Manly Sea Eagles

A golden chance to join the top eight went begging last week for Manly when they fell to the Roosters 26-16, despite dominating the possession count and playing against a side who were a man down for the final 18 minutes.

While they remain just one point back from the eighth-placed Rabbitohs heading into Round 24, they will almost definitely need to win one, if not both, of their next two games against the ladder-leading Panthers and third-ranked Warriors to remain a chance of playing beyond the regular season.

The Sea Eagles ran in 22 straight points during the match to ensure Cherry-Evans' milestone game was a night to remember after St George Illawarra took an 8-0 lead early.

Despite a spirited second half effort from the Red V to get within a try late, the Sea Eagles did enough to hold on for their first victory in Wollongong since 2003 after previously losing 10 of 11 matches at WIN Stadium.

St George Illawarra secured a crucial two points against Wests Tigers which should all but help them avoid any thought of a wooden spoon at the club while the Sea Eagles survived a scare in Cronulla to stay within reach of the top eight.

Every week presents a new narrative for the Dragons ahead of Shane Flanagan's takeover next season and for the time being it seems winning after a bye week has help settling things down for the Red V. 

The Sea Eagles started strongly but the Storm scored 24 unanswered points in the absence of star playmaker Cameron Munster, who wore a medical mask in the coaches box after being ruled out with a virus.

In his place, Pezet stepped up and the 20-year-old combined with halfback Jahrome Hughes to give Melbourne a three-way share of first place along with the Panthers and Broncos, who face the Titans on Sunday. 

Both sides will be sweating on the availability of their Origin stars, who will have three days to rest and recover from Game Two in Brisbane on Wednesday night.

Melbourne's depth was on show at Campbelltown Stadium on Saturday night with Jonah Pezet doing a fine job alongside Jahrome Hughes in the halves and winger George Jennings running for 198 metres in his first game of the season.

As the club celebrated the 40-year anniversary of their 1983 Grand Final win over Manly, the current day Eels produced a dominant first half showing which saw them run in four tries, all of which were converted by Clint Gutherson, to establish a 24-4 lead. 

Brad Arthur's men owned possession of the ball for most of the match and in the end Manly had just 37 percent of the Steeden, which equated to 12 fewer sets than the Eels and forced them to make 120 extra tackles. 

On the eve of the New South Wales team being named, Trbojevic, who endured a patchy start to the year littered with injury niggles, stood tall with a hat-trick of tries and 239 running metres.

Two of those four-pointers were assisted by five-eighth Josh Schuster, who after three weeks out injured returned with a bang, finishing the game with three try assists and scoring one of his own. 

The victory at GIO Stadium snapped a three-game losing streak for the Sea Eagles, who have now won six of their last eight against Canberra. 

After being beaten soundly by the Rabbitohs last week, Brisbane returned to form in style in front of a crowd of 50,077 at Suncorp Stadium, running in six tries in a dominant display. 

Winger Selwyn Cobbo scored half of those tries himself and ran for 202 metres, with the only blight from a Brisbane point of view being the loss of back-rower Kurt Capewell to a failed HIA in the second half. 

The Broncos took little time to get going, with Reece Walsh linking with Selwyn Cobbo for the opening try, before Billy Walters burrowed over to give them a 10-0 lead on 15 minutes. 

Manly's loss to the Titans was a disappointing one given they were at fortress Brookvale and it won't get any easier with their next trip north classed as a home game when they host the ladder leaders.

The Broncos were comprehensively beaten by South Sydney with their second half efforts exposed in the past fortnight in a concern for Kevin Walters. 

Traditionally these two sides pile on the points against each other in Magic Round with the Broncos scoring a 38-0 win last year while in 2021 the Sea Eagles racked up a 50-6 scoreline against their opponents. 

In a drama-filled contest that was reminiscent of the infamous Battle of Brookvale in 2011, three players were sin-binned and only one try was scored each for 74 minutes before Taniela Paseka and Lachlan Croker linked late to seal the win. 

A huge hit from Haumole Olakau'atu and Josh Aloiai on Justin Olam set the tone for the evening in a response that coach Anthony Seibold would've been pleased with the immediate intensity turnaround after last week's lacklustre effort.