Power Rankings - Round 7

1. Melbourne Storm (up 4)
The saying goes "a champion team will beat a team of champions". The Storm are the epitome of this mantra. Despite one of their key players, Billy Slater, being out, the Storm just keep trucking on, winning games. Rumours are circulating that Cooper Cronk my be out this weekend, but theyll cross that bridge when they get to it.

2. St. George Illawarra Dragons (up 6)
The Dragons' defence is the best in the competition, conceding an average of only 10 points per game. On top of this, their attack is finally starting to click off the back of improved performances from Gareth Widdop and Benji Marshall. This weekend sees the Dragons take on the Roosters - #1 defensive side vs #1 attacking side. The Dragons recent ability to grind out close games will come in handy.

3. Brisbane Broncos (equal)
While the Broncos may have lost narrowly to the Dragons in Round 7, they were far from disgraced, and definitely weren't without their chances to win. Justin Hodges may have returned from injury too early, as he reinjured his hamstring on the first half and was unable to come out afterhalf time. On top of this was the injury to Alex Glenn, leaving the Broncos with a two man bench for part of the game.

4. North Queensland Cowboys (up 3)
The Cowboys are one of the form teams of the competition, after looking completely out of place for the first few weeks. JT has been his usual crafty best, but the difference this season is that the Cowboys' forwards have been actually going forwards. Granville's attack at hooker has definitely helped the Cowboys cause.

5. Sydney Roosters (down 3)
The Roosters must be the best side in the competition that can't seem to get a win. They've endured two close losses in the previous two weeks, and a heavy loss before that. They'll host the Dragons in Sydney this weekend, and will need a win, although without Jared Warea-Hargreaves (pec injury) their go forward may suffer.

6. South Sydney Rabbitohs (down 5)
Unfortunately it looks like the fairy tale is over for the Rabbitohs. They've been a losing spiral for the last few weeks, and clinging to the top purely on reputation, but we've had to penalise them this week. Glenn Stewart is a rare bright spot in the side, although they sorely miss their little halfback.

7. Newcastle Knights (down 3)
Well, it's not just the wet that causes the Knights to collapse. Apparently they also collapse when they're asked to attack, or are faced with a team that wants to play footy. The Knights weren't horrible this week, it was a much improved performance over the last couple of weeks, but they still came away from home without a win. Their defence at times was sorely lacking, and they continually failed with their last tackle options.

8. Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (up 1)
The Bulldogs beat the Sea Eagles convincingly, but the Sea Eagles are the cellar dwellers of the competition, and look completely out of their depth at the moment. Without many of their big forwards their go-forward was expected to suffer, but it's the lack of finesse around their attack that is the real concern.

9. Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks (up 3)
For a Sharks side that is used to losing, three wins in a row is a welcome place to be. The Sharks did miss a lot of tackles last Monday night, but the conditions were hardly conducive to effective defence. The Sharks come up against a depleted Panthers side this weekend and shoudl get the win.

10. Warriors (up 1)
Still as inconsistent as ever, the Warriors are a tipster's nightmare. One week they'll look brilliant, the next week they look junk. Indeed, one minute they look brilliant, the next minute they look junk. Shaun Johnson is looking better every week, but the Warriors' unforced error count is a concern for their coaching staff. Konrad Hurrell looks to have paid the price for this this week.

11. Gold Coast Titans (up 2)
The Titans hammered the Panthers, but let's not get too excited just yet. The Panthers were horrible. That said, there was a 25 minute period where the Titans looked like absolute world beaters, and would have bamboozled any team in the comeptition in that period. The problem is they need to string that performance together for 80 minutes, every week.

12. Wests Tigers (down 2)
If there's one thing the Tigers excel at, it's throwing away massive leads. Yet again the Tigers got themselves out to a massive lead, but decided to pack up shop way, way too early. Their attack is great, especially down the edge with Pat Richards, but they seem to struggle to keep the defence tight for the whole 80 minutes.

13. Canberra Raiders (up 2)
It was a brilliant and historical comeback from the Raiders last weekend, but if they'd started the game from the opening whistle, instead of ten minutes in, they wouldn't have needed to put together a comeback at all. While they've been good on the road, the Raiders have struggled at home, and are still winless at Canberra. Perhaps that'll change once the temperature drops below ten degrees?

14. Parramatta Eels (equal)
The Eels have been up and down all season, but got over the top of the Knights last weekend. The Knights were far from impressive, but the Eels did enough to get the win. Nathan Peats was impressive again, and Corey Norman was a handful for the deefence as well. They face a daunting away trip against the Broncos, who'll be looking to get back on track after a close loss last weekend.

15. Penrith Panthers (down 9)
Matt Moylan has been playing well, but he's pretty much trying to do everything on his own at this point. The bad news is that the Panthers picked up another two injuries last weekend, Josh Mansour and Brent Kite The good news is that Jamie Soward was seen during the week to be back running again, so he's not far away from a return. But is it too late?

16. Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles (equal)
The Sea Eagles are running dead last, have an injury toll longer than their team list, and don't even look like winning a game at this point. They've got Kieran Foran returning this week, to partner the in form Daly Cherry-Evans in the halves. They face the Storm last weekend, and I've got very real fears that the result will be ugly.