Five-way battle for eighth spot, top four not settled

Dragons coach Shane Flanagan has admitted his side needs to win their remaining matches against the Eels and Raiders as a five-way battle for eighth spot emerged after Round 25 results.

The Dragons sit in eighth spot on 28 points, two points ahead of the Broncos, Dolphins, Knights and Raiders, who are all 26 points, but have the second worst for-and-against record of the contenders.

In one of the tightest finishes to an NRL season, only the Storm know their finals finishing position after securing the minor premiership with a 48-6 defeat of the Dolphins on Saturday.

The Roosters and Sharks have leapfrogged the Panthers on for-and-against to make up the top four, with all three on 36 points followed by the Bulldogs (34), Cowboys (32) and Sea Eagles (31).

Behind them sit the Dragons, Broncos, Dolphins, Knights and Raiders, who are battling for the one remaining spot and each play at least one of the other four in the last two rounds.

Mathematically, St George Illawarra could finish sixth or seventh if they win both of their remaining matches and the Cowboys and Sea Eagles lose theirs, but one loss is likely to end the Dragons' season.

"We’ve just got to win,” Flanagan said after Sunday's 28-4 loss to the Sharks.

“We’ve shown we can beat good sides. We were off tonight, there’s no excuse, I’m the first one to put my hand up to say we weren’t good enough tonight but we need to battle on.

“There’s two rounds to go so we just need to make sure we win those two games."

Race for eighth

• Dragons (28, -120): Eels (a), Raiders (a)
• Broncos (26, +2): Dolphins (a), Storm (h)
• Dolphins (26, -27): Broncos (h), Knights (a)
• Knights (26, -70): Titans (h), Dolphins (h)
• Raiders (26, -131): Roosters (a), Dragons (h) 

The clash between the Dolphins and Broncos on Saturday night is now set to take on even greater significance as the loser will drop out of contention for the final eight.

Fight for the top four

While the Storm have wrapped up the minor premiership and a guaranteed home final in the first weekend of the play-offs, the battle for second place is wide open after Penrith's loss in Canberra on Saturday.

• Storm (42, +213): Cowboys (a), Broncos (a)
• Roosters (36, +269): Raiders (h), Rabbitohs (a)
• Sharks (36, +204): Warriors (h), Sea Eagles (a)
• Panthers (36, +158): Rabbitohs (h), Titans (h)
• Bulldogs (34, +146): Sea Eagles (h), Cowboys (h)
• Cowboys (32, +43): Storm (h), Bulldogs (a)
• Sea Eagles (31, +121): Bulldogs (a), Sharks (h)

Storm coach Craig Bellamy has chosen to rest most of his starting team from Thursday's game against the Cowboys, including halfback Jahrome Hughes and hooker Harry Grant, to freshen them up for the finals. 

"We might even do a little bit in the last game [against the Broncos], but certainly this week," Bellamy said after the win over the Dolphins.

“We’ve got a five-day turnaround into our longest trip of the season and the team we’re playing has had the bye so we’ll be resting a few players.

“Sometimes I don’t think that’s a real good look for the competition, but we’ve got to do what we think is right for us and we’ll do that.”