NRL round-up: Melbourne Storm defeat Dragons to extend lead

Suliasi Vunivalu, Josh Addo-Carr and Billy Slater all scored two tries apiece as Melbourne consolidated their lead in the NRL with a 34-22 win over second-placed St George Illawarra.

Melbourne raced to a 22-0 first-half lead before Dragons winger Jason Nightingale put his team on the board with the first of his three tries just before half-time.

Slater's double in the 45th and 53rd minutes inflated Melbourne's lead to 34-4 but the Dragons produced a spirited last 20 minutes to steadily close the gap with tries to Nightingale in the 59th and 71st minutes and to Cameron McInnes in the 66th.

Cameron Smith kicked his 943rd career goal to beat Jason Taylor's record for the most goals by an individual in NRL history.

The Dragons finished with 18 unanswered points, taking advantage of the sin-binning of Cooper Cronk, but Melbourne were able to complete their eighth win from nine games and to increase their lead at the top of the table to four points.

The Dragons remain in second place but level on points with Cronulla, Brisbane and Sydney Roosters.

Chad Townsend scored a late try to clinch Cronulla's 22-16 win over injury-hit Wests Tigers.

Wests lost captain Aaron Woods and full-back James Tedesco to serious injuries in the first half and played on bravely with only 15 fit men. Woods was later ruled out of Australia's Test against New Zealand in Canberra on Friday.

Wests still clung to a lead until the 69th minute when Townsend recovered his own kick ahead to score.

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"We had a lot of very brave boys out there tonight, playing injured and we lost a few troops," said Wests coach Ivan Cleary.

"There were positive signs there but in the end the tries we conceded were disappointing and we had every right to stop them."

Shaun Johnson kicked a 79th-minute penalty to give New Zealand Warriors a thrilling 14-13 win over Sydney Roosters.

The Roosters led 13-12 with a minute to play but the referees penalised an offside play by the Roosters and Johnson kicked the winning goal from close range.

Brisbane were 32-18 winners over Penrith at Suncorp Stadium on Thursday. The Broncos led 22-0 at half-time and 28-0 early in the second spell before Penrith flared into life with tries to Trent Merrin, Matt Moylan and Reagan Campbell-Gillard.

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A late try from Matt Gillett clinched Brisbane's win but it came at a price when centre James Roberts was stretchered from the field five minutes from full time.

In other matches, Akuila Uate scored four tries Manly beat South Sydney 46-8, Parramatta defeated North Queensland 26-6 and Gold Coast were 38-8 winners over Newcastle.