Monday?s Expert League Wrap - Round 16, 2006

Round 16 of the National Rugby League kicked off in Melbourne on Friday night with the Storm outlasting the Canterbury Bulldogs by 16-12. The result places Melbourne on 26 points with a four point buffer at the top of the NRL ladder. The Bulldogs are running fifth on 20 points.

On Saturday afternoon we travelled to Newcastle to see the Knights go down 26-16 to the Sharks. The Knights slip to sixth spot and 18 competition points while the Sharks are riding high on 22 points and in equal second position. On Saturday night we headed out west to Penrith to watch the Panthers down Wests Tigers 24-20. Both teams are on 16 points and outside of the top eight. Meanwhile, the St George Illawarra Dragons won their sixth game on the trot in defeating the North Queensland Cowboys 34-14 in Wollongong. The Dragons join the Sharks on 22 points while the Cowboys have slumped to 16 points and are now on the outside, looking in.

Sunday football took us to Canberra with the Raiders easily accounting for the Sydney Roosters 42-10. The result puts the Raiders in the top eight on 18 points but the news isn?t so hot for the Roosters who are struggling on 12 points and in 13th position. Meanwhile the Brisbane Broncos bounced back with a 16-10 victory over the Manly Sea Eagles at Brookvale. The Broncos join southerners St George and Cronulla on 22 competition points while Manly maintain their top eight position on 18 points.

The weekend wrapped up with the New Zealand Warriors delivering a 66-0 hiding to the hapless South Sydney Rabbitohs at Telstra Stadium in Sydney. As we come into the final 10 premiership rounds of the year, the Warriors are on 12 points and in 12th position but appear to have some momentum building. The same can?t be said for Souths who are well adrift of the field on four points and short odds for the wooden spoon.

All match results and details are listed below.

LeagueUnlimited.com Player Awards
We have a new leader in this year?s LeagueUnlimited.com Player Awards with Raiders full back Clinton Schifcofske grabbing top spot in 21 points. Melbourne?s Greg Inglis is in second place on 20 points. Not far away are Cameron Smith (Storm) and Johnathan Thurston (Cowboys) on 17 points while Matt Orford (Sea Eagles) is still well in contention on 16 points.

The full leader board is below.

The Leagueunlimited.com players of the match are decided by our live score updaters and tallied here each week on Monday?s Expert League wrap.

Want to be a live score updater? For further enquiries, email us.

League Wrap: Round 16, 23-25 June 2006
MATCH RESULTS:

Melbourne Storm: 16
Tries: Antonio Kaufusi, Jake Webster(2)
Goals: Cameron Smith 2/3
Canterbury Bulldogs: 12
Tries: Trent Cutler, Sonny Bill Williams
Goals: Hazem El Masri 2/3
Half time: Bulldogs 4-0
Venue: Olympic Park, Melbourne
Crowd: 10,373
Referee: Sean Hampstead
Leagueunlimited.com players of the match:
3 - Ryan Hoffman (Storm)
2 - Sonny Bill Williams (Bulldogs)
1 - Cameron Smith (Storm)

Newcastle Knights: 16
Tries: Anthony Quinn(2), Craig Smith
Goals: Andrew Johns 2/3
Cronulla Sutherland Sharks: 26
Tries: Beau Scott, Nigel Vagana(2), Brett Kearney
Goals: Luke Covell 5/5
Half time: Knights 10-0
Venue: EnergyAustralia Stadium
Crowd: 18,212
Referee: Ben Cummins
Leagueunlimited.com players of the match:
3 - Brett Kimmorley (Sharks)
2 - David Simmons (Sharks)
1 - Brett Kearney (Sharks)

Penrith Panthers: 24
Tries: Preston Campbell, Danny Galea, Luke Lewis, Michael Gordon
Goals: Preston Campbell 4/5
Wests Tigers: 20
Tries: Ben Galea, Chris Heighington, Shannon McDonnell(2)
Goals: Brett Hodgson 2/4
Half time: Panthers 18-8
Venue: CUA Stadium, Penrith
Crowd: 16,120
Referee: Russell Smith
Leagueunlimited.com players of the match:
3 - Preston Campbell (Panthers)
2 - Luke Lewis (Panthers)
1 - Shannon McDonnell (Tigers)

