We almost had a full round over the weekend, with some big wins mixed in amongst some tight contests. The Sharks tore the Dolphins apart and the Raiders handed out similar treatment to the Bulldogs. The Tigers continued their plummet down the ladder, while the Cowboys found themselves a position in the Top 8.
Here's whose stocks are up and down after Round 19.
Our footy experts cast their eye over the week's action to find out whose stocks are up -- whether it's a coaching masterstroke or a player having a blinder -- and whose are down.
Brisbane Broncos
BYE
Canberra Raiders
Stocks up: This was Canberra finally putting all the pieces together. Ethan Sanders controlled the game beautifully, Owen Pattie produced two huge 40/20s and Zac Hosking cashed in with a hat-trick as the Raiders turned pressure into points almost every time they got the chance. Joe Tapine was immense through the middle and still making major plays late, which summed up the hunger in a performance that kept their slim finals hopes alive.
Stocks down: There isn't much beyond the fact they probably won't get this much cheap ball every week. The next test is reproducing the same composure and kicking pressure against a side that handles the early exchanges far better.
- Isaac Issa
Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs
Stocks up: Jethro Rinakama's try early in the second half briefly gave Canterbury something to build around, and they did at least keep competing late enough to add a couple of consolation tries.
Stocks down: This was a deeply concerning performance. The Bulldogs were 22-0 down at halftime, repeatedly came unstuck under Ethan Sanders' kicking game and committed far too many errors to ever make the contest stable. The frightening injury to Stephen Crichton then put the football itself into perspective, with the captain taken from the field after losing feeling in his arm. As if a 40-16 defeat wasn't bad enough, the uncertainty around their most important player made the night feel even heavier.
- Isaac Issa
Cronulla Sharks
Stocks up: This was as ruthless as Cronulla have looked all season. They ran in 11 tries, kept the Dolphins scoreless and never took their foot off the throat, with Nicho Hynes producing a club record 30-point haul through two tries and 11 goals. The most impressive part wasn't simply the attack, it was that even with the result long decided, their defence kept scrambling as though the game was still on the line.
Stocks down: There's genuinely nothing meaningful to criticise after the biggest win in the club's history. The only challenge is making sure a performance this dominant becomes a launchpad rather than a one-off high.
-- Isaac Issa
Dolphins
Stocks up: Honestly, there isn't much to salvage from this one. The Dolphins did at least keep pushing until the end, although the scoreline hardly seems like it. They will welcome back their Origin stars for next week's clash with the Cowboys.
Stocks down: Everything else. A 66-0 loss at home is brutal enough, but the way it unfolded was even worse. The Dolphins never found a foothold, never slowed Cronulla's momentum and looked completely spent by the finish. After an excellent run of form, this was the kind of result that forces a side to stop, reset and work out how things unravelled so badly.
-- Isaac Issa
Gold Coast Titans
Stocks up: Another brave loss, but this one will sting. A spirited fightback in the second half, but it was all underdone by some bad execution in the last few minutes and a pretty disappointing winning try to concede.
Stocks down: A win here would have got them completely out of the wooden spoon race, but instead that game against the Dragons in a few weeks is still lingering. It was a really poor showing against Canterbury before the bye and they had a great chance to make a statement here, but just couldn't get it done.
- Matt Bungard
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles
Stocks up: It's a tough loss to take, but I thought for the most part their forward pack did OK especially when you consider that they lost an 80-minute back-rower in the first few moments of the game. Their ability to win yardage battles was a knock on this team going into the year, but aside from the final few minutes they were performing pretty well in that regard in this one.
Stocks down: That's three losses in their past four and this one is probably the most frustrating, given they had this game well in hand after Jason Saab scored with 15 minutes to go. The Luke Brooks-less halves combination is still struggling to catch fire, and they seem to be lacking a killer instinct at the end of games.
-- Matt Bungard
Melbourne Storm
Stocks up: I really don't know what to make of this team - they were dead and buried a couple of months ago and you could probably have put a line through them if they lost this one, but the hunt for the finals goes on. Some nice moments in a pretty tough game, but with no Cam Munster and players missing in both the backline and second row, any win is a good one.
Stocks down: The Storm of old would have turned the screws at 18-6 and glided to a comfortable victory - but instead they went right back into their shell with that double digit lead and then needed some late brilliance to get it done. There's been a real difficulty for this team keeping the pedal down, even against lowly opposition.
- Matt Bungard
Newcastle Knights
Stocks up: They played some absolutely scintillating footy and on another day, could have been up by a lot in the first half. The execution was terrible and an inability to cash in on matchups that favoured them is the reason they lost this game. Ponga, Dylan Lucas and other stars combined to give us an extremely exciting finish but it was ultimately too little, too late.
