The Bulldogs won their ninth straight game and moved clear of the Sydney Roosters at the top of the NRL ladder as the battle in the bottom half of the eight tightened up, with seven teams still vying for the remaining four spots.

Cronulla's 26-12 win over the Roosters at Aussie Stadium meant the 'Dogs opened up a two point break on last year's grand finalists with a 36-16 win over North Queensland at the Sydney Showground.

Brisbane retained third thanks to its 21-14 win over the New Zealand Warriors at Ericsson Stadium on Saturday with Penrith entrenched in fourth thanks to its record-breaking 72-12 win over Manly at Penrith Stadium.

The remaining four spots are anyone's, with St George Illawarra, Newcastle, Cronulla and Wests Tigers making their move over the weekend.

The Dragons vaulted into fifth with Friday night's 34-14 defeat of Melbourne - which dropped to sixth - Newcastle defeated Canberra 20-14 to EnergyAustralia Stadium to dump the Raiders out of the top eight and the Tigers stitched up South Sydney with a 56-6 win at Leichhardt Oval, shattering a host of records and moving into eighth spot.

But the pace is being set by the Bulldogs, who overcame the plucky Cowboys thanks to the individual brilliance of teenager Sonny-Bill Williams and a couple of late tries.

"Obviously that's good," Bulldogs captain Steve Price replied when told his side was leading the competition.

"It's good that we're on top but there's still a lot of hard work to go.

"There's four or five games to go in the competition and we have some very, very tough sides starting next week against Brisbane in Brisbane.

"They're probably not playing as well as they should but they're still winning.

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