The Raiders survive a frantic finish to post an upset 20-16 win over the Storm, who lost Ryan Papenhuyzen for the season with a knee fracture that will require surgery,
The Panthers enjoyed an 18-16 triumph against the Tigers and the Bunnies outlasted the brave Bulldogs in a thriller at Sydney's Olympic stadium.
Check out all the scores and stats from Sunday's games below.
Raiders triumph over Storm, Papenhuyzen taken to hospital with knee injury
The Melbourne Storm have recorded a third successive loss for the first time seven years and face the prospect of having Ryan Papenhuyzen sidelined for the rest of the season after Canberra scored a dramatic 20-16 win.
Two tries to young winger James Schiller, a nephew of Canberra legend Brett Mullins, helped the Raiders to victory in Melbourne and kept their finals hopes alive.
It was the first time since round nine the Storm had their complete spine together, but that lasted just 19 minutes after Papenhuyzen was helped off after a sickening clash of knees with a charging Jack Wighton.
Papenhuyzen sustained a fractured kneecap and was taken to hospital. He is expected to have an operation on Monday.
The influential fullback had already missed matches this season due to a posterior cruciate ligament injury and a hamstring issue.
It was a first loss in seven matches for the Storm at their home ground, while the Raiders notched a fourth straight win over the Storm at the venue.
The Storm should have scored inside the first minute but Papenhuyzen's pass to winger Nick Meaney was forward.
Meaney would not be denied five minutes later when he dived over after Kenny Bromwich got a pass to him, despite being pressured by two defenders.
Papenhuyzen's radar was offline again when his wild pass in the 10th minute was swooped on by Raiders winger Sebastian Kris, who raced 85 metres to score.
After Papenhuyzen's departure, Schiller rounded off some fast and accurate passing to score the Raiders second try.
By the hour, the Storm were back in front.
Storm halfback Jahrome Hughes caught Canberra napping from a quick tap 15 metres out, slicing between two defenders and burrowing over the line, while hooker Harry Grant slid over from dummy half.
Down to 12 players with Jordan Rapana In the sin-bin for making high contact with Marion Seve, Canberra regained the lead when Schiller, confronted by Meaney, toed the ball ahead and went outside the field of play around the corner flag and touched down for a brilliant solo try.
Nelson Asofa-Solomona was placed on report for making contact with Rapana's head but stayed on the field, while the Raiders lost Schiller to an ankle injury but not before he saved a try by knocking a pass away.
With five minutes left, Canberra could have put the match beyond the Storm's reach with fullback Xavier Savage winning the chase to a Jack Wighton grubber-kick, but he failed to ground the ball properly.
Within 90 seconds left, the Storm appeared to have levelled the scores when Hughes got over the line but a review showed he lost control of the ball under pressure from Savage.
Canberra had one more scare at the end, with the Storm awarded a penalty deep in Raiders territory before a successful captain's challenge overturned the original call.
Rabbitohs come from behind to beat battling Bulldogs in thriller
Latrell Mitchell helped South Sydney avoid a banana skin against Canterbury-Bankstown as the Rabbitohs wrapped up a 36-28 win to strengthen their grip on seventh spot on the NRL table.
In just his third game back from a hamstring injury, Mitchell showed signs that he had returned to his best as he carried the Rabbitohs to their fifth win in six games.
The Rabbitohs' fullback finished the evening's play at the Olympic stadium with three try-assists and a try of his own, along with four goals from seven attempts.
Winger Alex Johnston was also impressive, grabbing his 12th career hat-trick against a Canterbury side that had to play the last 15 minutes without Josh Addo-Carr, who succumbed to a glute injury.
Canterbury were leading 22-16 with a quarter of the game to go. The ease at which interim coach Mick Potter has their attack firing gives credence to the view that he should be handed the reins on a permanent basis.
But just when the Bulldogs looked to be heading towards victory, a rampaging run by Mitchell on his way to his sole try of the night turned the game in the Rabbitohs' favour.
Souths, who were without Damien Cook and Cameron Murray after their exploits in last Wednesday's State of Origin, began brightly when Lachlan Ilias regathered his own grubber kick to score the opener.
Former Rabbitohs' centre Braidon Burns crossed for the Dogs' first of the night before Declan Casey notched his maiden NRL try to give Canterbury the upper hand.
Canterbury's surge seemed to spark the Bunnies out of their slumber. Keaon Koloamatangi put Cody Walker over with a deft one-handed offload before Mitchell sent Johnston in for a 16-10 half-time lead.
Joe Stimson and fullback Jake Averillo, who grabbed his sixth try in five games since shifting to the number one role under Potter, both scored in the second half to give Canterbury hope that they could pull off an upset.
Mitchell had other ideas, receiving a Kodi Nikorima offload from 40 metres out and breezing past three Bulldogs defenders to score.
Paul Vaughan crashed over to put Canterbury 28-22 up with 10 minutes left on clock but from there the Bunnies flicked a switch to wrap up the win.
Mitchell sent Tevita Tatola and Johnston over before the winger added his third.
Panthers edge Tigers with under-strength team
Penrith did what it could not do in its 2021 premiership campaign after overcoming Wests Tigers 18-16 without seven of their representative stars.
In contrast to last year, the Panthers emerged from the State of Origin period undefeated at Western Sydney Stadium on Sunday, despite resting NSW players Isaah Yeo, Brian To'o, Jarome Luai, Liam Martin, Api Koroisau, Stephen Crichton and Nathan Cleary.
With only five members of their premiership team playing against the Tigers, the Panthers' performance was easily their most inconsistent of the season, especially in the 20-minute period after half-time when they committed six errors.
But the Panthers' left edge, intact despite the Origin outs, produced two early tries to give them the lead at the break and when stand-in co-captain James Fisher-Harris crashed over late in his 150th match, victory was sealed.
The Panthers may have been undisciplined but the Tigers were not far behind them after they conceded a penalty for failing to pack a scrum in time and blew a certain try when Justin Matamua obstructed Jaeman Salmon close to the line.
It took Jackson Hastings pitching a perfect kick to Ken Maumalo for the Tigers to edge ahead of the Panthers as the last 10 minutes approached.
Hastings looked comfortable playing at lock but his composure under pressure in this moment put his case forward for a return to halfback, his preferred position.
The Tigers missed his long-kicking, especially when they struggled to win the territory battle in the first half.
Adam Doueihi looks to have done enough to keep his spot in the five-eighth role with a running game that allowed him to burst through the line to score the Tigers' second try from a scrum play.
He also put up a nightmare bomb just before half-time that would have led to the Tigers' third try had Junior Tupou not been offside.
The loss keeps the Tigers at the bottom of the ladder, while the Panthers have consolidated their spot at the top.
Fixtures
Ladder
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