The Sea Eagles soar and the Bulldogs bite to overcome their conference rivals.

After spending the first two weeks of the season spinning their wheels, he Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles clicked into gear on Saturday in Christchurch. The 46-16 thumping of the New Zealand Warriors saw them leapfrog their conference rivals off the bottom of the NRL East with their first win of 2019.

While the Warriors – for the second straight week – offered up a porous defensive line, the Sea Eagles took full advantage of what was in front of them, with captain Daly Cherry-Evans and fullback Tom Trbojevic playing starring roles. They’ll need to keep this groove going if they have any chance to topple the South Sydney Rabbitohs in round 4.

The Warriors have fallen hard since round one. They have let in 80 points in the last two rounds, which is far from the defence needed to win the NRL East. They return to Auckland to take on the Gold Coast Titans who are yet to find a win in 2019.

Over in the NRL West, the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs claimed their first win of the season against conference rivals Wests Tigers. What began as a to-and-fro tussle quickly turned into a Bulldogs onslaught in the shadows of halftime.

This period proved to be the difference, as the Tigers failed to claw back the lead despite more tackle breaks (36), forced drop outs (3) and less missed tackles (26). However, the Tigers’ 12 errors fuelled the Bulldogs’ dominance.

The Tigers enter their round 4 grudge match with the Penrith Panthers devoid of the momentum which took them to the top of the NRL West, while the Bulldogs travel to Melbourne to take on the NRL South leaders.