Cronulla may play South Sydney or Canterbury in a "home" semi-final at ANZ Stadium if they lose to Manly next Sunday at Remondis Stadium.

After beating Parramatta 35-28 at Pirtek Stadium on Saturday, the Sharks only need to triumph against the Sea Eagles to hold onto fourth place and secure a second chance in the play-offs.

Should that occur, Cronulla would play Sydney Roosters at Allianz Stadium or Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium, with the top two teams having home ground advantage against the third- and fourth-placed teams in the opening round of the finals.

But St George Illawarra's 28-26 loss to Gold Coast on Sunday has kept the Sea Eagles finals hopes alive and if the Dragons are beaten by Wests Tigers next Saturday Manly could claim eighth spot by beating the Sharks.

Should that occur, the Storm, Bulldogs and Rabbitohs could all leapfrog the Sharks and force them into a sudden-death play-off at ANZ Stadium or AAMI Park in Melbourne.

Even if they don't slump as low as seventh, Cronulla's reward for finishing fifth or sixth could be a home final at ANZ Stadium against Canterbury or Souths, who each use the Olympic venue as their home base.

All Sydney teams qualifying for home finals will play at Allianz Stadium or ANZ Stadium, with the NRL to wait until after next Sunday night's match between the Bulldogs and Warriors to schedule games and venues.

Fairfax Media understands the NRL will allocate the matches to venues they believe will attract the best crowds, and with Souths and Canterbury boasting the biggest home attendances of Sydney clubs ANZ Stadium will be strongly considered for games involving those teams.

With the Rabbitohs suffering heavy back-to-back defeats against the Bulldogs and Broncos, the race for fourth place has been thrown wide open but Cronulla are in the box seat after wins over Wests Tigers and the Eels.

However, Melbourne's 14-6 win over North Queensland and Canterbury's 20-18 defeat of Newcastle has kept them in contention if the Sharks lose to Manly, with the latter considered the most likely as the Storm face Brisbane and Souths play the Roosters – the two teams battling it out for the minor premiership.

The Storm have easily the best for-and-against but should they and the Sharks both lose next weekend, the Bulldogs will play the Warriors in the final match of the regular season for the chance to claim fourth spot – even if Souths were to beat the Roosters on Friday night.

At the other end of the competition ladder, the Tigers could finish as high as 11th spot if they beat the Dragons after climbing off the bottom of the competition ladder with Sunday's 50-16 defeat of the Warriors.

The win leaves the Tigers as one of four clubs – with Canberra, Penrith and Newcastle – on 20 points, with another three clubs – Parramatta, the Warriors and Titans – on 22 points.

However, of those seven clubs only Canberra (-18) has a better for and against than the Tigers (-73) and if they beat St George Illawarra and the Warriors and Titans both lose Wests would finish in 11th spot behind the winner of the Raiders-Eels clash.

THE RUN HOME

1. Roosters   38 (+261): v Rabbitohs (h)      1st             2nd

2. Broncos    38 (+202): v Storm (h)             1st             2nd

3. Cowboys  36 (+103): v  Titans                  3rd             3rd

4. Sharks      32     (-5):  v Sea Eagles (h)    4th             7th

5. Storm        30 (+112): v Broncos (a)         4th             7th

6. Bulldogs    30   (+38): v Warriors (h)         4th             7th

7. Rabbitohs  30   (+28): v Roosters (a)        4th             7th

8. Dragons     26   (+25): v Tigers (h)            8th              9th

9. Sea Eagles 24   (-36): v Sharks (a)           8th              9th