":{"rendered":"The hardest week to grade as Bulldogs tumble: NRL Power Rankings, Round 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Round 4 is going to be remember for the Anthony Seibold<\/a> sacking. That can’t be argued.<\/p>\n

That said, what happened on the field was pure chaos. There were three massive upsets over the weekend, the return of a major player and plenty of talking points produced.<\/p>\n

This was honestly the hardest week to grade in memory. I did four drafts and I’m still not happy.<\/p>\n

Ultimately fans of some teams are going to be upset, but that is the fun of these lists.<\/p>\n

Results matter (obviously) but with only two teams remaining winless, the other factors are well and truly in place now. I didn’t think we’d see any more sharp rises\/drops but I was proven wrong … again.<\/p>\n

Where did your team landing on this week’s Zero Tackle Power Rankings<\/a> following NRL<\/a> Round Four?:<\/p>\n

1. Penrith Panthers (Last Week: 1)
Penrith continued their blistering start to the season by handing out a 48-20 thumping to rivals the Eels.<\/p>\n

Nathan Cleary<\/a> flew up the Dally M leader board with a best on ground effort on the back of four try assists.<\/p>\n

Casey McLean<\/a> and Tom Jenkins form the most lethal edge in the competition. Jenkins has scored 40 points this season by himself. The Dogs have 45 as an entire club.<\/p>\n

They start as massive favourites on Friday night against the Storm. <\/p>\n

2. New Zealand Warriors (2)
The Warriors escape a drop here, luckily, after copping a brutal loss to the Wests Tigers<\/a>, at home.<\/p>\n

Luke Metcalf’s return did not provide the lift expected and instead the Warriors were crushed by the visiting Tigers to the tune of 32 points to 14.<\/p>\n

Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad<\/a> crossed for a brilliant double on the night. Tanah Boyd<\/a> provided another two try assists.<\/p>\n

They’ll look to continue their recent strong record against the Sharks when they travel to Sydney on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n

3. Brisbane Broncos (8)
The Broncos are well and truly back!<\/p>\n

A huge win over the Dolphins<\/a> sees the Broncos defend their home ground and shoot up the rankings. Any worries of two weeks ago are long gone now.<\/p>\n

Kotoni Staggs<\/a> would win the Dally M if he played the Dolphins<\/a> every weekend. Reece Walsh<\/a> looks right back to where he was at the end of last season.<\/p>\n

Saturday night sees a second straight local derby as they travel to play the Titans.<\/p>\n

4. Melbourne Storm (3)
The Storm should probably have fallen further here but their opening two rounds just won’t leave my mind.<\/p>\n

They were outplayed by the Cowboys on Saturday night. I honestly did not see myself typing those words in that order.<\/p>\n

Will Warbrick<\/a> crossed for four tries while Jahrome Hughes<\/a> laid on three tries. It still wasn’t enough.<\/p>\n

A horror injury toll has rocked the club. They travel, as massive outsiders, to play the Panthers on Friday night.<\/p>\n

5. Newcastle Knights (7)
The Knights continued their brilliant start to the season with a huge upset win over the Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Dominic Young’s highlight reel hattrick was a thing of beauty. Dylan Lucas<\/a> should be in Origin chats such has been his performances this season, and beyond.<\/p>\n

Pasami Saulo<\/a> was an absolute hitman in defence. His 27 minute cameo was pure energy and impact.<\/p>\n

They host the out of sorts Raiders on Sunday afternoon. There’s no reason they can’t win a fourth game already.<\/p>\n

6. South Sydney Rabbitohs (6)
The Bunnies sit pretty after a bye this past weekend.<\/p>\n

Two wins, and un unfortunate loss to the Roosters, has their underwhelming 2025 looking firmly in the rear vision mirror.<\/p>\n

A monster Good Friday clash against the Bulldogs is absolutely salivating. This crowd will be mammoth! <\/p>\n

7. The Dolphins (5)
The Dolphins<\/a> sit 2-2 after four rounds and look equal parts amazing\/equal parts ordinary.<\/p>\n

They fell to the Broncos on Friday night and fell to 1-5 against the big brothers. <\/p>\n

Jake Averillo<\/a> had a second straight incredible outing but many of his teammates did not go with him. Kulikefu Finefeuiaki<\/a> was absolutely not one of those who didn’t go with him! <\/p>\n

A huge Thursday night return to Kayo Stadium awaits as they host the lowly Sea Eagles. <\/p>\n

8. Wests Tigers (9)
The Wests Tigers<\/a> shocked the entire NRL<\/a> community by thumping the red hot Warriors, in Auckland, on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Adam Doueihi<\/a> was absolutely blistering. Jock Madden<\/a> returned to NRL<\/a> action and looked very, very comfortable in the role.<\/p>\n

Surely that Jahream Bula<\/a> contract extension is not too far away. It needs to land right away for the Tigers. He was so good, again.<\/p>\n

