Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/p>\nBroncos stars return for Roosters clash | 00:45<\/p>\n
4. SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS (No change)<\/p>\n
Well, that was about as comprehensive of a performance as the Rabbitohs have put together in recent years.<\/p>\n
Everyone knew South Sydney was capable of piling on the points as was the case in Round 1 against the Dolphins, but the 36-34 loss to the Raiders in Perth was just a reminder of the defensive frailties that hold the Rabbitohs from being billed as true premiership contenders.<\/p>\n
They seemed like the kind of team that would rather score 32 points to win than concede fewer than 30, but in the past two weeks Wayne Bennett\u2019s men have let in just 18 points and the 48-6 demolition job of Melbourne was as impressive as wins come.<\/p>\n
Granted, this is a shadow of last year\u2019s Storm team but the Rabbitohs hadn\u2019t even won at AAMI Park before so you have to give them credit for that result.<\/p>\n
5. WESTS TIGERS (No change)<\/p>\n
The hype train rolls on. <\/p>\n
But Benji Marshall is keeping a lid on things and last Thursday\u2019s win against the Raiders was proof of it.<\/p>\n
Instead of letting the disappointment of a 21-20 loss to the Broncos get to them, the Tigers moved on from that result just as quickly as they have put all the wins behind them this year.<\/p>\n
The result was an impressive 33-14 win. The Tigers didn\u2019t have it all their way, going into halftime trailing 14-10 after opening up an early 10-0 lead.<\/p>\n
But they went on to outscore the Raiders 23-0 in the second half to prove they are the real deal this year.<\/p>\n
6. BRISBANE BRONCOS (No change)<\/p>\n
All these injuries were supposed to derail this season. <\/p>\n
Instead, all the adversity looks to have galvanised the Broncos who have now won back-to-back games against the Tigers and Bulldogs. <\/p>\n
The next three weeks (Roosters, Sea Eagles, Warriors) will be challenging but if Brisbane has proved anything in the past fortnight it is that Michael Maguire\u2019s ability to tell a story and motivate his players is second to none. <\/p>\n
The defending premiers also have both great depth and a culture that extends beyond the biggest names on the roster.<\/p>\n
Undermanned Bronx run riot over Dogs | 01:59<\/p>\n
7. MANLY SEA EAGLES (No change)<\/p>\n
What a turnaround it has been under interim coach Kieran Foran. <\/p>\n
It almost feels like the Sea Eagles should be higher, except for the fact the teams above them have been more consistent for the entire year.<\/p>\n
Should Foran lead the Sea Eagles to their biggest win of the year against the Panthers on Sunday, it will mark five-straight victories.<\/p>\n
That would be the first time since 2017 that Manly has achieved that feat, although Foran will again have to pull it off without star fullback Tom Trbojevic and for the record, Manly is 0-6 against Penrith without him.<\/p>\n
8. DOLPHINS (No change)<\/p>\n
So close but so far.<\/p>\n
The Dolphins have been much-improved since the 52-18 loss to Manly, suffering back-to-back defeats against the Panthers and Warriors.<\/p>\n
It was always going to be hard following up that Sea Eagles with games against two of the competition heavyweights, but the fact they have lost by a combined three points will please coach Kristian Woolf. <\/p>\n
It makes the prospect of playing finals football that much harder for the Dolphins, but if you are putting the process above results right now they are on the right track and don\u2019t deserve to fall lower.<\/p>\n
9. CANBERRA RAIDERS (No change)<\/p>\n
The Raiders really feel like they should be lower, but they started to move their way up the power rankings and build momentum with back-to-back wins over the Rabbitohs and Storm.<\/p>\n
Last week\u2019s loss to the Tigers, however, was disappointing as ill-discipline and errors left coach Ricky Stuart frustrated.<\/p>\n
The loss of Jamal Fogarty was always going to hurt, but even if he was around it would be hard for him to keep the Raiders on track with all their self-inflicted mistakes.<\/p>\n
10. NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS (Up 3)<\/p>\n
They are technically one of the most in-form teams from the past month with five wins from their last six games. The only problem is that one loss to Manly (38-6) was awful.<\/p>\n
But the Cowboys proved on Friday that if they hold onto the ball they have to attack to blow away nearly any team on the park.<\/p>\n
The 34 points conceded was not ideal, and if anything the Cowboys look like this year\u2019s version of the Dolphins. They are a fun team capable of outscoring anyone on their day, but their defence isn\u2019t consistent enough to make them a legitimate premiership threat let alone a locked-in top-eight team.<\/p>\n
Cowboys survive Sharks fightback | 03:31<\/p>\n
11. BULLDOGS (Down 1)<\/p>\n
That win against the Panthers is doing a lot of heavy lifting right now.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, their only other two victories have coming against the Dragons and Raiders.<\/p>\n
