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The Gold Coast Titans have scored an upset 18-12 NRL win over the ladder leading Brisbane Broncos at Lang Park.

Elsewhere, North Queensland thrashed the lacklustre Rabbitohs in Sydney and the Raiders edged the Roosters in a thriller at the SFS.

In Brisbane, former Bronco David Fifita came back to haunt his former club in a man-of-the-match display to inspire a Gold Coast team in crisis at the start of the week.

The Titans back-rower scored a try and set one up either side of half-time in a Sunday afternoon thriller in front of 42,249 fans at Lang Park.

With former head coach Justin Holbrook sacked on Thursday, there was always going to be a question mark over how the players would respond with interim coach Jimmy Lenihan at the helm.

Without inspirational captain Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, rested after his State of Origin heroics for Queensland, the Titans were superb.

The Broncos had all four of their Origin players on deck but they were well off the pace.

Gold Coast took it to the Broncos for the majority of the first half but the hosts scrambled well despite struggling to find their groove in attack.

Parramatta have entered the NRL’s top eight for the first time this season after smashing Manly at home. 

In other results, the Roosters snuck home against Newcastle and Melbourne were far too sharp for Wests Tigers. 

Parramatta Eels 34 def Sea Eagles 4

Parramatta are in the NRL top eight for the first time this season after a Clint Gutherson masterclass inspired a 34-4 win over traditional rivals Manly.

Both sides were without State of Origin stars but fullback Gutherson took it upon himself to lift his troops at Parramatta Stadium in front of the club’s Old Boys.

His first-half display was pure class and included a try from dummy-half, a try assist for rampaging centre Bailey Simmonson and a crucial ball strip when Manly prop Taniela Paseka was over the line.

He kept that going in the second stanza.

The hosts led 24-4 at the break and when the Eels No.1 set up Simonsson for his second after the break it was game over.

Gutherson also took on the goal-kicking duties from absent NSW half Mitchell Moses and landed five from six against his former club.

The Eels leapfrogged an out-of-sorts Sea Eagles outfit to record their fourth consecutive win and move to 18 points.

Their positive points difference of 104 will keep them inside the top eight by the end of the round no matter what other results unfold.

Eels prop Ofahiki Ogden and lock J’maine Hopgood were both outstanding for the hosts while Simonsson was red-hot in the centres.

Ryan Matterson played No.6 for the first time since 2019, when he was at Wests Tigers, and did a stellar job in partnership with halfback Daejarn Asi who kicked superbly while filling in for Moses

Manly fullback Kaeo Weekes was sent to the sin-bin in the ninth minute for a professional foul on Hopgood as he chased a kick and the Eels scored twice through Ogden and Simonsson.

The Sea Eagles never looked likely from that moment and were rudderless without their skipper Daly Cherry-Evans who is in camp with Queensland.

The Eels forwards were dominant and out-muscled their opponents.

Team stats

Manly winger Jason Saab had a horror night under the high ball and dropped two bombs in the first half that led to points.

Hopgood was a handful in attack and rock-solid in defence and barged through threadbare Manly line to score in the first half.

The 24-year-old has been close to securing a Queensland jersey and reconfirmed why he has been earmarked as a future Maroons forward.

Manly halfback Jake Arthur played against his former club and father, Eels coach Brad Arthur, but was in a team that was outclassed across the park.

Melbourne Storm 28 def Wests Tigers 6

Wests Tigers prop Alex Twal has scored a long-awaited first NRL try but Melbourne spoiled his celebrations with a 28-6 win as Storm winger Will Warbrick crossed four times.

Storm halfback Jahrome Hughes took charge with Cameron Munster and Harry Grant away on State of Origin duty and his composure in attack was the difference between the understrength sides.

The match was the Tigers’ first since injured Luke Brooks rejected their contract offer and their directionless attack reiterated the urgent need to finalise a halves pairing for 2024.

In the absence of Brooks and hooker Api Koroisau, makeshift halves pairing Starford To’a and Brandon Wakeham were incapable of turning brief periods of dominance into points.

The loss was Wests’ third in a row, leaving their promising May firmly in the past and consigning them to last spot on the ladder.

But in his 116th first-grade game, Twal put to rest one of the NRL’s longest-running gags.

Wakeham’s cross-field kick ricocheted from Melbourne hands onto the turf midway through the first half and Twal reached out to ground it just one minute after coming on from the bench.

Twal’s teammates immediately swarmed him and referee Ziggy Przeklasa-Adamski struggled to suppress a smile as he awarded the try.

Cheers of ‘Twally’ rang out across Campbelltown Stadium.

The try clearly encouraged the Tigers but the Storm were patient and claimed a 14-6 halftime lead thanks to Hughes and his golden boot.

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He put a bomb up for Warbrick’s second try and then dribbled a grubberkick through for Tyran Wishart, whose first try in 22 NRL games wasn’t quite as popular with the crowd as Twal’s.

Warbrick’s other three tries were simpler, coming as the Storm shifted the ball right through hands to bamboozle the laggard defence.

