Last year’s grand finalists have cemented themselves as the teams to beat in 2019 after downing their top-four rivals on NRL’s super Sunday.
Defending champions Sydney Roosters put themselves two points clear in second-place with a hard-fought 22-18 win over Canberra while Melbourne’s charge to the minor premiership continued with a 26-16 victory over South Sydney.
In-form fullback James Tedesco played a leading hand with two try assists for the Tricolours as the defending premiers made it four wins on the spin amid a finals-like atmosphere in Canberra.
“Our Roosters style holds up under big time conditions, under pressure, we know that,” champion halfback Cooper Cronk told Fox Sports.
“It’s obviously round 21, a good performance, there’s some big games around the corner but the way that we like to play football is we base ourselves on performance, not wins and losses.
“We’ll see how we go and we’ll keep competing.”
The loss in front of 19,530 fans – the biggest regular season crowd at GIO Stadium since 2010 – ends third-placed Canberra’s four-game winning run but Ricky Stuart’s men showed they’ll be no pushover in September with a gutsy display.
The Roosters’ quest to become the first team to go back-to-back in a unified competition since Brisbane in 1993 looks increasingly dependent on overcoming a rampant Storm.
Despite Ryan Papenhuyzen (mid-foot sprain), Brandon Smith (ankle sprain) and Jahrome Hughes (back spasms) all missing due to injury, Melbourne were too good for the fourth-placed Rabbitohs in Gosford.
Before a 19,533-strong crowd, the Storm fought back after giving up an early 12-point lead and now hold a six-point buffer at the top of the table.
A victory next weekend at home against the Raiders will all but secure the minor premiership for Craig Bellamy’s men.
While Wayne Bennett’s Rabbitohs, playing without influential captain Sam Burgess, did well to make a match of it from 12-0 down, the loss leaves them looking nervously at those just outside the top four.
Manly and Parramatta are both two points behind the Rabbitohs, who have lost six of their past nine matches.
The Rabbitohs face Canterbury next weekend with the Bulldogs on a high after their nail-biting two-point win over Wests Tigers on Saturday.
“If we’d have played like we did last week against Cronulla I would’ve said we might as well not turn up in September but we’ve shown some real quality there tonight,” Souths coach Wayne Bennett said.
“Not perfect. Most of the things we can do better we can fix up.
“Disappointed we lost but at the same time there’s some good things to come out of it.”
The Sea Eagles, defeated by the Warriors in Auckland, face the Tigers at Lottoland while Parramatta take on the hapless Gold Coast.
In other matches over the weekend, Brisbane moved into the top eight with a win over rivals North Queensland which effectively ends the Cowboys’ season.
Seventh-placed Penrith secured a vital win over Cronulla (ninth) while the Eels all but ensured Newcastle won’t play in the finals with a 20-14 win on Saturday night.
In a battle of the basement, St George Illawarra defeated the Titans 40-28 to effectively hand the Gold Coasters collect the wooden spoon.
