KEY POINTS:
The NRL will be ecstatic that with two rounds of 26 remaining, just half the eight playoff places are confirmed and seven teams remain in the running for the other four spots.
The Broncos, Raiders, Dragons, Warriors, Knights, Panthers and Eels are still in with a chance of finals football next month.
Of those, only the Warriors lost at the weekend, 34-6 to St George, but it is impossible to see Penrith beating the champion Melbourne Storm tonight.
If they do, they will leapfrog the Warriors, who have slipped from eighth to 10th, as well as the Eels and Knights, to take eighth spot.
The big games next weekend are St George versus Parramatta on Saturday and the Warriors-Panthers clash at Mt Smart on Sunday.
Win next Sunday and the Warriors will eliminate the threat from Penrith.
Lose and they can kiss goodbye to all playoff aspirations because of their shocking points differential.
The Raiders beat Souths 40-25 at the Olympic Stadium yesterday and so sit level with St George on 28 competition points, which looks like being the cut-off mark for the finals, but they have a points differential of 107 to the Dragons' 99.
The Titans are done for the year and so are the Tigers after losses at the weekend, but the NRL will be ecstatic that with two rounds of 26 remaining there are just four playoff places confirmed and seven teams remain in the running for the other four spots.
The Tigers held Manly to a 16-6 lead at the break in the double-header at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday but the Sea Eagles ran rampant in the second half.
The Eagles took a try then a penalty, after which the Tigers kicked out on the full and Manly scored again and the home team was broken.
Glenn Hall, Brett Stewart andSteve Menzies all got doubles in the 48-16 win.
It was the three-quarter mark when the Eels finally cracked the under-strength Bulldogs, turning a 12-6 half-time deficit to a 20-6 lead thanks to penalties and a kick-off out on the full. It wasn't unexpected as the inexperienced Bulldogs bench ran out of steam.
Parramatta now control their own destiny, needing wins over the Dragons next weekend and the Warriors whom they host in round26.
Teenage centre Jamaal Idris was the 38th player to appear for the Dogs in 2008 and during Saturday's game they passed the highest points-conceded total for the club.
The Knights were never under threat of losing to the Cowboys in Newcastle on Saturday night and won 38-24, six tries to four, to keep their playoff hopes alive.
But their last games are away to Melbourne then Brisbane and it appears captain Danny Buderus' season is over after he suffered a ruptured bicep.
The Roosters were never in the hunt at Cronullaand although coach Brad Fittler later said theylost 20-0 because he had not done enough preparationon the referee, Sydney's troubles run deeperthan that.
The team of stars is having trouble scoring, just six points in their past two games and three consecutive losses leaving them just one competition point up on Brisbane.
They face Souths next weekend then the Dragons to finish.
The Broncos skipper Darren Lockyer nearly pulled out of the match against the Gold Coast on Friday night with a virus. But it was he who slotted a field goal at 77 minutes to break a 20-all deadlock, Titans halfback Scott Prince replying to take the game into a golden point playoff and Lockyer then engineering a try for Kiwi Greg Eastwood four minutes into overtime for a 25-21 victory.
Brisbane should beat the Bulldogs away and the Knights at home to hang on to fifth spot and possibly leapfrog the Roosters to fourth.
The full-strength Storm are expected to swamp the Panthers in Penrith tonight.