The Storm would have won more convincingly had Nick Meaney brought his kicking boots; the fullback nailed only two of six attempts at goal.

Nelson Asofa-Solomona could attract scrutiny from the match review committee for striking stand-in Tigers captain John Bateman with an open palm off the ball in the second half.

Bateman appeared to shove the big Storm forward as he attempted to play the ball, prompting the moment of rage and ensuing melee.

Melbourne’s Tom Eisenhuth was placed on report for a crusher tackle on To’a and could join Asofa-Solomona on the charge sheet.

Sydney Roosters 18 def Newcastle Knights 16

A shocking jaw injury for star five-eighth Luke Keary has soured the Sydney Roosters’ much-needed NRL win against Newcastle.

Three straight first-half tries and one of their best defensive displays of the season helped the visitors hold on at Hunter Stadium and to 18 competition points on Saturday.

They had to dig deep late after an 18-6 advantage was trimmed to just 18-16 with 10 minutes to play via an 80m fumble return from Newcastle centre Bradman Best, but found a way to stifle the Knights and cling to victory.

But the massive injury for Keary has left the Roosters once again needing to shuffle their halves combination, the five-eighth leaving the game on 25 minutes with a suspected fractured jaw.

Keary copped an accidental boot from Dominic Young, as he made a defensive play on the winger who scored a try that was later pulled back on review.

It’s the second jaw injury for Keary this year, having broken it in a pre-season training incident.

Team stats

Bench utility Drew Hutchison moved into the halves in his absence to pair with Sandon Smith on his starting debut, the Roosters’ most likely combination moving forward with Sam Walker sidelined due to a knee injury.

Joey Manu relished his move out of the halves and once again looked a complete natural at No.1, running for a whopping 295m and scoring a first-half try with perfect back-up play through the middle of the field.

They led 18-6 after falling behind early, their most impressive try Nat Butcher’s equaliser off the back of a slicing run from Smith who looked more than capable in the halves.

Manu grabbed the lead soon after and winger Daniel Tupou extended it, capping a lengthy stand in Knights territory with some much-deserved points.

Young had opened the scoring thanks to a dynamic run from Kalyn Ponga, with the Knights fullback putting on a clinic to help his side back into the game in the second half.

Ponga put in another brilliant shift at No.1, running for 173m to go with seven tackle busts and a try assist.

Newcastle arguably did enough to win the game with five line breaks to three, with handling errors in key positions combined with a complete lack of red-zone creativity providing another blow to their chances of playing finals.

AAP

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The first Saturday of the NRL season is in the books and Tom Trbojevic made every post a winner while Daly Cherry-Evans raced in his first career hattrick as Manly smashed Canterbury 31-6 to open their NRL season.

Later on, North Queensland held off a furious Canberra fightback to win 19-18 before South Sydney put together a statement performance in a 27-18 victory over Cronulla. 

Check out all the scores and stats below.

Manly Sea Eagles 31 def Canterbury Bulldogs 6

Daly Cherry-Evans and Tom Trbojevic have ensured new coach Anthony Seibold’s era at Manly got off to a winning start, starring in a 31-6 NRL defeat of Canterbury.

Playing in his first match since he dislocated his shoulder last May, Trbojevic scored one try and had a hand in two others as Manly controlled Saturday’s match at 4 Pines Park.

Cherry-Evans bagged a hat-trick of tries and kicked a field goal, while the Sea Eagles ended the seven-match losing streak that snuffed out their 2022 campaign after the Pride Jersey saga.

For new Canterbury coach Cameron Ciraldo, the loss highlighted concerns around his team’s pack with Luke Thompson and Tevita Pangai both missing through injury.

Team stats

Manly dominated the Bulldogs’ inexperienced pack through the middle, allowing them to spend the majority of the match on the front foot.

The game wasn’t without drama though, with the Sea Eagles scoring two tries while Kyle Flanagan was controversially sin-binned.

With scores locked at 6-6 shortly before half time, Flanagan was punished by the bunker for lightly pushing Trbojevic in pursuit of a grubber kick.

Manly then scored down Flanagan’s left edge minutes later, when Trbojevic and Kelma Tualagi put winger Reuben Garrick over untouched.

With Flanagan still off early in the second half, the Sea Eagles were then able to extend their lead to 12 when Cherry-Evans toed the ball ahead three times and dotted down after a Paul Alamoti error.

In reality though, Manly were the better team throughout.

They scored first when Trbojevic toed ahead a Cherry-Evans grubber kick, and the pair combined again in the second half for the halfback to score after a Taniela Paseka bust.

Trbojevic’s timing was still not perfect and at stages he stopped himself from breaking into full flight, but he got through unscathed after the $50,000 trip to the US to work on his problematic hamstrings.

Manly pulled the superstar fullback from the field with 16 minutes to play to protect him, but he returned moments later when Lachlan Croker suffered a concussion.

Cherry-Evans then iced the match with a 50-metre intercept for his third try, as Canterbury looked every bit a side with eight new faces from last year.