But that 32-16 statement earlier this month was proof that the Bulldogs have the formula to beat the top teams in the competition.<\/p>\n
It must just be frustrating for their fans to then watch this team follow that performance up by conceding 70 points against the Eels and Broncos. <\/p>\n
So much has been made of their attack but maybe the Bulldogs need to just lean even more into their strengths in defence and hope that defensive pressure leads to mistakes and easier points?<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t mean they can\u2019t work on their attack, it\u2019s just that often the team that wins the premiership has an elite defence and the Bulldogs at minimum used to have that going for them.<\/p>\n
12. NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS (Down 1)<\/p>\n
After a promising start to the year, the Knights have fallen down the power rankings following three-straight losses.<\/p>\n
It is hard to be too critical of coach Justin Holbrook in his first year in charge given there weren\u2019t high expectations of the club, and anything outside of bottom-four finish was probably a pass mark and proof that the Knights were at least trending in the right direction.<\/p>\n
Kalyn Ponga has also re-signed in a vote of confidence, while in their defence the slew of injuries in the second row hasn\u2019t helped along with Ponga and Bradman Best being sidelined.<\/p>\n
Those two are back this week and while the red-hot Rabbitohs are a stern task, next week\u2019s game against the Dragons should give a fair indication of how far Newcastle has come this year.<\/p>\n
13. CRONULLA SHARKS (Down 1)<\/p>\n
The Sharks are one of several teams this year that are just hard to get a read on. <\/p>\n
They looked on track for an impressive win against the Roosters in Perth before crumbling in the second half and then gave up 46 points to the Cowboys in Townsville last Friday.<\/p>\n
If anything, the big question mark over the Sharks in previous seasons was the ability of the spine \u2014 and the halves in particular \u2014 to consistently deliver in attack.<\/p>\n
But this season the defence isn\u2019t holding up either when that was usually the one constant under coach Craig Fitzgibbon.<\/p>\n
The Sharks look like they are trending towards another year where they are good but not good enough to go to the next level, and if they miss the eight serious questions will be asked.<\/p>\n
Fitzy: “We need an attitude check” | 03:27<\/p>\n
14. PARRAMATTA EELS (No change)<\/p>\n
Like Brisbane, Parramatta is in the midst of an injury crisis so results like last week\u2019s 33-18 loss to Manly are to be expected. <\/p>\n
The majority of their injured brigade are not tipped to be back until Round 13 at the earliest, leaving tough games against the Warriors, Cowboys and desperate Storm to come. <\/p>\n
Up until they start to have their full compliment of players available, coach Jason Ryles will escape any real criticism. Although they can\u2019t afford more blowouts like the one against the Titans.<\/p>\n
All this playing group needs to show right now is a bit of fight.<\/p>\n
15. MELBOURNE STORM (No change)<\/p>\n
What is going on? <\/p>\n
The Storm aren\u2019t just losing, they are getting dominated. This isn\u2019t like the Panthers last year.<\/p>\n
Sure, they had a few poor performances but Penrith was not on the wrong end of a 48-6 scoreline. <\/p>\n
If was any other team it would well and truly be time to panic, but given his reputation there are still plenty of people holding off writing Craig Bellamy and the Storm off.<\/p>\n
A loss this week to the Dolphins, even without Jahrome Hughes, may make it hard for even the most loyal Storm supporters to argue this season can be saved.<\/p>\n
16. GOLD COAST TITANS (No change)<\/p>\n
No change from last week as the Titans had the bye, with a winnable game against the Raiders this round.<\/p>\n
17. DRAGONS (No change)<\/p>\n
Foran may have magically turned things around at Manly, but the Dragons have proved that sacking the coach won\u2019t always lead to overnight success. <\/p>\n
Dean Young warned as much in his first press conference when he stressed that Kade Reed would not be the saviour and was proved right in a 62-16 smashing at the hands of the Roosters.<\/p>\n
While Reed struggled with the physicality of the NRL, there were glimpses of his potential in attack and more than anything it was promising to see a young playmaker backing his instincts. <\/p>\n
Reed\u2019s teammates didn\u2019t help him with poor discipline gifting the Roosters multiple tries and the bye week will be a much-needed chance for Young to reset and implement any strategic changes he sees fit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Panthers remain on top of the NRL power rankings for another week and after a largely predictable…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-639699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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