CANTERBURY BULLDOGS	GAME 2	NORTH SYDNEY BEARS
34	Saturday, 15th of May 1999	18
Tries	Referee : Tim Mander	Tries
R Silva 2	Venue : Stadium Australia	S Pethybridge 2
D Smith	Crowd : 8,425	G Larson
C Hughes	Half Time : 16-8 Canterbury	B Dallas
B Clyde
H El-masri
Goals		Goals
D Halligan 5/7		J Taylor 1/4
COMMENTS : For some stupid reason, the management of the Bears thought it would be a good idea to play a 'home' game at the home ground of the opposition. Therefore, as the Bears are struggling for form, the crowd was the majority of Bulldogs supporters. So, lucky old Canterbury basically had a home game, albeit with bugger all people there! Norths were impressive in the opening 15 minutes and scored the first try, but after that they never looked like reigning in the Bulldogs who played clever football and ran in 6 tries. Ricky Stuart was the player of the match with inspired running and kicking.

MELBOURNE STORM	GAME 3	MANLY SEA-EAGLES
28	Saturday, 15th of May 1999	6
Tries	Referee : Brian Grant	Tries
R Ross 2	Venue : Olympic Park	D Driscoll
M Geyer	Crowd : 11,743
T Nikau	Half Time : 12-6 Melbourne
R Swain
Goals		Goals
M Geyer 4/5		B Reeves 1/1
COMMENTS : On the 2nd coldest day in Melbourne for over a decade, the Storm would be excused for playing with cold fingers in the first half as the Sea-Eagles ran in a very early try to set the scene. However that was the end of the their scoring for the day. Melbourne went on to score another easy victory and cement themselves in the top 5 and hold the best attacking record in the comp. Manly may have to resort back to the drawing board as their new Coach Peter Sharp looks to turn their season into a winning one.

PARRAMATTA EELS	GAME 4	NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS
16	Saturday, 15th of May 1999	12
Tries	Referee : Sean Hampstead	Tries
M Hodgson	Venue : Dairy Farmers Stadium	B Jellick
D Kidwell	Crowd : 17,256	J Buttigieg
N Barnes	Half Time : 8-4 North Queensland	A Connelly
Goals		Goals
L Burt 2/3		?
COMMENTS : It s a wonder that the Cowboys sit in the bottom half of the competition but can still manage to draw 15,000+ to a game. This should be a lesson to others! As it turned out they all came to watch their team go down to the Eels, but only just! After leading at half time, the Cowboys were looking to go on with the job, but Smith and Dymock has other plans. They inspired the Eels to score 2 tries in 9 minutes and with both conversions this gave them the winning lead. The Cowboys were unable to land a goal all night and this proved to be their downfall. Quality games from Burt, Smith and Kidwell.

NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS	GAME 5	PENRITH PANTHERS
20	Sunday, 16th of May 1999	15
Tries	Referee : Bill Harrigan	Tries
A Johns	Venue : Penrith Football Stadium	R Girdler
J Moodie	Crowd : 16,134	C Hicks
B Peden	Half Time : 10-6 Penrith	B Drew
D Albert
Goals		Goals
A Johns 2/4		R Girdler 1/3
		G Alexander 1 Field Goal
COMMENTS : One of the games if the year this one. 2 players stood out in this game. The 2 halves. Johns and Alexander. They were at each other all day, but in the end Johns seemed to win by a mile. He played fantastic football with his running, his passing and his kicking especially helping the Knights record a memorable win. Penrith were playing quality football and lead at half time, but Newcastle were scoring tries from the pin point kicking of Johns and the Panthers just couldn't handle it in the second half. 2 bungles from the Penrith backs saw the Knights score both times to put the game in the bag. One could blame the loss on the injury of Gower in the first half which hurt the Panthers, but in the end you can't go past the performance of the Knights. Robbie O'Davis returned from his 22 game suspension in this game and played like he had never left. He took bombs, ran the ball up and tackled faultlessly to crack a spot in the Origin team after only 1 game. But the last word has to go to Andrew Johns. What a player.

BRISBANE BRONCOS	GAME 6	BALMAIN TIGERS
12	Sunday, 16th of May 1999	10
Tries	Referee : Paul McBlane	Tries
T Carroll 2	Venue : Leichhardt Oval	C Morcombe
	Crowd : 13,276
	Half Time : 8-6 Balmain
Goals		Goals
B Walker 2/2		J Caine 3/4
COMMENTS : A slugfest is how this game was described. Both teams gave it their all, but in the end Brisbane just wanted to win more. The Broncos up and coming players showed what they had in this game which the Tigers owned for the first 30 minutes. But Carroll scored his first 3 minutes from half time and this gave Brisbane the boost they needed. However it wasn't until 6 minutes from full time that Carroll crossed again and Ben Walker kicked the match winning goal. A gritty game which where a draw would have been an acceptable result.

AUCKLAND WARRIORS	GAME 7	CANBERRA RAIDERS
32	Sunday, 16th of May 1999	30
Tries	Referee : Matt Hewitt	Tries
J Galuvao	Venue : Ericcson Stadium	L Williamson
J Vagana	Crowd : 9,423	K Nagas
R Mears	Half Time : 22-12 Canberra	R Maybon
O Manuel		L Daley
A Lauiti'iti		D Kennedy
Goals		Goals
M Ridge 6/6		L Williamson 5/6
COMMENTS : Auckland had only scored 126 points in the whole season before this match and somehow scored a quarter of that in one game! An amazing comeback from the Warriors saw them sneak home in the last 2 minutes. A penalty against Damien Kennedy saw Ridge pop over the game winner. It was a spiteful game however with Ridge likely to miss a large portion of the season to a unsportsmanline conduct charge. He gave Vainikolo a hefty face massage theat may have included some eye gouging. A hearing will occur to decide Ridges who only returned from a previous suspension a few weeks ago. On the field though Canberra looked to have the game in their control in the first half, storming to a 22-6 lead. But the second half was a different matter. Auckland hit back with 3 tries in the last 22 minutes to tie the game up. Then it came down to a holding down penalty awarded against Daley and Kennedy for holding down a Warriors player. It was right in front and Ridge potted the goal to win the game for his Warriors.

SYDNEY CITY ROOSTERS	GAME 8	WESTERN SUBURBS MAGPIES
38	Sunday, 16th of May 1999	18
Tries	Referee : Paul Simpkins	Tries
J Elsegood 2	Venue : Sydney Football Stadium	L Dynevor
B Fittler	Crowd : 7,947	Kevin McGuiness
M Sing	Half Time : 26-6 Sydney City	J Mills
B Fletcher
D Hood
R Miles
Goals		Goals
A Walker 5/7		L Dynevor 3/3
COMMENTS : The Magpies had 32.5 start against the Roosters and you would have little trouble imagining that happening after Melbourne's 60-6 effort. But the Magpies gritted this game out and through their poiling tactics only lost by 20. Tommy was even quoted as saying "I even thought we were a chance of winning the game at one stage" I dunno Tommy...