The Sydney Roosters, hard-hit by injuries, beat Brisbane 12-10 on Saturday to move atop the National Rugby League table with two regular season rounds remaining.
The Roosters lost prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves for the rest of the season with a knee injury, then halfback Mitchell Pearce for at least three weeks with a hamstring strain, both inside the first 20 minutes.
Prop Kane Evans was forced from the field for a concussion test with 12 minutes left leaving the Roosters with only two bench players, but they were able to hold on to a lead that stood at 8-0 at halftime.
Brisbane came back with a Corey Oates try in the 61st minute, but the Roosters held on for their 16th win of the season.
The Roosters share 36 championship points with Brisbane and North Queensland, but lead overall with a superior points differential.
North Queensland claimed its share of the lead with a 50-16 win over the New Zealand Warriors on Saturday, falling behind 16-0 before scoring 50 unanswered points.
The Warriors' chances of reaching the top-eight ended with their sixth-straight loss.
Souths hold fourth place on 30 points, despite a 32-18 loss to the Bulldogs who moved into seventh. They can be dislodged from that position by Melbourne, who play Newcastle on Monday.
Cronulla also moved onto 30 points after a 40-18 win over Wests and are in fifth, two points ahead of Melbourne and the Bulldogs.
St. George-Illawarra hold eighth place after a 19-12 win over Penrith and under pressure from Manly who could move back inside the top-eight if they can beat Parramatta by more than 23 points on Sunday.
The Roosters and Brisbane have both secured top four placings and the Roosters remain favourites to win the premiership but injuries have the power to derail their finals campaign.
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck ran for 268 metres for the Roosters to lift his tally of running meters for the season to 4,717, breaking Anthony Minichiello's club record of 4,590 in 2004.
Broncos coach Wayne Bennett said he would not risk injured players in his team's remaining regular season matches against Souths and Melbourne.
"We're going to finish 1-3 anyway," Bennett said. "They're decisions to make down the track but regardless what happens in the next two weeks we're 1-3.
"I'm certainly not going to jeopardize any player at the moment."
North Queensland also emerged with injury concerns from their one-sided win over the Warriors, losing James Tamou to a neck injury and Michael Morgan with an injured ankle.
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