The Sea Eagles battled through for a hearty 30-14 win over the Dragons at Brookvale, despite a list of on-field injuries decimating their outfit to just 13 players.
Daly Cherry-Evans inspired Manly to a strong second half without club staples Reuben Garrick, Taniela Paseka, Corey Waddell and Toafofoa Sipley.
Moses Suli was ruled out prior to kickoff, with Christian Tuipulotu filling in on the Dragons’ left edge. Paseka was taken out of the match with a right thumb injury, while Garrick failed his second head-injury-assessment and Sipley hobbled off.
Tyrell Sloan of the Dragons fends off Daly Cherry-Evans. (Photo by Jeremy Ng/Getty Images)
Lehi Hopoate dazzled for Manly, scoring his maiden NRL try when burning past Mat Feagai on the outside and storming over the right corner.
It was Manly’s seventh win of the season, as Luke Brooks and Cherry-Evans combined to build pressure and cap off sets.
Both Trbojevic boys scored at home, while Haumole Olakau’atu was a danger all match – crossing over in the 25th minute, but not without obstruction controversy.
The Dragons had plenty of chances to settle the score, but a growing number of errors and pushed passes put a line through their chances.
Kyle Flanagan and Tyrell Sloan were solid for the away side, while Zac Lomax franked his Origin form with another knockout performance.
St. George Illawarra were dealt their seventh loss of the season, with Manly leaping over the Red V on the ladder.
“It was there to win, just poor execution, it could’ve gone either way at one point,” Flanagan said post game.
“Cherry-Evans was outstanding I thought. We will just have to lick our wounds and start again.”
“It was a game there to win. A game we could’ve won.”
The pitfalls of the short dropout gave the Dragons their first points, as Garrick tapped back the ball with no awareness of his support. Jacob Liddle pounced on the pill and fell over for an easy four-pointer.
Manly players were dropping like flies. Garrick remained on the deck after his first blow to the head – which the Dragons exploited. Luciano Leilua offloaded for Flanagan on the inside to run over.
Sloan proved a handful on kick returns, strongly fending off Daly Cherry-Evans in the first half, before botching a scoring opportunity with a poor kick on the fourth tackle.
Manly were with just 14 fit men at the 33rd minute – but luckily for them, Luciano Leilua miscalculated an easy overlap, which was an otherwise certain try for the Dragons.
Luke Brooks was the first to write his name into the second-half score book, showing why he is at his best when running the footy.
Zac Lomax then followed up for the Dragons in the 46th minute – but that was the last celebration for Shane Flanagan’s 17, who failed to use fresh legs to their advantage.
Cherry-Evans went on to pull strings on the right side, capped off by a pin-point grubber to Jason Saab – who went over untouched after looking threatening all game.