Stocks down: Errors absolutely killed Newcastle. If Souths' problem was inviting their opponents back into the game with silly mistakes, the Knights' biggest issue was not capitalising on them. I'm not being hyperbolic, there's a world where Dom Young scores five tries in this game, there was that many chances. They won't be this profligate many more times this year, you'd imagine.
-- Matt Bungard
New Zealand Warriors
Stocks up: The second-placed Warriors traveled to Campbelltown to play the struggling Tigers and finished with a convincing victory indicative of their ladder positions. It was by no means a perfect performance, in fact awfully sloppy at times, but the application was good enough to overcome the lapses in execution. The moments of poor handling were also well covered by determined and effective defence.
Stocks down: Leading 14-6 at the break the Warriors started the second half with some expansive passing inside their own 40 metres. As with everything they do, it's either rocks or diamonds. This time they spilt the ball and put their defence under extreme pressure. There were way too many backline movements, particularly to the right, which ended in a poor pass and a dropped ball.
- Darren Arthur
North Queensland Cowboys
Stocks up: The wild ride continues for North Queensland, who leapfrog Manly after this win. Some incredible magic late on from their stars, especially Scott Drinkwater, who I still can't believe they're letting walk out of here. Jason Taumalolo's second stint was majestic as well - what a player.
Stocks down: It really did seem like someone flicked a switch on this team with 15 minutes left and they completely transformed. Suddenly, they were rolling down the field, scored two great tries, and were the only team that looked like winning in golden point. But where was it for the first hour or so of the game?
- Matt Bungard
Parramatta Eels
Stocks up: Parramatta made the Roosters work far harder than most expected. Without Mitchell Moses, they defended desperately through the opening half and even grabbed the lead after the break when Jack Williams burst into space and put Joash Papalii away. Williams' enormous defensive workload reflected a side that was willing to dig in and compete.
Stocks down: Eventually, the weight of possession and their own mistakes caught up with them. Ronald Volkman's failed HIA disrupted the halves, the errors kept handing the Roosters fresh opportunities, and once Tupou got rolling the Eels couldn't find a way to stop the surge. The effort was admirable, but they made an already difficult assignment much harder than it needed to be.
-- Isaac Issa
Penrith Panthers
BYE
St George Illawarra Dragons
BYE
South Sydney Rabbitohs
Stocks up: Any win without Cody Walker and Latrell Mitchell is an absolute bonus for this team, and against an opponent of Newcastle's quality it's a genuine surprise that they got this done. The forward pack took advantage of a weak Knights middle, David Fifita was excellent again and Brandon Smith's renaissance continues. A huge, huge victory and with Walker back next week and Mitchell the week after, it's looking rosy for the Grand Old Club once more.
Stocks down: The last ten minutes of this game was genuinely horrific - after Jye Gray's late try it was a full party atmosphere for Jai Arrow, but they very nearly let an unloseable game go. This was mainly due to their repeated mental mistakes - kicking the ball out on the full, not completing sets after kickoffs and most jarringly, repeated penalties for high shots and a confounding one for smashing Kalyn Ponga without the ball with two minutes to go. This team's mentality has been its biggest weakness all year and it almost bit them again.
-- Matt Bungard
Sydney Roosters
Stocks up: Daniel Tupou could hardly have scripted his 300th game any better. After Parramatta briefly took the lead just after halftime, the veteran winger scored three times in 22 minutes and turned a tight contest into a comfortable 28-12 win. Even without James Tedesco, Sam Walker and Reece Robson, the Roosters had enough patience and strike to work through an awkward first half before opening the game up late.
Stocks down: They were clunky for longer than they would've liked, dominating plenty of the early territory without turning it into points. Against a stronger opponent, that lack of early polish may have left them with too much catching up to do.
- Isaac Issa
Wests Tigers
Stocks up: It is hard to find anything positive about where the Tigers find themselves at the moment. They were really up against it hosting the Warriors, and it didn't help that they gave up the first 14 points of the game. They showed a lot of fight to get back to a 14-6 deficit at the break, but were simply outclassed on the night.
Stocks down: After all the Jarome Luai drama during the week, the Tigers couldn't manage the perfect start they needed to turn things around. Adam Doehli failed to find touch from an early penalty and a couple of tackles later James Fisher-Harris steamrolled his way through Luai for the opening try, just two minutes into the game. They stayed in the fight for most of the night, but all the promise of the early rounds has completely disappeared.
-- Darren Arthur