NRL

Leilua has put his hand up for a New South Wales State of Origin debut after spearheading his sides 20-8 win of the Warriors.

As well as tries either side of half-time, Leilua amassed 125m, seven tackle busts and two linebreaks as Ricky Stuart's side recorded their third victory on the trot.

While there are lingering question marks over the 25-year-old wrecking ball's defence, he received a ringing endorsement from Balmain and NSW great Steve Roach during the Fox Sports broadcast.

Williams covered up the BNZ logo on his blues jersey in their match against the Highlanders last weekend due to religious beliefs.

NZR and the Blues have now given him permission have the logos of two banks, BNZ and Investec, removed from his kit.

NZR General Manager of Rugby, Neil Sorenson, said conscientious objections have

been in the collective employment agreement for almost ten years.

CEO Todd Greenberg said fines totalling $350,000 had been imposed on the Gold Coast Titans, St George Illawarra Dragons and Newcastle Knights.

He said that, following consideration of submissions from each club, the penalties would be: 

   o Gold Coast Titans $50,000 (with a further $100,000 suspended) for incidents involving Kane Elgey and Ryan Simpkins

   o St George Illawarra Dragons $50,000 (with a further $50,000 suspended) for an incident involving Josh Dugan

The 33-year-old has opted against taking up the final year of his contract, meaning 2017 will be his last season playing for Melbourne.

Cronk has played 306 games for the Storm across 15 seasons, winning the Clive Churchill Medal in 2012 and the Dally M Medal in 2013 and 2016, while he has also played 32 Tests for Australia and 19 State of Origin games for Queensland.

"Melbourne Storm has been everything to me since moving down here from Brisbane as a kid back in 2003," Cronk said.

One minute later, the Wests Tigers were huddled behind their own sticks watching the Dragons celebrate their second try of the afternoon. 

Sopoaga, the brother of All Blacks and Highlanders first-five eighth Lima, has been named on the bench for the team's round six match against the winless Melbourne Rebels.

After struggling for game time, the 24-year-old former Cronulla Shark and Penrith Panther gave up league and returned to rugby union late last year in Australia's domestic competition.

The loose forward signed to play for the Southland Stags a few weeks ago, and was promptly snapped up by the Highlanders, whose loose forward stocks have been depleted by injury. 

Mixed results for milestone men

Meanwhile former captain Simon Mannering will make his 261st career appearance to draw level with the great Stacey Jones - and current assistant coach - for the most games for the club.

And Vatuvei, the club's try-scoring record holder, will make his first NRL appearance of the season - and the 226th of his career - after turning out in the second team in the first two rounds this year.

Decimated by injuries the Titans have recalled both Dan Sarginson (knee) and William Zillman (calf) into the starting side but both trained predominantly with the rehab group on Tuesday.

Matt Scott, Antonio Winterstein and Lachlan Coote were all injured, with scans revealing captain Matt Scott's season is over due to a damaged ACL.