The Storm have continued their strong commitment, despite playing for no points – raining down tries on the struggling Cowboys 34-6 at Dairy Farmers in front of near 20,000 local Queensland fans.
It was a near back to his best Greg Inglis on show, with halfback Cooper Cronk also having a strong game. For the Cowboys, the pain continues not only on the ladder – but on the playing roster too. Jonathan Thurston again injured, his shoulder looking to have serious damge – and should see him miss the upcoming test match.
The Sharks were led to the slaughter at WIN Stadium, with the Dragons going on a serious romp – winning 38-0 after a 7 try to zip thrashing of Cronulla.
Ricky Stuart and his team will immediately be back on suicide watch as St George Illawarra led by usual suspect Brett Morris who bagged a double and a Mat Cooper of old, who grabbed to touchdowns for himself to put the sword through the Sharks.
The bad news for the Dragons came in the form of losing dominant defender Beau Scott with a knee problem. Scott could be out for up to 4 weeks.
In top of losing Scott, coach Wayne Bennett highlighted the fact that his side is set to go through a tough period now with representative duties sure to hurt his mob. City v Country, Sate of Origin and Australian duties will surely involve plenty of Dragons.
The Penrith dream run came crashing down on the Gold Coast, with the Titans inflicting a 38-24 win over the Panthers with captain Scott Prince right back to his best.
Many felt 5 weeks on the sidelines for Price would see his timing a little out, or him play a slightly reserved role. But the dominant half was highly involved, bagging a try for himself and booting 7 goals to notch up an 18 point tally for the game.
As is so often the case for Penrith, no Frank Pritchard means a struggle to win. Pritchard was hurt in the warm-up, his groin injury ruling him out of the game and this obviously had a big impact on his side.
The Titans usual suspects of Prince and Campbell were leading their charge, but coach John Cartwright would have been happy with the continued improvement of Greg Bird – with the bad boy highly involved and looking more settled in this side.
Gold Coast fans will take heed from some outstanding defence from their side. They continue to look more and more like a serious contender for the Premiership.
Penrith coach Matt Elliott felt his side were simply outplayed. It wasn’t a case of turning in a shocking effort, they were just jumped by a Titans who are playing good footy at the minute.
The Raiders have sprung an upset in their match, with a good away win over the Warriors in Auckland, winning 23-16 with the Green Machine throwing a Kiwi debutant into the fray in the form of Drury Low. The 20 year old Low bagged a double inside half an hour to get the Raiders off to a quality start.
The Warriors were left stunned after getting behind early, but were not without their chances. They created several linebusts, but were rarely able to find the final pass or play to get over the line.
It’s the first time in 6 clashes that the Raiders have won in Auckland and up until now, have won only 1 of their past 10 away matches. It is certainly a welcomed change for coach David Furner.
Canberra are now on 6 points and despite a slow start to the season are still well positioned enough to make a charge at the Top 8 come pay day.