As impressive as their recent run of good form has been, Manly prop George Rose concedes the Sea Eagles are still a notch below St George Illawarra and Melbourne in terms of NRL premiership reckoning.

The Sea Eagles poured on 30-plus points against a top eight opponent for the second time in as many weeks on Saturday night, their round 12 thrashing of Brisbane followed by a 38-4 mauling of Canterbury at ANZ Stadium.

The show of offensive force, coupled with the third-best defensive record in the competition, has many believing Manly are the real deal in 2011.

But Rose said there was still a way to go before the Sea Eagles could be comfortable rubbing shoulders with the likes of the defending premiers and the Storm.

"Every game that you watch that the Dragons play, they wear teams down," Rose said.

"They're still the best side going around and, even Melbourne, they're still outstanding.

"I think we went great tonight but, in the same breath, those other sides are out there. We've still got a lot of work to do to be up with them. It's only halfway through the season."

The Sea Eagles could have taken another step towards being recognised as premiership contenders against fellow top four side North Queensland on Saturday night. But that match will lose much of its lustre with the Cowboys set to be without key duo Johnathan Thurston and Matt Scott due to State of Origin commitments.

It will also rob the game of the glamour match-up between Thurston and gun rookie Daly Cherry-Evans who, with every game, is helping Manly fans forget the loss of one of the hottest young playmakers in the game in Trent Hodkinson to the Bulldogs over the off-season.

Cherry-Evans scored one try and set up three others in a brilliant display against the Bulldogs, and even he conceded coach Des Hasler's favourite line of 'flying under the radar' might no longer apply to this Sea Eagles outfit.

"You can't really be flying too low with a win like that," Cherry-Evans said.

"We're just going to have to roll with whatever comes with it."

Getting on a roll is something the Bulldogs desperately need to do, with revelations coach Kevin Moore is under pressure to lift his side or face the sack.

Despite their lack of success against top six sides this year, the Dogs would still finish the weekend inside the top eight, with Moore conceding the squad had plenty of work to do to get back on track.

"It leaves us with a lot of hard work to do and back to the drawing board," Moore said.

"They (Manly) put 30 points on Brisbane last week and they turned it around in a week.

"We've got a bye this week and we need to take the rest and work really hard throughout that and come back and make sure we turn up with a much better performance against the Sharks in two weeks time."

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