Turbo clipped as Manly ambush Dogs hype train

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Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs v Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles

An AC joint injury to star full-back Tom Trbojevic has overshadowed Manly's 34-22 ambush victory of the Canterbury Bulldogs, played before the biggest Friday 6pm crowd in NRL history at Accor Stadium.

Canterbury got off to a flying start in front of their provocial home crowd. A switch out to the left-hand side saw Josh Addo-Carr into space. The Fox made Jason Saab look like a novice down the sideline and he busted through. He found Reed Mahoney and the massive crowd was up and about early in the contest. Matt Burton converted to lead 6-0. Despite the early ambush, Manly rebounded with some sustained pressure on Canterbury's line. After a clunky start, the Sea Eagles looked to hit back. A great cross-field kick looked to be hauled in by Haumole Olakau'atu. But, Gerard Sutton found a double knock-on and the try was denied by the Bunker.

Notwithstanding that set-back, from the ensuing scrum, Manly ran an efficient scrum play reminiscent of one other team have scored off against the Dogs. The overlap created allowed Jason Saab to cross out wide to level the scores (he would later leave the match with a lower leg injury). Manly took the lead after 12 minutes when Olakau'atu took on the Dogs down their left edge, a loose offload was kicked ahead by Luke Brooks. Brooks found milestone man Trbojevic and in game 150, Turbo put Manly ahead.

The ruthless run of possession put endless pressure on Canterbury's defence. Despite boasting one of the best defences in the league, they were running on fumes. As a result, Manly took advantage on the flanks. Magnificent hands from Brooks and Turbo created the overlap. Tommy Talau drew in Skelton and over in the corner went Lehi Hopoate. Reuben Garrick added the conversion from touch and the Dogs were down 18-6.

After a rare lull in the match, Canterbury got some good ball and capitalised almost immediately. Some smart hands from Burton found Addo-Carr into open space to score for the Dogs. Addo-Carr appeared to be hurt as he scored the try and was immediately assessed by the doctor and deemed fit to continue. The theme of the first half was capitalising on errors, Manly did so when Xerri lost the ball out of yardage.  A brilliant deceptive pass from Brooks to Karl Lawton saw him run the perfect line to score for Manly to lead 24-12 at the break.

Canterbury were dominant to start the second half and were keen to expose Manly's passive start. They went left and it appeared Viliame Kikau got some revenge on Olakau'atu. But, the Bunker determined Xerri made contact on the back-rower and obstructed. In the same play, Tom Trbojevic picked up a contact injury but he looks okay to continue after some nervous moments.

Manly then capitalised with a brilliant 40/20 from DCE. Although they didn't score from that set, Manly frustrated the Dogs with brutal defence and forced an error. It was just a mismatch for numbers on the right and Lehi Hopoate steps past Tracey and Manly have try number five and it was 30-12. The home side lost Matt Burton who failed his HIA and will need to pass through concussion protocol to play next weekend, in that passage, Garrick split the defence easily to score and the game was slipping from Canterbury's grasp.

Despite the score, the Dogs weren't going quietly. Canterbury had to be next to score and it was delightful ball from Toby Sexton which found Jacob Preston and the home side had some hope for the last 11 and a quarter minutes of play. The Dogs finished the way they started, in style but it was all in consolation for the home side. Nice move saw the Dogs have a lot of hands involved in a mid-football game of hot potato. The Fox broke away, he chipped over the top and Mahoney scored his second as consolation for the home side.