Sunday 23 August 2015 21:22, UK
The injury-plagued Sydney Roosters beat Brisbane 12-10 on Saturday to move top of the NRL with two regular season rounds remaining.
Within the first 20 minutes the Roosters lost prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves for the remainder of the season with a knee injury, then half-back Mitchell Pearce for at least three weeks with a hamstring strain.
Prop Kane Evans was forced from the field for a concussion test with 12 minutes left, reducing the Roosters to only two bench players, but they were able to hold on to their 8-0 half-time lead.
Brisbane came back with a Corey Oates try with 19 minutes left on the clock, but the Roosters held on for their 16th win of the season.
The Roosters lead the table on points difference, ahead of Brisbane and North Queensland, who are both on 36 league points.
North Queensland claimed its share of the lead with a 50-16 win over the New Zealand Warriors. The win was particulary impressive given that they were initially 16-0 down, before scoring 50 unanswered points.
The Warriors' chances of reaching the top-eight ended with their sixth-straight loss.
South Sydney hold fourth place on 30 points, despite a 32-18 loss to the Canterbury Bulldogs who moved into seventh. They could still be dislodged from that position by Melbourne, who play Newcastle on Monday.
Cronulla also moved onto 30 points after a 40-18 win over Wests Tigers and are in fifth - two points ahead of Melbourne and the Bulldogs.
St George-Illawarra held eighth place after a 19-12 win over Penrith after ninth-placed Manly were beaten 20-16 by Parramatta.
The loss, which stemmed Manly's four-match winning streak, might also have cost them a place in the play-off.
"I think we were 21 sets from 40 completions which is just diabolical and our worst all year," Manly coach Geoff Toovey said.
"I thought all the luck was in our hands, the last three games if we kept winning, I thought we were a really good shot, but now we need some luck.
"But the performance we put on tonight, we don't deserve to be there."
The Roosters and Brisbane have both secured top-four placings and the Roosters remain favorites to win the premiership but injuries have the potential to derail their finals campaign.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck ran for 268 meters for the Roosters to lift his tally of running meters for the season to 4,717, breaking Anthony Minichiello's club record of 4,590 in 2004.
Broncos coach Wayne Bennett said he would not risk injured players in his team's remaining regular season matches against Souths and Melbourne.
"We're going to finish 1-3 anyway," Bennett said. "They're decisions to make down the track but regardless what happens in the next two weeks we're 1-3.
"I'm certainly not going to jeopardize any player at the moment."
North Queensland also emerged with injury concerns from their one-sided win over the Warriors, losing James Tamou to a neck injury and Michael Morgan with an injured ankle.
