Another round of NRL trials and some more storylines to keep an eye on. The major performance came from the Cowboy's Michael Morgan who was their star performer at fullback of all places. Morgan is more known as a half or a centre, but impressed many with the ease at which he slotted in to fullback. Working in Morgan's favour is the fact that with his halves experience he can offer another play making option for the Cowboys which will ease the pressure on Jonathan Thurston and Robert Lui. Morgan also displayed the other side of a good fullback with his ability under the high ball and line breaking nous also on show. Cowboys coach Paul Green has a pretty tough decision on his hands with Zach Santo also doing himself no harm with an impressive 20 minute display at fullback. From all accounts Santo is an absolute live wire who could also provide a spark. An interesting side note, fellow fullback contenders Mathew Wright and Javid Bowen were made unavailable to the media. Opposition forward packs should be high alert as Jason Taumalolo also put in another barnstorming performance.

Michael Morgan - a fullback possibility for the Cowboys?*Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images AsiaPac*

There were a few other impressive performances around the grounds with Moses Mbye putting pressure on Michael Ennis at the Bulldogs ... as predicted. Mbye should get himself a bench spot offering a bit of attacking class. For the Newcastle Knights, Darius Boyd showed his play making ability as he slotted in to the halves to replace Jarrod Mullen and Dane Gagai shifted to fullback. Boyd is the type of fullback who can slot in easily in the halves as he generally finds himself out the back of second man plays shuffling the ball on to those outside him. He's big enough to mix it up in the front line and is obviously blessed with speed and footwork giving him a fine running game. With Kurt Gidley always struggling with injury, Boyd could be a more than capable filler.

The Warriors were very impressive in their demolition of the Brisbane Broncos with Chad Townsend showing why he has many at the Warriors excited. He was classy, demonstrating the kind of halves game that the Warriors have needed for a long time and did a fine job in defence.

The Andrew Fifita saga is moving in to confusing territory as it appears that no one really knows what on earth is going to happen. He was at the Waratahs match over the weekend chilling with some management type of blokes who have ties with rugby. Then the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Fifita had resolved a management dispute which made a move to rugby a much better financial option. So who knows what the hell is going to happen here but the Sharks are now struggling to find some halves after Jeff Robson was taken from the field with an injury to his cheekbone. This means that Daniel Holdsworth is the man main as Todd Carney battles a hamstring injury, not where you want to be coming in to the season.

Daniel Holdsworth returns to an important role in the halves for Cronulla. *Mark Nolan/Getty Images AsiaPac*

All these injuries in the trials mean that we could see an early opportunity for many youngsters to get a run. Both Manly wingers are in doubt (Jorge Taufua, David Williams) while Josh Dugan was also injured for the Dragons. Both Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater are also under a bit of an injury cloud which could mean some exciting times in Melbourne. It seems that the players injured are all in important positions within their respective teams and many people will be eagerly anticipating the round one team lists.

At a recent general meeting of the NRL's most influential characters, CEO David Smith did a pretty fine job of presenting where the NRL is at and where it's heading. The idea is to build a large savings amount which would be able to fund further expansion, which will be done by Smith using his financial knowledge to enhance the NRL as a marketable entity. Pretty impressive all round and I'm pretty darn excited about the expansion possibility especially as the idea seems to be - do a whole lot of research, compare the facts and expand in to an area that genuinely expands the game. Franchises in Perth, somewhere in Queensland (Rockhampton/another Brisbane team) and Wellington are all options with my preference being in the order above. Rugby league in New Zealand has a lot of growth to do before a team in Wellington can be a viable option but it would be pretty awesome.