Against The Odds: Manly vs Canberra

We take a look at one of the classic Manly Warringah Sea Eagles victories against the Canberra Raiders in our new series, Against The Odds.

The two clubs will do battle this Saturday at Glen Willow Stadium, Mudgee. Tickets available here 

April 21, 2017

The Sea Eagles recorded one of their best golden point victories in Canberra in this round eight Friday night thriller.

In one of the games of the season, Manly centre Dylan Walker converted a 40 metre penalty goal late in the first half of golden point to give the Sea Eagles a 20-18 victory to silence the vocal Raiders home crowd.

The penalty goal came after Walker missed two earlier attempts from 20m out that could have sealed victory in normal time.

It was an incredible victory for the Sea Eagles and the team’s third win of the season on the road following victories over Nth Qld Cowboys and the Sydney Roosters.

The Sea Eagles trailed 6-2 at half-time after the Raiders opened their account when centre and captain Jarrod Croker dived on a grubber kick from Aidan Sezer to beat Akuila Uate to the ball to score. 

Manly threw plenty at Canberra in the final 10 minutes of the first half and came close to scoring on several occasions, including a try under the posts to lock Jake Trbojevic but the bunker ruled full-back Jack Wighton grounded the ball first from a grubber kick from Blake Green that hit the goal post.

The Sea Eagles again worked hard in trying to get over the line early in the second half but it was the home side who were the next to score when second-rower Josh Papalii proved too strong in brushing past half-back Daly Cherry-Evans and Walker. Croker converted for a 12-2 lead after 48 minutes.

The luck the Sea Eagles were searching for came when Jake Trbojevic crossed next to the posts after a grubber kick from Cherry-Evans deflected into the arms of the lock to score. Walker converted for a 12-8 scoreline after 55 minutes.

Three minutes later, a wonderful short ball from Lewis Brown saw Walker hit a hole to dive over in the right corner to score to make it 12-all. Walker converted his own try from the sideline for a 14-12 lead to Manly after 59 minutes.

Croker got the Raiders level again when he converted a penalty goal from 20 metres in front for a 14-all scoreline after 65 minutes after Jackson Hastings was penalised for pushing a player back down in trying to make a quick play the ball.

Walker then missed a vital penalty goal from 18 metres out in the 68th minute before Cherry-Evans put second-rower Frank Winterstein in the clear before finding support back inside for full-back Tom Trbojevic to score.

The match then went into Golden Point following desperate field goal attempts from both sides.

Walker then got the Sea Eagles home after kicking a 40 metre penalty goal to give Manly a remarkable victory.

Manly 20 (Jake Trbojevic, Tom Trbojevic, Dylan Walker tries; Walker 4/6 goals) d Canberra 18 (Jarrod Croker, Josh Papalii, Jordan Rapana tries; Croker 3/4 goals), Bruce Stadium, Half-time: 6-2 Canberra. Referees: Grant Atkins, Chris Sutton, Crowd: 15,976.

Sea Eagles team: 1 Tom Trbojevic, 2 Jorge Taufua, 3 Dylan Walker, 4 Brian Kelly, 5 Akuila Uate, 6 Blake Green, 7 Daly Cherry-Evans (c), 8 Brenton Lawrence, 9 Api Koroisau, 10 Martin Taupau, 11 Frank Winterstein, 12 Curtis Sironen, 13 Jake Trbojevic; bench: 14 Lewis Brown, 15 Jackson Hastings, 17 Addin Fonua-Blake, 18 Nate Myles, Coach: Trent Barrett.

Canberra team: 1 Jack Wighton, 2 Nick Cotric, 3 Jarrod Croker (c), 4 Joseph Leilua, 5 Jordan Rapana, 6 Blake Austin, 7 Aidan Seizer, 8 Junior Paulo, 9 Josh Hodgson, 10 Shannon Boyd, 11 Josh Papalii, 12 Elliot Whitehead, 13 Joseph Tapine; bench: 14 Adam Clydsdale, 15 Luke Bateman, 16 Dunamis Lui, 17 Iosia Soliola. Coach: Ricky Stuart.