St George Illawarra Dragons: 34
Tries: Colin Best, Matt Cooper(3), Mark Gasnier, Aaron Gorrell
Goals: Aaron Gorrell 5/7
North Queensland Cowboys: 14
Tries: Josh Hannay, Matt Sing, Neil Sweeney
Goals: Johnathan Thurston 1/4
Half time: Dragons 10-8
Venue: WIN Stadium
Crowd: 13,289
Referee: Paul Simpkins
Leagueunlimited.com players of the match:
3 - Matt Cooper (Dragons)
2 - Ben Hornby (Dragons)
1 - Mark Gasnier (Dragons)

Canberra Raiders: 42
Tries: Todd Carney, Marshall Chalk, Jason Croker, Adam Mogg, Clinton Schifcofske, Lincoln Withers, Dane Tilse
Goals: Clinton Schifcofske 7/7
Sydney Roosters: 10
Tries: Ryan Cross, Brett Finch
Goals: Craig Fitzgibbon 1/2
Half time: Raiders 18-4
Venue: Canberra Stadium
Crowd: 11,876
Referee: Jason Robinson
Leagueunlimited.com players of the match:
3 - Clinton Schifcofske (Raiders)
2 - Jason Smith (Raiders)
1 - Lincoln Withers (Raiders)

Manly Sea Eagles: 10
Tries: Brett Stewart, Steve Matai
Goals: Travis Burns 1/2
Brisbane Broncos: 16
Tries: Justin Hodges, Brent Tate, Darius Boyd
Goals: Corey Parker 2/4
Half time: Broncos 10-0
Venue: Brookvale Oval
Crowd: 16,084
Referee: Shayne Hayne
Leagueunlimited.com players of the match:
3 - Ben Kennedy (Sea Eagles)
2 - Petero Civoniceva (Broncos)
1 - Brent Tate (Broncos)

South Sydney Rabbitohs: 0
New Zealand Warriors: 66
Tries: Lance Hohaia(3), Simon Mannering, Tony Martin, Steve Price, Jerome Ropati(2), Evarn Tuimavave, Brent Webb(2), Patrick Ah Van
Goals: Tony Martin 9/12
Half time: Warriors 32-0
Venue: Telstra Stadium
Crowd: 6,597
Referee: Gavin Badger
Leagueunlimited.com players of the match:
3 - Steve Price (Warriors)
2 - Grant Rovelli (Warriors)
1 - Nathan Fien (Warriors)

Parramatta Eels ? Bye

FULL DRAW, RESULTS & LINKS TO LIVE SCORES ? CLICK HERE

Upcoming matches:

GB vs NZ Test Match
Great Britain Lions v New Zealand Kiwis
Tue 27 Jun 8.00pm (GMT), Wed 28 Jun 7:00am (NZ), 5:00am (AEST) - Knowsley Road, St Helens

NRL Round 17, 30 June ? 2 July 2006
Fri 7:30 SEA EAGLES v KNIGHTS - Brookvale Oval
Sat 7:30 (NZ) 5:30 (AEST) WARRIORS v PANTHERS Ericsson Stadium
Sat 7:30 RAIDERS v EELS - Canberra Stadium
Sat 7:30 COWBOYS v RABBITOHS - Dairy Farmers Stadium
Sun 2:30 BRONCOS v SHARKS - Suncorp Stadium
Sun 3:00 TIGERS v BULLDOGS - Telstra Stadium
ROOSTERS v BYE
DRAGONS v BYE
STORM v BYE

State of Origin III - 5 July 2005
Wed 8:00 NSW BLUES v QLD MAROONS - Telstra Dome, Melbourne

FOR LATEST CENTREBET ODDS

CLICK HERE

LEAGUEUNLIMITED.COM PLAYER AWARDS 2006
LEADER BOARD
The Leagueunlimited.com players awards are decided by our live score updaters.
Want to be a live score updater? For further enquiries, email us.

21 points
Clinton Schifcofske (Raiders)

20 points
Greg Inglis (Storm)

17 points
Cameron Smith (Storm), Johnathan Thurston (Cowboys)

16 points
Matt Orford (Sea Eagles)

15 points
Andrew Johns (Knights), Ben Kennedy (Sea Eagles)

14 points
Nathan Hindmarsh (Eels)

13 points
Adam Dykes (Sharks), Darren Lockyer (Broncos)

12 points
Hazem El Masri (Bulldogs), Mark Gasnier (Dragons), Willie Mason (Bulldogs)

11 points
Cooper Cronk (Storm), Danny Buderus (Knights), Karmichael Hunt (Broncos)

