1. St George Illawarra Dragons (Last Week: 1): Huge win in their heavyweight clash with the Storm, and as Craig Bellamy said, they're the benchmark right now.
2. New Zealand Warriors (2): Bounced back from that shellacking at the hands of the Storm last week to easily beat the Tigers at home.
All smiles: A swarm of dragons celebrate with Tim Lafai after his try.
Photo: AAP
3. Melbourne Storm (3): Well beaten at Kogarah last week, but back at their happy hunting ground Suncorp to take on the Titans in a double header on Friday.
4. South Sydney Rabbitohs (6): Have mostly beaten teams outside the top eight, and lost to four teams currently in finals positions. Huge test against the Dragons this Sunday.
5. Penrith Panthers (4): Won their last three Bathurst clashes before it all came tumbling down against the Cowboys – injuries are piling up, but their record remains strong.
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6. Brisbane Broncos (7): Just squeaked by the Bulldogs at home in controversial fashion – need a big performance against Manly this week.
7. Cronulla Sharks (8): Survived against the Eels when they looked to be cruising to a big win – are finding their feet after a slow start.
8. Wests Tigers (5): The wheels are starting to come off the bus as they were thrashed in New Zealand. Need to bounch back at Leichhardt this week.
9. Sydney Roosters (10): Still treading water in the middle of the table after they just did enough to get past Manly on Sunday afternoon.
10. Canberra Raiders (11): Their best showing of the year as they blitzed the Titans at home, and are looking a completely different team to the one we saw in March.
11. North Queensland Cowboys (12): Ground out a win in Bathurst and are no longer equal-last on the table.
12. Newcastle Knights (9): Smashed at home by Souths but get a chance to bounce straight back with another home game this Friday against a depleted Panthers.
13. Gold Coast Titans (13): Completely outplayed in Canberra and may have lost their best player, Jai Arrow, to injury for a week or two.
14. Parramatta Eels (14): Almost came back from the dead to produce a stunning comeback against Cronulla – looking a lot better than a month ago.
15. Canterbury Bankstown-Bulldogs (15): Very unlucky to lose in Brisbane, and only have two wins to show for the season so far.
16. Manly Sea Eagles (16): A shock win against the Roosters would have fixed the week from hell to some extent, but they came up just short.
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Matt Bungard is a journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald.
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