South Sydney Rabbitohs stretched their winning run to nine NRL matches with a 24-6 defeat of Canterbury Bulldogs and Canberra Raiders beat North Queensland Cowboys despite losing Jarrod Croker to a dislocated knee.
Robert Jennings scored a hat-trick as the Rabbitohs remained two points clear of Melbourne Storm at the top of the ladder with another clinical performance at ANZ Stadium on Saturday.
Jennings went over for the opening try after a Rhyse Martin penalty put the Bulldogs in front and Adam Reynolds rounded off a magnificent team score following incisive runs from Damien Cook, Angus Crichton and Cody Walker to give the Bunnies a 12-4 lead at half-time.
Reynolds added a penalty early in the second half and his grubber resulted in a second try for Jennings, who took over as the leading try-scorer in the NRL with his 16th of the season nine minutes from time.
The Raiders continued their push for a top-eight spot with a 38-12 win over the Cowboys, Michael Oldfield scoring three of their seven tries.
Canberra suffered a huge setback when they lost captain Croker, who limped off after half an hour at GIO Stadium, but his replacement, Blake Austin, took advantage of indecisiveness from Kyle Feldt to nip in and touch down just after coming on.
Oldfield went over twice in the second half - completing his treble by running almost the length of the field - and there was a double for Jordan Rapana, while Aidan Sezer finished with a 14-point haul after taking over kicking duties from the skipper.
Melbourne Storm edged out Manly Sea Eagles 14-13 at Lottoland, Cameron Smith scoring a decisive penalty with nine minutes remaining.
Unimpressed Manly coach Trent Barrett said he would seek clarification over the offside rule, stating that a scrum rather than a penalty should have been awarded after watching Smith win it late on.
