NRL action Round 6. Parramatta Eels v South Sydney Rabbitohs at ANZStadium. Fuifui Moimoi of the Eels is tackled by David Taylor and Sam Burgess of the Rabbitohs. Pic: Mark Nolan Source: Getty Images
IT seems like the comp has only just begun, but a quarter of the premiership is already over.
Canterbury and Parramatta, two of the early season favourites, are discovering predictions mean very little. They won at the weekend, but so far their campaigns have been less than convincing.
In their match against the Tigers, the Bulldogs, for the first time this year, looked as if they'd been introduced to each other. There was evidence they've figured out playing as a team has rewards that isolated individual efforts can't deliver.
There was more than a hint, too, that their coach Kevin Moore has convinced his halfback the ball does its best work when it's shared around.
Even so, it took them 40 minutes of hammering the Tigers' line before they scored – then only from a cross-field bomb.
The Bulldogs were at their best last year when they could drag the opposition into a battle on their terms. Their forwards needed to keep a lid on the pace of the game. As the season wore on, teams that could accelerate the tempo in the middle of the field worried the Dogs.
The fact they were a whole new team last year was, in many respects, an advantage they won't have this year. Nobody will fly blind against them. They'll be tested in the middle.
Michael Ennis is the key to their attack. If he is stopped, the Dogs will be forced to play laterally off no gain, risking the danger of turnovers. Ennis is so good at what he does he may be disguising the fact the Dogs forwards might not be good enough to win the competition.
Parramatta won't get any flying starts under the radar this year either. Their late-season surge with the breathtaking razzle-dazzle stuff took the spotlight off a glaring absence of structure in their game. It's a problem they can't easily solve with the halves they've got.
The better-coached teams will have the strategy to crush ad-lib football, so the Eels are in for some very challenging examinations this year. Coach Daniel Anderson has been forthright in saying "They think they can win games with some fancy grandstand play".
At the moment, they don't realise there's a huge difference between keeping the ball alive at your opposition's peril and keeping it alive at your own.
The move of Jeff Robson to dummy half and Daniel Mortimer to halfback suggests Anderson is looking for something that isn't there, but maybe he should take a closer look at his yardage men.
If you took Fuifui Moimoi out of their pack, there wouldn't be too many bends put in the opposition defence line. Jarryd Hayne and co aren't comfortable strutting their stuff against a defence not in retreat.
Parramatta beat Manly with a forward pass and beat South Sydney last Sunday more by default than anything they themselves did overly well – Luke Burt excluded. Otherwise they would still be winless.
The Bunnies' lack of application after halftime was appalling. If Parramatta's season gets cracking from this point on, they can thank South Sydney for the kick-start because until Rusty's Rabbits racked their cues at halftime, the Eels were going nowhere.
The Broncos and Cowboys, sitting 13th and 14th on the ladder, are another two teams with only two wins from six.
Both teams have the potential to improve dramatically when all their troops are on board. The Broncos youngsters will be better in the long run for the experience that is being forced upon them prematurely.
The Broncos' 44 points against the Sharks isn't easy to assess. The cellar dwellers are no yardstick, but what was impressive was the effort by the Broncos forwards against the competition leaders in Wollongong with Sam Thaiday and Lagi Setu head and shoulders above their opponents.
Cowboys coach Neil Henry would have unveiled his blueprint for the Parramatta challenge at the weekend.
The Eels could be very vulnerable to ambush in the belief that without Johnathan Thurston in the Cowboys line-up, it will be a stroll in the park.
Compulsory viewing should be the job the Tigers did on the Eels in Round 3. It was a classic exhibition of defensive speed.
The Knights are another team with better football in them than their two wins from six outings indicates, but they are also a team with a very bad habit of inviting other teams to beat them when they have what they feel is a comfortable lead.
They need to be told it's unlikely to just be a coincidence six weeks in a row. They're either not physically fit to go 80 minutes or they've got mental toughness problems.
It will be a mistake to think the problem is solved if they put the hapless Sharks to the sword in the second half on Saturday.
When they can come from behind, like the Panthers did against them, they'll look a lot more like a serious football team.
Manly threw down the gauntlet on Monday night. They've joined the Dragons and the Storm as one of only three teams playing title-winning football. The others in the eight are a level below these three.
But all are well coached, can improve and will lift for the big games in September.