NRL

The Eels' September hopes were snuffed out in Friday night's loss to the Roosters, leaving them in 11th place with an 11-12 record.

The ladder-leading Panthers, meanwhile, overcame the absence of Brian To'o, Scott Sorensen and Mitch Kenny to roll past the Titans for their 17th win of the season.

If the premiers can down the Eels on Thursday they will likely secure their third minor premiership in four years, potentially giving coach Ivan Cleary the luxury of being able to rest players from the Round 27 clash with the Cowboys should he choose.

The Panthers looked under threat midway through the second half when the Titans ran in two tries to narrow a 22-6 half-time deficit before premiership-winning stars Nathan Cleary, Dylan Edwards and Stephen Crichton took control.

A double to Edwards and try assists through Cleary and Crichton fended off any thought the Titans would come back and win after Alofiana Khan-Pereira and David Fifita crossed after half-time. 

In a see-sawing contest that built up to an even scoreline in the final stages, a Jamayne Isaako field goal with four minutes remaining appeared to give the Dolphins victory before Koroisau provided a short kick-off to get the ball back. 

When Isaako and Tesi Niu were penalised for taking Junior Tupou into touch it was Koroisau who put his hand up to take the unlikeliest of penalty goals from out wide - a 40-metre effort from the 30-metre line on the left sideline.

Prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves was a late withdrawal before the match due to acute neck pain, but in big news, captain James Tedesco left the game mid-way though the second half for an HIA, with the head knock later deemed to be Category 1 by the independent doctor, which would rule him out for next week's match against the Tigers. 

Going into tonight's game, there was all to play for with both teams needing to win to keep their finals flame flickering.

In front of 24,112 at the Warriors' traditional home in Auckland – renamed Daniel Anderson Stadium for Round 25 in honour of their former coach who suffered a catastrophic spinal cord injury late last year – the home side were forced to overcome a 22-16 deficit at the break to earn a victory which ensures they will remain third heading into Round 26. 

Earlier both sides went on first-half runs which saw them score 16 unanswered points, but with Manly edging out an advantage thanks to Jason Saab's hat-trick and an earlier Jake Arthur strike. 

A repeat of the season opener between the two sides appeared possible early as the Dolphins got out to an 8-0 lead before the Roosters switched on with five straight tries led by a double to halfback Drew Hutchison. 

Hutchison's efforts were equally matched by Keary, who set up a try and played a hand in two more in a result that keeps the Roosters in the finals race with three rounds remaining. 

After racing out to an early 12-0 lead, the Warriors' defence wilted on several occasions through the 80 minutes, including giving up 12 points in two minutes at one stage, to leave coach Andrew Webster with plenty to ponder ahead of hosting the Sea Eagles in Round 25.

Inspired by a season-best performance from five-eighth Daine Laurie, who set up three tries and scored one himself, the NRL's cellar-dwellers pushed the third-ranked Warriors all the way in what was a Wests Tigers' home match played in front of 25,118 in Hamilton, New Zealand. 

Johnston now has 21 tries for the season and 187 for his career, just 25 behind the game's all-time leading tryscorer Ken Irvine on 212.

The day got off to a bad start for Souths when Jed Cartwright hurt his back in the warm-up and was a late scratching but they recovered quickly to grab first points when Johnston finished off some slick passing from Cameron Murray, Cody Walker and Latrell Mitchell.

When Tyrell Sloan put a line dropout out on the full in the 18th minute the Rabbitohs took the chance to make the lead 8-0 with a Mitchell penalty goal.

It was a night at The Gabba which couldn't have gone much worse for last year's beaten grand finalists, who now face an uphill battle to be part of the post season and may have to try and do so without their representative halfback Mitchell Moses.

Moses suffered a suspected facial fracture in the first half and failed to play any of the second half, while second-rower Andrew Davey also didn't play beyond the 46th minute after failing a HIA. 

With five-eighth Braydon Trindall and hooker Blayke Brailey pulling the strings, between them setting up three tries directly, the Sharks proved too much for the Titans, who lost veteran playmaker Kieran Foran to a rib injury at half-time. 

A first-half double to Ronaldo Mulitalo in his return from a jaw injury helped the hosts to a 20-6 lead at the break, and from there they ran in a further three tries to claim another two competition points.