Parramatta and Canterbury have resuscitated their NRL seasons with impressive victories to dodge the "crisis club" label for another week.
Both one from five heading into the weekend, the Eels dispatched in-form South Sydney 22-8 at ANZ Stadium on Sunday, while the Bulldogs downed the high-flying Wests Tigers 24-4 at the Sydney Football Stadium on Friday night.
The highly-fancied rival clubs, who drew more than 75,000 to their finals match after stellar 2009 seasons, are yet to hit top form this year, but are breathing sighs of relief after their gritty wins.
"I watched the Bulldogs on Friday night and they looked scratchy like us but they just fought and scrapped and I thought we did that today for 80 minutes," Parramatta coach Daniel Anderson said.
"We're starting to play a little bit more relentlessly and maybe with the style of the personnel that we have.
"We're not a knockout team, we're just going to have to grind a little bit at the moment."
The Eels' victory came as co-captain Nathan Hindmarsh celebrated becoming the club's most-capped player with 266 games, one more than 80s icon Brett Kenny.
"It was a nice relief to have a win, we're improving which is the main thing," Hindmarsh said.
"We're turning the corner slowly."
Anderson said his big guns were starting to find some form, including halfback Daniel Mortimer who scored one try and created another.
"When we got a couple of tries in front some of the boys really opened their shoulders up and looked to play in a more relaxed fashion," Anderson said.
South Sydney's three-match winning streak came to an end in a disappointing flurry of dropped ball and they could still be without five top line forwards for next week's trip to Canberra with Roy Asotasi (knee) and Michael Crocker (shoulder) no guarantee of returning.
"It's two points we didn't get, that's the bottom line, and it's put us right back down in the mire," coach John Lang said.
"But it's what we do ahead now that counts, not what's happened today or previous weeks."
Souths' problem are nothing compared to last-placed Cronulla, who were humiliated 44-16 by Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium, forcing coach Ricky Stuart to declare he would not be going anywhere.
"One thing I won't do, is let my players down," said Stuart, who was immediately backed by captain Trent Barrett.
St George Illawarra sit alone on top of the ladder, but can be joined by Melbourne if they beat Manly on Monday, following Friday's 19-6 win over Gold Coast.
The fourth-placed Sydney Roosters' 36-6 thrashing of Canberra on Saturday sets up an Anzac Day blockbuster against the Dragons next Sunday, with Roosters confident star fullback Todd Carney (rib) will be fit.
Penrith have surged to second place on the ladder with an impressive 40-12 win over the Warriors in Auckland.
And Newcastle notched their second win of the season, 36-18 over a depleted North Queensland outfit missing Johnathan Thurston.
