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The Sydney Roosters did enough in the wet to deny Manly by eight points. (AAP: Steve Christo)
The Sydney Roosters have resisted a fast finish from Manly to triumph 26-18, while Penrith edged Newcastle and the Sharks eased past the Gold Coast Titans.
Roosters hold off late Manly flurry
A Luke Keary masterclass has propelled the Sydney Roosters to a dominant 26-18 win over the Sea Eagles to kick-start their NRL premiership defence.
With Cooper Cronk (hamstring) and Jake Friend (shoulder) missing, the reigning premiers shuffled the decks with Keary shifting to halfback and Latrell Mitchell to five-eighth, only for those plans to fall through when Brett Morris was helped off at halftime with a suspected knee injury.
The changes mattered little as the new-look halves pairing tore the hosts to shreds in a first-half blitz at Lottoland that saw the visitors open up an unassailable 22-0 lead at the break.
State of Origin talk may be premature but Keary must be in contention for the NSW number six jersey after he set up all four first-half tries in a performance that was every bit as dominant as last year's grand final display.
Last year's Clive Churchill Medallist was on from the outset on Saturday night as he set up Morris and Daniel Tupou for tries before he poked his nose through the line and popped an offload in traffic to send Boyd Cordner over to make it 16-0.
Having failed to make an impact in the round one loss to South Sydney, fullback James Tedesco roared back into form as he shot through late in the half before Keary found Tupou with a pin-point kick to cap a faultless 40 minutes.
The fill-in halfback was forced off early in the second half but was able to return as his side swept past a Sea Eagles team that looked set to concede a cricket score when Cordner shrugged off a high shot to score off debutant Lachlan Lam's grubber.
The Eagles crowd of 9664 was rewarded for braving monsoonal conditions in the first half when Manase Fainu crashed over in the 58th minute, and there was a glimmer of a comeback when workhorse Jake Trbojevic backed up a break to score in the following set.
The clock proved the hosts' biggest enemy, although they had the last laugh when Reuben Garrick and Daly Cherry-Evans combined down the right edge, before Moses Suli pounced onto a charged-down kick to cut the margin to eight.
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Maloney's defensive clinic helps Panthers edge Knights
James Maloney has produced two inspiring defensive plays to inspire Penrith to an impressive 16-14 thriller over Newcastle.
Maloney has been chastised for most of his career over his defensive blues.
But the 32-year-old came up with the goods when his team needed it most, beginning with a second-half bellringer on Connor Watson to force a turnover.
And while it may not have resulted in points, moments later the veteran prevented Edrick Lee from a near-certain try when he stripped the winger over the line.
A Mitch Barnett rampage with seven minutes to play set up a grandstand finish, but the Panthers held on to secure their first win of the season.
Maloney was also involved in two of Penrith's three tries in an all-round display.
One week after getting caned in the penalty count in their season-opening loss to Parramatta, it appeared Penrith's ill-discipline would cost them again.
They were pinged 5-1 in the opening 13 minutes and were down 2-0.
But Ivan Cleary's side slowly regained their footing to claim the lead on a well-executed set play for James Fisher-Harris.
And while Kalyn Ponga got one back on his cutout pass for Lee, the Panthers entered the break in front on Malakai Watene-Zelezniak's miracle effort.
The Panthers winger tapped back a Nathan Cleary grubber well over the deadball line for club debutant Frank Winterstein to ground.
The visitors extended the lead courtesy of Isaah Yeo, who suffered his second concussion in as many weeks after copping a stray elbow from a teammate.
It was reported Yeo had failed his head injury assessment after failing to get back after 15 minutes, however club doctors cleared him to return.
And the Panthers co-captain scored a crucial second-half try when he dragged five defenders over the line to give his team an eight-point lead.
Both sides had opportunities to seize the initiative, including chances for Ponga and Waqa Blake, in an enthralling second half contest.
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Sharks far too good for sorry Titans
Cronulla has poured the pressure on the Gold Coast with a dominant 20-6 NRL win to ensure skipper Paul Gallen celebrated his club record milestone match in style.
Gallen moved alongside Andrew Ettingshausen on 328 games for Cronulla as the Sharks produced a hardened performance in front of a crowd of 15,217 at Shark Park on Saturday.
After last week's loss to Newcastle, the Sharks bounced back in style as new coach John Morris registered his first win as a first-grade coach.
The Sharks built the victory on a gritty defensive effort with the Titans enjoying three times as much football inside their opposition's red zone (59 tackles to 20) but only cracked them for one try.
After being held scoreless by Canberra last week and managing just six against the Sharks, the loss places coach Garth Brennan under scrutiny.
Despite having more possession (52 per cent to 48), winning the penalty count (14-5) and making fewer errors (15-18), the Titans never really looked dangerous.
After 128 minutes of football, the Titans got their first try of the 2019 season when Brenko Lee snuck over after a break by Jai Arrow.
Origin forward Arrow was shining light for the Titans in an otherwise dour performance, running for 299 metres, busting seven tackles and making two linebreaks.
The Sharks were struck a big blow when Jayden Brailey was taken off in the 24th minute with a head knock and did not return.
The Titans got over the line twice in the opening five minutes through Ryan James and Arrow but on both occasions were denied by the bunker.
The Sharks proceeded to take the game out of the visitors' hands in a dynamic 10-minute burst, putting on three tries in that time.
Their first two tries were almost identical — on both occasions the Sharks' right side stripped the Titans defence for numbers with Shaun Johnson putting over Sione Katoa with some good decision making and slick passing.
The Sharks led 20-0 at halftime and even when Jayson Bukuya was sin-binned in the second-half, the Titans couldn't convert their one-man advantage into points.
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Topics: sport, rugby-league, nrl, cronulla-2230, robina-4226, newcastle-2300, penrith-2750, brookvale-2100, bondi-junction-2022
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