South Sydney is bound for September action after wrapping up a top-eight spot and sending North Queensland's home-final hopes into disarray with a dramatic 20-10 win at Stadium Australia.
The Cowboys dropped to third place on the ladder as a result of the loss, allowing Cronulla to move into second spot.
The Sharks beat Canterbury 16-0 earlier on Saturday evening, while Canberra surged into the top eight after thrashing Manly 48-6.
The Cowboys got to within four points of the seventh-placed Rabbitohs with 12 minutes left in their match, but ended with 11 players on the field.
Down 14-6 for the majority of the second half, Kyle Feldt put the Cowboys back in the match with a tremendous solo effort when he broke free and kicked for himself to score.
The Cowboys looked as if they were going to take the lead when Taane Milne dropped a Chad Townsend bomb on his own line.
But the makeshift Rabbitohs winger made amends when he scooped up a low intercept, before drama erupted on the following play.
Rushing out of the line to put on a hit, Coen Hess clashed heads with Campbell Graham and was sin-binned by referee Gerard Sutton.
The hit was similar to that of Dale Finucane's last month against Penrith, which was not penalised by the referee but attracted a three-match ban.
Feldt also found himself in the sin-bin for a professional foul, stifling any chance of a Cowboys recovery and allowing for a late Tom Burgess try.
The result means Friday night's match at the redeveloped Sydney Football Stadium between the Rabbitohs and the Roosters has little riding on it, other than determining a Sydney venue for their elimination final appointments.
But the Rabbitohs will know they must be better after losing Damien Cook for their final two games to COVID-19.
Jason Demetriou's men were far from pretty in attack and played too sideways early while Latrell Mitchell also had one of his quietest matches since his return from a hamstring injury.
Keaon Koloamatangi straightened the Rabbitohs up for their first try, before Cameron Murray went to the line and helped Mitchell put Alex Johnston over for a four-pointer in an eighth straight match just before half-time.
It helped set up a 14-6 lead that remained until the late madness.
The implications for North Queensland are also significant.
Second on the ladder since round 18, the Cowboys have now dropped to third place and are behind Cronulla with a week to play.
It is there they will now likely stay, unless they beat Penrith on Friday night and the Sharks are shocked by lowly-ranked Newcastle next Sunday.
That in itself will come as a hammer blow to the Cowboys.
Second place on the ladder would have set up the possibility of the Cowboys not leaving leaving Townsville until the grand final.
Now it is almost certain they will have to come to Sydney in the first week of the finals, before returning home for one finals match up north rather than two.
Error-ridden Sharks beat Bulldogs
The Sharks made it five wins on the spin as they claimed an ugly victory over Canterbury.
Ronaldo Mulitalo grabbed a try-scoring double as Cronulla farewelled Andrew Fifita while spluttering their way past the Bulldogs at Shark Park.
In a showing that will do little to worry their premiership rivals, the Sharks made an uncharacteristically high 16 errors and completed at just 68 per cent.
The zip and panache which has typified their maiden season under coach Craig Fitzgibbon was nowhere to be seen, instead their performance was punctuated by players making basic mistakes or overplaying their hand.
Even the 11,500-strong home crowd who were saying goodbye to 2016 premiership hero Fifita and retiring prop Aiden Tolman could not spark Cronulla into gear.
Fifita and Tolman could yet play one more match at the ground, providing the Sharks finish second on the ladder to book a home semifinal.
The Sharks have won their past five matches and would be expected to account for Newcastle next Sunday to give themselves the best possible chance of pipping North Queensland for second spot.
But the concern for Fitzgibbon will be that the Sharks have not hit top gear since they began their run with a golden-point win over the Rabbitohs in round 20 and could head into the finals underdone.
In the first 20 minutes alone they made four errors and a try to Briton Nikora ought to have been enough to wake them from their slumber.
Mulitalo followed him over on the next set, but Fitzgibbon's side lacked the patience and poise that has been ever present throughout their season to extend their advantage.
In fact, the Bulldogs could well have nabbed one back when halfback Kyle Flanagan sent a grubber kick into the in-goal on the stroke of half-time, only for stand-in Sharks fullback Lachlan Miller to bat the ball away.
Cronulla only led the Dogs 10-0 at the break and the home side continued to invite Canterbury to attack their line.
Fullback Jake Averillo looked to have made them pay only for the bunker to chalk the score off for an obstruction.
Cronulla halfback Nicho Hynes also spilt the ball near the Bulldogs' line but made amends when he chipped over the top of the Canterbury defence for Mulitalo to regather and touch down for his 15th try of the season.
Fifita was given a standing ovation in the 68th minute — the same time he scored the grand final-winning try — and was thrown on for a second stint late in the game but was unable to recreate his feat.
Raiders leap into NRL top eight
Canberra is inside the top eight for the first time since round three after taking care of business against Manly.
Making the most of Brisbane's capitulation against Parramatta, the Raiders cruised to their biggest win of the campaign against the lacklustre Sea Eagles, building a comfortable buffer on the Broncos in the race for the finals.
It means they'll head to their clash with Wests Tigers with a 43-point superior for-and-against record over Brisbane who play St George Illawarra.
Sensing the opportunity that had presented itself with Brisbane's heavy defeat, the Raiders came to play at Canberra Stadium and piled on five tries in the first half, slicing through a brittle Manly defence at will.
"It was probably our best performance for the longest period," Canberra coach Ricky Stuart told reporters.
"Every individual contributed to that performance and it was a high standard of footy from the boys.
"To win at this back end of the season, fighting for a spot in the eight, it's exactly what we need."
Canberra captain Elliott Whitehead said his team received a mental lift seeing their finals chances boosted by the Broncos' defeat but it wasn't a distraction from the task at hand.
"We've still gotta win next week, we're not there yet," he told reporters.
"It helped seeing Brisbane get the points put on them the other night but we still had to win … it didn't matter if Brisbane lost by 50 or 20 we still had to win and we did that and did it impressively."
It continued the Sea Eagles' woeful end to 2022, now having lost six straight games including their past four by a combined 112 points as speculation increases about coach Des Hasler's future.
They narrowly avoided being held scoreless for a second time this season with Ethan Bullemor sneaking over to score a try on 64 minutes.
Hasler insisted his side's effort-level hadn't dipped but admitted they were way off the pace of their opponents.
"We played some good pockets of footy and it's about sustainability, we're just not up to it at the minute," he said.
"From one aspect it's a good learning curve, but it's a situation that's not good being in."
Veteran Canberra winger Jordan Rapana wound back the clock with a prolific outing, finishing with 175m, three try-assists, four tackle-busts and three line breaks to go with a try
Second-rower Hudson Young continued to press his case for Kangaroos selection with a double, now with 11 tries for the season in his career-best campaign.
A precise Jack Wighton pass created Rapana's opening try in the corner before fullback Xavier Savage finally got his chance to show his speed in the open field, dashing 40m to give the Raiders a 10-point buffer.
By then the Raiders were humming and found tries for Young, Tom Starling and Jamal Fogarty in racing to a 28-0 half-time lead.
Young doubled up early in the second stanza with a dummy-half barge exposing the soft Manly line, before Albert Hopoate, Seb Kris and Corey Harawira-Naera each scored after Bullemor's try as the Raiders showed no mercy.
AAP/ABC
