The Melbourne Storm have regained fourth spot on the NRL ladder after being made to earn a gritty 38-28 victory over St George Illawarra in Wollongong.
Earlier, defending premier Penrith made it eight wins in a row, taking care of business with a comfortable 40-14 defeat of Gold Coast.
Meanwhile, Wests Tigers marked Benji Marshall's appointment as head coach for next season with a dramatic and drought-breaking 24-23 win over the Dolphins.
The 16th-placed Dragons threatened to wage one of the upsets of the season on Saturday night, scoring three tries in a 13-minute skirmish to lead the perennial heavyweights 18-4.
A first-half treble to rookie winger Will Warbrick helped the Storm chase their lead down by the break but the Dragons refused to go away.
The Storm were only home when a tackle from Eli Katoa dislodged the ball from Ben Hunt's grasp and into Jahrome Hughes's hands during the final three minutes.
Hughes sprinted 35 metres to the line, sealing the result and continuing the Dragons' recent trend of losing close matches.
The victory keeps the Storm's top-four hopes in their own hands and ensures they will finish the weekend in fourth position, one win clear of fifth-placed Cronulla.
Sixth-placed Canberra's inferior for-and-against means the Storm are all but guaranteed the crucial double chance in the first week of the finals if they win in round 26 and 27.
After three tight losses leading into the Storm encounter, the Dragons appeared determined to break back into the winners' circle and were the more disciplined side early.
Hunt pulled the strings as the Dragons established an early lead but as has been the case all season, the Dragons' left-edge defence let them down.
Warbrick confirmed a hat-trick by catching a cut-out pass from Katoa and belting 30 metres down the right edge with a burst of speed.
Xavier Coates levelled the scores with a contender for try of the season.
He broke through the brittle Dragons frontline and bulldozed past fullback Tyrell Sloan on his way to a try from 65 metres.
It was again down the right side that the Storm reclaimed the lead in the second half with a double to second rower Katoa.
Saints looked primed to draw level when Moses Suli's offload sent Mikaele Ravalawa over in the final six minutes at 30-28.
But Hunt, kicking in place of the injured Zac Lomax, missed his conversion attempt from the sidelines.
It took the bounce of a ball — into the arms of Hughes — for the Storm to seal an unconvincing win.
Panthers tame Titans
The Panthers scored four of the first five tries to set up the victory, overcoming some uncharacteristic defensive lapses to surge home.
The Titans offered little in a poor first half in which some lackadaisical efforts gifted the Panthers their advantage but sparked to life with a quickfire double to start the second term and make the contest interesting.
Winger Alofiana Khan-Pereira began their comeback with a flying effort in the corner shortly after the break and power forward David Fifita crossed shortly afterwards to drag the score back to 22-14, before the Panthers rebounded with three tries in 10 minutes.
The win carries Penrith back to the top of the ladder just a fortnight from finals, although coach Ivan Cleary would be far from impressed with some of his side's defensive efforts that left the door open for the Titans.
Eliminated from finals contention last weekend, the Titans were caught out in a number of lazy moments, including a poor missed tackle from Moeaki Fotuaika that allowed Isaah Yeo to crash over for a try in the 21st minute.
Yeo's try, followed soon after by Titan Aaron Schoupp being sent to the sin-bin for tackling a player without the ball, allowed the Panthers to take over.
They immediately targeted Schoupp's edge for centre Tyrone Peachey to pick through his gap, before a clever kick from Stephen Crichton let young winger Tom Jenkins grab another try as the Panthers raced to a 22-6 lead at the break.
After the Titans' second-half resurgence, Crichton cut open the Gold Coast line and put Dylan Edwards through, before halfback Nathan Cleary capped a textbook kicking display with an inch-perfect bomb for second rower Liam Martin to ground.
Crichton added a powerful late try to his two assists as Penrith ran up the score.
A disappointing night for the Titans was made even worse with a knee injury for young gun Jayden Campbell, who stayed down after folding over while running with the ball in the second half.
Campbell was spotted on the bench wearing a knee brace after being taken from the field.
Earlier, Klese Haas had fired up the Gold Coast crowd with a stunning try inside three minutes, carving his way through the Panthers' line and bursting away to give his side an early lead.
Tigers discover winning form
The Tigers won in dramatic circumstances after a sideline penalty-goal attempt from stand-in goal kicker and halfback Api Koroisau — kicked from 30 metres out — ricocheted off the crossbar and flew over with three minutes left on the clock.
The Tigers then held on in the desperate closing stages to snap a 10-match losing streak stretching back to mid-May and end a week of upheaval and turmoil with renewed hope.
With the departing Tim Sheens officially still head coach until season's end, Marshall will not be credited with his first win as an NRL head coach but he had reason to enjoy the performance from the Tigers.
Incredibly, the hapless joint venture side had not tasted success since romping to a record 66-18 win over North Queensland in round 12.
Saturday's victory, which sent the near-10,000 home spectators at Western Sydney Stadium into raptures, also offers the Tigers a glimmer of hope of avoiding a second straight wooden spoon.
They still must beat the Sydney Roosters and Manly in their remaining two matches and sweat on St George Illawarra losing to Melbourne Storm, the Warriors and Newcastle to avert another last-place finish.
But with premiership-winning club legend Marshall taking the reins a year earlier than had been planned, suddenly the Tigers faithful have reason to believe.
For the injury-hit Dolphins, it was a bitterly disappointing defeat.
A field goal from winger Jamayne Isaako with five minutes remaining had earned the Dolphins a 23-22 lead, which looked like consigning the Tigers to an 11th consecutive loss.
Instead Koroisau stepped up to become the hero.
The NSW State of Origin hooker was only kicking — and playing halfback — after regular number seven and Manly-bound star Luke Brooks was ruled out of the match with a calf injury.
The Tigers looked like doing it easily when stand-in hooker Jake Simpkin dived over from dummy half in the 56th minute to extend the home side's lead to eight points.
But they invited the Dolphins back into the contest with a soft try to interchange sub Trai Fuller on debut and a sloppy penalty for an obstruction while in possession in front of their own posts.
Then the drama and excitement really unfolded in a showdown otherwise featuring two bottom-eight sides long out of the finals race.
Story By: AAP/ABC
Original Story link: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-19/nrl-tigers-dolphins-panthers-titans-storm-dragons/102751516
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