Manly came back from a 16-0 deficit to defeat New Zealand Warriors 26-22 in a match taken to Perth’s nib Stadium on Saturday.
It was the Warriors’ ninth defeat in nine visits to Perth and is a blow to their top-eight hopes.
Manly made one change on their bench with Cameron Cullen dropping out of the team, replaced by Brad Parker.
The Warriors brought in Bunty Afoa to replace Ryan Hoffman in the second row, while Ligi Sao came onto the bench.
Bodene Thompson, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck all crossed for the Warriors inside the opening quarter of the game to establish a 16-0 lead with Johnson converting twice.
Manly replied through Tom Trbojevic before Trbojevic then put Brian Kelly over, with Matthew Wright converting both tries to reduce the Warriors’ lead to 16-12.
Daly Cherry-Evans then fed Akuila Uate for the Sea Eagles’ third try for the scores to be locked at the break.
Manly took the lead for the first time in the 48th minute when Koroisau put Tom Trbojevic over for his second, before Cherry-Evans sent in Dylan Walker for their fifth try.
The Warriors responded when Nicoll-Klokstad grabbed his second, with Johnson converting from the sideline to reduce the gap to four points.
The NRL Bunker then found that Nicoll-Klokstad had knocked on during the act of scoring as the Warriors thought they had equalised and their last throw of the dice was Shaun Johnson’s mazy run that the Sea Eagles just stopped near the line.
The win is Manly’s fifth in a row and ensures they will remain in the competition’s top four heading into Round 18, while for the Warriors the defeat extends their winless record in Perth to 0-9.
Sea Eagles: 1 Tom Trbojevic, 2 Matthew Wright, 3 Dylan Walker, 4 Brian Kelly, 5 Akuila Uate, 6 Blake Green, 7 Daly Cherry-Evans (c), 8 Brenton Lawrence, 9 Apisai Koroisau, 10 Martin Taupau, 11 Frank Winterstein, 12 Lewis Brown, 13 Jake Trbojevic; Interchange: 15 Lloyd Perrett, 16 Darcy Lussick, 17 Addin Fonua-Blake, 20 Brad Parker.
Warriors: 1 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (c), 2 Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, 3 Blake Ayshford, 4 David Fusitua, 5 Ken Maumalo, 6 Kieran Foran, 7 Shaun Johnson, 8 Jacob Lillyman, 9 Nathaniel Roache, 10 Ben Matulino, 11 Bodene Thompson, 15 Bunty Afoa, 13 Simon Mannering; Interchange: 14 Ata Hingano, 16 Albert Vete, 17 James Gavet, 20 Ligi Sao.
Full coverage of all the weekend’s NRL action can be found in Monday’s edition of League Express, available in the shops and online.
