Stocks: The Sharks stumble again, the Roosters impress

The Dragons have begun a desperate effort to avoid the wooden spoon, while the Tigers and Broncos look like they'd be happy to take it from them. The Sharks and Cowboys both stumbled, while the Bulldogs took another step towards booking a September trip to Bali.

Here's whose stocks are up and down after Round 24.

Our footy experts cast their eye over the week's action to find out whose stocks are up -- whether it's a coaching masterstroke or a player having a blinder -- and whose are down.

Brisbane Broncos

Stocks up: Xavier Willison at least spared them the indignity of being held scoreless, but that's about as generous as you can be here.

Stocks down: This was grim. Brisbane were beaten 40-6 at Suncorp, have now lost 12 of their past 13, and are producing the worst title defence since Western Suburbs went from premiers to wooden spooners in 1963. Worse still, Reece Walsh suffered a high-grade syndesmosis injury that is expected to end his NRL season. Michael Maguire finally ran out of patience afterwards, while Pat Carrigan openly questioned the side's intent. For the reigning premiers, this has gone from a slump to a full-blown collapse.

-- Isaac Issa

Canberra Raiders

Stocks up: A pretty surprising win, but some great effort plays and a fantastic performance from the forward pack in what should have, on paper, been one of their biggest tests of the year. Next up are the Broncos, who haven't won a game for about three months, then they have a bye, and they play the Cowboys in the final round of the season. Dare to dream?

Stocks down: One of their best performances of the season and not a lot to complain about, but as it has been all year their kick defence was very poor. It's an area of their game that shuffling players around hasn't been able to solve, and is something they sorely need to address heading into 2027.

-- Matt Bungard

Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs

Stocks up: Not a lot of positives bar Max King leading from the front in a well-beaten forward pack. Even Jacob Kiraz, who carried the ball well, threw multiple offloads straight to South Sydney players. A very flat performance on a night when their entire season was on the line.

Stocks down: From smoking the Tigers to manhandling the Warriors and Storm, to running the Roosters right to the rail... to this? Credit to Souths who had their best performance of the year, but Canterbury offered very little. Right from the jump the Rabbitohs were content to get into a grind and play for field position, which you'd think is the Bulldogs' bread and butter. Instead, they barely laid a glove on one of their biggest rivals.

-- Matt Bungard

Cronulla Sharks

Stocks up: A pretty staggering defeat in a few ways - but they can take some solace in the fact that they bombed multiple tries, and dominated the yardage battle. That doesn't count for anything of course, as they've thrown their top four dreams away, but it's something.

Stocks down: The loss is one thing, as they've now gone from having fans dreaming of a crazy run to the minor premiership to probably not making the top four after these back-to-back defeats in the past two weeks. But losing Braydon Trindall is something that they can't come back from -- their attack sputtered when he was off the field, the decision-making was awful and he's got more try assists than any other player in the NRL. They need to hope he's back for the finals or it'll be a swift exit in September.

-- Matt Bungard

Dolphins

Stocks up: This wasn't the Dolphins at their absolute best, which almost makes it more encouraging. They absorbed Manly's early pressure, stayed patient and then let their class take over, with Isaiya Katoa, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Herbie Farnworth all having big moments. Keeping Manly to zero on their own turf says plenty about how much this side has grown defensively, and the win lifted them firmly into the top-four conversation.

Stocks down: There was a stretch when they made things harder than necessary -- errors, penalties and Connelly Lemuelu's sin bin meant Manly had more than enough ball to punish them. A better attacking side probably does.

-- Isaac Issa

Gold Coast Titans

Stocks up: Credit where it's due, they kept coming. After falling 16-0 behind, Gold Coast fought back to 16-10 before halftime, Beau Fermor was a constant threat and Lachlan Ilias added some spark on his return to the starting side. Even when the game looked gone late, they still found two tries.

