Round 3 of the NRL season is in the books after another unpredictable weekend - just one team in the entire league is still undefeated and only two are yet to win a game. 

Here's everything you need to know from each game of another scintillating round of rugby league.

1. Brisbane's depth stretched to the limit

The Broncos were already doing it tough with Adam Reynolds and Payne Haas missing for the trip to Penrith and losing Reece Walsh inside the first five minutes made beating Penrith just about impossible.

But over the next few weeks Brisbane will have to dig deep into their bullpen — Haas is expected to miss at least a couple more matches with a knee injury while Walsh will be sidelined with a cheekbone fracture. 

The Broncos are a star-powered football team but if they're to keep things afloat without two of their best players they'll need to rely on some of their lesser lights in the short-term future.

The club is hopeful Reynolds can return soon but until then the likes of Tristan Sailor and Xavier Willison will need to step things up. 

With clashes against North Queensland and Melbourne and the Brisbane derby against the Dolphins approaching in the near future, it won't be easy for the Brisbane back-ups but they have the pedigree to stand tall — Sailor impressed in his brief appearances last season and Willison was strong in a beaten side against Penrith.

ABC player of the year votes

3. Nathan Cleary (Panthers)

2. Dylan Edwards (Panthers)

1. Isaah Yeo (Panthers)

2. Warriors legend stands tall to break winless run

The Warriors were in a strange position heading into Round 3; they were winless and hurting after their last-second loss to Melbourne last week and while they always had the quality to get back on track, losses have a funny way of compounding until a team collapses.

With Taine Tuaupiki off due to an HIA and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad and Wayde Egan looking on from the sidelines, the Kiwi club looked up against it when the Raiders took a 10-6 lead midway through the second half. 

But after Luke Metcalf got them back in front, it was returning hero Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, who had switched to fullback in Tuaupiki's absence, who won the day for the Warriors — the way he slithered past Hudson Young to score what proved to be the match-sealing try was reminiscent of the football he played in his 2018 Dally M season. 

Tuivasa-Sheck is still finding his feet back in league after two seasons in rugby union, but the more he plays the better he'll get and he's already pretty damn good.

ABC player of the year votes

3. Addin Fonua-Blake (Warriors)

2. Jordan Rapana (Raiders)

1. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (Warriors)

3. South Sydney on the brink

We're only three games in, but the Rabbitohs' season threatens to spiral right out of control. Their loss to the Roosters on Friday night was brutal, both in the way they failed to threaten their old rivals and in how badly they collapsed in the final minutes. 

The Tricolours are a talented and dynamic team but South Sydney's utter capitulation in the final quarter, when the Roosters were scoring tries at will despite being without halfback Sam Walker, shows just how long a road they face back. 

This week they play Canterbury in the traditional Good Friday clash. The Bulldogs aren't doing much better than Souths and are as close to an easy kill as there is in the NRL, but if the Rabbitohs play with a similar attitude and Canterbury carries on its form from a 32-0 drubbing of the Titans, things could still get worse for Jason Demetriou's embattled side. 

ABC player of the year votes

3. James Tedesco (Roosters)

2. Sandon Smith (Roosters)

1. Lindsay Collins (Roosters)

4. Gold Coast's day from hell in Belmore

The 32-0 scoreline suggest the Titans' loss to Canterbury was a complete demolition from go to whoa, and it was, save for one moment in the second minute.

Tanah Boyd perfectly weighted a bomb, AJ Brimson perfectly timed his jump and perfectly marked over Blake Taaffe, who was struggling with the sun and wind.

But, either out of the generosity of his heart or surprise that he was completely untouched when he hit the ground 4 metres from the tryline, Brimson opted to offload to Kieran Foran right next to him.

Foran definitely wasn't expecting the pass, which ricocheted off his shoulder and forward for a knock-on. And that was just about their only chance for the next 70 minutes or so as even the imperfect Bulldogs trampled over the top of them.

