The biggest winners of Round 2 were...
Ricky Stuart's Canberra Raiders. Who would have picked them to be 2-0?
They were the wooden spoon favourites at the start of the year but, have since surged ahead of the likes of the Sydney Roosters and South Sydney Rabbitohs to be seventh or thereabouts in Premiership markets.
They were big outsiders in both wins against the Brisbane Broncos and New Zealand Warriors but were commanding victors on both occasions, with the debut of 21-year-old Yorkshireman Matty Nicholson especially encouraging.
It's early days yet, but the Raiders' investment in youth - particularly their backs - is so far paying off. The challenge for Stuart will be to keep them honest and humble, especially if they can repeat last year's 26-24 win at Brookvale this weekend.
The biggest losers of Round 2 were...
The Penrith Panthers, whose head coach Ivan Cleary has questions to answer after he declared in a post-match press conference that the "game was lost before we got here", are in a bit of a pickle.
They were second-favourites to win the Premiership at the start of the season, and remain so even after being unable to get past the Roosters, but there's a bit for Cleary to work on.
An absence of effort is easier to fix than a dearth of skill, so it must be a bit concerning for Panthers fans about Cleary's post-game assessment that his side put in a full 80-minute effort, but "just didn’t play anywhere near what we’d like to, so that should have been better than what we tossed up tonight".
It might be a bit of a stretch to refer to a Round 3 game as decisive for one's campaign, but now that teams are beginning to exploit the lack of height on their wings, the Panthers need to make a statement in Melbourne this week (regardless of the end result) to remain genuine Premiership contenders.
The Dally M race
Star Newcastle Knights full-back Kalyn Ponga has been instrumental to the team's early success and has been duly rewarded with six Dally M points in consecutive weeks.
He racked up 204 running metres, three try assists and three linebreak assists in the 26-12 win at home to the Dolphins to stay at the top of the leaderboard.
A very busy Jye Gray accumulated more than 300 running metres and recorded a team-best four tackle breaks in the Rabbitohs' come from behind win over the Dragons on Sunday and he was duly voted best on ground.
Try of the week
Gold Coast Titans trio Phillip Sami, Jojo Fifita and Keano Kini all put on the afterburners to beat several Bulldogs defenders and silence a raucuous Belmore crowd. The Bulldogs had the last laugh, of course.