Manly captain Matt Orford warned the defending premiers would again become a premiership force as returning star Brett Stewart sparked them to their first win of 2009.

Stewart's hat-trick in a return from a four-week suspension ignited the Sea Eagles to a 23-10 win over the Wests Tigers on Sunday and lifted the champions off the bottom of the table.

Cronulla now sit in last place after a 24-14 loss to Canberra on Saturday, the Sharks fourth defeat in a row and mounting injury toll leaving last year's surprise packets in a dire position after just five weeks of the competition.

Manly are also on just two competition points and three wins away from the leaders, but with Stewart back and Jamie Lyon (knee) and Tony Williams (hamstring) making solid returns from injury the premiers are ready to get on a roll.

"We will build from that and get better and better," said Orford.

"It's still going to take a bit of time.

"As soon as we get some stability back we will be a force."

But just as the Sea Eagles took flight another title fancy fell further with the Warriors falling 24-22 to the Knights in Newcastle on Sunday.

It was the Auckland-based side's third straight defeat and coach Ivan Cleary was furious at the referees for failing to sin bin Newcastle captain Kurt Gidley for a professional foul when the Warriors were trailing 24-16 with eight minutes to play.

"It's fairly straight forward I would have thought ... that might have helped," said Cleary.

St George Illawarra, Gold Coast and Brisbane sit triumphantly on top of the NRL table with four wins, with South Sydney vying to join them when they clash with the Bulldogs at ANZ Stadium on Monday night.

The Dragons continued their defensive onslaught to start the year by holding Parramatta to just one late try in their 22-8 Friday night win to extend their streak to four successive victories.

Wayne Bennett's team have conceded just nine tries in five games now to boast the best defence in the NRL.

The Broncos emerged 28-24 victors over the Roosters on Friday night but coach Ivan Henjak slammed the performance as "ordinary".

Gold Coast showed they could be genuine title smokeys with another brilliant away victory, this time 14-10 over North Queensland.

A week after shocking the Storm in Melbourne, the Titans headed north to Townsville to complete arguably the toughest road double in the NRL.

They can now head back home full of confidence ahead of Friday's clash with a resurgent Canberra side that completed successive wins when they came from behind over the Sharks.

Premiership favourites Melbourne however put in another poor performance at Olympic Park but somehow claimed the points over Penrith.

The Storm's 16-14 win was shrouded in controversy as a late Panthers try was denied for a forward pass.

It could be a nervous wait for Melbourne too with fullback Billy Slater (feet first tackle) and centre Will Chambers (dangerous tackle) under match review panel scrutiny.

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