NRL Round Up – Round Nine

St George-Illawarra Dragons remain top of the NRL table. Melbourne Storm go second and push Brisbane into third, while a Brett Stewart hat-trick condemns Canberra to an eighth straight defeat.

St George-Illawarra Dragons remain top of the NRL table thanks to a 22-8 win over North Queensland Cowboys at the Jubilee Oval on Sunday.

The telling moment came in the first half when the Dragons defended five consecutive sets before Ben Hornby took an interception and sent Brett Morris over for a 12-2 lead.

Dean Young had opened the scoring for the Dragons, and later tries from Kyle Stanley and Hornby were too much for the now-dispirited Cowboys.

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Melbourne Storm pushed Brisbane Broncos into third place with a 29-22 win at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.

The Storm had led 12-0 in the first half and then 22-12 going into the final quarter, but tries from Gerard Beale (2) and Dane Gagai levelled matters.

Cooper Cronk edged Melbourne back ahead with a 40m drop goal before Cameron Smith’s kick to the in-goal area was touched down by Anthony Quinn.

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A brace of tries from James Maloney helped NZ Warriors to a 34-14 win over Gold Coast Titans, despite a hat-trick from Titans’ David Mead.

The New Zealanders led 22-8 at the half-time interval and went on to secure their third straight win thanks to tries from Elijah Taylor, Manu Vatevai, Simon Mannering and Lewis Brown, as well as Maloney.

The win puts the Warriors eighth in the NRL table while the Titans slip to 14th.

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Canberra Raiders remain rooted to the foot of the table after a dismal 20-0 defeat at the hands of Manly Sea Eagles on Monday night at Brookvale Oval.

Brett Stewart had the most to celebrate for Manly: after two years of legal battles and injuries that kept him on 98 career tries he scored a hat-trick to take him beyond the 100-try milestone.

The Sea Eagles’ other try came from Michael Robertson, sealing Canberra’s eighth straight defeat with the Raiders making the journey to face Melbourne Storm next week.