Watch all eight matches from Round 3 of the NRL season live on Sky Sports from Thursday to Sunday
Tuesday 26 May 2020 18:29, UK
With the NRL coming back on Thursday, Jamie Soward picks five players Sky Sports viewers should look out for.
Sky Sports will be showing every game live from round 3 and 4 of the NRL starting with Thursday's clash between Brisbane Broncos and Parramatta Eels.
The season has been shortened to 20 rounds with two of those already been played prior to the suspension. Matches will be played behind closed doors until further notice and are confined to six venues in Australia until Round 9, with the New Zealand Warriors based in Gosford and playing 'home' matches at Central Coast Stadium.
NRL Grand Final winner-turned-pundit Jamie Soward cannot wait for the action to return and picks five players Sky Sports viewers must look out for.
"We are really lucky down here, we probably have 20 or 30 players to look out for," said Soward on the Golden Point Daily podcast.
"But if I had to narrow it down then it would be Kalyn Ponga (Newcastle Knight), John Bateman (Canberra Raiders), Cameron Munster (Melbourne Storm), James Tedesco (Sydney Roosters) and Luke Keary (Sydney Roosters).
"News has just broken that Ponga is set to re-sign until the end of 2025 for the Knights. If you are new to rugby league and the NRL, then do yourself a favour! He has probably the best step in the game.
"I love watching John Bateman, I sit down every week with some tea and crumpets just to get the full English experience.
"Keary will be the New South Wales' five-eighth this year. If it hadn't been for injury then he would have been part of the NSW back-to-back repeat as well."
The NRL had only just started before the lockdown happened and Soward looks at who impressed and who didn't at the start of the season.
"I think the back-to-back champs (Sydney Roosters) going 0-2 was a surprise and no one could foresee that, but they have been there before and have come back to win it all.
"They are still getting their bearings right in term of getting Kyle Flanagan into their system - he is a super talent but it is going to take a bit of time to get that connection with Luke Keary and James Tedesco.
"I think we are going to see teams who have really strong club culture - similar to your Wigans, your St Helens - are going to come out and take the competition by storm in the first month.
"One of the teams to keep an eye on is Manly. They have three of the top 10 plays in the competition in Daly Cherry-Evans, Jake Trbojevic and Tom Trbojevic, plus they have a heap of guys who just know how to do their job."
