Penrith Panthers

The visitors were simply blown away by Trent Barrett's side in all areas of the game and were forced to save their season at the backend with a 28-0 scoreline getting close to the 37-point margin they needed to avoid to cement their place in the top eight.

May barged his way over by the posts with just seven minutes remaining to effectively clinch a spot in the Finals for the Panthers, with Canberra – who eliminated Penrith in the semi-finals last year – now needing to win their last two fixtures and rely on results elsewhere going their way to do the same.

Nathan Cleary became the youngest player to score 200 points in an NRL season when he touched down following a burst down the right from Waqa Blake, whose opening score was answered in kind by Nick Cotric.

With a month to go in the regular season former Knights premiership winner Danny Buderus believes they will shape the final make-up of the top eight.

Starting with the sixth-placed Cowboys this Saturday night at Pepper Stadium the Panthers play four teams all still fighting for a finals berth and could either crush their dreams or see their own hopes of a top eight finish fall by the wayside.

Edwards was the Panthers' next best behind Moylan as Penrith snatched a late 24-20 victory over the Raiders in Bathurst on Saturday.

Knights halfback Jaelen Feeney had found some open space immediately after the break and threw inside for Brock Lamb, but referee David Munro ruled the pass forward.

After a dominant 14-0 display in the opening half, the Novocastrians fell away on the back of a high error rate in the second term and further 50-50 calls going the visitors' way throughout the remainder of the game.

Leading 28-6 at the break, the Kiwi side gave up five tries in the second 40 minutes to lose 36-28 at Pepper Stadium, and now sit four spots outside of the top eight heading into Round 11.

But while acknowledging the disappointing nature of the performance, coach Stephen Kearney said he was focussed on moving on quickly ahead of hosting the St George Illawarra Dragons at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton on Friday night.

"I'm not going to let 33 minutes [take away from] the work we have done the last six or seven games," Kearney said.

And while it won't be the first time Eels centre Michael Jennings lines up against his former club, the 29-year-old is yet to beat them in Parramatta colours and is keen to change that when the two sides clash on Saturday afternoon in the 'Battle of the West'.

The Panthers were held tryless for the first time since 2015 and were guilty of turning the ball over inside the Sharks' 20-metre zone early in the tackle count on several occasions.

A late try to former Rabbitoh Michael Oldfield with four minutes left got the Panthers level after the Rabbitohs controlled most of the second half, before the cool head of Reynolds slotted the one-pointer from 20 metres out to notch up the Bunnies' third win of the season.

Aspiring premiership contenders Penrith were motivated to earn a landmark victory in Melbourne but the Storm held them scoreless in the second half, continuously repelling the many attacks on their own tryline.