Monday afternoon’s Easter Monday clash against the Eels is one of the highlights of the season for neutral fans.<\/p>\n

9. Canterbury Bulldogs (4)
The Bulldogs fall huge here after an upset loss to the Knights really exposed their issues in 2026 to date.<\/p>\n

Obviously playing three games instead of four, there’s a lot more emphasis on their recent loss than other clubs.<\/p>\n

45 points across three games, including 16 against the undermanned Knights, has fans worries and critics ready to pounce.<\/p>\n

Friday afternoon’s blockbuster against the Bunnies presents a huge stage for them to make a statement on!<\/p>\n

10. Cronulla Sharks (11)
I’ve been supporting this club all my time and I still don’t know what to make of this current team.<\/p>\n

They heavily outplayed the Raiders on Sunday night in the capital yet were still somehow pushed right to the end.<\/p>\n

Addin Fonua-Blake<\/a> roared back into form with 220 metres, allowing Braydon Trindall<\/a> and William Kennedy<\/a> to create more than enough opportunities for their side to get home.<\/p>\n

They host the Warriors on Sunday afternoon in a game that should sort out where each team is at.<\/p>\n

11. Sydney Roosters (13)
The Roosters put a huge potential distraction aside to wipe the Sea Eagles off the park on Brookvale on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Robert Toia’s two try, two try assist effort meant he had one of the individual performances of the weekend. It overshadowed Daly Cherry-Evans<\/a> good game on enemy territory.<\/p>\n

The Roosters have the weekend off before a trip to Perth.<\/p>\n

12. North Queensland Cowboys (14)
The Cowboys won their second straight game after pulling off a massive upset over the Storm on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Braidon Burns<\/a> crossed for a double but it was Scott Drinkwater<\/a> who stole the headlines. Three try assists, 167 run metres and two line-break assists make for a handy night out.<\/p>\n

Jason Taumalolo<\/a> is playing his best footy in many years. He seems to be revelling under the new rules.<\/p>\n

They’re favoured to win a third straight game as they play the Dragons this Saturday evening. <\/p>\n

13. Parramatta Eels (10)
The Eels put up a brave-ish fight, at times, but were comprehensively played off the park by the red hot Panthers.<\/p>\n

Mitch Moses<\/a> was held super quiet, whilst his likely Origin partner in Nathan Cleary<\/a> was best on ground. That says it all.<\/p>\n

Bailey Simonsson<\/a> and Sean Russell<\/a> can ultimately be happy with their shifts on the night, despite the 48-20 score-line.<\/p>\n

A huge Sunday afternoon clash against the Tigers shapes as an early must win.<\/p>\n

14. Canberra Raiders (12)
The Raiders have fallen to 1-3 to start the season on the back of a second home loss, this time to the Sharks.<\/p>\n

Corey Horsburgh’s moment of madness allowed the Sharks an early 12-0 lead. Despite Simi Sasagi<\/a> and Xavier Savage’s best efforts, the Raiders were never really able to claw it back.<\/p>\n

Owen Pattie<\/a> has been sorely missed. He was brilliant in NSW Cup<\/a>, yet again and should be back in the side sooner than later.<\/p>\n

A trip to Newcastle presents them an opportunity to get back to winning ways.<\/p>\n

15. Gold Coast Titans (16)
The Titans are on the board for 2026 via a late win over the Dragons.<\/p>\n

Arama Hau<\/a> produced the best game of his young career, with a try double and 166 run metres.<\/p>\n

Jayden Campbell<\/a> laid on two assists while Dragons bound Phillip Sami<\/a> wracked up another monster 237 metres. He will be a big loss next year.<\/p>\n

The Broncos are in town on Saturday night for a huge local derby. A win here and they can be seen as legit!<\/p>\n

16. St George Illawarra Dragons (15)
The Dragons fell to 0-4 across the opening month of the competition thanks to a late loss to the Gold Coast Titans<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kyle Flanagan’s scary head knock dominated post match headlines. He has been checked out of hospital and thankfully should be ok.<\/p>\n

Tyrell Sloan<\/a> crossed for an early try otherwise justified sitting in NSW Cup<\/a> to start the season.<\/p>\n

Pressure is on Shane Flanagan<\/a>. A win this weekend over Cowboys, in Kogarah, is absolutely required.<\/p>\n

17. Manly Sea Eagles (17)
Manly’s horror season went from bad to worse as they were forced into sacking their coach just three games into a two year extension.<\/p>\n

Tom Trbojevic<\/a> crossed for two highlight reel tries while Tolutau Koula<\/a> scored an all time individual effort. Otherwise they were awful, albeit in tough conditions.<\/p>\n

Tough decisions need to be made moving forward before 2026 is a complete write off.<\/p>\n

Kieran Foran<\/a> starts his coaching career with a trip to Kayo Stadium to play the rebounding Dolphins<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Round 4 is going to be remember for the Anthony Seibold sacking. That can’t be argued. That said,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-579696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}