The Canberra Raiders climbed to the top of the ladder in the NSW Cup with Penrith slumping to yet another defeat.
The Panthers were battered 44-6 by Newtown, while Canterbury also lost with Toby Sexton rewarded for his strong form in reserve grade with an NRL call-up.
The Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles were the biggest winners of the weekend with two players bagging four tries apiece in their demolition of the Western Suburbs Magpies.
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In the Queensland Cup, Norths Devils piled on the points against the Ipswich Jets to go to the top of the ladder as they cruised to their fourth win on the bounce.
Meanwhile, there was plenty of points scored across the board with the Northern Pride and Wynnum Manly Seagulls emerging victorious in high-scoring affairs.
Clayton Faulalo - Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles
The Blacktown Workers were involved in an 80-point battle against the Magpies with the Sea Eagles eventually toppling their opponents 50-30.
With Lehi Hopoate promoted into Manly’s NRL side, Clayton Faulalo took over at fullback in reserve grade and put his name up in lights with four tries.
However, he wasn’t the only backline player to have a day out for the club with Jaxson Paulo also getting in on the act with four tries of his own.
Faulalo put his side on the board for the first time in the 18th minute to cut an early 12-0 deficit before grabbing his second 10 minutes later.
Faulalo then grabbed a double during a three-minute period in the second half to finish with a game-high 261 run metres, four tries, three assists, two linebreaks and eight tackle busts.
James Schiller - Canberra Raiders
The Raiders held off a second half comeback from the Sydney Roosters to record a 36-28 victory that put them on top of the ladder.
James Schiller was the star for the home side as he continued his recent hot streak to bag a hat-trick.
In just 25 minutes of the first half, Schiller blew the game apart as he proved he was a class above on the way to his treble.
The centre drew first blood for the Raiders with a long-range try before reeling in an intercept to touch down for his second of the afternoon.
He then took advantage of a mistake from Tyreece Tait to crash over for his third as he finished with a game-high 275 run metres, two linebreaks and seven tackle busts as he reminded Ricky Stuart of his quality after being dropped from first-grade last month.
Liam Ison - Newtown Jets
The Jets inflicted the biggest defeat Penrith have had in reserve grade in 10 years as they powered to a 44-6 win.
Liam Ison was integral to the result with the fullback posing all sorts of problems with his running game, while also making two huge plays in defence.
The No.1 crossed for a deserved four-pointer in the first half while finishing with 178 run metres, two linebreak assists and seven tackle busts.
Ison wasn’t the only one to catch the eye for the Jets though, with Chris Vea’ila scoring a hat-trick and interchange forwards Salesi Ataata and Brad Fearnley producing plenty of momentum through the ruck.
Jake Clifford - Northern Pride
Todd Payten will be left scrambling to fill a team this week for North Queensland with a host of his stars absent due to State of Origin commitments.
Tom Chester, who has returned from a hamstring injury, excelled at fullback for the Pride as they romped to a 40-22 win over the Souths Logan Magpies.
Chester ran for just shy of 100 run metres while constantly promoting the ball in the tackle, which was also a strong point for Braidon Burns as the centre ran for a game-high 174 run metres to go with four offloads.
Jake Clifford ran the show in Townsville though with the five-eighth set to replace Tom Dearden in the halves for the Cowboys off the back of a strong display.
Clifford crossed for a double and laid on another four-pointer, while splitting kicking duties with Tom Duffy, who also starred in the win.
Jaxon Purdue - Mackay Cutters
Jaxon Purdue had a big hand in the Mackay Cutters’ 40-26 win over the PNG Hunters.
The playmaker crossed for a try in the first half, but the home side went into the break 20-10 down before they produced a brilliant second 40 to reverse their fortunes.
Purdue was a constant thorn in the Hunters’ side with his running game causing issues all game as he finished with 210 run metres, three linebreaks, an assist and seven tackle busts.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the ball, veteran Jake Granville played his part in the win as he registered 48 tackles during a tireless display ahead of his likely return to the NRL to cover for Reece Robson.
