NRL Roundup: There's a new top (Bull)dog in town after Panthers rolled

Aaron Murphy

Terrell May and his Wests Tigers teammates react to a try scored at the weekend.JASON MCCAWLEY / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP

Wests Tigers, North Queensland and New Zealand Warriors all made statement wins - but perhaps none as big as the signal sent out by the Bulldogs.

The numbers that matter

The big winners of Round 6

It's rare to talk up the same team two weeks in a row, but how fun are the New Zealand Warriors to watch at the moment?!

Head coach Andrew Webster has some serious depth at his disposal in backs and halves in particular and we saw their fearlessness and unbridled confidence on full display in Melbourne last Friday when they shredded a hapless Storm, in the process snapping a 17-game losing streak to Melbourne and ending a decade-long hoodoo at AAMI Park.

There were legitimate concerns that the absence of key playmaker Luke Metcalf would be sorely felt, but Tanah Boyd had a brilliant second half and was ably supported by Chanel Harris-Tavita and 38 combined hitups from Jackson Ford and Demitric Vaimauga, whilst Dallin Watene-Zelezniak would have had himself a hat-trick were it not for a poor decision from fullback Taine Tuaupiki to not pass out wide with DWZ wide open to score.

The Warriors scored at least 38 points in all four games without Metcalf this season and have other household names such as Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, Adam Pompey and Mitch Barnett on an injury list that was eight-long at time of writing.

You would not have known it from last Friday's performance, which was filled to the brim with confidence, flair and hard work.

The big losers of Round 6

The long-reigning Bellamy dynasty down south appears to be crumbling without Eli Katoa and Nelson Asofa-Solomona, but there's also great concern for Parramatta Eels who for the second time this season were hit for a half-century.

Going for 52 against the Storm came with plenty of shock given the Pre-Season Challenge champions looked to be hitting their strides in February, but nobody would have expected Josh Hannay's Titans to do it after having cleared 20+ points only once this season - and that was against the winless wooden spoon favourites St George Illawarra.

Eels head coach Jason Ryles looked genuinely confused at the post-match press conference when reacting to a result he "didn't see coming".

"Today for me was disappointing from the point of view that the spirit wasn't there," Ryles added.

"Last week I had seen some fight that I'd never seen before, and then this week I didn't see it.

"Some individuals made some decisions that hopefully they wouldn't make again, so that's something that we need to get to the bottom of really quickly."

Parramatta had nine on their injury list at time of writing but are expecting Will Penisini and Sean Russell to be OK for Round 7, but that was no excuse for Ryles who said that anyone selected to play at NRL level has the responsibility to be physically and mentally up for it.

Their next three opponents - Canterbury, Manly and New Zealand - are likely to be even far less forgiving than the Titans were.

Who scored braces this weekend?

Fijian Tigers winger Sunia Turuva was the star of the weekend with his third career first grade hat-trick, propelling Wests to a big victory.

There were doubles for 11 other players, including leading try scorer Thomas Jenkins. Reuben Garrick, Cody Walker, Hudson Young, Kaeo Weekes, Daniel Tupou, Daly Cherry-Evans, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak all got two each, as did Titans' trio Sialetili Faeamani, Phillip Sami and Jayden Campbell.