North Queensland grabbed the outright competition lead and the New Zealand Warriors are back to square one after another unpredictable round of the NRL.

Newcastle fans awoke on Sunday to the news they never like to hear - that master halfback Andrew Johns was out of the side - and the Warriors seized on their good fortune to topple the Knights 26-22 at EnergyAustralia Stadium.

While the Warriors were celebrating moving to zero points on the competition table, after starting the season on minus four for breaching the salary cap, Knights supporters were dealing with a familiar realisation.

The 2005 wooden spooners are a one-man team that couldn't beat an egg without one Andrew Johns.

And don't the bookmakers know it after slashing the odds of a Warriors upset from 4-1 to almost even money upon hearing Johns was out with a sore neck.

Defeat ended the Knights' perfect start to the season and left the Cowboys as the only unbeaten team in the premiership after four rounds.

The Cowboys rallied from 14-0 down to conquer Parramatta 26-18 at Parramatta Stadium on Friday night.

Ageless winger Matt Sing led the revival with a tryscoring double in a one-sided second half.

Compounding the Eels' woes were potentially long-term injuries to centre Ben Smith, hooker PJ Marsh and back rower Peter Lewis, who all failed to complete the match.

Smith and Marsh both suffered ankle injuries, while Lewis has a suspected broken rib.

Like Newcastle, Penrith suffered its first loss of 2006, learning at Canberra Stadium that what goes around comes around.

Classy fullback Clinton Schifcofske was the star of Canberra's Houdini act, coolly landing a sideline conversion on the siren before slotting the field goal in the Raiders's 21-20 victory in extra time.

Only two weeks ago, the Panthers were celebrating the first golden-point success of the season when Preston Campbell booted the winning field goal against St George Illawarra.

Alas for Campbell and the Panthers, this time a conversion attempt that would have given his team a match-winning eight-point lead missed after striking the left upright.

St George Illawarra's experiment with Mark Gasnier at five-eighth worked a treat with the Test centre combining with Trent Barrett to guide the Dragons to a 26-12 win over Brisbane at WIN Stadium.

Closer to the action than ever before, Gasnier tormented the Broncos all afternoon in another fine display that would have further impressed rugby officials trying to lure the 24-year-old to the 15-man code.

Star five-eighth Benji Marshall returned from a broken cheekbone to spark Wests Tigers to a 30-28 triumph over Melbourne in a tryfest at Leichhardt Oval.

The premiers piled on 30 unanswered points before four late tries to Melbourne added respectability to the scoreline.

The Tigers, though, were never seriously in danger of losing and they would have won by more had they not missed six conversion attempts.

Expensive off-season import Matt Orford burst to life to inspire Manly to a come-from-behind 30-22 win over the Sydney Roosters at Brookvale Oval on Saturday night.

Orford scored a brilliant solo try and set up another with a clever cross-field bomb to help the Sea Eagles to their second straight victory.

And South Sydney is now the only winless team in the competition after Cronulla fumbled their way to their first victory of the season with a 24-22 defeat of the Rabbitohs in a low-quality affair at Toyota Park.

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