10 points
Matthew Bowen (Cowboys), Preston Campbell (Panthers), Petero Civoniceva (Broncos)

9 points
Robert Farah (Tigers), Paul Gallen (Sharks)

8 points
Brett Kimmorley (Sharks), Corey Parker (Broncos), Steve Price (Warriors), Dean Young (Dragons)

7 points
Roy Asotasi (Bulldogs), Steve Bell (Sea Eagles), Mark O?Meley (Bulldogs), Scott Prince (Tigers), Amos Roberts (Roosters), Jason Smith (Raiders), Ruben Wiki (Warriors)

6 points
Craig Gower (Panthers), Nathan Fien (Warriors), Mathew Head (Dragons), Brett Hodgson (Tigers), Luke Lewis (Panthers), Steve Menzies (Sea Eagles), Grant Rovelli (Warriors), Lance Thompson (Sharks), Alan Tongue (Raiders)

5 points
Trent Barrett (Dragons), Aaron Gorrell (Dragons), Justin Hodges (Broncos), Luke O'Donnell (Cowboys), Brent Webb (Warriors), Rhys Wesser (Panthers)

4 points
Darren Albert (Sharks), Brian Carney (Knights), Peter Cusack (Rabbitohs), Sione Faumuina (Warriors), David Kidwell (Storm), Ben Hornby (Dragons), Anthony Laffranchi (Tigers), Adam MacDougall (Rabbitohs), Luke Priddis (Panthers), David Simmons (Sharks), Steve Simpson (Knights), Jamie Soward (Roosters), Brad Thorn (Broncos), Anthony Tupou (Roosters), Paul Whatuira (Tigers), Sonny Bill Williams (Bulldogs), Lincoln Withers (Raiders)

3 points
Luke Bailey (Dragons), Greg Bird (Sharks), Dean Collis (Tigers), Matt Cooper (Dragons), Luke Covell (Sharks), Michael Crocker (Storm), Greg Eastwood (Broncos), Brett Finch (Roosters), Craig Fitzgibbon (Roosters), Phillip Graham (Raiders), Clint Greenshields (Dragons), Ryan Hoffman (Storm), Brett Kearney (Sharks), Luke MacDougall (Rabbitohs), Reni Maitua (Bulldogs), Fuifui Moimoi (Eels), David Peachey (Rabbitohs), Brett Stewart (Sea Eagles), Milton Thaiday (Knights), Tame Tupou (Broncos), Matthew Utai (Bulldogs), Anthony Watmough (Sea Eagles)

2 points
Brenton Bowen (Cowboys), George Carmont (Knights), Daniel Fitzhenry (Tigers), Awen Guttenbeil (Warriors), Ashley Harrison (Roosters), Scott Hill (Storm), Wairangi Koopu (Warriors), Tom Learoyd-Lahrs (Raiders), Tony Martin (Warriors), Wade McKinnon (Eels), Anthony Minichiello (Roosters), Mark O'Meley (Bulldogs), Benji Marshall (Tigers), Luke Patten (Bulldogs), Aaron Payne (Cowboys), Josh Perry (Knights), Todd Polglase (Rabbitohs), Luke Rooney (Panthers), John Skandalis (Tigers), Matt Sing (Cowboys), Craig Smith (Knights), Iosia Soliola (Roosters), Steven Southern (Cowboys), John Sutton (Rabbitohs), Timana Tahu (Eels), Clinton Toopi (Warriors), Evarn Tuimavave (Warriors), Trent Waterhouse (Panthers), Michael Weyman (Raiders), Craig Wing (Roosters)

1 point
Paul Bowman (Cowboys), Nathan Cayless (Eels), Ben Creagh (Dragons), Shayne Dunley (Sea Eagles), Michael Ennis (Broncos), Nathan Friend (Storm), Matt Geyer (Storm), Kurt Gidley (Knights), Matthew Gidley (Knights), Tony Grimaldi (Bulldogs), Daniel Holdsworth (Bulldogs), Lee Hookey (Panthers), Matt King (Storm), Daryl Millard (Dragons), Ryan O'Hara (Tigers), Shannon McDonnell (Tigers), Mark Riddell (Eels), Shane Rodney (Panthers), Jerome Ropati (Warriors), Brent Sherwin (Bulldogs), Billy Slater (Storm), Tim Smith (Eels), Brent Tate (Broncos), Shane Tronc (Cowboys), Ben Walker (Rabbitohs), Simon Woolford (Raiders), William Zillman (Raiders)