Canterbury Bulldogs

With Tohu Harris and Addin Fonua-Blake turning on the power and Shaun Johnson turning back the clock, the Warriors sent the parochial Auckland crowd home happy with the seven-tries-to-three win.

The Warriors opened the scoring after seven minutes when Johnson put centre Viliami Vailea into a huge hole and the youngster celebrated his return from a broken jaw with a try.

Come Friday night they will find themselves playing a revitalised Dogs team who pushed the second-placed Cowboys all the way in Round 21.

After leading with half an hour to go, the Bulldogs fell just short of footing it with North Queensland but will have taken plenty of confidence from the performance and still have two wins from their last three matches, with their key players in good form.

The North Queensland playmakers were on song with Chad Townsend and Tom Dearden continuing their superb season and Scott Drinkwater at his attacking best with back-to-back tries, cementing the Cowboys third win on the trot.

An unusual start to the game in Bundaberg saw a successful captain’s challenge hand the Bulldogs an attacking opportunity straight out of the gates and a well weighted Matt Burton grubber found Josh Addo-Carr to open the scoring for the Bulldogs.

Having put the Dragons to the sword on Sunday, Todd Payten's men turn their focus to a danger game against a Bulldogs outfit riding high on the exhilarating form of Matt Burton and Josh Addo-Carr.

With wins in four of their past six matches the Bulldogs are serving notice they'll be a premiership force in 2023 but before that they can play spoiler for finals contenders the Cowboys, Eels and Sharks in coming weeks.

The Bulldogs ran in four tries to two, racking up more than 20 points for the fourth time in five weeks to pile on more home ground pain for the Knights this season.

Both clubs sat alongside each other on the Telstra Premiership ladder going into the contest but the difference in form and confidence between both couldn't be any more apart. 

Kiraz, who spent the off-season training with the Knights before gaining a release to return to Canterbury this year, had a treble by the 44th minute as the Bulldogs racked up a 24-4 lead.

Newcastle have lost five of their past six games and face the prospect of being without inspirational skipper Kalyn Ponga for an extended period after he suffered another concussion in the loss to the Roosters.

The Bulldogs are scoring tries and loving life, reviving 'The Entertainers' brand with 140 points in their past five matches and knocking off the Eels, Tigers and Titans along the way.

Latrell Mitchell starred for the Rabbitohs and provided the game-breaking moment when he sent Alex Johnston over for his second on the left edge with scores locked at 28-28 close to fulltime. 

Johnston crossed for a third two minutes later to ensure the Rabbitohs snatched a win that throughout the evening looked as though the Bulldogs were on their way to causing an upset. 

Both sides traded three tries each in the second half to set up a tied ball game before Johnston crossed for the third hat-trick of his season and 10th of his career.

After giving the Panthers a run for their money in round 13 the Bulldogs stunned the Eels in round 14 and beat the Tigers the following week before going toe to toe with the Sharks in atrocious conditions at CommBank Stadium in a creditable 12-point loss.

The Rabbitohs sit seventh after overcoming the loss of a number of key players to down Newcastle, but with games against the Storm, Sharks, Eels, Panthers and Cowboys to come, they can't afford any slip-ups against lower ranked opponents.

The accurate kicking of halfback Nicho Hynes, on a surface with plenty of standing water, was key to Cronulla building pressure on the scoreboard against a Bulldogs side who were reduced to a two-man bench midway through the second half. 

The match swung on a potential 12-point turnaround just after the hour mark, with the Dogs denied a try to rookie Kurtis Morrin after the NRL Bunker found a Sharks player was held back in the lead-up, before Nikora scored three minutes later. 

With Matt Burton and Josh Addo-Carr running amok out wide and Tevita Pangai jnr on a mission in the middle, the Bulldogs stormed to their third win of the season and gave hope for better things to come in the run home.

Interim coach Mick Potter has had his first taste of success after four games at the helm while his counterpart Brett Kimmorley will look to open his account in his second game at the helm.