Making matters worse, captain and Origin star Tino Fa'asuamaleaui went down with a late knee injury that was later confirmed to be a season-ending torn ACL.

ABC player of the year votes

3. Reed Mahoney (Bulldogs)

2. Viliame Kikau (Bulldogs)

1. Josh Curran (Bulldogs)

5. Another bombed try costs the Dragons big time

If a completely unmarked Raymond Faitala-Mariner managed to bring Ben Hunt's grubber to his chest and let gravity do the rest midway through the first half against North Queensland, the Dragons likely would have led 24-4.

Instead, he dropped it cold.

The Dragons eventually made it to 24 points, but only in the 71st minute, after 42 straight from the Cowboys.

There were similar reversals of fortune multiple times in North Queensland's seven-try run, with St George Illawarra languishing in 15th place on the ladder. 

After a 38-0 drubbing at the hands of the Dolphins, Shane Flanagan said his team replied for half the clash with North Queensland.

"It's something we've got to look at as a club, but I've also got to trust this group to improve," Flanagan said.

"That's where I've got to do my job. We'll keep chipping away, working hard in the week because there's a football side there."

ABC player of the year votes

3. Scott Drinkwater (Cowboys)

2. Reece Robson (Cowboys)

1. Griffin Neame (Cowboys)

6. Nowhere to hide for Nicho Hynes

While there was plenty of praise and joy around Benji Marshall's first win as Wests Tigers coach, which just so happened to come at the club's spiritual Leichhardt Oval home, Cronulla was in hell.

Losing 32-6 to the two-time reigning wooden-spooners is not a good look for a team that wants to be considered among the contenders in 2024, and the team's performance mirrored that of their former Dally M Medal winner, Nicho Hynes.

Hynes booted two balls out on the full and just generally looked out of sorts as he finished the game with four official errors and six missed tackles, as well as a shocking lack of desperation around a loose ball that led directly to the Tigers' third try just before half-time.

Even a rare highlight — a 74th-minute 40/20 — was immediately followed up by an intercept pass.

He was perhaps not helped by the fact that his running metres tally (120) was higher than any of his forwards, which was in turn the product of three of them — Royce Hunt, Dale Finucane and Toby Rudolf — succumbing to injuries.

Hunt didn't even get on the paddock, injuring his calf as he limbered up to take the field.

ABC player of the year votes

3. Apisai Koroisau (Tigers)

2. Stefano Otuikamanu (Tigers)

1. Jahream Bula (Tigers)

7. Rookie Eel's moment of magic against Turbo

Tom Trbojevic is still working his way back to full fitness but he's been producing plenty of the good stuff for the Sea Eagles — he finished the match with a try, an assist and he ran for 175 metres with ball in hand. 

But when he tried to stop Eels debutant Blaize Talagi close to the line it was the former Dally M winner who came off second best.

Talagi, a 19-year old of considerable potential, was one-on-one with Trbojevic and trampled right over the Test and Origin star to score his first NRL try. 

Trbojevic will be fine — even the greats can get beaten every now and then — and Talagi could well have plenty more highlight reel plays over the course of his career. But a moment like that, where the young bull gets the better of the old bull, is something the young Eel will remember forever. Not many can ever say they got the better of Turbo, even just for a second. 

ABC player of the year votes

3. Junior Paulo (Eels)

2. Dylan Brown (Eels)

1. Tom Trbojevic (Sea Eagles)

8. Ponga digs the Knights out of trouble

Newcastle's first win of the season wasn't pretty — with the exception of a bullet pass Kalyn Ponga fired to Enari Tuala in the first half — but the Knights will just be relieved to be off the mark in 2024. 

After back-to-back defeats it was Ponga who led the way, even if the assist for Tuala was his only major highlight of the night. 

The Knights fullback was one of the few players who looked likely in attack and despite Newcastle not scoring another try after the 29th minute, he never stopped probing around the middle in a busy performance. He finished with 193 running metres and eight tackle busts.