The brilliance of Ben Hunt and a blistering double to Tyrell Sloan led the Dragons to a 20-12 win over the Sea Eagles at WIN Stadium on Saturday.
Hunt tormented Manly with his kicking game while Sloan was at his electric best as the Red V bounced back from heavy losses to the Dolphins and Cowboys.
The Sea Eagles hit the ground running in the fourth minute when Tolu Koula crossed for the game's opening try courtesy of a miracle offload from Tom Trbojevic, who took on four defenders and threaded the pass through to his centre for a 6-0 lead.
The Dragons hit back almost immediately when Manly winger Tommy Talau made a mess of a Hunt bomb and Jack Bird pounced on the loose ball to score. Zac Lomax converted to level the scores at 6-6.
Dragons winger Mikaele Ravalawa went close in the 16th minute but he was denied in the left hand corner by some desperate Tom Trbojevic cover defence.
Jack Bird Try
The first penalty of the game came in the 17th minute when Dragons prop Blake Lawrie hung on too long in tackle but it came to nothing for Manly after Tom Trbojevic came up with his fourth error of the match.
The Dragons looked to have regained the lead in the 19th minute when Moses Suli crossed but the try was ruled out due to an obstruction by Luciano Leilua.
With the weight of possession going their way late in the half the Dragons hit the front in the 34th minute when Sloan's footwork proved too much for Reuben Garrick as the flashy fullback racked up his fifth try of the season.
Tyrell Sloan Try
The home side went further ahead in the 38th minute when Hunt delivered a short ball to a charging Jaydn Su'A who couldn't be stopped from close range.
The Sea Eagles came out firing after the break but the Dragons showed great resolve to defend three consecutive sets to keep their eight-point lead intact.
With 22 minutes to play Jaxson Paulo launched himself at the corner in a bid to grab Manly's second try but Ravalawa came across in cover and put him into touch.
Just four minutes later Paulo went close again when he chased a Daly Cherry-Evans grubber and almost came up with a miraculous put down but replays showed he had knocked on.
Having held firm at one end the Dragons poured upfield through Tom Eisenhuth before Hunt laid on another try with a chip kick for Sloan to make it a double and six for the season.
A string of errors from Manly cruelled their chances until Haumole Olakau'atu finally crashed over with three minutes to play but the damage had been done.
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Match Snapshot
- Manly centre Reuben Garrick's first conversion of the game took him to 1000 NRL points.
- The Sea Eagles came up with eight errors in the opening half and completed at just 58 per cent. They finished the game with 27 of 41 sets completed.
- Dragons prop Blake Lawrie was placed on report for a hair pull on Josh Aloiai.
- Jack de Belin gave the Dragons plenty of impetus off the bench with 122 run metres and 24 tackles.
- Manly prop Taniela Paseka made 185 metres from 19 runs while Haumole Olakau'atu ran for 175 metres.
You don't ever see this from Lomax
- Sea Eagles halfback Daly Cherry-Evans equalled Cliff Lyons’ record of 309 appearances as Manly's most capped player.
- Dragons skipper Ben Hunt came up with three try assists, one line break assist and 579 kick metres in a superb display.
- Zac Lomax continued his good form on the wing for the Dragons with 176 metres from 21 runs.
- The two sides came up with 30 errors between them.
- Jack Bird made 179 metres from 19 runs for the Dragons and broke four tackles.
Jaydn Su'a Try
Play of the Game
Tom Trbojevic had a mixed first half with some uncharacteristic errors but his pass to put Tolu Koula over for the game's opening try was a beauty. Jumping into dummy half close to the tryline, Turbo attracted four defenders and looked like being grounded short before slipping a pass away for Koula to put the ball down without a hand being laid on him.
Tolutau Koula Try
What They Said
"Our completion rate was awful at the start of the second half but we showed some real resilience defensively and kept turning them away and to keep the talent in that Manly team to basically six points for most of the game was a really good job. I was really happy with our attitude. I've got a good football team here, I know it, I just have to convince them. We've got the talent, we just need to find consistency." - Dragons coach Shane Flanagan
Dragons: Round 4
"We were outplayed by the Dragons, that was really clear for everyone to see. They hustled us and forced quite a few errors and we were second by a fair distance to be fair. If you turn up and you're not at your best, you get what you deserve. Four weeks in, started well the first couple of weeks, the last two weeks haven't gone our way but it's a marathon. We'll get back to looking back to how we can improve our game and keep adding to it." - Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold
Sea Eagles: Round 4
What's Next
The Dragons are away to the Knights at McDonald Jones Stadium on Friday while the Sea Eagles welcome the Panthers to 4 Pines Park for a Saturday blockbuster.