South Sydney-bound centre Matt King fired a warning to the NRL by grabbing a hat-trick for Warrington in his first game since announcing his end-of-season departure from the Super League.

King, who has established himself as firm favourite with the Wolves faithful since joining from Melbourne Storm ahead of the 2008 campaign, grabbed three tries in 15 minutes in the 48-18 demolition of Castleford.

Former Wests Tigers fullback Brett Hodgson chipped in with 20 points, including two tries, while returning ex-Canberra Raiders wing Joel Monaghan also crossed the whitewash to cement the Wolves' spot at the top of the table.

The league's top point scorers took just two minutes to take the lead when Hodgson dashed 40 metres after collecting Michael Monaghan's flick.

King's first try came four minutes before the break to send Warrington in 24-0 up and the 30-year-old went over twice more in the first 11 minutes of the second half.

After taking his goal tally for the season past 100, Hodgson followed Joel Monaghan over the try line before the finish.

Elsewhere, title-chasing Huddersfield made hard work of beating rock bottom Crusaders 40-12 despite former New Zealand international second row David Fa'alago handing them the perfect start.

Fa'alago's try was backed up by efforts from Joe Wardle and Kevin Brown to put the Giants 18-0 up at the break, only for the visitors to hit back with two tries from former New Zealand Warrior Tony Martin before a David Hodgson hat-trick settled matters.

Former Manly veteran Steve Menzies returned to haunt former club Bradford Bulls and inspire 12-man Catalan Dragons to a 34-28 victory.

The Bulls led 10-8 at the break and, despite conceding an early second-half try, still looked favourites for the win after France international David Ferriol was sent off for a high tackle.

Despite six goals from the boot of former New Zealand Warrior wing Patrick Ah Van, the Bulls could not shut down Menzies in an unfamiliar five-eighth role.

The 37-year-old set up one of former St George fullback Clint Greenshields' two tries and was instrumental in Sydney-born winger Damien Blanch's score, before denying Ben Jeffries a second try as Catalan ran in four tries in the final 25 minutes.

Pat Richards, the former Wests Tigers wing, capped a 14-point haul with a crucial second-half penalty to edge Wigan past Leeds 26-24.

The 29-year-old slotted five kicks, crossed for a try and laid another on for former Kangaroo Ryan Hoffman.

Former Auckland Warriors winger Francis Meli's two tries ensured St Helens bounced back from last weekend's defeat by Warrington by beating Hull 28-14.

Looking for their first win in four games, Saints flew out of the blocks with ex-Sydney Roosters loose forward Chris Flannery burrowing over before Meli crossed twice in quick succession to establish a lead they never looked likely to lose.

Ex-North Queensland centre Mark Henry and former Canterbury five-eighth Daniel Holdsworth combined to help Salford come from behind and defeat Harlequins 26-18.

The Reds trailed 18-14 with over an hour gone before Henry squeezed over in the corner and Holdsworth converted to set the hosts on course for victory.

Finally Jake Webster, the former New Zealand international, crossed for two tries as Hull KR battered Wakefield 70-14.

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