Pool 4 is where the Nines stops pretending.
No easy narratives. No “we’ll warm into it.” No mercy for teams still figuring out what their identity is by Round 2.
This pool is part second-chance laboratory, part execution test, and part warning sign for anyone who thinks the Premier League is just the qualifiers with better branding.
And then you’ve got the Saints.
Campbelltown Saints arrive with the one thing most teams spend two years chasing. Clarity. They already know who they are and what they’re trying to do. They came through Sydney, qualified the hard way, and they did it like a team that understood the format. Professional, calm, and built around players who have lived in big games. They’re not here for a story. They’re here to win. The danger is obvious. They can turn a pool match into knockout footy because that is how they play. The question is whether their bodies can back up their intent across the whole weekend, because the Nines doesn’t care what you did in your career. It cares what you can do on Sunday.
Port Moresby Vipers still carry that universal reaction from 2025. Nobody wanted them. They were physical, organised, loud, and relentless. Their professionalism is real. Their defence is real. What they’re still chasing is conversion. They lived in tight games last year and learned the brutal truth of this comp. Defence keeps you alive. Execution gets you out of the pool. If they take that next step, they stop being a “tough draw” and start being a team that ruins someone’s weekend.
Giants are the second-year wildcard that every pool eventually produces. Two strong communities in ACTV and CMBT gyms, plenty of conditioning, and now a shared year of Nines scars. They were competitive in patches in 2025, and they learned what the format punishes. What they still need is polish when the game tightens. If they find it, they will steal one of these games from someone who thought they could play loose and survive.
EZ Squad sit in that dangerous middle ground between “veterans having a run” and “oh, these guys are actually a problem.” They were a play or two away from ripping the competition open last year. Fit, physical, and better organised than their EZ nature suggests. The ceiling is obvious. The risk is time. Another year older means rotations matter more, discipline matters more, and recovery matters more. When they get momentum, they look like a Sunday team. When they lose it, the format doesn’t wait.
Pool 4 won’t be decided by hype.
It’ll be decided by which teams can keep their shape when the weekend speeds up.
And whether anyone can survive the Saints turning Saturday into a finals preview.
Teams. Stories. Opinion. 