Stocks down: Unfortunately, the bad habits were exactly what killed them. Poor discipline gave Newcastle repeated field position early, then loose passes and errors handed over more cheap opportunities after halftime. Every time the Titans looked like building momentum, they seemed to find a way to undo it themselves. There's enough talent there to trouble teams, but the consistency still isn't.

-- Isaac Issa

Manly Warringah Sea Eagles

Stocks up: Manly actually started well enough. They had plenty of early field position, forced the Dolphins to defend repeated sets and looked like they might turn it into the sort of scrap they needed.

Stocks down: But once again, they couldn't turn pressure into points. A 22-0 loss made it six straight defeats and, more painfully, marked the first time Manly had been held scoreless at Brookvale in 33 years. Tolu Koula's sin bin hurt, but the bigger issue was how many chances they let slip; forward passes, errors and poor last-tackle options kept killing any momentum they built. Their finals hopes are now basically gone.

-- Isaac Issa

Melbourne Storm

BYE

Newcastle Knights

Stocks up: From wooden spooners to finals football - that's a pretty serious turnaround. Newcastle's 36-26 win officially locked in September, with Dane Gagai setting the tone early. Greg Marzhew and Fletcher Sharpe both finished with doubles and the Knights repeatedly punished Gold Coast whenever they handed them an invitation. Sharpe's solo effort was probably the highlight, but the bigger story is a side that now genuinely believes it belongs in the eight.

Stocks down: Justin Holbrook will hate the finish. Newcastle led 36-14 before coughing up two tries in the final three minutes, and Dane Gagai's hamstring injury is another concern heading toward finals. They're winning, but they still have a habit of leaving the door ajar when they should be slamming it shut.

-- Isaac Issa

New Zealand Warriors

Stocks up: This looked like a genuine premiership contender taking care of business. Even after losing Luke Metcalf to another hamstring injury, the Warriors barely missed a beat. Chanel Harris-Tavita took over the kicking and organising, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad shifted roles, and the entire side kept playing with the same speed and intent. They led 20-0 at halftime and never really let Brisbane breathe.

Stocks down: The win came at a cost. Metcalf's hamstring issue is a huge concern this close to the finals, while Nicoll-Klokstad is facing suspension after the hip-drop tackle that injured Walsh. Their depth passed this test brilliantly, but losing key spine players in August is hardly ideal.

-- Isaac Issa

North Queensland Cowboys

Stocks up: The Cowboys survived wave after wave of Eels attack early, before finally cracking. They stayed in the game through the night with their own brand of entertaining football. One try in the second half covered the breadth of the field twice and included two kicks, one from John Bateman!

Stocks down: While they would have been happy with their attack, they really can't be shipping 30+ points to a team who will not be playing in the finals. They could have taken a step towards nailing down a finals position, but now remain under pressure.

-- Darren Arthur

Parramatta Eels

Stocks up: The Eels started the game at a frantic pace, enjoying a lot of possession, before going to the break with a 14-12 lead. Ron Volkman and Tallyn Da Silva provided the spark, Mitchell Moses the class and Junior Paulo a 35-metre spiral pass to set up the upset victory in front of their frustrated, yet adoring fans.

Stocks down: The Eels' defence made this game much tougher than it needed to be. The Cowboys are a gun attacking team, but some of their tries were through paper thin defence in the and around the ruck, especially near the Parramatta try line. The Eels were very lucky to get away with the win in the end.

-- Darren Arthur

Penrith Panthers

Stocks up: After losing badly to the Warriors last week, the Panthers had a point to prove against the Roosters and they came out firing, their defensive line movement suffocating early. For a large part of the game they only allowed just the one try to the Roosters, with DCE crossing late to ice the game.

Stocks down: The Panthers seemed to be frustrated by their inability to crack the Roosters' defence. Their attack was rushed and almost panicked at times, very unlike the Panthers. A couple of early opportunities were blown, when patience would have been the better option. In a brutal defensive battle they came up short, no doubt missing Isaah Yeo's organisational leadership, even though Lindsay Smith had a great game in his place.

-- Darren Arthur