Winger Keith Lulia grabbed four tries as Wests Tigers hammered Canterbury 46-18 at the Olympic stadium on Sunday, while the Panthers crashed out 32-12 to the defending champions Sydney Roosters.
Manly get the chance to go top with victory away to the St George Illawarra Dragons in the remaining game of the 19th round on Monday.
The Tigers piled on 34 unanswered points with Lulia and young gun Mitchell Moses at the vanguard of a spectacular comeback against the Bulldogs.
Teenage fullback Moses set up five tries in just his third NRL game and also ran for 113 metres, made two line breaks and kicked three goals in an outstanding performance for the Tigers.
The Tigers jumped to ninth place on the standings on 22 points, only outside the top eight on points differential, to get their season back on track after breaking a two-game losing streak.
The Roosters bounced back from two losses to lead from start to finish and rarely looked troubled against Penrith.
For the Panthers the emphatic defeat result will raise doubts about their bona fides against top sides.
– Defeat ends Knights finals hopes –
Coach Wayne Bennett was lost for answers after a lacklustre Newcastle failed to lift for the NRL’s Rise for Alex Round, falling 22-8 to the Gold Coast in Newcastle Sunday.
The defeat effectively ended the Knights’ slim finals chances.
Before a near capacity home crowd of more than 26,000, Alex McKinnon, who suffered a spinal injury playing a match in March, led the two teams out in a wheelchair for the game but the sluggish Knights struggled to deal with an emotion-charged occasion.
“These blokes rained on their own parade,” Bennett said. “It has just been such a crazy season I have given up trying to work out why. There is no reason for that type of performance from us today.
“It was pretty moving before the game when Alex came on the ground and their response to him. I thought those things kind of inspire you a little bit, they do for me anyway, but we are all different.”
English Test forward Sam Burgess led South Sydney to a 32-12 win over Parramatta.
The Rabbitohs controlled the game for the six-tries-to-two win with Burgess bustling his way over just before halftime and again minutes before the final whistle for tries.
Makeshift Brisbane centre Dale Copley was the unlikely second-half hero as the Broncos registered a thrilling 28-22 win over the New Zealand Warriors at Suncorp Stadium.
Copley scored two tries in three minutes midway through the second half to turn a 22-18 deficit into a six-point lead before Brisbane finally closed out a tight match.
Melbourne’s Mahe Fonua scored a try double as the Storm kept their finals ambitions on track with a 28-14 win over Canberra in Melbourne.
Test star Johnathan Thurston steered North Queensland to their first away win of the season and into the top eight with a 36-18 win over the Cronulla Sharks.
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