League: Panthers out of playoffs race, Warriors next

The Penrith Panthers fell from the NRL playoff race yesterday when they were beaten 22-14 at Canberra and the New Zealand Warriors will be next out of contention after falling to 12th place when beaten in Townsville.

The Broncos hold a four-point lead on 28 on the competition ladder after beating the Sharks 22-10, three tries to two, penalties taking the game away from the visitors to Suncorp Stadium. The Sharks were beaten by a side that just seem to have too many bullets to fire.

Parramatta thrashed Souths 52-16 to secure second spot on 24 points, with many picking 28 as the minimum requirement to make the eight in a tight season.

Manly and Cronulla lost and the Cowboys won; all three sit on 22 points.

The Raiders led early, were overtaken when Preston Campbell ran 90m from the Panthers' try-line after Jason Smith was held back from making a tackle to set Paul Franze up to score, but toughed it out despite that injustice.

The Storm thrashed the Bulldogs 33-6 in Melbourne to confirm they are true premiership contenders, running away with the game late despite Kiwi second-rower David Kidwell being sin-binned. Fullback Billy Slater gave the Queensland selectors an eye-opener with two tries and a cut-down chase on Dogs fullback Luke Patten to prevent a try.

Wests Tigers demolished Manly 49-24 in front of 15,571 fans at Leichhardt Oval on Friday night, Benji Marshall error-ridden but scoring two tries from good work by half Scott Prince.

The Roosters, with four players in New South Wales or Queensland Origin camps ahead of Wednesday's state decider, and centre Ryan Cross suspended, beat the Knights, who had three - including Andrew Johns - in the Blues Origin camp 28-14.

The Knights looked full of confidence when they arrived at EnergyAustralia Stadium after upsetting Penrith last weekend to break a 13-game losing streak.

But that sinking feeling again enveloped the Knights as they walked off losers for the 14th time this season, despite an impressive hat-trick of tries to winger Trent Salkeld.

The Knights have now not beaten the Roosters since 2002 - a run of eight straight losses.

The Roosters were without Origin representatives Michael Crocker, Chris Flannery (Queensland), Craig Fitzgibbon and Anthony Minichiello (NSW), while NSW utility Craig Wing (hamstring) was out injured.

They were further depleted by mid-week suspensions to prop Adrian Morley (knee-lifting) and Ryan Cross (eye-gouging).

However, Newcastle - nursing an injury list of eight after winger Anthony Quinn succumbed to flu - had no answers.

Newcastle, Souths and Penrith are gooooone, as Fatty Vautin would say on the Footy Show, and the Warriors teeter at the cliff top.