League: NRL weekend wrap

SYDNEY - Wests Tigers beat South Sydney yesterday but they are expecting a bigger league prize later this week with the signing of their Kiwis star Benji Marshall to a three-year-contract.

Marshall, his halfback Scott Prince and fullback Brett Hodgson are all expected to re-sign with the Tigers, as the club seeks to profit from their success this season.

Yesterday was the first time the joint-venture club had won four matches in a row.

Marshall's contract is expected to be worth $A320,000 ($361,000) a season, just ahead of Prince's $A300,000, and Hodgson will get $A400,000 over the next two seasons, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

"The Tigers have been great to me. They've looked after me since I left New Zealand as a teenager and I want to repay that faith," Marshall said.

The trio are off-contract at the end of the season, but the Tigers will open talks with them today and expect to sign them early this week.

The Tigers were on song yesterday, beating the Rabbitohs 42-20, with hooker Robbie Farah scoring a hat-trick of tries.

The win moved them from seventh equal in the NRL competition to third-equal, such is the bottleneck occurring in the top eight.

The Brisbane Broncos still lead the table by six points, despite their loss to the Canterbury Bulldogs on Friday.

The Parramatta Eels, who lost to the Newcastle Knights on Saturday, are second on 26 points, two points ahead of the Melbourne Storm, North Queensland, St George-Illawarra, the Tigers, Cronulla Sharks and Manly Sea Eagles, who round out the top eight.

Like the Tigers, St George are also on a roll.

The Saints marched to their 10th win in 13 games at OKI Jubilee Stadium with a 20-10 win over Cronulla, who have now lost six of their past eight games.

Newcastle may be out of contention for the final eight, but they have hit a late season surge and are demanding respect from their opponents.

The Eels may have lacked that respect after easily heading to a 10-0 lead at Parramatta Stadium on Saturday night, before Andrew Johns took control of the match as the Knights went out to a 16-10 lead with 30 minutes to go and stayed there.

While the Knights are impressing, the Panthers aren't and their season effectively ended when they were beaten by the Cowboys 38-18 in Townsville.

The Cowboys extinguished any hopes Penrith had of making the top eight when they charged out to a 30-6 lead by halftime.

The Sydney Roosters' chances took another dive when they were trumped 24-10 by the Storm in Melbourne while the Bulldogs continued their good form, beating Brisbane 29-22. The New Zealand Warriors defeated the Canberra Raiders 24-16 at Ericsson Stadium on Saturday night, to keep their slim play-off hopes alive.

- NZPA