Matt Burton’s bombs were dangerous when on target, but he and Viliame Kikau both put kicks out on the full while another kick off from the five-eighth also went astray.

Kikau was well contained, with Max King the sole Bulldogs forward to exceed 80 run metres.

The Bulldogs’ one try came when hooker Reed Mahoney collected his own grubber kick off the posts and was ruled to have got the ball to ground without dropping it.

South Sydney Rabbitohs 27 def Cronulla Sharks 18

South Sydney have heaped more pain on Cronulla to open their 2023 NRL campaign with a stirring 27-18 victory over the Sharks at PointsBet Stadium.

Six months after ending Cronulla’s 2022 season with a 38-12 semi-final demolition job, the Rabbitohs returned to haunt a sellout Saturday night crowd in the Shire with a brave and bruising display in a pulsating encounter between two of the competition heavyweights.

Souths lost Tevita Tatola in the opening minute after the prop came off second best in a heavy head clash in the first hit-up of the match with Cronulla captain Dale Finucane.

Fellow middle man Jai Arrow didn’t see the first half out after succumbing to a hamstring injury while Rabbitohs fans breathed a huge sigh relief after superstar fullback Latrell Mitchell carried on after receiving lengthy treatment for a leg issue.

Thankfully for Souths fans, playmaker Lachlan Ilias came to the party with a rousing performance as the Sharks were unable to overcome the absence of injured Dally M Medallist Nicho Hynes.

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Hynes’ halfback replacement Braydon Trindall was close to Cronulla’s best but he couldn’t get the hosts home as the Sharks’ defeat was compounded by having Braden Hamlin-Uele and Wade Graham placed on report.

Graham, in particular, could be in strife for a high tackle on Oregon Kaufusi that prompted referee Todd Smith to tell the veteran back-rower: “you left the ground to make contact with the head” before banishing him to the sin bin.

Officials could have called the game off at halftime and fans of both sides probably would have been happy, having seen it all in a wild opening 40 minutes of ebbs and flows and the downright bizarre.

Fittingly, the score was locked up at 12-12 at the break after both teams crossed the line four times, but were only awarded two tries each.

Ilias denied Cronulla winger Ronaldo Mulitalo a try early with a miracle tackle eerily similar to George Gregan’s famous Bledisloe Cup save on Jeff Wilson almost 30 years ago.

A minute later, Ilias crossed himself down the other end to give the Rabbitohs the lead before Mulitalo produced his own defensive heroics to prevent Izaac Tu’itupou Thompson from scoring what seemed a certain try.

There was redemption for Trindall, too.

After his floating pass to put Sione Katoa in the right corner was ruled forward, Hynes’ playmaking deputy scored himself moments later in a rare play featuring five chipkicks and grubberkicks between Trindall and Sharks fullback Will Kennedy.

Then it was Keaon Koloamatangi’s turn to atone, with the Souths back-rower spilling the ball over the line, before making good with a four-pointer shortly after to put the Rabbitohs back in front.

But Trindall had the final say of the helter-skelter half, slotting a sideline conversion after Katao couldn’t be denied a second time seconds before the siren sounded.

But it was Souths’ second half as a double from Campbell Graham blew the game open before Teig Wilton bagged a late consolation try for the Sharks.

North Queensland Cowboys 19 def Canberra Raiders 18

A Chad Townsend field goal five minutes from fulltime has edged North Queensland past Canberra 19-18 in a see-sawing NRL round-one contest in Townsville.

With the clock ticking down, Harley Smith-Shields’ error on a short-side play gifted the Cowboys a scrum in midfield and on tackle four Townsend made no mistake from 20 metres to kick his side to a winning start in 2023.

Townsend’s kick salvaged a disastrous second half for the home side, who — after dominating the opening period — completely capitulated offensively and offered the resilient Raiders a way back into the contest.

Team stats

North Queensland had dominated the opening proceedings, playing with patience, confidence and spark to gain territory and possession.

That swagger quickly disappeared in the second half with consecutive errors within five minutes. The Raiders wrangled momentum with hard, straight running and short passing from contact to wear the Cowboys down.

Tom Starling made the most of a deflected kick to score Canberra’s second try in the 53rd minute before Kyle Feldt’s spilled ball off a short drop-out gifted Jack Wighton their third.

That made it three unanswered tries from the visitors, Jamal Fogarty nailing a sideline conversion to tie the game at 18-18 with 20 minutes remaining.

The players were out on their feet in the sticky Townsville conditions but it was the Cowboys who coped best in a manic finish to end Canberra’s four-year round-one winning streak.

It took North Queensland 15 minutes to open their 2023 scoring account after constant and sustained pressure on the Raiders’ try-line.

The Cowboys had 73 per cent possession through 15 minutes and 17 tackles inside the Raiders’ 20m zone.

Murray Taulagi grabbed North Queensland’s opener with a left-hand diving finish, before Scott Drinkwater added a second after a deft inside grubber kick by Townsend.