NRL live: Stephen Crichton avoids Origin ban, Dolphins vs Warriors, Cowboys vs Manly, Sharks vs Storm

Melbourne is immediately aiming up in defence, but pure power from the Sharks gets them almost to halfway in the first set.

The Melbourne Storm are welcoming back Harry Grant today, but they've had some late drama, with bench prop Alex Macdonald suffering a quad injury in the warm-up.

That means 18th man Joe Chan comes onto the bench and Bronson Garlick (in jersey number nine) is 18th man.

Nelson Asofa-Solomona is also on the bench for the Storm.

The Sharks are 1-17.

Manly fullback Tom Trbojevic has spoken to ABC Sport after a scrappy performance from his team that ends with two points.

Trbojevic credits the team for hanging in the match in the first half when they had so little ball.

"The way we defended our line and worked hard — we won the game on the back of that," he says.

Trbojevic says it was hard to see older brother Jake so severely concussed, and for himself, he's clearly struggling physically.

"Just doing me best. I'm not playing the footy I want to. Just gotta keep working hard and get back to the footy I want to [play]."

Former Cowboys skipper Laurie Spina asks him if he has any hope of Origin selection and he says "we'll see", but it really felt like he had to stop himself from saying a straight-up "no".

It finishes as a 24-6 victory for Manly, and they didn't even have to play that well. That's how bad the Cowboys were for most of that game, especially in attack.

North Queensland's fifth-tackle options were abysmal and they really struggled to hold on to the ball all night.

The good news for Manly is Jake Trbojevic is out there shaking hands with players and looks OK.

That appeared to be for hanging on to Viliami Vailea for too long. Gee, that seems utterly pointless.

On the back of a John Bateman knock-on, Ben Trbojevic tries to pop a ball inside to his brother, but its tapped by Jaxon Purdue and balloons back over their heads and into Ben's breadbasket. So he grabs it and storms over the line with Purdue and Scott Drinkwater on his back.

They get a full set inside the 10m area and spin it left. The right-side defence of North Queensland is shot, but Robert Derby manages to recovers to knock the ball down and even hit it backwards so the Cowboys get a fresh set.

Luke Brooks spears through the defence on the left, and Haumole Olakau'atu backs him up with a strong run on the right.

That leaves the Cowboys defence short on the far side of the field and the Sea Eagles spin it left, with Tom Trbojevic summing it up with a slick catch and pass to Tolu Koula, who finds Hopoate outside him to score what may be the match-sealer.

Viliami Vailea takes a good run and makes a few post-contact metres, getting an arm free to Reece Robson, who was getting in position at dummy half.

But Robson was in front of the previous play-the-ball, so he's not allowed to get involved in the play, and Grant Atkins blows an astute penalty.

And Reuben Garrick pots the penalty goal for a 14-6 lead.

Scott Drinkwater thinks he might have scored the equaliser afterswooping on an offload out the back, but the bunker upholds the on-field 'no try' call, finding an obstruction in the lead-up.

Luke Brooks was apparently denied the opportunity to tackle Jaxon Purdue, but it looks like lead runner John Bateman went through the line and Brooks got around him pretty easily to make a defensive play.

Luke Lewis on ABC Sport calls it a "bizarre" call.

Haumole Olakau'atu is brought down in a Zac Laybutt tackle and ties to kick his legs free, smashing Murray Taulagi in the face with his studs.

And referee Grant Atkins puts him on report for dangerous contact.

"You're kidding. That is so incidental," Daly Cherry Evans tells the ref.

Honestly, it turned into a pretty respectful discussion between the pair.

Fresh on the field, Caleb Navale scoops up a loose ball and passes to Tom Trbojevic as he comes to Scott Drinkwater and Trbojevic drops it cold.

Drinkwater has become an expert at playing those two on ones, and he definitely managed to pressure both Navale and Trbojevic, but the pass still should have been caught.

"He's just not moving like Tom Trbojevic at the moment," Luke Lewis says on ABC Sport.

The Manly fullback gets up gingerly after a seemingly innocuous tackle and he is hobbling around out the back with a grim expression on his face.

"He hasn't looked good all game," Luke Lewis says on ABC Sport.

North Queensland is one of the most electric attacking sides in the game, but right now I have no clue what they're trying to do.

Scott Drinkwater has just tried to run it on the last and it only took Jason Saab hopping up a couple of metres in defence to completely shut it down.

Cowboys winger Robert Derby had five shocking errors last week, including a couple that directly gifted Penrith tries, but he's been rock solid tonight and this time he holds on to a bomb under massive pressure from a flying Tom Trbojevic.

Thomas Mikaele throws a woeful offload straight to Reuben Garrick, who knocks on. He's adamant he's knocked it back and convinces Daly Cherry-Evans to challenge, but the replay proves referee Grant Atkins right.

Corey Waddell makes a great charge and Harrison Edwards, Reece Robson and John Bateman combine to hold him up and dump him back in the field of play.

The Sea Eagles immediately spin it right and DCE kicks high for Jason Saab on the right wing. Murray Taulagi can't position himself and Saab just leaps over his head, makes a clean catch and grounds the ball.

This might be the best game I've seen Saab play.

The Sea Eagles break through the middle with Corey Waddell, who gets an offload away to Jazz Tevaga and Harrison Edwards just gets a hand on his coat-tails.

Then they spin it right and Murray Taulagi breaks up the last pass.

Tom Trbojevic cops a shin to the head after going back to dive on a loose pass. He's going to play on though.

The Sea Eagles defence is starting powerfully, with Haumole Olakau'atu smashing Griffin Neame.