The big winners of Round 16 were...
Defending champions Penrith Panthers, who leapfrogged Dolphins into the eight with a third consecutive win.
Narrow wins over Parramatta and Wests Tigers weren't exactly anything to shake up the competition, and they were still out of favour in the minds of many after failing to cover the line in eight of their first 13 matches, but then came a shock win in New Zealand.
In almost any other season, the Panthers defeating the Warriors wouldn't make headlines, especially as they had won five of their last six trips across the ditch, but with a side depleted by five Origin absences, they started as massive +13.5 point outsiders!
The Warriors are not yet in danger of dropping out of the top-four but the Brisbane Broncos and Sydney Roosters crept closer with their important weekend victories.
Penrith, who were touted as one of the flag favourites alongside Brisbane at the start of the season, have negotiated the Origin period outstandingly and now are finally warming up to some of their best work.
Honourable mention: It was fantastic to see Newcastle Knights finally play proper rugby across two halves instead of just one and they thoroughly deserved the points in Perth. The next five weeks (Melbourne, New Zealand, Penrith and Canberra twice) could either be really ugly or could give them the confidence to make an unexpected top-eight charge in August.
The big losers of Round 16 were...
With three losses in their last four weeks - all three to teams joining them in the top-eight - Cronulla Sharks are falling out of favour and are now a distant seventh in Premiership betting.
Just one week after what head coach Craig Fitzgibbon described as "the performance that was needed" against the Dragons, they fell back into their wicked ways after half-time in the loss to the Broncos and conceded more than 25 points for the fifth time in six games.
“We have been unsettled the whole year for different reasons,” a frustrated head coach Craig Fitzgibbon told reporters after he was left to again lament poor skill and discipline when it was not needed.
“The competition is tight and if you don’t take care of the little things, and the things that are the hardest thing to do matter the most. We aren’t doing those things at the moment.”
It was only the second of nine games this season they lost after scoring the first try, so if they can continue to repeat the 10-0 starts, it should serve them well in coming weeks.
Impressive Perth crowd shows what Bears can look forward to
Now that the Perth Bears have been confirmed as the NRL's 17th team, the west no longer has to prove their worthiness of an NRL team.
Despite that, rugby league fans continue to turn out to neutral games at HBF Park in excellent numbers and, at the weekend, showed that there are enough hardy fans willing to brave the elements.
Driving rain that was forecast well in advance was not enough to prevent a crowd of 10,077 coming out to Perth's first game of the season when the Dolphins lost to Newcastle Knights in an exciting 26-20 game.
By comparison, that was more than both the Parramatta Eels (8,074) and Wests Tigers (9,328) got to their own home games and it was only a busload short of South Sydney's attendance for their game against Melbourne Storm (10,093).
The numbers should only increase when the city has a side of their own to get behind, and the weekend confirmed that the future of league in Perth indeed looks rosy.
Ken Irvine Medal Leaderboard
Despite playing just seven games this season, Rabbitohs superstar Alex Johnston moved to equal-second on the tryscoring table and six behind Ken Irvine's all-time record of 212 career tries.
They might soon have to rename the medal after him!
Try of the Week: Round 16
The Storm remain the game's most formidable attacking unit with an average of more than 33 points per game this season and they're as attractive as any other side to watch when they put it all together. It just didn't happen often against the Rabbitohs.